Creem, May 1979

Bibliography   72 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 UK & Ireland weeklies UK & Ireland magazines UK & Ireland newspapers US newspapers US rock magazines US music magazines US magazines US alternative weeklies European magazines European newspapers Canada  •  Mexico  •  Asia Australia  •  New Zealand South America  •  Africa Blogs  •  Fanzines  •  Books Online publications — Elvis Costello Ask Him No Questions He'll Tell You No Lies Nick Kent Creem, May 1979 Nick Kent profiles Elvis Costello. Robert Christgau reviews Armed Forces. Penny Valentine's Letter From Britain focuses on Elvis Costello. Images Cover and page scan. Christgau Consumer Guide Elvis Costello Armed Forces (Columbia) Like his predecessor, Bob Dylan, this ambitious tunesmith offers more as a phrase-maker than as an analyst or a poet, more as a public image than as a thinking, feeling person. He needs words because they add color and detail to his music. I like the more explicitly sociopolitical tenor here— "the boys from the Mersey and the Thames and The Times" evokes the conscripts in Her Majesty's Senior Service more directly than any lover he's inclined to pick on. But I don't find as many memorable bits of language as I did on This Year's Model. And though I approve of the more intricate pop constructions of the music, I found TYM's relentless nastiness of instrumental and (especially) vocal attack more compelling. A good record, to be sure, but not a great one. A- Letter From Britain Waiting For The End Of The World Penny Valentine Photo by Lynn Goldsmith. File:1979-05-00 Creem photo 01 cd.jpg Photos by Chalkie Davies. Photos by Roberta Bayley and Brad Elterman. Page scans.

External links

• Wikipedia: Creem