Melody Maker, July 13, 1991: Difference between revisions
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We who have held Costello's songs in a place very close to our hearts for many many years come tonight looking for reason to forgive the feeble ''Mighty like A Rose'' (spectacular wordplay as diversion from dearth of ideas, verdant instrumentation as compensation for relative lack of songs) and leave wondering what it can possibly be that impels a man only about three years older than Shaun Ryder to behave like a crotchety, walking-stick brandishing grandfather of several. | We who have held Costello's songs in a place very close to our hearts for many many years come tonight looking for reason to forgive the feeble ''Mighty like A Rose'' (spectacular wordplay as diversion from dearth of ideas, verdant instrumentation as compensation for relative lack of songs) and leave wondering what it can possibly be that impels a man only about three years older than Shaun Ryder to behave like a crotchety, walking-stick brandishing grandfather of several. | ||
The thing with Costello's driving anger was always that it was as accurate as it was ferocious, hunting down deserving targets with withering accuracy, and yet counterpointed by some of the loveliest sentiments ever sung ("I'll Wear it Proudly," omitted tonight, still knots the ventricles like no other). Tonight's stand-in Costello trades solely in indiscriminate peevish irritation. Some faintly amusing lines in an updated "Tramp The Dirt Down" arouse a response of tumultuous Pavlovian liberalism near the finish, but it's hardly ''"He's contemplating murder again / He must be in love"'' | The thing with Costello's driving anger was always that it was as accurate as it was ferocious, hunting down deserving targets with withering accuracy, and yet counterpointed by some of the loveliest sentiments ever sung ("I'll Wear it Proudly," omitted tonight, still knots the ventricles like no other). Tonight's stand-in Costello trades solely in indiscriminate peevish irritation. Some faintly amusing lines in an updated "Tramp The Dirt Down" arouse a response of tumultuous Pavlovian liberalism near the finish, but it's hardly ''"He's contemplating murder again / He must be in love."'' And when he does try to come over all tormented-but-lender, all he succeeds in doing is reducing "Alison" to a whined complaint (not a lament) set to blundering accompaniment. | ||
I who stand before you and faff around the point admit it because I honestly haven't the faintest clue what Costello, or whoever, thinks he's doing. This makes him (still) less tediously transparent than most, but it does not make tonight any good. Such searing essays in the art of the song as "Accidents Will Happen," "Suit Of Lights" and "Temptation" are delivered with an indifference which would have been perversely thrilling were it contemptuous, but it's just indifferent. "The Other Side Of Summer," arguably his best single ever, is stripped of the giddy fairground organs, as an acoustic waltz (someone's got the bootleg version of "Like A Rolling Stone") and demonstrates that there's a thoroughly boring song in there struggling to get out; "Veronica" likewise, and the dreadful "So Like Candy" goes on for weeks and tails off into "I Want You," an outrageous waste of his killer punch. | I who stand before you and faff around the point admit it because I honestly haven't the faintest clue what Costello, or whoever, thinks he's doing. This makes him (still) less tediously transparent than most, but it does not make tonight any good. Such searing essays in the art of the song as "Accidents Will Happen," "Suit Of Lights" and "Temptation" are delivered with an indifference which would have been perversely thrilling were it contemptuous, but it's just indifferent. "The Other Side Of Summer," arguably his best single ever, is stripped of the giddy fairground organs, as an acoustic waltz (someone's got the bootleg version of "Like A Rolling Stone") and demonstrates that there's a thoroughly boring song in there struggling to get out; "Veronica" likewise, and the dreadful "So Like Candy" goes on for weeks and tails off into "I Want You," an outrageous waste of his killer punch. | ||
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'''Melody Maker, July 13, 1991 | '''Melody Maker, July 13, 1991 | ||
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[[Andrew Mueller]] reviews Elvis Costello | [[Andrew Mueller]] reviews Elvis Costello with [[The Rude 5]], Monday, [[Concert 1991-07-01 London|July 1, 1991]], Hammersmith Odeon, London, England. | ||
{{Bibliography images}} | {{Bibliography images}} | ||
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<br><small>Clipping.</small> | <br><small>Clipping.</small> | ||
[[image:1991-07-13 Melody Maker photo 01 ss.jpg| | <small>Photo by [[Stephen Sweet]].</small><br> | ||
[[image:1991-07-13 Melody Maker photo 01 ss.jpg|360px|border]] | |||
[[image:1991-07-13 Melody Maker cover.jpg|x120px|border]] | [[image:1991-07-13 Melody Maker cover.jpg|x120px|border]] |
Revision as of 14:38, 18 July 2015
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