|
During the past five years, Costello and X have been the most consistently intriguing rock artists to come out of the respective music centers of London and Los Angeles. Both have released unexpectedly unusual new albums in advance of their performances in the Twin Cities; X takes to the Guthrie Theater stage Aug. 2, and Costello plays at Parade Stadium Aug. 7 with Blondie.
X, a quartet founded by two lyricists who met at a poetry workshop, has been the kingpin of L,A.'s punk-rock scene since '79. Wild Gift, the band's second album for tiny Slash Records, was regarded by many of the nation's pop critics as the finest rock album of 1981.
The raw force of that sometimes swinging album is not matched here. Instead, X has become more musical, incorporating elements of rockabilly, country and a modernized Bo Diddley beat. The band even offers a blues ballad and a treatment of a country-blues tune gleaned from a Leadbelly album. Actually, the musical ability of this group is not all that surprising, since ace guitarist Billy Zoom (one of the best rhythm players this side of Keith Richards) has been around long enough to have played with the late Gene Vincent and drummer D.J. Bonebrake has worked with various jazz groups.
Ex-Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek's production has grown more professional and nicely complements X's musical development. Yet the band has not lost sight of its artistic vision.
Songwriters Exene Cervenka, the band's lead singer, and John Doe, her husband and bassist, continue to discuss sexual and marital conflicts with their discordant, Jefferson Starship-like vocal harmonies. Their more powerful work, however, is Cervenka's attempts to deal with the car accident that took her sister's life. And, to show you X's abilities, the band discusses the subject in a rave-up rocker, "Riding With Mary," and a mournful ballad, "Come Back With Me."
Come year's end, Under The Big Black Sun is a sure bet to rank as one of 1982's best rock albums.
Like X, Costello has thrown us a few musical curves on his new album. Are fans of this angry young Briton ready to accept his new Mr. Nice Guy personna?
Imperial Bedroom is a difficult album. It's a self-conscious masterwork that you wouldn't want to listen to save for art's sake. With only a couple of exceptions, the melodies on these 15 songs are too complex to hum or even recall; Costello refuses to rock on this keyboard-dominated record that actually features strings and horns on a couple of tracks. Overall, the sound is full with colorful textures, a startling contrast to his usual simple, guitar-driven style.
Costello, who proved himself a master of the three-minute rock song on his first half-dozen albums, tries to be musically sophisticated this time (he even essays a saloon song), but his voice, always long on emotion but short on range, doesn't work In this context.
Imperial Bedroom intends to shed new light on an old theme: how time tries and eventually erodes love. We find Costello at his most vulnerable ever, which is refreshing. But his attempt at a mature album about a mature theme does not cover the ground as effectively as Bob Dylan's Blood on the Tracks, Paul Simon's Still Crazy After All These Years and Willie Nelson's Phases and Stages.
| 
