Stereo Review, July 1995: Difference between revisions
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<center><h3> Elvis Costello, cover boy </h3></center> | <center><h3> Elvis Costello, cover boy </h3></center> | ||
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<center> Parke Puterbaugh </center> | <center> Parke Puterbaugh </center> | ||
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''' Elvis Costello <br> | |||
Kojak Variety | |||
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Leave it to Elvis Costello to do the cover album thing the right way. Usually, when a pop star resorts to an album of hand-picked favorites it signals a soft spot in the artist's career, and the songs are unfailingly obvious familiar (thereby minimizing the risk of a flop). | Leave it to Elvis Costello to do the cover album thing the right way. Usually, when a pop star resorts to an album of hand-picked favorites it signals a soft spot in the artist's career, and the songs are unfailingly obvious familiar (thereby minimizing the risk of a flop). | ||
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Costello's just-released ''Kojak Variety'' is different. For one thing, he's so prolific that the album sat on the shelf for five years, waiting for a brief break in his creative output. He didn't choose a bunch of easy marks, either. The best-known song here, from a rock fan's perspective — well, it's a tossup between "I Threw It All Away," a track from Bob Dylan's countrified ''Nashville Skyline'' album, and "Days," a Kinks single from their glorious, pastoral British period (the best-known song, period, is probably Ray Noble's pop standard "The Very Thought of You"). From there, though, ''Kojak Variety'' gets really obscure. | Costello's just-released ''Kojak Variety'' is different. For one thing, he's so prolific that the album sat on the shelf for five years, waiting for a brief break in his creative output. He didn't choose a bunch of easy marks, either. The best-known song here, from a rock fan's perspective — well, it's a tossup between "I Threw It All Away," a track from Bob Dylan's countrified ''Nashville Skyline'' album, and "Days," a Kinks single from their glorious, pastoral British period (the best-known song, period, is probably Ray Noble's pop standard "The Very Thought of You"). From there, though, ''Kojak Variety'' gets really obscure. | ||
But Costello's not just being perversely anti-commercial; he's simply picked songs that mean something to him. His choices amplify his recurring obsessions: the mutual hurt in the unending war between the sexes, a supplicant's need for reassurance that a lover won't leave or betray him, the overriding sense that love is a pitched battle that makes losers of us all. Actually, the vintage relics he's chosen could pass for lost outtakes from ''This Year's Model'' based on their titles alone: "Pouring Water on a Drowning Man," "Running Out of Fools," and "Must You Throw Dirt | But Costello's not just being perversely anti-commercial; he's simply picked songs that mean something to him. His choices amplify his recurring obsessions: the mutual hurt in the unending war between the sexes, a supplicant's need for reassurance that a lover won't leave or betray him, the overriding sense that love is a pitched battle that makes losers of us all. Actually, the vintage relics he's chosen could pass for lost outtakes from ''This Year's Model'' based on their titles alone: "Pouring Water on a Drowning Man," "Running Out of Fools," and "Must You Throw Dirt in My Face," a Louvin Brothers country song that he turns into a Memphis-style soul ballad by drawing out the inherent pain beneath the surface. | ||
Another aspect of ''Kojak Variety'' that's consonant with the Costello persona is its sheer, hard-charging sense of edge-driven fun. Costello loves old blues-spined rockers like Little Willie John's "Leave My Kitten Alone" (recorded but never released by the Beatles, except on bootlegs) and Little Richard's "Bama Lama Bama Loo," and he approaches them here in a style reminiscent of the old Who coinage, "maximum R&B." "Hidden Charms," a Willie Dixon number recorded by Howlin' Wolf, is taken at a shuffle tempo, with cheesy underwater organ effects enlivening the sense of some smooth-talking hepcat paying homage to his main squeeze. | Another aspect of ''Kojak Variety'' that's consonant with the Costello persona is its sheer, hard-charging sense of edge-driven fun. Costello loves old blues-spined rockers like Little Willie John's "Leave My Kitten Alone" (recorded but never released by the Beatles, except on bootlegs) and Little Richard's "Bama Lama Bama Loo," and he approaches them here in a style reminiscent of the old Who coinage, "maximum R&B." "Hidden Charms," a Willie Dixon number recorded by Howlin' Wolf, is taken at a shuffle tempo, with cheesy underwater organ effects enlivening the sense of some smooth-talking hepcat paying homage to his main squeeze. | ||
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<!-- ELVIS COSTELLO ''Kojak Variety'' Strange; Hidden Charms; Remove This Doubt; I Threw It All Away; Leave My Kitten Alone; I've Been Wrong Before; Everybody's Crying Mercy; Bama Lama Bama Loo; Must You Throw Dirt on My Fare; Pouring Water on a Drowning Man; The Very Thought of You; Running Our of Fools; Payday; Please Stay; Days WARNER BROS. 45903 (54 min) --> | <!-- ELVIS COSTELLO ''Kojak Variety'' Strange; Hidden Charms; Remove This Doubt; I Threw It All Away; Leave My Kitten Alone; I've Been Wrong Before; Everybody's Crying Mercy; Bama Lama Bama Loo; Must You Throw Dirt on My Fare; Pouring Water on a Drowning Man; The Very Thought of You; Running Our of Fools; Payday; Please Stay; Days WARNER BROS. 45903 (54 min) --> | ||
{{tags}}[[Kojak Variety]] {{-}} [[I Threw It All Away]] {{-}} [[Bob Dylan]] {{-}} [[Days]] {{-}} [[The Kinks]] {{-}} [[Ray Noble]] {{-}} [[The Very Thought Of You]] {{-}} [[This Year's Model]] {{-}} [[Pouring Water On A Drowning Man]] {{-}} [[Running Out Of Fools]] {{-}} [[Must You Throw Dirt In My Face]] {{-}} [[The Louvin Brothers]] {{-}} [[Little Willie John]] {{-}} [[Leave My Kitten Alone]] {{-}} [[The Beatles]] {{-}} [[Little Richard]] {{-}} [[Bama Lama Bama Loo]] {{-}} [[The Who]] {{-}} [[Hidden Charms]] {{-}} [[Willie Dixon]] {{-}} [[Howlin' Wolf]] {{-}} [[Strange]] {{-}} [[Screamin' Jay Hawkins]] {{-}} [[Mose Allison]] {{-}} [[Everybody's Crying Mercy]] | |||
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[[image:1995-07-00 Stereo Review page 75.jpg| | [[image:1995-07-00 Stereo Review page 75.jpg|x250px|border]] | ||
[[image:1995-07-00 Stereo Review page 76.jpg| | [[image:1995-07-00 Stereo Review page 76.jpg|x250px|border]] | ||
<br><small>Page scans.</small> | <br><small>Page scans.</small> | ||
<small>Photo by [[Tim Kent]].</small><br> | <small>Photo by [[Tim Kent]].</small><br> | ||
[[image:1995-07-00 Stereo Review photo 01 tk.jpg| | [[image:1995-07-00 Stereo Review photo 01 tk.jpg|300px]] | ||
<small>Cover and contents page.</small><br> | |||
[[image:1995-07-00 Stereo Review cover.jpg|x120px|border]] | [[image:1995-07-00 Stereo Review cover.jpg|x120px|border]] | ||
[[image:1995-07-00 Stereo Review page 05.jpg|x120px|border]] | [[image:1995-07-00 Stereo Review page 05.jpg|x120px|border]] | ||
{{Bibliography notes footer}} | {{Bibliography notes footer}} |
Latest revision as of 18:05, 20 October 2021
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