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Déjà Vu
Only the bands have changed at the Heatwave Festival
Richard Grabel
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When the mode of music changes, the walls of the city don't necessarily shake. For proof, there was the Heatwave Festival, held August 23rd at Mosport Park, about 50 miles outside Toronto. The promoters publicized this event as the first new wave rock festival to be held in North America — the first great cataclysmic music event of the '80s. Punkstock!
A new wave rock festival is a contradiction in terms. Some of us once hoped that as the content of rock changed, so would its packaging and marketing. This hasn't happened and perhaps never will. New wave (ahem) has proved to be adaptable — a nice cooperative little monster.
So what does an event like this mean? Only that, to most of the rock audience, anyone who sells a lot of records is a pop star, and pop stars are to be accorded the same rituals of adoration that have been offered to all pop icons over the last 10 years. Like mass outdoor gatherings.
Heatwave's promoters hoped for 100,000 paying customers; according to estimates in the Toronto papers, they had slightly over half that number. That's still a sizable crowd, and thus only a minute fraction were near enough to see their idols or hear the details of their music. The rest "partied." Why not just go to the beach with your tapes?
It's a long way from the seedy Bowery clubs and SoHo pubs that nurtured this music to the racetrack venues, giant stages, bands airlifted by helicopter to fenced-off trailer camp dressing rooms, color coded backstage passes and other trappings of a bigbiz rock festival. That Heatwave's bands made the transition so easily proves that the rock industry is a big-bellied whale, capable of swallowing anything.
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Cover and page scans.
Taking Liberties
Ira Robbins
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Here's Elvis — between albums, conceding the Attractions a part-time solo career, still waiting for America to forgive him for insulting Ray Charles, refusing to tour this country and inscrutable as ever — with 20 track's of marginalia to keep the fires burning until a new studio LP can be unleashed come the new year. Costello maniacs will already own the bulk of this record; for the rest, this is almost entirely first-run.
The songs here, besides a tribute to El's abundant creativity, are the result of manager Jake Riviera's neurotic need to torment American fans with English B-sides, limited editions and promo records that are difficult-to-impossible to obtain. Taking Liberties provides a valuable service (especially considering collectors' prices) in cleaning out the bewildering back catalogue of Costello releases on Stiff, Radar and F-Beat.
The rundown: "Dr. Luther's Assistant," "Ghost Train" and "Just a Memory" date from the recent EP that centered around "New Amsterdam." The preceding single ("High Fidelity") contributed two tracks from the flip of its 12-inch version: an alternate "Clowntime Is Over" and "Getting Mighty Crowded." Some old B-sides — "Radio Sweetheart," "Big Tears," "Tiny Steps" and "My Funny Valentine" — are here, as is a newer one, "Girls Talk." Also included are some LP tracks lost in the trans-Atlantic crossing: "(I Don't Want to Go to) Chelsea," "Night Rally" and "Sunday's Best." "Crawling to the USA" comes from the Americathon soundtrack; "Stranger in the House" was half a giveaway 45 that came with the UK edition of This Year's Model; "Talking in the Dark" and "Wednesday Week" were originally coupled as a freebie UK 45. That leaves three tracks unaccounted for. Sure enough, we get (drumroll) three previously unreleased — anywhere! — songs: the legendary (and widely bootlegged in an early form) "Hoover Factory," a new one on me called "Clean Money" and a redone "Black and White World" (from Get Happy!!).
If you've followed Costello, you pretty much know this album already. Suffice to say, this is prime stuff — as good as any of his preplanned albums, and certainly more consistent than Get Happy!!'s 20 maybes. Far from being basement tapes or a "History of," Taking Liberties provides further proof (if any were needed) of Costello's talent. Get it!
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