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Clarkston, Mich. – Elvis Costello in person is like one of those glass-encased motors at an auto show.
Just as simple mechanisms propel the fastest cars, Costello and his band, The Attractions, reveal on stage all the basic workings that produce their complex-sounding music. You begin to realize there’s nothing too complicated about Elvis Costello and The Attractions after all.
THE MUSIC on the new CBS record, Punch The Clock, has been stripped to the bone and reconstructed with simple chords and Stax/Volt-style brass choruses – it’s the sunniest, bounciest Costello in some time. Similarly, Costello has reworked a few of his older numbers for concert play.
A four-piece brass section blew hard on a new Watching The Detectives that was barely identifiable. Gone was the original’s Peter Gunn aura mystery to be replaced by a sexy new James Bond slickness.
From Punch The Clock, Costello started with the probable single, Let Them All Talk, a driving R&B song with enough shouting chorus lines and honking horns to be the ideal opener.
He employed brass too, on the older Possession, giving it more substance. A marvellous performance of the new The Greatest Thing preceded last year’s single, Man Out Of Time.
When the brass departed after six numbers until the encore, it was time for Costello’s great three-man band to pick up the slack, turning in terrific versions of Shabby Doll, Mystery Dance and You Belong To Me.
COSTELLO relies on The Attractions as much as Bruce Springsteen relies on the E Street Band – even more, maybe, because Costello’s singing can be so brittle at times.
Keyboard player, Steve Nieve, is amazingly precise in concert, which is even more remarkable because he puts on a good show, too. Bassist Bruce Thomas and drummer Pete Thomas give Costello’s music it’s strong rock foundations – without their help so much of his music would end up as little more than jingles with crafty lyrics.
COSTELLO’S reedy vocals have the quality of a bellowing saxophone, and, like a seasoned instrument, his voice is improving with age. He’s showing more emotion in the lower notes and better control at higher registers.
You get the feeling the youthful lads in Scotland’s Aztec Camera will have to stop touring someday because of childhood diseases like the mumps and chicken-pox. Boy, do they look young!
THEIR MUSIC, influenced by late-‘60s folk rock by the likes of The Byrds and Buffalo Springfield, is almost as old as them.
Leader Roddy Frame is a budding acoustic guitarist and whining singer who should probably be judged in a few years.
The group has drive and potential, though, especially the rhythm section of bassist Campbell Owens and drummer Dave Ruffy.
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