Bowling Green BG News, March 25, 1999: Difference between revisions
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Critics of Elvis Costello would offer that with him the misery always came before the music. Costello sings like a man possessed. He shoots his mouth off (occasionally shooting himself in the foot), rides through torrents of words and images all because if he did not he would simply bottle everything up and explode. | Critics of Elvis Costello would offer that with him the misery always came before the music. Costello sings like a man possessed. He shoots his mouth off (occasionally shooting himself in the foot), rides through torrents of words and images all because if he did not he would simply bottle everything up and explode. | ||
Costello has been called many things throughout his long and varied career (mostly by folks who rely | Costello has been called many things throughout his long and varied career (mostly by folks who rely on adjective ejaculations of critics and don't actually listen to the music themselves) — misanthrope, misogynist, sex obsessed and most over-used of all, "an angry young man." While elements of each exist in his canon, most people overlook the underlying humanity throughout his songs. | ||
Certainly the man has written some of the greatest raging rock songs in the history of pop music. Much of Costello's work is riddled with the stray bullets of adolescent angst. | Certainly the man has written some of the greatest raging rock songs in the history of pop music. Much of Costello's work is riddled with the stray bullets of adolescent angst. | ||
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Even at his most ferocious, Costello has always demonstrated a noticeable sympathy. His most visceral recording is the 1978 masterpiece ''This Year's Model''. ''This Year's Model'' is the sound of insecurity and emotional scabs being flayed open and rubbed raw by the gradual realization that idealism is good, but doesn't always work. | Even at his most ferocious, Costello has always demonstrated a noticeable sympathy. His most visceral recording is the 1978 masterpiece ''This Year's Model''. ''This Year's Model'' is the sound of insecurity and emotional scabs being flayed open and rubbed raw by the gradual realization that idealism is good, but doesn't always work. | ||
Firing off verbal mortar blasts like ''"I don't wanna be your lover / just wanna be your victim,"'' Costello embodies what could best be described as the Costelloian idealist — a man for whom life should be fair, but is persistently undermined by the ignorance and shallowness of things like the media, school, government, peers, etc. In the face of women being objectified and distilled to images of cheap, tawdry sexuality ("This Year's Girl") or dealing with sexual relationships that are both demeaning and fulfilling, Costello somehow finds a way to | Firing off verbal mortar blasts like ''"I don't wanna be your lover / just wanna be your victim,"'' Costello embodies what could best be described as the Costelloian idealist — a man for whom life should be fair, but is persistently undermined by the ignorance and shallowness of things like the media, school, government, peers, etc. In the face of women being objectified and distilled to images of cheap, tawdry sexuality ("This Year's Girl") or dealing with sexual relationships that are both demeaning and fulfilling, Costello somehow finds a way to cut through the swaths of uncertainty and contradiction. | ||
He reaches the point where he places the flurry of worry and disgust within a realistic context, and the only way to not let everything wear away one's resistance is to simply, | He reaches the point where he places the flurry of worry and disgust within a realistic context, and the only way to not let everything wear away one's resistance is to simply, paraphrase a line from his first release, ''My Aim is True'', no longer be disgusted, but amused. | ||
After ''This Year's Model'', Costello's work continued along one of the most unpredictable tracks in the history of popular music. From the lush ''Sgt. Pepper''esque chamber pop of ''Imperial Bedroom'' to dabbling in classical composition with ''The Juliet Letters'' to the rootsy rockabilly and R&B of ''King of America'', Costello is the rare artist whose work demonstrates a breadth and intelligence that permeates from every word and every note he has recorded. It bleeds from the CD or vinyl (with the exception of his one recorded atrocity, '' | After ''This Year's Model'', Costello's work continued along one of the most unpredictable tracks in the history of popular music. From the lush ''Sgt. Pepper''esque chamber pop of ''Imperial Bedroom'' to dabbling in classical composition with ''The Juliet Letters'' to the rootsy rockabilly and R&B of ''King of America'', Costello is the rare artist whose work demonstrates a breadth and intelligence that permeates from every word and every note he has recorded. It bleeds from the CD or vinyl (with the exception of his one recorded atrocity, ''Goodbye Cruel World''). | ||
Elvis Costello didn't write the songs that made the whole world sing, he just wrote the songs that made those lucky enough to hear them think about their life and serve as an outlet for fear, worry, regret and helpless idealism. | Elvis Costello didn't write the songs that made the whole world sing, he just wrote the songs that made those lucky enough to hear them think about their life and serve as an outlet for fear, worry, regret and helpless idealism. | ||
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{{Bibliography notes}} | {{Bibliography notes}} | ||
'''The BG News, | '''The BG News, March 25, 1999 | ||
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[[Erik Pepple]] profiles Elvis Costello and reviews the Rykodisc reissues. | [[Erik Pepple]] profiles Elvis Costello and reviews the Rykodisc reissues. | ||
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Much maligned by critics and fans alike, ''Mighty Like a Rose'' is a lost dog in Costello's body of work. Granted his first Warner Bros. release, ''Spike'', was much more streamlined and more listenable, but ''Mighty'' is such an odd bird it deserves some distinction. | Much maligned by critics and fans alike, ''Mighty Like a Rose'' is a lost dog in Costello's body of work. Granted his first Warner Bros. release, ''Spike'', was much more streamlined and more listenable, but ''Mighty'' is such an odd bird it deserves some distinction. | ||
''Mighty Like a Rose'' is the sound of a brilliant artist whose mind thinks faster than his mouth. Crammed with Tom Waitsian percussion and caterwauling, phantasamagoric LSD — laced imagery and obtuse melodies, this is the kind of album that depending on mood sounds alternately brilliant or pretentious. Boasting two of his most gorgeous ballads (the fragile as Faberge "After the Fall" and carnival stomp of "Couldn't Call it Unexpected #4 | ''Mighty Like a Rose'' is the sound of a brilliant artist whose mind thinks faster than his mouth. Crammed with Tom Waitsian percussion and caterwauling, phantasamagoric LSD — laced imagery and obtuse melodies, this is the kind of album that depending on mood sounds alternately brilliant or pretentious. Boasting two of his most gorgeous ballads (the fragile as Faberge "After the Fall" and carnival stomp of "Couldn't Call it Unexpected #4") ''Mighty'' is the sound of artist with more ideas than he knows what to do with. | ||
Brutal Youth | Brutal Youth |
Latest revision as of 10:10, 26 December 2018
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