Stereophile, August 1996: Difference between revisions
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The original plan for the album was to do an All Costello Covers format recorded live on last year's tour — and if the Beacon Theatre stop was any indication, you shoulda been there. While that format was scrapped, the straightforward live-in-the-studio arrangements did make the final cut. The result is a deceptively easy-sounding album that an expensive boutique might play to entice its Armani-weary customers. But don't mistake melancholy for mellowness. | The original plan for the album was to do an All Costello Covers format recorded live on last year's tour — and if the Beacon Theatre stop was any indication, you shoulda been there. While that format was scrapped, the straightforward live-in-the-studio arrangements did make the final cut. The result is a deceptively easy-sounding album that an expensive boutique might play to entice its Armani-weary customers. But don't mistake melancholy for mellowness. | ||
''Useless Beauty'' is another Costello duet with the Grim Reaper, but he's nimble enough not to turn it into a dirge, and modest enough not to turn it into a sermon: ''"I cannot promise you I've said goodbye to childish things,"'' he jibes on "Little Atoms." ''"There's still some pretty insults left / And such sport in threatening." From atmospheric trifles like the pseudo-noir "Complicated Shadows" to the more-than-a-breakup song "It's Time," this is an album full of endings. And if you didn't catch the first 121 times he asks The Big Question, he hammers the last nail into the metaphorical coffin on the album's delicate closer: ''"I want to vanish / This is my last request / I've given you the awful truth / Now give me my rest."'' Get it? | ''Useless Beauty'' is another Costello duet with the Grim Reaper, but he's nimble enough not to turn it into a dirge, and modest enough not to turn it into a sermon: ''"I cannot promise you I've said goodbye to childish things,"'' he jibes on "Little Atoms." ''"There's still some pretty insults left / And such sport in threatening."'' From atmospheric trifles like the pseudo-noir "Complicated Shadows" to the more-than-a-breakup song "It's Time," this is an album full of endings. And if you didn't catch the first 121 times he asks The Big Question, he hammers the last nail into the metaphorical coffin on the album's delicate closer: ''"I{{nb}}want to vanish / This is my last request / I've given you the awful truth / Now give me my rest."'' Get it? | ||
Speaking of dead media, ''All This Useless Beauty'' is available on vinyl, and if you've got a 'table, it's definitely the way to go. This is multimiked recording at its best; on "Poor Fractured Atlas" Pete Thomas seems to have set up his drum kit on my front porch, while on "Little Atoms" the soundstage extends not only outside my speakers, but outside the ''walls'' of my living room. And the surfaces are as quiet and the pressing as flat as any 180-grammer. The excellent CD pales only by comparison. My one gripe is that the vinyl version doesn't include a lyric sheet. | Speaking of dead media, ''All This Useless Beauty'' is available on vinyl, and if you've got a 'table, it's definitely the way to go. This is multimiked recording at its best; on "Poor Fractured Atlas" Pete Thomas seems to have set up his drum kit on my front porch, while on "Little Atoms" the soundstage extends not only outside my speakers, but outside the ''walls'' of my living room. And the surfaces are as quiet and the pressing as flat as any 180-grammer. The excellent CD pales only by comparison. My one gripe is that the vinyl version doesn't include a lyric sheet. | ||
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{{Bibliography notes}} | {{Bibliography notes}} | ||
{{Bibliography next | |||
|prev = Stereophile, April 1993 | |||
|next = Stereophile, February 2000 | |||
}} | |||
'''Stereophile, August 1996 | '''Stereophile, August 1996 | ||
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Latest revision as of 19:03, 18 April 2021
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