What do you believe attracts you to EC over other artist ?

[when i was cruel]

Obviously we all love 'the man' but what about his music sets him apart from others, for you ?

[charliestumpy]

Not wishing to be controversial, but I buy Costello etc as well as about 50 other sound-artistes including e.g. Dylan-Simon-Mitchell-June Tabor-Beatles etc etc.

And I do often want to/go to Chelsea/first entered UK at Liverpool.

Initially, back in 1977 it was his silly name/super lyrics/rhythms/talent.

Now, it is because - even though he has escaped to ultra-capitalism - of his brilliant musical etc abilities. But I admit that for me/my family of 27 appreciaters, it is the older 70s-80s stuff we play most often.

[verbal gymnastics]

It's primarily the lyrics, hence my love of Bob Dylan, Paul Weller, Bruce Springsteen, The Smiths/Morrissey and Billy Bragg amongst others as well.

I also love the live shows where there is such a great repertoire that you often don't know what to expect from his own back catalogue and you'll almost always find a song or two from someone else's!

[Mikeh]

I really didn't like EC at first, his early appearances on Top of the Pops and reports of 35 minute live sets did not impress me at all. It was when someone played me Fish N Chip Paper from the Trust album that I actually started listening to the lyrics. I started with that album and even now Clubland is my favourite EC song.

The attractions (ha ha) to Elvis have to be the lyrics, the voice, the tunes, and the fact that all his interests in country, jazz ballads, a bit of classical, all seemed to mirror my own. Someone once said he could sing the phone book and make it sound moving, and that sums it up for me.

[Jack of All Parades]

When EC appeared on the scene in the mid 70's we were comparable in age. As I have written elsewhere, I was initially attracted by the similarities to be found in two young men trying to make their ways and their marks in the world. He was a guide for me- dealing with growing up, forming one's own opinions, testing one's self in the world. He wrote about subjects that resonated with me delivered with a quick enough wit and a verbal energy that fired my imagination. His live shows from the early 80's were not to be missed. We have aged now and I am more attracted to the polymath he has turned out to be. His intelligent familiarity with the various musical disciplines and his ease in communicating that knowledge are what keeps me returning to him these days. He is not as relevant for me as a performer today. I retain a healthy respect for his prodigious abilities as an elder statesman of music, though, and this is why I continue to appreciate his many musical manifestations and explorations of form.

[Dr. Luther]

Bottom line: it's the melodies.
His melodic composition is unequaled in my lifetime.

[decland can]

where do i begin...

first and foremost, it is his voice. it is a very unique, rich and textured voice to me. his ability to sing in a very different way than most - i find his covers to be most interesting and appealing, much more so than the original... i'm thinking "out of time" by the stones and "dont let me be misunderstood" in KOA. his lyrics... the man just has a way with words. overly wordy for me at times but almost always clever.

i truly treasure his work and im always delighted by his songs. this love affair has gone on for more than 30yrs and while there have been spots when his work didnt sing to me, in deference i always gave it a listen. national ransom has affirmed and really intensified my love for ec... and i was very lucky for sitting direct center front row!!!! yes, front row at his NR promo gig at green space. i was literally 3ft in front of him. the high from that show really lasted for many many months... i still get goosebumps thinking about that night!

i also love the fact that people dont get him... by that i mean he doesnt appeal to the masses. while he is widely respected within the industry and perhaps by some segment of the masses, i feel its the best kept secret.

[Neil.]

The vivid melodies, allied to often heartbreaking lyrics, which also contain astounding, swirling, unsettling imagery, sung by that expressive, dramatic, idiosyncratic, (sometimes irritating) voice, in thrilling arrangements played by some of the greatest rock musicians in the world!

[Ymaginatif]

the sound of his lyrics + a vocal deliverance style that is barely better than mine

also: the abundance of music: so many albums, so many B-sides, so many outtakes!

