New York Times, February 8, 1989: Difference between revisions
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<center><h3> New label, old hands </h3></center> | <center><h3> New label, old hands </h3></center> | ||
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<center> Stephen Holden </center> | <center> Stephen Holden </center> | ||
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'''Elvis Costello, with a new label (Warners) and an old hand (McCartney) | |||
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Elvis Costello's excellent new album, ''Spike'' (Warner Brothers) may be the most stylistically diverse collection of songs in the prolific English singer and composer's 12-year recording career. The record, which marks his debut on Warner Brothers Records after a decadelong sojourn on Columbia, has the kind of freewheeling eclecticism in its arrangements that characterized the mature Beatles. The instrumentation ranges from Irish traditional to brass band, and Mr. Costello's songs touch even more bases than his 1982 tour de force, ''Imperial Bedroom.'' | Elvis Costello's excellent new album, ''Spike'' (Warner Brothers) may be the most stylistically diverse collection of songs in the prolific English singer and composer's 12-year recording career. The record, which marks his debut on Warner Brothers Records after a decadelong sojourn on Columbia, has the kind of freewheeling eclecticism in its arrangements that characterized the mature Beatles. The instrumentation ranges from Irish traditional to brass band, and Mr. Costello's songs touch even more bases than his 1982 tour de force, ''Imperial Bedroom.'' | ||
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"It was a workshop situation," Mr. Costello said. "We would sit around with a couple of guitars, a piano and a tape recorder and throw around ideas, improvising until we got a structure. Generally, if it sounds as though I wrote something, Paul wrote it, and if it sounds as though Paul wrote it, I did." | "It was a workshop situation," Mr. Costello said. "We would sit around with a couple of guitars, a piano and a tape recorder and throw around ideas, improvising until we got a structure. Generally, if it sounds as though I wrote something, Paul wrote it, and if it sounds as though Paul wrote it, I did." | ||
One of the album's most arresting songs, "Tramp the Dirt Down," is an outspoken denunciation of Britain's Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher; an eerily beautiful melody bears a message of towering contempt. Mr. Costello's lyric labels England "the whore of the world" and Mrs. Thatcher "her madam." | One of the album's most arresting songs, "Tramp the Dirt Down," is an outspoken denunciation of Britain's Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher; an eerily beautiful melody bears a message of towering contempt. Mr. Costello's lyric labels England ''"the whore of the world"'' and Mrs. Thatcher ''"her madam."'' | ||
The album's finest song may be "God's Comic," the saga of a third-rate music-hall performer who dies and goes to heaven. The protagonist, who used to impersonate a drunken priest on the stage, is terrified of confronting God. But when he finally meets his Maker, God is sitting on a waterbed sipping cola, reading a paperback and listening to Andrew Lloyd Webber's ''Requiem''. God tells him, "I've been wading though all this unbelievable junk and wondering if I should have given the world to the monkeys." | The album's finest song may be "God's Comic," the saga of a third-rate music-hall performer who dies and goes to heaven. The protagonist, who used to impersonate a drunken priest on the stage, is terrified of confronting God. But when he finally meets his Maker, God is sitting on a waterbed sipping cola, reading a paperback and listening to Andrew Lloyd Webber's ''Requiem''. God tells him, ''"I've been wading though all this unbelievable junk and wondering if I should have given the world to the monkeys."'' | ||
"I didn't know whether to spell it 'monkeys' or 'Monkees,' " Mr. Costello said, laughing. "I even considered working in an allusion to 'Last Train to Clarksville.'" | "I didn't know whether to spell it 'monkeys' or 'Monkees,' " Mr. Costello said, laughing. "I even considered working in an allusion to 'Last Train to Clarksville.'" | ||
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{{tags}}[[Spike]] {{-}} [[Paul McCartney]] {{-}} [[Veronica]] {{-}} [[Pads, Paws And Claws]] {{-}} [[God's Comic]] {{-}} [[Tramp The Dirt Down]] {{-}} [[Margaret Thatcher]] {{-}} [[The Beatles]] {{-}} [[Imperial Bedroom]] {{-}} [[Andrew Lloyd Webber]] {{-}} [[The Monkees]] {{-}} [[Last Train To Clarksville]] {{-}} [[Warner Bros.]] {{-}} [[Columbia Records]] | |||
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{{Bibliography next | {{Bibliography next | ||
|prev = New York Times, | |prev = New York Times, March 8, 1988 | ||
|next = New York Times, February 19, 1989 | |next = New York Times, February 19, 1989 | ||
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[[Stephen Holden]] previews ''[[Spike]]''. | [[Stephen Holden]] previews ''[[Spike]]''. | ||
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<br><small>Clipping.</small> | |||
<small>Page scan.</small><br> | |||
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Latest revision as of 01:06, 24 October 2021
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