Musically speaking, there's not much to complain about with this record, since many of Elvis' more interesting moments have surfaced on the flip sides of singles and extended-play records which are either difficult or totally impossible to come by. On Taking Liberties, we find them assembled in one neat package. To fans of Costello, most of this stuff is the veritable unearthed treasure of which they dream; all others are sure to find this as esoteric as anything else he's done.
The sequencing is a little random, as the 20 tracks don't appear according to chronology, rarity, or in order of which girl they've been written about.
"Radio Sweetheart" and "Stranger in the House" are the earliest works and demonstrate not only the country & western side of Elvis, but that The Attractions are greatly responsible for Elvis sounding as unconventional as he does. (We realize there are negatives and positives to this argument, but we'll reserve judgment until he makes an entire album without them.)
"Night Rally," "I Don't Want To Go To Chelsea," and "Crawling to the U.S.A." aren't exactly unfamiliar, having been part of his live set and were FM radio favorites. "Big Tears" and "Tiny Steps" were both excellent flip sides, with the former track demonstrating what The Attractions might sound like if they had Mick Ronson playing guitar with them.
The most recent material is all Elvis-produced, including his tribute to Elton John entitled "Just A Memory" and an earlier composition called "Hoover Factory" demonstrating how much production can alter a song.
Although there's stuff here like "Dr. Luther's Assistant" and "Ghost Train," there's still more to surface, but these selections should keep you held-over until his next album. This is the kind of record that's released when an artist leaves a label, so why is Taking Liberties out now? So the record company can increase its Christmas sales, that's why! So don't expect any artistic sense out of this LP. It's about half filler (which is way better than the average artist nowadays), and the most recent material to be found here shows E.C. at his most eccentric, if not at his best.
Now we're waiting for him to make a record that's as well-produced, rhythmically-grounded, and yet still as off-the-wall as he's demonstrated himself capable of being in the past.
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