Okay, that's it!

Neil. · Post by **Neil.** » Sun Apr 08, 2007 5:31 am

I listened to Get Happy the other night in bed on headphones, just me in the dark with the music.

I've decided, once and for all, that it's Elvis's best album, definitely, no question!

I've always wavered over that or Blood and Chocolate, but now I've decided that B&C is best to introduce someone to Elvis, but for hardened fans, Get Happy's the one that blows me away.

The singing, production and ASTONISHING Attractions performances - all of which are like solo star turns (yet played at the same time in poifect harm-o-nee) just amaze me like no other album.

The problem is, I'd never recommend it to Elvis newcomers as it's impossible to get into first listen because it has so many songs which end up sounding all the same. But once you're into it - incredible. Absolutely incredible.

bronxapostle · Post by **bronxapostle** » Sun Apr 08, 2007 6:19 am

27 years now...i have said the same!!!!!!!!! TOPS!!!!!!!!!! HAPPY EASTER!

pophead2k · Post by **pophead2k** » Sun Apr 08, 2007 9:44 am

Love the whole album, and I think the first 8-10 songs might be the best sequenced songs in Rand R history.

Neil. · Post by **Neil.** » Mon Apr 09, 2007 2:32 am

The album's got this demented energy about it that's so thrilling. So danceable, so heartbreaking in its (admittedly few) quieter moments, and so layered in its arrangements - even though it's just a four-piece combo. The shouty, stroppy singing. The organ snaking around everything, or else the pounding piano - Bruce's pumping, bubbling bass - Pete's taut drumming, Elvis's touches of unsentimental guitar at just the right moments. How incredible is the arrangement on Black and White World? How weird yet wonderful is that song?!! King Horse is probably my favourite Costello song of all time. Motel Matches - one of Elvis's most aching vocals - unless you count Secondary Modern, from the same album - but hang on Just A Memory comes along later, or perhaps Riot Act is the one that finally makes you break down and cry? Oh, it's a masterpiece. Five Gears in Reverse! The organ on it! The bass! The gee-tar! The deranged organ on The Imposter! The whole band never sounded more tight, yet all shuffling to hog the limelight, cos they're all so brilliant. Agh! I've got to go and listen to it again!

Neil. · Post by **Neil.** » Tue Apr 10, 2007 4:21 am

Whoops - my rant above is not exactly an accurate rant: Just A Memory isn't on Get Happy!

Soz for any confusion!

verbal gymnastics · Post by **verbal gymnastics** » Tue Apr 10, 2007 10:00 am

It is; it just depends which version you are referring to.

Neil. · Post by **Neil.** » Tue Apr 10, 2007 12:04 pm

I was just talking about the original version without the extras! You know - the one with a paltry 20 tracks?

Mikeh · Post by **Mikeh** » Wed Apr 11, 2007 5:25 am

When I bought this LP in 1980ish it was in a market stall in Bradford. The elderly woman working there kept getting an LP sleeve out of the rack, tutting, and putting it back and choosing another one. She eventually chose one saying "I was trying to find one that isn't marked, but they're all like that, love"

Mr. Average · Post by **Mr. Average** » Wed Apr 11, 2007 2:46 pm

I cannot think of a 'like' recording anywhere in my collection. A record that is so very distinctive from the others that surround it. Not my favorite, but a solid third with little chance of it dropping.

SkaDan · Post by **SkaDan** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 9:44 pm

I'll totally agree, theres just something about it, thats irrestible, whether its the eclecticism, the soul to rock and roll to ska. i love it, i'm surprised its so overlooked and doesnt get much attention. my all time favorite of the Attractions era.

sabreman · Post by **sabreman** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 8:43 am

My fav too. That was a special time.

Poor Deportee · Post by **Poor Deportee** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 11:24 pm

Brilliant, speed-driven incisive songwriting - absolutely classic. But what's with the awful, tinny production???

sabreman · Post by **sabreman** » Sat Apr 14, 2007 9:59 am

Poor Deportee wrote:Brilliant, speed-driven incisive songwriting - absolutely classic. But what's with the awful, tinny production???

That is one of the things I really love about it.

Chrille · Post by **Chrille** » Sat Apr 14, 2007 10:09 am

sabreman wrote:
Poor Deportee wrote:Brilliant, speed-driven incisive songwriting - absolutely classic. But what's with the awful, tinny production???
That is one of the things I really love about it.

I don't think the production is bad or tinny at all except the opening track, which, imo, is really hurt by that sound. I like the demo on disc two much better.

SkaDan · Post by **SkaDan** » Sun Apr 15, 2007 11:15 am

Poor Deportee wrote:Brilliant, speed-driven incisive songwriting -
absolutely classic. But what's with the awful, tinny production???

i think that might be Brutal Youth

sabreman · Post by **sabreman** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 5:57 pm

Chrille wrote:
sabreman wrote:
Poor Deportee wrote:Brilliant, speed-driven incisive songwriting - absolutely classic. But what's with the awful, tinny production???
That is one of the things I really love about it.
I don't think the production is bad or tinny at all except the opening track, which, imo, is really hurt by that sound. I like the demo on disc two much better.

