Melody Maker, January 24, 1981: Difference between revisions
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''Trust'' arrives like a flurry of punches, pinning back your ears as it pins you to the ropes; ducking one punch, you walk into another. Some of the individual blows might lack a decisive impact, but the final combination puts you down for the count. Time was when Elvis would've left you on your knees, bleeding into your tears. ''Trust'' holds out its hand, hauls you back on your feet. Costello's vision is as fierce as ever, but the malice has gone; he can still rage, but he no longer scolds. | ''Trust'' arrives like a flurry of punches, pinning back your ears as it pins you to the ropes; ducking one punch, you walk into another. Some of the individual blows might lack a decisive impact, but the final combination puts you down for the count. Time was when Elvis would've left you on your knees, bleeding into your tears. ''Trust'' holds out its hand, hauls you back on your feet. Costello's vision is as fierce as ever, but the malice has gone; he can still rage, but he no longer scolds. | ||
Compare the cover of ''Trust'' with the sleeve of ''This Year's Model'' or even the furtive smirk of ''Get Happy!!''. Elvis looks less malignant: he used to be disgusted, now he really looks amused. Having his albums around the house and playing them so often is still like having someone's abrasive conscience as a lodger, though. No doubt, Elvis will remain too acerbic for comfortable popular consumption. This could explain the outrageous lack of notice suffered by "[[Clubland]]" (presently raging up the chart with an anvil around its neck). Taut contemporary lyricism set to an epic beat, "Clubland" is one of Costello's finest ever shots, and works effectively as a giddy introduction to ''Trust'', its epic sweep indicative of [[Nick Lowe]]'s clean, spacious production. | Compare the cover of ''Trust'' with the sleeve of ''This Year's Model'' or even the furtive smirk of ''Get Happy!!''. Elvis looks less malignant: he used to be disgusted, now he ''really'' looks amused. Having his albums around the house and playing them so often is still like having someone's abrasive conscience as a lodger, though. No doubt, Elvis will remain too acerbic for comfortable popular consumption. This could explain the outrageous lack of notice suffered by "[[Clubland]]" (presently raging up the chart with an anvil around its neck). Taut contemporary lyricism set to an epic beat, "Clubland" is one of Costello's finest ever shots, and works effectively as a giddy introduction to ''Trust'', its epic sweep indicative of [[Nick Lowe]]'s clean, spacious production. | ||
The single's apparent chart failure is a clue to Costello's erratic commercial success. "Clubland" is just too close to the bone; it has the muddy impetus of actuality. It's a perfect example of Costello panning across the social landscape and zooming in to expose the devious twists of our common lives, the duplicities, emotional conspiracies and petty humiliations that eventually provoke extreme reactions. Here, it's the flight into crime, looking for status, independence, recognition | The single's apparent chart failure is a clue to Costello's erratic commercial success. "Clubland" is just too close to the bone; it has the muddy impetus of actuality. It's a perfect example of Costello panning across the social landscape and zooming in to expose the devious twists of our common lives, the duplicities, emotional conspiracies and petty humiliations that eventually provoke extreme reactions. Here, it's the flight into crime, looking for status, independence, recognition. | ||
And that points to another of Costello's problems as far as some confused spectators and innocent bystanders are concerned: he's so damned prolific. His songs are full of ideas, and there are so many songs; 20 on ''Get Happy!!'', another 14 here: it makes people so suspicious. Someone must be getting duped somewhere along the line, surely? | "Clubland" is also a brilliant ''rock-noir'' song up there with "Watching The Detectives" and John Cale's "Gun", its drama drawn from its atmosphere, its sinister shadows rather than any clear narrative progression. It bristles with marvellous images; "Clubland" has more quote-able lines than most albums have good songs. | ||
And that points to another of Costello's problems as far as some confused spectators and innocent bystanders are concerned: he's so damned ''prolific''. His songs are full of ideas, and there are so many ''songs''; 20 on ''Get Happy!!'', another 14 here: it makes people so suspicious. Someone ''must'' be getting duped somewhere along the line, surely? | |||