[watercamp]

In 1976 I had just started working for Capitol Records, as an avid music fan from way back when The Beatles arrived on the scene I was keenly interested in anything fresh and vibrant. I spent my days going from one record store to another and soon found who I trusted to turn me on to new stuff. I met this guy John at the Moncton Sam The Record Man store in New Brunswick Canada, he was heavy into the whole British/American new wave/punk scene, importing all these unknown records and trade papers like Melody Maker and NME and Trouser Press. Eventually he played me A Bunch Of Stiff Records and I first heard "Less Than Zero", that was it I was hooked. That single turned 35 years old last month, I still listen to and love the man and his music. He is the only artist who has played all genres of music through his entire career, he has written more songs than anyone else, sometimes I think he must live in the studio. Most of all you can tell that he loves what he does. He's a gifted musician but most importantly he is a music lover. Give the man 3 chords and 3 minutes and you have no idea where he'll take you.

[The imposter]

He is the only artist who has played all genres of music through his entire career, he has written more songs than anyone else, sometimes I think he must live in the studio. Most of all you can tell that he loves what he does. He's a gifted musician but most importantly he is a music lover. Give the man 3 chords and 3 minutes and you have no idea where he'll take you.

Nice observation watercamp, I have to thank Elvis for introducing me, or increasing my awareness of so much great music and so many great songwriters. It is rare to find so much a breadth of style or appreciation of other musics in someone that is so gifted themselves. Something that is alluded to by someone on the Spectacle dvd How 'bout a thread on "50 reasons to love EC" loosely based on the similar MOJO magazine feature on McCartney last year? Reasons could include points like this or maybe it's a particular lyric, song, instrumental hook or comment etc etc ...

[Little Fool]

What attracts me is that he doesn't still live in 1976/77 and that he is keen to progress and move on. Sure, he'll do the crowd pleasers, but he now has a 35 year catalogue of progression. So many of my friends and associates seem to have a narrow window of musical enjoyment and will harp back to the music of their youth, dismissing anything that came later as being of no interest. Costello not only delivers that but makes me aware of other artists that are doing exciting things.
After one of his Spectable shows I booked tickets to see Rufus Wainwright and was totally entrhralled by the music.
I'm not just in a Costello rut, I have recently seen many contempary artists that some may consider 'kids' or 'youth' music, the reality being that Costello showed me NOT to stop at 1976 but to go with a broader theme.

[Poor Deportee]

I like Christopher's comments about EC being a 'guide' to a young person finding his way in life. It reminds me of Bob Dylan's view of Woody Guthrie: 'You could listen to his songs and find a complete way to live...he was like a guide...' Or words to that effect.

I think this is a much bigger function of art and popular culture in the modern age than is fully realized. Young people are searching. When they embrace a given musician, or poet, or novelist, or film-maker, or whatever, it often has as much to do with the ethos and identity they're projecting as with the content of the work. You see something in the artist that you admire, some attitude, some clue to organizing your self. It's not, in short, just about the music, although it is also about the music.

I first encountered EC in my first year at university, during his 'Spike' phase. Several thing blew me away.

1. The lyrics, which touched on pretty much anything. Here were songs that ranged from capital punishment to the death of God in a degraded culture, from Thatcher to mail order brides, surreal trips into identity to pornographic sattelite images. As someone whose reference point for great contemporary songwriting to that point was, say, Sting or Bruce Springsteen, that blew my mind. Popular song really could say anything.

2. The musical eclecticism. Having grown up loving The Beatles, I was primed for this sort of grab-bag record. It just seemed a vast and endlessly varied musical world onto itself. In fact, going back to his earlier stuff, I was shocked at how musically monochromatic the earlier albums were. I hadn't realized 'Spike' was an outlier. But it didn't take long for me to lock into the earlier stuff, partly because of (1) and also because of:

3. The attitude. Elvis presented himself as both the smartest and most ruthlessly cutting guy in town. I had never heard anyone lay waste to his subject-matter the way he did with, say, Thatcher; nor anyone so willing to make you squirm in the most sordid facts of life (usually having to do with immature, destructive sexual urges). This wasn't just punk raving - this was so damned incisive, it cut to the bone. In effect, while by 1987 EC's early 'Avenging Dork' persona had matured into a sophisticated and worldly version of itself, the essence was still intact. I was absolutely riveted by this vision of a 'nerd' who could absolutely lay waste to his chosen targets through the sheer force of his intellect, seeing right through whomever he wanted and calling them out. This seemed a supremely cool combination to me.

