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Armed with his most commercial tunes yet, a snappy horn section and Afrodiziak, a vocal group who seem to be backing up everybody's Motown album these days, Elvis Costello boxed through a clever two-hour, two-encore set last Friday night at The Greek.
Elvis Costello and two encores and even thanking the audience? Strange as it may seem, the new Elvis has been showing some stage manners on recent tours.
Imperial Bedroom marked a turnaround for Elvis; the cutting edge of his incisive lyrics backed a new maturity that somehow managed to avoid both hostility and sentimentality.
Elvis seems determined to find mass acceptance these days without sacrificing artistic integrity. Note the legible lyric sheet on his latest LP, Punch the Clock and the strong R&B tinge which still bears the indelible Elvis Costello stamp.
But if he's less volatile in temperament onstage, he's become a better vocalist and guitarist Since the emphasis has been placed on his music rather than his pouting.
His latest tour features all the Elvis standards, but the Angry Young Man and the Attractions take each one deliciously to unexpected new ground song after song.
After a punchy opening with the TKO Horns and Afrodiziak (Caron Wheeler and Claudia Fontaine) lending support on "Let Them All Talk," "The Greatest Thing" and "Opportunity," and just when it seemed like he couldn't do without them, Elvis banished them backstage, putting the spotlight on himself and the Attractions.
That the set bounced on with great momentum, improving without brass punctuation, is testimony to the band's polish and versatility. On "Shipbuilding," which winds with a sinuous Chet Baker trumpet solo on vinyl, keyboardist Steve Nieve unwound with an equally touching piano solo with the same tragic certainty.
Elvis' vocals swooned to levels not yet captured on vinyl, registering perfect control instantly from baritone to falsetto. Bruce Thomas' bass lines and Pete Thomas' drums clocked in with steady R&B rhythm while still retaining the Attractions' sound.
Rather than concentrating on the new material or any overriding theme with a whirlwind tour of greatest hits for the encores, Elvis chose to stand back for a cohesive overview of his career (Almost Blue material excluded), utilizing the brass and sass only where it was necessary. Strained footwork and footwear ("Pink Pedal Pushers") announced "(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes," and "Alison" was caustically dubbed "Torn Between Two Lovers."
The one disappointment of the show was a half-hearted version of "Everyday I Write The Book" in the first encore. Looking visibly disturbed and maybe a bit guilty about the overwhelming reaction it received, Elvis trudged through it with bland vocals sans guitar.
Aztec Camera opened the show with an impressive array of acoustic guitar, folk-tinged songs from their debut album, High Land, Hard Rain. Nineteen-year-old front man Roddy Frame drew from disparate styles of folk influenced by everything from Irish ballads to Bob Dylan.
Unfortunately, the sound was muddy throughout the set, rendering the splendid stringwork and vocals too often as background noise.
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