University of Massachusetts Boston Mass Media, February 6, 1979: Difference between revisions

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But you cannot reprint the sound. And what is so r,oddanin scary about Elvis are his melodies, without which we could pass him off as another nervous psychopath. Elvis writes tight pop-perfect tunes that jingle and whoosh. Even "Moods for Moderns," which sounds like a cross between Devo and ''The Addams Family'' theme song, makes the head nod and the feet tap in time. Soaring bursts of sonic melody like these haven't been heard since Lennon left McCartney for Yoko. Elvis has even polished his vocals: now he snarls less and sometimes dares to coo in breathless tones, a la Gerry and the Pacemakers. Combined with his twisted messages, the air-tight sound gives Costello a threatening persona. and the music a rawness and vitality that shames the elicited crap of groups like Foreigner and Van Halen.
But you cannot reprint the sound. And what is so r,oddanin scary about Elvis are his melodies, without which we could pass him off as another nervous psychopath. Elvis writes tight pop-perfect tunes that jingle and whoosh. Even "Moods for Moderns," which sounds like a cross between Devo and ''The Addams Family'' theme song, makes the head nod and the feet tap in time. Soaring bursts of sonic melody like these haven't been heard since Lennon left McCartney for Yoko. Elvis has even polished his vocals: now he snarls less and sometimes dares to coo in breathless tones, a la Gerry and the Pacemakers. Combined with his twisted messages, the air-tight sound gives Costello a threatening persona. and the music a rawness and vitality that shames the elicited crap of groups like Foreigner and Van Halen.


Elvis Costello is making music that is not only exciting but provocative. With ''Armed Forces'' he has raised all the stakes. It is going to be tough to top this album this year. And Elvis is not through. At the end of "Two Little Hitters" he promises ''"I will return."''
Elvis Costello is making music that is not only exciting but provocative. With ''Armed Forces'' he has raised all the stakes. It is going to be tough to top this album this year. And Elvis is not through. At the end of "Two Little Hitlers" he promises ''"I will return."''


Start looking for a hiding place — Elvis Costello's aim is true.  
Start looking for a hiding place — Elvis Costello's aim is true.  
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[[Stephen Moniak]] reviews ''[[Armed Forces]]''.
[[Stephen Moniak]] reviews ''[[Armed Forces]]''.


{{Bibliography no images}}
{{Bibliography images}}


[[image:1979-02-06 The Mass Media page 12 clipping.jpg|360px|border]]
[[image:1979-02-06 University of Massachusetts Boston Mass Media page 12 clipping.jpg|300px|border]]






[[image:1979-02-06 The Mass Media illustration.jpg|360px|border]]
[[image:1979-02-06 University of Massachusetts Boston Mass Media illustration.jpg|300px|border]]
<br><small>Illustration.</small>
<br><small>Illustration.</small>


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==External links==
==External links==
*[http://www.umassmedia.com/ UMassMedia.com]
*[http://www.umassmedia.com/ UMassMedia.com]
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Massachusetts_Boston Wikipedia: University of Massachusetts Boston]


{{DEFAULTSORT:University of Massachusetts Boston Mass Media 1979-02-06}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:University of Massachusetts Boston Mass Media 1979-02-06}}

Latest revision as of 00:29, 19 February 2020

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Massachusetts publications 

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Elvis Costello

Everybody's favorite nerd strikes back
Stephen Moniak

You remember Elvis Costello. He was the wormish, four-eyed pimple who sat behind you in high school, the nerd who chewed his fingers and drooled as he ate strips of paper out of his civics book. He was left-out but not ignored, the loner the jocks beat on and the sweathogs baited. The nice girls avoided him like a disease. He was just a little scary, that slack mouth and those gaping eyes hinting at some perverse mentality functioning beneath the goonish exterior. Still, Elvis acted hopelessly harmless, and everybody had a good time with him, the big boys locking him in lockers and the tight-sweatered cheerleaders teasing and taunting the poor jerk. Everybody laughed at Elvis. He was the perfect punching bag, made to be abused. He would never hit back.

Well, lookout! Elvis is back and he hasn't forgotten anybody. All those years of torture and abuse have left him thirsty for vengence, his ugly mind out of control. And it's all our fault.

