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Punch The Clock, the eighth album by Elvis Costello ind the Attrac-tions, finds Elvis once again wrestling with the demons of 1960's soul musk. Ltztike GET HAPPY, Costello's previous excur-sion into the world of R A B, Punch The Clock sports a full Motown/Stax style horn section and a female vocal duo.
In beginning a review of Punch The Clock, it would he wise to note that Elvis Costello has prove himself to be among the most gifted writes and performers of his generation. He has recorded albums in a variety of genres, each handled with an enviable amount of ease and facility. His songs are San with hooks, and he has suc-cessfully ventured into' styles as diverse as those of David Bowie, The Beatles, George Jones, Cole Porter and the Temptations. While this stylistic diversity has marked Costello as a unique talent, it has also made it increasing!), difficult to tell how sincere he is in ash new artistic stance. The big-gest problem with Costello's work , and with Punch The Clock in particular, is that is is often impossibk to reconcile the supposedly serious content of the songs with the cute, smug, or downright smutty approach he brings to than.
Punch The Clock opens well, with Let Them All Talk, a driving horn-dominated track featuring a strong chorus la the be MOTOWN tradition. Everyday I WMe the look, The Greatest Thing end The auvent Within Herr all catchy pop soap, and the fine backing vocals by A frodiriak on Everyday I Write the Book help to make it a contender for Elvis' first hit single in America. Love Went Mad, despite a few nice turns_ in the .chorus, is bogged down by such typical couplets as:
With these vulgar fractions of the tre-ble clef/I wish you luck with a capital
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Closing side one is Shipbuilding , a slow, Jazzy inflected ballad questioning the economic upswing which accompanies a nation going to wiz. The lyric Is concise and devoid of the multi-syllabic rhyming histronics that have marred too many of Elvis Costello's compositions.. ShObulidiAg goes a link longer than it needs t. o, but the fact that Elvis tickles an important subject without throwing in his usual not-nice-girl-with-lipstick reference makes it artistically the strongest song on the album.
T.K.O. (Boxing Day), the tint song on side 2, if another Motown/Stax shouter with an impressive horn chart. Charm School is easily the worst song on the record, with Elvis using his most affected voice to croon:
You and 1 as lovers were nothing but a fisice/Trying to make a silk purse out of a sow's arse.
The fact that this sort of thing goes on ova a riff lifted from The Summer Knows, of all soap, makes it even Nada to listen to. After this taste of wretched cuteness, The Invisibk Man, Mouth Almighty, King of Thieves, and The World and His Wilt !weigh in as decent, danceable pop songs with Spatz:able arranseesents. ilk and Soap, an attack on the "hard line, in hypocrisy," drawn by British aristocrats, is simply toe grating to like very much. Even a reference to Lady Di and her hus-band, Charles, as "Lord and Lady Muck" fails to breathe life into this slow number.
The central theme of Punch The Clock is that man, when he b.:comes bored and frustrated with his persotial, sex-uAl or even national situation, sometimes takes actions that are not in his sett-incarst. This is not new territory, and at his best, Costello explores it in insightful fashion. sHe is accomplished at using details from the war between the sexes in such a way as to relate them to the greater problems faced by individuals cid societies. The In-vitibk Man, Mouth Almighty and The Work! and His Wife all deal with this theme to varying degrees. The World and His Wife, despite having a great title, splen-didly arranged horns and a rousing chorus, still suffers from a • common Costello problem—namely, a needlessly risque' lyric. The smugness of Coirtello's works would not be so objectionable, if he did toot aspire to deal with more complicated and impor-t= subjeariatter than boy-a:wets-0d and their re 144 folly. However, rude and sil-ly phrases, in the midst of otherwise in-telligent and compelling works, make the offending lines all the more irritating.
Punch The Clock is grounded by the excellent rhythm action of Pete Thomas on drums and Bruce Thomas on bass. As a unit, these two art second to none, especially on the uptempo numbers. Steve Naive, the • Attractions' inventive keyboardist, has simplified his attack, somewhat, from the grandiose textures of fraternal Bedroom, but his versatility and technique remain remarkable.
On the whole, Punch The Clock is an interesting and energetic album. The criticisms levelled at Elvis Costello in the course of this review are relatively minor ones, in light of the fact that., at his wont, he is far better a writer, singer and mtui-clan than the -Trajor;ty of his peers.
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