Baltimore Sun, February 10, 1981: Difference between revisions
(+text part 1) |
(+text part 2) |
||
Line 6: | Line 6: | ||
{{Bibliography article header}} | {{Bibliography article header}} | ||
<center><h3> Elvis Costello: a New Wave Dylan? </h3></center> | <center><h3> Elvis Costello: a New Wave Dylan? </h3></center> | ||
<center>''' Elvis Costello takes his pop music role seriously </center> | |||
---- | ---- | ||
<center> Geoffrey Himes </center> | <center> Geoffrey Himes </center> | ||
Line 32: | Line 33: | ||
If his anger at the pop industry costs Mr. Costello commercial success — and it certainly has in America — he doesn't care. In fact, in "Radio, Radio," he sings: ''"I want to bite the hand that feeds me. I want to bite that hand so badly. I want to make them wish they'd never seen me."'' | If his anger at the pop industry costs Mr. Costello commercial success — and it certainly has in America — he doesn't care. In fact, in "Radio, Radio," he sings: ''"I want to bite the hand that feeds me. I want to bite that hand so badly. I want to make them wish they'd never seen me."'' | ||
The song was written about American rock radio in 1978. ''"The radio is in the hands of such a lot of fools,"'' he sang, ''"tryin' to anesthetize the way that you | The song was written about American rock radio in 1978. ''"The radio is in the hands of such a lot of fools,"'' he sang, ''"tryin' to anesthetize the way that you feel."'' Last week he introduced the song by saying, "Some things haven't changed since the last time we were here." | ||
Like the other fast songs they did that night, Elvis Costello and the Attractions rushed the rhythm on "Radio, Radio." It was as if they wanted to jump out in front of their own songs and get their hands on their targets. It was as if they were hot on the trail and closing in. | |||
On the fast rockers, the Attractions created an agitated herky-jerky rhythm. This was achieved by staccato piano chords, choppy rhythm guitar and stuttering bass lines. The effect was unsettling, as if all the machinery were about to fall apart. | |||
Over this nervous backing, Mr. Costello sang intimately, as if giving advice on how to get out before everything collapsed. He sang with the emotional quiver and melodic control of a superior country singer. It was as if George Jones were singing with the Velvet Underground. | |||
This technique is also applied to the fast songs on ''Trust.'' "Lovers Walk" has the same jangling jungle beat that Fleetwood Mac's ''Tusk'' had. Mr. Costello uses that rhythm to make the lovers' walk sound like a spastic scramble instead of an idyllic stroll. | |||
On "Pretty Words," the band lies low during the verses. As the organ swells, Mr. Costello recounts all the distracting "jibber jabber" around him. There's a brief pause and then the band kicks through its restraint for the chorus. Mr. Costello's heavily echoed voice screams over the rock and roll: ''"Pretty words don't mean much any more."'' | |||
"White Knuckles" is a chilling account of "love" at its most rancid: wife-beating. Mr. Costello wonders why beaten wives stay with their husbands. ''"You don't have to take it,"'' he whispers, ''"so you just give in."'' | |||
Mr. Costello's backing band, the Attractions, keep getting better and better. Bassist Bruce Thomas and drummer Pete Thomas translate reggae syncopation into quirky rhythms even stranger and more rebellious. Steve Nieve gets an oddly human sound out of his organ which often dialogues with Mr. Costello's voice. | |||
Producer Nick Lowe turns up the echo on some choruses to make the lyrics resonate. He puts the rhythm section up front at time to sweep the listener up in the momentum. Then he'll drop the rhythm way down to pull the rug out. from under the listener. | |||
Mr. Costello describes his own vocal technique on "From a Whisper to a Scream." On that song he is joined by guest vocalist Glenn Tilbrook and guest guitarist Martin Belmont. | |||
Mr. Tilbrook led his own quintet, Squeeze, in the opening set at College Park. This British band has two albums on A&M Records full of Beatlesque harmonies and hooks. Their third album — produced by Mr. Costello — is due in March. Former Ace keyboardist Paul Carrack has replaced Jools Holland in the Squeeze lineup. | |||
The new lineup put on an entertaining show with Mr. Tilbrook bouncing around the stage like a marionette. As likable as they were, however, they couldn't touch the power of what was to follow. | |||
Martin Belmont — who has previously visited the area as part of Graham Parker and the Rumour and the Carlene Carter Band — joined Mr. Costello in College Park. His "chunka-chunk" rhythm guitar made the sound that much thicker. | |||