On (3), there's no denying a degree of vicarious exultation. When Ec sings of his early days, 'lonely cowards followed me like ghouls,' I think I know what he's talking about. Part of the appeal of this persona was precisely that it spoke to the frustrated desires and power fantasies of a bright but confused, socially and romantically hapless young man. That his songs so often turned those fanstasies upon themselves, exposing the narrator himself as pathetic - a device reaching back to 'Alison' - was necessary to the whole effect. A really smart listener would not go for the sheer juvenalia of pure revenge fantasy. No; there had to be that edge of reflexivity. And there was.

Obviously, there is a vexing, unhealthy aspect to the whole persona. Much of Elvis's career has been spent in working out the implications of this, coming to grips with it, and moving beyond it. Conversely, there is no denying the fundamental truth in EC's presentation; he captured a facet of the (male) psyche that had not really been activated in the popular culture, at least not with that level of intelligence, and that really is the key to his initial, explosive impact.

I've given you the awful truth
Now give me my rest

A great closing couplet. One can read that in many ways, but one way is to see it as an epitaph for the Avenging Dork. He spoke the truth and the truth was awful. He also could not be sustained over a life's work because of his fundamentally immature loathings and self-loathing.

In a way, then, EC was a key part of my own coming into manhood. Strange as that may be to say.

[when i was cruel]

Poor Deporte ! Did you just read my mind and then take those ideas and convey them PERFECTLY ? Beautifully written. P.s. I Want To Vanish is probably one of my favorite songs.

[Jack of All Parades]

PD-I truly appreciate your personalized response. Individual in it's reactions to this artist, it resonates with me. I, like you, do not think one stays with a particular artist over the long haul unless such connections are made.

Words, as you note, were an entry point for me, as well. But without my identification with EC's public growing up I never would have stayed with just the words to puzzle over. It is that evolving persona that has kept me coming back for more instruction and reference. Thankfully, as you note, that persona did not remain locked up in the 'Avenging Dork' image. It has grown broader, more engaged with the world around him, actively partaking of the cultural milieu around himself, and periodically reporting back to the world about that engagement. That 'monochromatic' sound you found in the early records would never have sustained me for the long haul of listening. The mutability of his sound and the broadening of his musical palette has been thrilling to engage with over the last decades. I am consistently in awe of the progression that takes one from the puerile sentiments of a "Pump It Up" to the charged textures of "Jimmie Standing in the Rain".

That he still influences my cultural and physical sense of my self is very much evident in my daily life. It helps that we are older men aging both physically and emotionally in our bodies and still trying to make some sense of our lives. That photo of an out of shape Declan on the beach and then of a resplendent Declan in red carpet regalia has been taped to my fridge by my wife as a reminder of what is and what could be. Sitting in Tompkins Square Park on the lower east side of Manhattan yesterday with my middle daughter and listening to her puzzle over the callow actions of a certain young man gave me a reason to reference certain songs of EC's that speak to the fumbling words and actions of young people[men in particular] and the pain and frustration they can cause for others. I read with interest Declan's words on what it is like to be an aging artist and what it takes to remain relevant. I, too, struggle with a feeling that I am becoming history, that my relevance is ebbing. From my perspective on the park bench, I am looking forward to bulletins from my life's 'soul' mate, as he deals with aging and an approaching mortality. You are right, PD, this is what a strong artist does for a willing life long listener, reader or viewer. He continues to provide a life road map.

In today's Sunday NY Times Book Review magazine, I read with recognition Paul Muldoon's noting that Philip Larkin always kept his mentors and heroes "within reach of my working chair". With that in mind, I will keep a space open on the park bench and in my listening ear in the future for my 'mentor'.

[ahawkman]

I just wanted to chime in to endorse the sentiments of Poor Deportee, very well said! There is so much to love about Elvis, but the combination of rock n' roll bravado juxtaposed against the most gut wrenching frailties and vulnerably is so compelling.