Sounds, September 17, 1983

Bibliography   72 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 UK & Ireland weeklies UK & Ireland magazines UK & Ireland newspapers US newspapers US rock magazines US music magazines US magazines US alternative weeklies European magazines European newspapers Canada  •  Mexico  •  Asia Australia  •  New Zealand South America  •  Africa Blogs  •  Fanzines  •  Books Online publications Sounds   1974 March 30 1976 August 14 1976 November 20 1977 March 26 1977 April 9 1977 April 30 1977 May 28 1977 June 11 1977 June 25 1977 July 23 1977 July 30 1977 August 6 1977 August 13 1977 August 20 1977 September 3 1977 September 17 1977 October 15 1977 October 22 1977 November 5 1977 December 3 1977 December 10 1977 December 17 1977 December 24 1978 January 28 1978 February 18 1978 February 25 1978 March 4 1978 March 11 1978 March 18 1978 April 1 1978 April 8  1978 April 15 1978 April 22 1978 April 29 1978 June 17 1978 September 2 1978 September 9 1978 September 16 1978 September 23 1978 September 30 1978 October 21 1978 November 18 1978 November 25 1978 December 30 1979‎ January 6 1979‎ February 3 1979‎ February 10 1979‎ February 24   1979‎ April 14  1979‎ May 12 1979‎ June 2 1979‎ July 21 1979‎ December 29 1980 January 5 1980 January 19 1980 February 2 1980 February 23 1980 March 15 1980 March 22 1980 April 5 1980 April 12   1980 May 24 1980 June 7 1980 August 30 1980 September 6 1980 October 4 1980 October 11 1980 October 18 1980 December 27 1981 January 3 1981 January 17 1981 January 24 1981 February 7 1981 February 28 1981 April 4 1981 November 21 1982 January 16 1982 June 12 1982 June 26 1982 July 10 1982 July 31 1982 September 18 1982 September 25 1982 November 27 1983 January 8 1983 June 25 1983 July 2 1983 July 16 1983 July 30 1983 September 17 1983 October 29 1983 November 5  1983 December 10 1984 January 7 1984 March 31 1984 April 28 1984 June 9 1984 June 30 1984 July 14 1984 October 20 1984 December 15 1985 March 23 1985 April 20 1985 May 11 1986 February 22 1986 March 1 1986 September 13 1986 November 29 1986 December 20 1987 January 31 1987 February 7 1987 June 27 1987 December 5 1989 February 11 1989 February 18 1989 March 4 1989 May 6 1989 May 13 1989 June 24 1989 July 15 1989 October 21 1989 December 23 — Elvis Costello / Aztec Camera Tim Sommer Pier 84, New York Pier 84 is way off on Manhattan's west side and it really is a pier, sitting out on the edge of the Hudson. They've built a stage, found room for about 8,000 people and it's a pleasant — if fairly impersonal — space for outdoor concerts, with an aircraft carrier looming ominously next door. Costello's polite but partisan audience isn't there to see Aztec Camera, so they go mostly ignored, which is a shame since their largely acoustic, tender yet persuasive pop is perfect for the warm summer evening. Aztec Camera's strengths are in their charm, their emotional honesty and their stunning melodic sensibility; over and over again, they rope you in with some bright, soaring chorus, some incredibly accurate observation about loss, longing and resignation, and on top of all this they've got Roddy Frame standing front and centre. The spiky-haired flannel-shirted troubadour is a true personality, and a warm and talented one at that — and Frame hasn't learned to act yet. He's as natural as can be, projecting a mixture of wit, precociousness and adorable humility. Frame and Aztec Camera are modern romantics in the true sense of the word. When's the last time a catalogue of love songs have been so direct, so embraceable? The powerfully seductive, nimble, flamenco-laced pop that Frame and cohorts Craig Gannon (rhythm guitar — restrained to the point of not playing for a large part of the set), Dave Ruffy (drums) and Campbell Owens (bass) play is equally as honest and fresh. Aztec Camera are a perfect yet clearly subordinate compliment to Frame's glorious, textured, chiming pop vision, though one could easily choose to be distracted by the legendary Dave Ruffy: so few drummers are this adept, this much in command of their kit, this inventive, this capable of using the traps as a true musical instrument. His fluid and patient playing has given Aztec Camera the room to develop the quirkless pop inherent in Frame's flawless, seamless songs. If this sounds like a rave, well, it is. Bands like Aztec Camera, REM, Big Country and the Go-Betweens extend the life of pop rock indefinitely by plugging it with honest emotion and a new yet wholly accessible approach to the pop group sound. Aztec Camera are subtle, honest, natural, are greeted by mild applause, and are a striking contrast to the overwhelming Elvis Costello Show. These days, Costello has become The Entertainer, a glossy, contrived, high-spirited new wave Sinatra. He knows what he's doing, he has the bright, simple and well-arranged material to do it with, and he does it well, as long as you don't mind a complete absence of spontaneity, genuine emotion or any sort of on-stage honesty. Six years of working the States has eroded any real friction or tension in Costello's stage work: it's just a Big Act, a Big Show and he's pretty good at it — very good, actually. I'm not particularly taken in by Costello's new age MOR, but it's pleasant enough. He is a fairly gifted stylist and arranger, as all easily palatable performers must be, and his sense of visual style and co-ordination would seem to be as adept as his musical one. But you can see right through Elvis. He's just a bright and powerfully rehearsed performer, his emotions (probably real and valid enough at the time he wrote any of the many songs he throws out in rapid yet careful order at the Pier crowd) on stage are carefully deliberated and plugged in; they read well under the bright lights and from a distance, but they are transparent, easily summoned and dispensed each night of this long American tour. How different from Aztec Camera's unpretentiousness and natural performance! Costello is tight, good, attractive, and quite boring. He has the Eighties performance style down perfectly and his music is a fine contemporary synthesis of familiar influences and acceptable pseudo-modernism. As a colourful and unspontaneous actor, he is to this decade what Springsteen's mechanical athletics were to the last. He should be dishing it out for a long time. Tags: Pier 84  •  New York  •  The Attractions  •  Aztec Camera  •  Roddy Frame  •  R.E.M.  •  Frank Sinatra  •  Bruce Springsteen << >> Sounds, September 17, 1983 Tim Sommer reviews Elvis Costello & The Attractions and opening act Aztec Camera, Sunday, August 7, or Wednesday, August 10, 1983, Pier 84, New York. Punch The Clock is No. 16 on the US album chart (page 66). Sounds profiles Rank And File ahead of their support on the Clocking In UK tour. (page 3). Images Clipping. Top ranking Sounds Rank And File (above), the Texas-based band who have "re-invented country music," release their first album, Sundown, on Rough Trade (via Slash Records) this week as a prelude to their British visit next month when they'll be supporting Elvis Costello And The Attractions on tour. Brothers Chip and Tony Kinman (guitar and bass) were previously in West Coast punk band the Dils and they recruited guitarist Alejandro Escovedo from the Nuns and drummer Slim Evans into the line-up before moving to Austin, Texas, to workup their country fusion. Cover.

External links

• Wikipedia: Sounds
• worldradiohistory.com