Like last year's album, This Year's Model, the new Armed Forces is one long primal scream and anguished cry in which Elvis exorcises his hang-ups by dumping them on us. Once again, he unmercifully thrashes every subject that excites his warped impulses, the scope of which range from murderous paranoia to vulnerable neurosis. In his past albums Costello had trouble identifying his victims, and as often as not, wound up attacking himself. But now he is more sure of himself. In Armed Forces he blasts away not only at old nemeses, like vacant sexuality, or the corporate mentality that passes for modern mores, but at any moving target. And he is just twitching with anticipation; the first line he sings is "Oh, I don't know where to begin."

What is initially striking about this album is Costello's mixed imagery of fascism and physical desire. Elvis is blamed by his tortured psyche and revolted by the mindlessness of automated humanity. He will not be a member of that party: in "Goon Squad," he squeals "You'll never make a lampshade out of me." But contradicting this is the terrible realization that he is trapped in his body, a powerless toy of the whims and cravings of his chemistry.

This stark fact lends Costello a fragility that is almost endearing. When he seductively coos "Are you ready for the final solution?" in "Chemistry Class" and makes genocide a metaphore for sex, we can see Elvis's mad vision of seduction not as an intimate act of love, but as a one-sided affair in which the participant demands to "know the names of all he's better than." It is lust without choice, a numbing reality that is all take and no give, a self-destructive game of dominance and masochism: emotional fascism.

Not that Costello is without a sense of humor. "Accidents will Happen" is about a sexual encounter, a view clarified in "Chemistry Class":

 Ready to experiment
  Ready to be burned
  If it wasn't for accidents
  Some would never learn.

And he has the sheer gall to close The album with "What's So Funny About Peace, Love, and Understanding," a rearing rocker with Elvis at his paranoid best. After eleven songs of vindictive nutcutting, only Costello would dare point his finger and accuse everyone else of shitting on romanticism.

Let's not forget that this man has called groups like Boston musical eunuchs. Costello's obsession with sex is just what rock and roll, with all its sweat and raunchiness, demands. But Elvis is 9ot feeding us juvenile pap about unrequited love and unfulfilled kisses. His angst projects the act of love into deadly routine: in "Busy Bodies" he sings, "Busy bodies, busy, busy, getting nowhere." And he is genuinely horrified but still brought to his knees by commercial manipulation of eroticism. In "Green Shirt" he watches a TV commercial and warns:

 Who left these fingerprints
  On my imagination. You tease, you flirt

 And you shine all the buttons
  On your green shirt
  You can please yourself
  But somebody's gonna get it.

Whether or not you like what Elvis is saying, one has to strain to badmouth his music. The lyrics are crafty verses of double entendres that operate on multiple levels. And Costello does not throw away a single line. The temptation is to quote every verse and turn this review into a lyric sheet.

But you cannot reprint the sound. And what is so r,oddanin scary about Elvis are his melodies, without which we could pass him off as another nervous psychopath. Elvis writes tight pop-perfect tunes that jingle and whoosh. Even "Moods for Moderns," which sounds like a cross between Devo and The Addams Family theme song, makes the head nod and the feet tap in time. Soaring bursts of sonic melody like these haven't been heard since Lennon left McCartney for Yoko. Elvis has even polished his vocals: now he snarls less and sometimes dares to coo in breathless tones, a la Gerry and the Pacemakers. Combined with his twisted messages, the air-tight sound gives Costello a threatening persona. and the music a rawness and vitality that shames the elicited crap of groups like Foreigner and Van Halen.

Elvis Costello is making music that is not only exciting but provocative. With Armed Forces he has raised all the stakes. It is going to be tough to top this album this year. And Elvis is not through. At the end of "Two Little Hitlers" he promises "I will return."

Start looking for a hiding place — Elvis Costello's aim is true.

-

The Mass Media, February 6, 1979

Stephen Moniak reviews Armed Forces.

Images

1979-02-06 University of Massachusetts Boston Mass Media page 12 clipping.jpg


1979-02-06 University of Massachusetts Boston Mass Media illustration.jpg
Illustration.

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