Washington and Lee University Ring-tum Phi, April 20, 1989: Difference between revisions
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After a two-year layoff following ''King of America'' and ''Blood and Chocolate'', Elvis Costello is back on the charts with another album crying out for social consciousness. His latest album ''Spike'', presently the number 3 college album in ''Rolling Stone'', has rifled up the charts after | After a two-year layoff following ''King of America'' and ''Blood and Chocolate'', Elvis Costello is back on the charts with another album crying out for social consciousness. His latest album ''Spike'', presently the number 3 college album in ''Rolling Stone'', has rifled up the charts after its debut at number 19 in the April 6 issue. | ||
Anyone who follows Costello's music will argue that his making another album of social consciousness is about as dramatic as McDonalds making another Quarter Pounder with Cheese; it's not as if the content of any one album (or burger for that matter) has been that radically different from the first one made. ''Spike'' is different though. It's better. | Anyone who follows Costello's music will argue that his making another album of social consciousness is about as dramatic as McDonalds making another Quarter Pounder with Cheese; it's not as if the content of any one album (or burger for that matter) has been that radically different from the first one made. ''Spike'' is different though. It's better. | ||
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Very simply, ''Spike'' is by far one of the finest works of music released this year. Costello pushes his musical abilities to the limit showing us his incredible range of musical styles without ever "selling out." | Very simply, ''Spike'' is by far one of the finest works of music released this year. Costello pushes his musical abilities to the limit showing us his incredible range of musical styles without ever "selling out." | ||
As though his musical talent wasn't enough, Costello enlists the help of Paul McCartney, Pretenders lead Chrissie Hynde, T Bone Burnett who helped produce the album, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Michael Blair and Marc Ribot from Tom Waits band and members of The Chieftains, an Irish ensemble whose recent album Celtic Wedding has won incredible acclaim, to help him on what is certainly the most ambitious project of his career. As a result, ''Spike'' is pure genius by Costello's and anyone else's standards. | As though his musical talent wasn't enough, Costello enlists the help of Paul McCartney, Pretenders lead Chrissie Hynde, T Bone Burnett who helped produce the album, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Michael Blair and Marc Ribot from Tom Waits band and members of The Chieftains, an Irish ensemble whose recent album ''Celtic Wedding'' has won incredible acclaim, to help him on what is certainly the most ambitious project of his career. As a result, ''Spike'' is pure genius by Costello's and anyone else's standards. | ||
The listener's first impressions of Costello's new work will certainly come from the album cover which feature's Costello's sinister clown painted head mounted on a field of baby blue satin with a sign underneath that reads "The Beloved Entertainer." The sign and the first cut off the album, "...This Town..." are both subtle jabs at those who have never given him the acclaim he most certainly deserves. | The listener's first impressions of Costello's new work will certainly come from the album cover which feature's Costello's sinister clown painted head mounted on a field of baby blue satin with a sign underneath that reads "The Beloved Entertainer." The sign and the first cut off the album, "...This Town..." are both subtle jabs at those who have never given him the acclaim he most certainly deserves. | ||
''"You're nobody ' | ''"You're nobody 'til everybody in this town thinks you're poison / Got your number, knows it must be avoided / You're nobody 'til everybody in this town thinks you're a bastard"'' Costello sings in the opening cut. In social statement number one Costello points out the fallacy in equating money with happiness and how sad it is that genius has to be threatening before it is recognized. | ||
"Let Him Dangle," an eerie disturbing song whose chorus of ''"let him dangle, let him dangle"'' follows every four lines, is a morbid song about a man who gets convicted of a murder he didn't commit and hangs as a scapegoat anyway. In social statement number two Costello asks why those who oppose murder always call for the death penalty as punishment. | "Let Him Dangle," an eerie disturbing song whose chorus of ''"let him dangle, let him dangle"'' follows every four lines, is a morbid song about a man who gets convicted of a murder he didn't commit and hangs as a scapegoat anyway. In social statement number two Costello asks why those who oppose murder always call for the death penalty as punishment. | ||
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The fifth song on ''Spike'' is "God's Comic," a haunting song with chilling lyrics about a man who dies and goes to meet God. Musically, "God's Comic" is easy-going and features both a jazzy pizzicato double bass and cello score and a percussionist who remembers the art of playing the snare with brushes. It's a song that Cab Calloway would have been proud of. | The fifth song on ''Spike'' is "God's Comic," a haunting song with chilling lyrics about a man who dies and goes to meet God. Musically, "God's Comic" is easy-going and features both a jazzy pizzicato double bass and cello score and a percussionist who remembers the art of playing the snare with brushes. It's a song that Cab Calloway would have been proud of. | ||