The simple truth is that Costello does have a lot to say, and his talent is articulate enough to express every fleeting emotion, image or thought that attracts his attention, to turn them into songs that are often uncommonly memorable. Bob Geldof has a similarly inquisitive mind, but more often than is good for him he turns his fleeting notions into "good copy," eye-catching quotes, and gets crucified. Elvis keeps his lip clipped, commits his energies to song writing and gets away with murder. | The simple truth is that Costello does have a lot to say, and his talent is articulate enough to express every fleeting emotion, image or thought that attracts his attention, to turn them into songs that are often uncommonly memorable. Bob Geldof has a similarly inquisitive mind, but more often than is good for him he turns his fleeting notions into "good copy," eye-catching quotes, and gets crucified. Elvis keeps his lip clipped, commits his energies to song writing and gets away with murder. | ||
A professional songwriter, heir to a tradition broader than most rock 'n' roll writers can accommodate, Costello writes well about virtually anything. His songs are rarely as confessional as they appear. Hence the versatility of his writing, the variety of musical settings and styles he deploys. He's an investigative songwriter, probably the best in rock. He owes allegiance only to his own vocation as a songwriter: that's maybe another reason he worries some people. You have to advance towards his songs; they know where they stand, and they stay there. If you want to know more about them — and by implication him — it's your initiative, pal. Get inside them, do some work; start thinking. You don't even have to agree with what he's saying. Costello's songs seem to like nothing better than a good argument: they're meant to sting you into reacting. | A professional songwriter, heir to a tradition broader than most rock 'n' roll writers can accommodate, Costello writes well about virtually anything. His songs are rarely as confessional as they appear. Hence the versatility of his writing, the variety of musical settings and styles he deploys. He's an ''investigative'' songwriter, probably the best in rock. He owes allegiance only to his own vocation as a songwriter: that's maybe another reason he worries some people. | ||
You have to advance towards his songs; they know where they stand, and they stay there. If you want to know more about them — and by implication ''him'' — it's your initiative, pal. Get inside them, do some work; start ''thinking''. You don't even have to agree with what he's saying. Costello's songs seem to like nothing better than a good argument: they're meant to sting you into reacting. | |||
It's this quality that convinces you that there's a ''real'' voice on the end of the line; someone who's put some real thought into the grooves; someone who treats his songs as a dialogue. His best songs are examples, perhaps, of what he describes on "[[You'll Never Be A Man]]" as "the physical art of conversation." | |||
To the extent that his songs are genuinely crammed with provocative notions, you could sympathise with Jake Riviera when he says Elvis doesn't do interviews because all he has to say is contained in his songs. You can believe that after finishing an album like ''Trust'', Costello's got nothing left in his mouth but the sweat on his gums. | |||
''Trust'' is the work of someone who takes himself and his audience very seriously. He won't be looked up to, he won't talk down to you. There are familiar themes pursued on ''Trust'', but increasingly his emotional concerns are placed in a broader social context. | |||
Fortunately, we're spared the glib social ironies of ''Armed Forces'', the flippant wisecracks and cheap shots of "Senior Service" and "Goon Squad." The points here are harder won, the observations are more touching, tinged with a bruised humour, more ''human''. It's the concerned commentary of, say, "Opportunity," than the glossy tirades of ''Armed Forces''; there's less of that album's disgust, more of the last record's compassion. | |||
"You'll Never Be A Man" has steely tenderness that three years ago would've appeared as bitter rage. A study of someone Costello clearly thinks fails to stand up to the world, it begins with a stark staccato rhythm, opens up to a glorious, tumbling chorus that's currently among my favourite moments in his music. ''"You'll never be a man,"'' Costello implores with moving conviction, ''"when you're half a woman and you're half awake / with a face full of tears and a chemical shake / Are you so superior, are you in such pain / are you made out of porcelain..."'' It would be fanciful, probably, to imagine Elvis confronting his own image in a cracked mirror. | "You'll Never Be A Man" has steely tenderness that three years ago would've appeared as bitter rage. A study of someone Costello clearly thinks fails to stand up to the world, it begins with a stark staccato rhythm, opens up to a glorious, tumbling chorus that's currently among my favourite moments in his music. ''"You'll never be a man,"'' Costello implores with moving conviction, ''"when you're half a woman and you're half awake / with a face full of tears and a chemical shake / Are you so superior, are you in such pain / are you made out of porcelain..."'' It would be fanciful, probably, to imagine Elvis confronting his own image in a cracked mirror. |
Revision as of 16:12, 10 May 2017
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