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After the release of his album “Trust” in 1981, I officially became obsessed with Elvis Costello. At first, “Trust” felt like a disappointment following “Get Happy.” But I got over it. I just needed “Trust” to take, and of course, it did. As a kid, I had less patience for the artists I loved than I do now. I wanted every song on every record to be a classic immediately, mostly because of my limited funds and limited access to more. I only had enough money for one or two albums a week and if one or both ended up being lemons, it’d crush me until my next trip to the record store. Now I take my time with music, allowing a new piece of work by a favorite artist to reveal itself over several plays. “Trust” just needed that time, which as a wound-up teenager, I couldn’t find.
Elvis Costello had now released five brilliant albums in under four years and I wanted more. All of those fantastic non-LP b-sides found on an endless supply of 45’s from England, were not enough. I needed a new record and I needed it fast, and so did my Costello disciple friends. We were all obsessed. So, you can imagine the collective throat punch to fans that was the all country covers record “Almost Blue.” We had been eagerly awaiting the next classic and instead were blindsided with Loretta Lynn and George Jones songs. Years have been kind to “Almost Blue.” I enjoy it from time to time. But in 1981, it was cruel and inhumane.
Mercifully, it took less than nine months for E.C. to ameliorate our misery. Elvis Costello & The Attractions made up for their folly by releasing “Imperial Bedroom,” a record that most of us deemed a masterpiece after only one listen. This record took over my life. I listened to this record five times a day. I went as far as getting a t-shirt made using cheap felt iron-on letters at a local Greenwich Village head shop that read “How Wrong Can I Be Before I Am Right,” a lyric pulled from “Tears Before Bedtime,” the second track on the album.
Forty years later, the conversations regarding Costello's genre-hopping still take place, with the oft used phrase, "It all went down hill when Bruce Thomas left." Bruce Thomas, of course, one of the great bass players in rock and roll. But I have always defended those post-Thomas records. "When I Was Cruel," "The Delivery Man," the Bacharach collaboration "Painted From Memory," "Momofuku" and especially his recent trifecta, "Look Now," "Hey Clockface" and "The Boy Named If," can stand up to any catalogue in rock and pop music.
But something dawned on me as I took "Almost Blue" off the shelf this morning. Elvis Costello was genre-hopping from day one. Maybe the jump from "The Juliet Letters" to "When I was Cruel," or "Painted From Memory" to "Wise Up Ghost, his collaboration with The Roots is a bit more glaring. But let's be reasonable. "This Year's Model" doesn't really sound like "My Aim Is True." "Get Happy" doesn't really sound like "Armed Forces." "Imperial Bedroom" doesn't really sound like "Trust."
There are few artists who have been able to convincingly dabble in everything from country and classical, new wave and R&B as Elvis Costello. Does Davey Faragher sound like Bruce Thomas? No, he doesn't. But he's an excellent player and singer, and all of those records deserve more spins than they seem to be getting.
That is your Elvis Costello PSA for Wednesday, September 13th, 2023.
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