As beautifully musical as "God's Comic" is, however, the genius of the song comes through the lyrics. God's fool dies and goes to heaven where he secs God sitting ''"on a waterbed/ drinking a cola of an mystery brand/ Reading an airport novelette, listening to Andrew Lloyd Webber's Requiem. He said, before it had really begun, 'I prefer the one about my son'/ 'I've been wading through all this unbelievable junk and wondering if I should have given the world to the monkeys."'' | As beautifully musical as "God's Comic" is, however, the genius of the song comes through the lyrics. God's fool dies and goes to heaven where he secs God sitting ''"on a waterbed / drinking a cola of an mystery brand / Reading an airport novelette, listening to Andrew Lloyd Webber's Requiem. He said, before it had really begun, 'I prefer the one about my son' / 'I've been wading through all this unbelievable junk and wondering if I should have given the world to the monkeys."'' | ||
When listening to "God's Comic," listen for the manipulation of the lyrics in the chorus following each verse. It is wonderful. | When listening to "God's Comic," listen for the manipulation of the lyrics in the chorus following each verse. It is wonderful. | ||
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The final track on the first side of ''Spike'' may be the best cut off the entire album. In "Tramp the Dirt Down" Costello shows how very little he thinks of British Prune Minister Margaret Thatcher, her foreign policy and her tactics of defense. | The final track on the first side of ''Spike'' may be the best cut off the entire album. In "Tramp the Dirt Down" Costello shows how very little he thinks of British Prune Minister Margaret Thatcher, her foreign policy and her tactics of defense. | ||
''"When England was the whore of the world, Margaret was her madam"'' is the lyric that opens the second verse. ''"Well I hope that she sleeps well at night, isn't haunted by every tiny detail/ 'Cos when she held that lovely face in her hands all she thought of was betrayal."'' | ''"When England was the whore of the world, Margaret was her madam"'' is the lyric that opens the second verse. ''"Well I hope that she sleeps well at night, isn't haunted by every tiny detail / 'Cos when she held that lovely face in her hands all she thought of was betrayal."'' | ||
The song is musical genius using the beautifully melodic Uileann pipes that make The Chieftains music so wonderful and pleasant. Add the disturbing lyrics to the beautiful music and Costello has set up the juxtaposition between sincerity and deception that he | The song is musical genius using the beautifully melodic Uileann pipes that make The Chieftains music so wonderful and pleasant. Add the disturbing lyrics to the beautiful music and Costello has set up the juxtaposition between sincerity and deception that he blasts Thatcher for in the song. It's perfect. | ||
Side Two opens with "Stalin Malone," an instrumental featuring the talents of trumpeters Gregory Davis and Efrem Towns who perform throughout the album. The tune has a very tight, almost fusion jazz feel to it and basically sounds like what a trumpet competition between Maynard Ferguson and Doc Severinsen might sound like. | Side Two opens with "Stalin Malone," an instrumental featuring the talents of trumpeters Gregory Davis and Efrem Towns who perform throughout the album. The tune has a very tight, almost fusion jazz feel to it and basically sounds like what a trumpet competition between Maynard Ferguson and Doc Severinsen might sound like. | ||
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''Spike'' ends with another slow and beautiful but sad track called "Last Boat Leaving" that deals with a man's having to leave his wife and child to fight in a war he doesn't want to fight. As he leaves he knows he'll never return and he tells his small child to take care of his mother. | ''Spike'' ends with another slow and beautiful but sad track called "Last Boat Leaving" that deals with a man's having to leave his wife and child to fight in a war he doesn't want to fight. As he leaves he knows he'll never return and he tells his small child to take care of his mother. | ||
The man then questions the government that is making him go. ''" You've had my innocence, you've had my heartbreak / You've taken the place where I once belonged/ Now what more can you take'?"'' the soldier asks. It is a sad, but perhaps fitting conclusion to an album laced with thick chords of social awakening. | The man then questions the government that is making him go. ''" You've had my innocence, you've had my heartbreak / You've taken the place where I once belonged / Now what more can you take'?"'' the soldier asks. It is a sad, but perhaps fitting conclusion to an album laced with thick chords of social awakening. | ||
Elvis Costello proves on ''Spike'' that his is certain musical genius and that one need not be a commercial wonder to achieve such a status. He examines more than ever before the taboos and topics that strike at the heart of societies largest concerns but he does so using a plethora of musical styles that both complement and often juxtapose the topics about which he is singing. | Elvis Costello proves on ''Spike'' that his is certain musical genius and that one need not be a commercial wonder to achieve such a status. He examines more than ever before the taboos and topics that strike at the heart of societies largest concerns but he does so using a plethora of musical styles that both complement and often juxtapose the topics about which he is singing. | ||
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==External links== | ==External links== | ||
*[https://ringtumphi.com RingTumPhi.com] | |||
*[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_and_Lee_University Wikipedia: Washington and Lee University] | *[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_and_Lee_University Wikipedia: Washington and Lee University] | ||
*[https://repository.wlu.edu/handle/11021/32525 repository.wlu.edu] | *[https://repository.wlu.edu/handle/11021/32525 repository.wlu.edu] |
Latest revision as of 18:25, 27 January 2018
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