|
This week we have two productions by different artists. One is New Wave, and the other thinks it is. Guess which is which.
The authentic product is the latest release by Elvis Costello and the Attractions, Get Happy (Columbia).
The album of 20 (yes, twenty!) songs is typical Costello — drums, organ, rhythm and bass guitar, songs featuring Costello's gravelly voice singing both close to and away from the mic, and songs of both new and lost love, social protest — the usual fare.
It's lively and noisy, sarcastic, and as enjoyable as anything he's already produced.
The title itself is appropriate, because it's a happy, upbeat album. Most of the songs are performed in major keys, and Costello himself doesn't sound as angry or despondent as he did on his first American release, My Aim is True.
Because the songs are so short, compared to modern standards — some are as short as a minute and a half — there isn't the same depth found in songs like "Girls Talk." The lyrics and instrumentals aren't allowed to develop the way they do on his earlier releases. But that's OK — what's on this album is good enough, even if more songs means less attention devoted to the individual song.
With this album, the tendency is strong to gauge the entire effect of one side, and the effect is good as always.
And now, it's time for me to break a rule. When I started this column, I promised myself that I wouldn't review anything I disliked. The column was just for the best that I gleaned from anywhere I could find things.
But last week I picked up an album that bothers me so much I feel compelled to write about it.
Mad Love, by Linda Ronstadt (Asylum) is one album that just doesn't make it. Elvis Costello by Elvis Costello is primo. And Costello by Dave Edmunds is excellent. But Costello by Ronstadt isn't even in the ballpark.
Now, I like Linda Ronstadt. I don't own any of her other albums, but I've heard most of them. And I enjoyed her duet with Phoebe Snow on Saturday Night Live, when they sang "Married Men" by the Roches.
But Linda Ronstadt singing New Wave material is almost as ludicrous as Ethel Merman singing soul.
I'd advise Costello fans and those who like Dave Edmunds' recent rendition of "Girls Talk" to avoid this album.
The album has three Costello songs that turn out like mud — "Party Girl," "Girls Talk," and "Talking in the Dark." The problem is that Ronstadt's backup band seems to have rewritten the songs into a higher key for her voice, and they weren't meant to be sung, or played, that way.
Ronstadt's band also butchers an old favorite, "Hurt So Bad," by the Vogues. Her voice isn't too bad on this one, but the screaming guitars and synthesizers, and the thumping drums, muddy and distort the whole song.
The problem I have with this album is that it just doesn't seem honest. New Wave is as much an attitude, fostered by singers disenchanted with the kind of superstar Ronstadt represents, as it is a style of song. Not everyone can or should sing it.
Dollish Linda is one of those who's much better at ballads, like "Look Out for My Love" by Neil Young, one of the few bright spots on this album.
Another is the recently released "How Do I Make You?" by Mark Goldenberg, a member of the band. This one makes it because it was written for her, and the band does step off the gas long enough for her voice to sing through.
And before all you Linda Ronstadt fans tell me I don't know what I'm talking about, I took the question to several other fans, and they all turned thumbs down. She's proven herself with material much more suitable. This just isn't her thing.
| 