I think a better description might be compressed. An AM radio sound? I love it!

migdd · Post by **migdd** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 7:53 pm

After being an EC fan for a couple of years and having seen him live for the first time during the 1979 Armed Funk Tour, I was thrilled to hear that our FM album rock (remember that?) radio station in Chattanooga, Tennessee scheduled Get Happy! as album of the week and played it in its' entirety a couple of weeks prior to its' release. I was struck by how different it sounded in comparison to the previous two albums.

It wasn't until 1986 and King of America that I had that same feeling that Elvis had taken a major leap forward and done something so vastly different from what had come before.

Get Happy! is a pretty damned special Elvis Costello and the Attractions album and holds a little place in the corner of my heart.

Mr. Average · Post by **Mr. Average** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 8:07 pm

When the pre-market hype (as much as could be generated for an early Elvis Costello and the Attractions who was still considered "punk" by some and "angry" by others) for Get Happy! was circulated, there was much talk about this ridiculous number of songs on one record, and, the oft-referenced analogy of the songs to capturing the Motown Sound. In retrospect, there is a distant Motown "ring" to it with a very slight dash of philly soul here, but with the pre-release press celebrating a Motown feel I tended to hear exactly that when I first rushed home with the wax and dropped it on the direct drive with manual tone arm.

Now, with age (ahem!) and musical maturity, it is a distant cousin of the motown sound, but does indeed pay some homage to that great era. However, where it is now in my mental catalogue of Elvis Costello songs is nowhere near Motown: it is vintage Elvis who shook thinks up with this record by recording a sound with a pure pop intensity that was without peer at the time of its release.

I think it still holds that honour.

Still, not my favorite, but golly, I am playing it again thanks to this thread and man, it still sounds fresh and exciting and I wish Elvis could just take a stab at capturing this kind of (un)bridled energy one more time.

bambooneedle · Post by **bambooneedle** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 7:43 am

Mr. Average wrote:I wish Elvis could just take a stab at capturing this kind of (un)bridled energy one more time.

I don't, I expect a different quality of mind and emotions from a 52 year old, that raw kind of energy belongs to younger men. But, why don't you try to capture that sort of (un)bridled energy for yourself?

Mr. Average · Post by **Mr. Average** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 9:58 am

I do, Bamboo, every damn day. Every damn day. And I feel bad that you have stereotyped your aging patterns and have decided that intense energy applied to everything that you do abates with age. I think that is absolute bullshit, but since you hold such a pessimistic notion, grab a shovel on the way to work. You might as well start digging.

Criminey, a simple comment about wishing to hear a certain sound again and it inspires, as per usual, a smart ass reply from Bamboo. SOme things never change. Not sad. Pitiful.

You must be very proud.

Boy With A Problem · Post by **Boy With A Problem** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 1:21 pm

Get Happy! is very much in the Stax vein - not so much Motown - I think even Elvis admits lifting Temptation straight from Time Is Tight. The band sound so much like Booker T and the MGs (Stax house band) on this record, well maybe not so much the little hands of concrete in the Steve Cropper role. But for me this is the ultimate Attractions record. and I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down is originally a Stax record. Stax not Motown for sure.

Poor Deportee · Post by **Poor Deportee** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 1:44 pm

I'm no expert, but the 'Motown Sound' thing applied to this record was a bad joke; EC sounds just like the newly post-New Wave skinny white boy he was (he's still white, natch, but skinny, wellll....) Not that I mind - the album is searingly brilliant pop music - but allusion does not a sound make.

Interesting that you bring up Brutal Youth. That was another album marketed as representing a certain 'sound' (e.g., 'Elvis returns to his punk roots!') when it really didn't.

BY sounds much earthier than GH!! in my opinion, but whatever pulls your ripcord.

What I wish, myself, is that Elvis recover his supposedly lost 'energy' but that he would return to straight-out pop songwriting. Not exclusively, and not as some pathetic nostalgia trip. It's just that he has an almost unsurpassed gift for pop songcraft but, as is often the case, seems bored with his own special genius - and as determined as possible NOT to deploy it.

bambooneedle · Post by **bambooneedle** » Wed Apr 18, 2007 10:39 am

Mr. Average wrote:I do, Bamboo, every damn day. Every damn day.

Great, so what's the problem then?

Mr. Average · Post by **Mr. Average** » Wed Apr 18, 2007 10:43 am

BWAP:

I agree 100% and thank you for the clarification. The hype did indeed suggest Motown, and it wasn't ongue in cheek UNLESS it was really Elvis' big joke, because I lived through the hype and worked at a vinyl store back in those olden days. But you are right as rain...this is tantamount not to a philly soul nor motown sound, but much more reminiscent to Stax.

Thanks again. I have a better story to tell now, and a more accurate one.

Mr. Average · Post by **Mr. Average** » Wed Apr 18, 2007 10:46 am

Poor Deportee wrote: What I wish, myself, is that Elvis recover his supposedly lost 'energy' but that he would return to straight-out pop songwriting. Not exclusively, and not as some pathetic nostalgia trip. It's just that he has an almost unsurpassed gift for pop songcraft but, as is often the case, seems bored with his own special genius - and as determined as possible NOT to deploy it.

What a great comment. I like the way you have written that comment far more than the messsage that I tried to communicate. Great comment!