Mr. Belmont's presence also allowed Mr. Costello to concentrate more on his singing. Though it's often obscured by his angry lyrics, his singing is exceptional. On the show's slower songs, he would abandon his guitar and focus on his dramatic flourishes. | |||
On "Alison," Mr. Costello snapped his fingers to the beat and sang with a strange mix of anger and regret about innocence lost. ''"Well, I see you got a husband now,"'' he simmered before climbing up the melody into ''"Did he leave your pretty fingers lying in the wedding cake?"'' | |||
Mr. Costello brings the same care to the slow songs on ''Trust.'' "New Lace Sleeves" is whispers confidentially over a quirky beat as if he were reading an intimate letter aloud. With a quiet hush, he shudders his central argument: ''"You never see the lies that you believe."'' | |||
Each side of ''Trust'' ends with a song of advice for the young. "Watch Your Step" is a warning delivered over Steve Nieves slipping, sliding organ. ''"You're young and original,"'' Mr. Costello advises, ''"get out before they get to watch your step."'' | |||
"Big Sister's Clothes" opens and closes with strange, dreamy, outer-space synthesizer. Mr. Costello ponders why each generation succumbs to corrosive "love" like ''"sheep to the slaughter."'' He concludes that ''"All little sisters like to try on big sister's clothes."'' | |||
Mr. Costello's theme is summed up in his original title for his ''Armed Forces'' album: ''Emotional Fascism.'' That album's next-to-last song was "Two Little Hitlers." The chorus featured Mr. Costello's bitterest view of "love": ''"Two little Hitlers fight it out until one little Hitler does the other one's will."'' | |||
Mr. Costello is no nihilist like the Sex Pistols, however. Running through the work of this new Elvis is a quest for a new kind of love: honest human compassion. On his first album, he admitted he has ''"sneaky feelings. You can't let those feelings show. I'd like to get right through the way I feel for you, but I still got a long way to go."'' | |||
On last year's ''Get Happy!'' album, he cried out desperately: ''"I need, I need the human touch!"'' On ''Trust'', he drops his guard momentarily to suggest ''"a proposition for invasion of your privacy: give yourself away and find the faith in me."'' Later he concedes: ''"So I whisper and I scream, but don't get me wrong; please don't leave me waiting too long."'' | |||
Perhaps his clearest statement of his quest comes in a Nick Lowe song. In his College Park concert, Mr. Costello and the Attractions stormed into that song as if it were marching music for the final assault on the citadel of cynicism. | |||
Mr. Costello himself strode up to the microphone as if he were marching to a final rendezvous. ''"As I walk through,"'' he boomed over his band's salvos, ''"this wicked world, searching for life in the darkness of insanity, I ask myself, 'Is all hope lost? Is there only pain, hatred and misery?' And each time I feel like suicide, there's one thing I wanna know..."'' | |||
At this point the College Park crowd was on its feet. They shouted out the title line with the singer: ''"What's so funny 'bout peace, love and understanding?"'' As Mr. Costello brought the song to a furious conclusion, his head snapped back from the microphone with a "take that" gesture. | |||
The crowd's standing ovation was as much for the song's sentiment as for the singer. Elvis Costello leaped back at the mike and shouted: "You better believe it!" | |||
{{cx}} | {{cx}} | ||
<!-- Mr. Himes is a free-lance film and popular music critic from Baltimore. --> | |||
{{Bibliography notes header}} | {{Bibliography notes header}} | ||
Line 43: | Line 91: | ||
'''The Sun, February 10, 1981 | '''The Sun, February 10, 1981 | ||
---- | ---- | ||
[[Geoffrey Himes]] profiles | [[Geoffrey Himes]] profiles EC, reviews ''[[Trust]]'' and reports on his concert with [[The Attractions]] and opening act [[Squeeze]], Wednesday, [[Concert 1981-01-28 College Park|January 28, 1981]], Ritchie Coliseum, University Of Maryland, College Park, Maryland. | ||
{{Bibliography images}} | {{Bibliography images}} | ||
Line 64: | Line 112: | ||
*[http://articles.baltimoresun.com Baltimoresun.com] | *[http://articles.baltimoresun.com Baltimoresun.com] | ||
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Baltimore_Sun Wikipedia: The Baltimore Sun] | *[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Baltimore_Sun Wikipedia: The Baltimore Sun] | ||
<!-- | *[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Himes Wikipedia: Geoffrey Himes] | ||
<!-- 377492481 377492504 --> | |||
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baltimore Sun 1981-02-10}} | {{DEFAULTSORT:Baltimore Sun 1981-02-10}} |
Revision as of 01:28, 12 April 2019
|