Rolling Stone, March 4, 1993: Difference between revisions
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<center><h3> Elvis Costello's classical gas </h3></center> | <center><h3> Elvis Costello's classical gas </h3></center> | ||
<center> The pop poet teams up with a string quartet on ''The Juliet Letters | <center> The pop poet teams up with a string quartet on ''The Juliet Letters </center> | ||
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<center> Mark Coleman </center> | <center> Mark Coleman </center> | ||
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"There are plenty of examples of rock people matching up with classical music or something else and coming out with a horrendous record," Costello says. "I don't think the rock-based stuff is the worst of it, either. Some of the most hideous stuff comes when classical enters the pop world. Like an opera singer doing Peggy Lee songs — I mean, ''why''?" | "There are plenty of examples of rock people matching up with classical music or something else and coming out with a horrendous record," Costello says. "I don't think the rock-based stuff is the worst of it, either. Some of the most hideous stuff comes when classical enters the pop world. Like an opera singer doing Peggy Lee songs — I mean, ''why''?" | ||
The singer-songwriter fervently believes '' | The singer-songwriter fervently believes ''The Juliet Letters'' is the exception to the dreck. It's a confessional song cycle, no less; an intertwined series of third-person missives set to the formal melodies and flow of classical music. Call it challenging, even a bit daunting. Just don't call it classical-rock fusion. | ||
"This isn't something to be afraid of," Costello quietly insists. "It's not some high-art concept thing. It has more in common with jazz and bluegrass than rock. We're trying to break down the perception that it's my record arranged as a string quartet, that it's my next 'experiment.' It's not a concept album, now is it? Where's the concept? So it has an idea? Yes, it damn well does; it has ''lots'' of ideas!" | "This isn't something to be afraid of," Costello quietly insists. "It's not some high-art concept thing. It has more in common with jazz and bluegrass than rock. We're trying to break down the perception that it's my record arranged as a string quartet, that it's my next 'experiment.' It's not a concept album, now is it? Where's the concept? So it has an idea? Yes, it damn well does; it has ''lots'' of ideas!" | ||
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"There are two mistakes I think are easy to make with this record," Costello patiently continues. "One is the way people assume that it's just a singer with backing stringed accompaniment. Two is the way some people seem to think a song is like a small, frightened child at the center. And the string players weave all this ''stuff'' around him — the notes pile up like the superstructure of a cat's cradle. You know the way pop records use orchestration like an icing or a cushion of strings? Well, that's not the case here." | "There are two mistakes I think are easy to make with this record," Costello patiently continues. "One is the way people assume that it's just a singer with backing stringed accompaniment. Two is the way some people seem to think a song is like a small, frightened child at the center. And the string players weave all this ''stuff'' around him — the notes pile up like the superstructure of a cat's cradle. You know the way pop records use orchestration like an icing or a cushion of strings? Well, that's not the case here." | ||
The unifying idea behind '' | The unifying idea behind ''The Juliet Letters'' surely is something more than another bogus rock concept. It's a full-fledged literary conceit; a vision of Romeo's old girlfriend as a sort of Shakespearean sob-sister figure. Around the time he started jamming with the string quartet, Costello and his wife, Cait O'Riordan, came across one of those obscure but true newspaper filler items — several sentences about an Italian college professor who discovered a crate of alleged "Dear Juliet" letters. | ||
"I assume there was a time when you could write to Juliet Capulet, care of Verona, Italy," says Costello, "the same way you could once write to Charlie Chaplin, Hollywood, USA, and have it get to him. We didn't want to research it and turn it into a documentary." | "I assume there was a time when you could write to Juliet Capulet, care of Verona, Italy," says Costello, "the same way you could once write to Charlie Chaplin, Hollywood, USA, and have it get to him. We didn't want to research it and turn it into a documentary." | ||
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"We worked haltingly at first," Costello says, "drawing up a list of the different types of letters. Everyone went home and tried to write a suicide note one night — just like school." | "We worked haltingly at first," Costello says, "drawing up a list of the different types of letters. Everyone went home and tried to write a suicide note one night — just like school." | ||
The songs on '' | The songs on ''Letters'' mirror this process. "Dear Sweet Filthy World" is a goodbye-cruel-world note; "This Offer is Unrepeatable" spiels like a chain letter; "I Almost Had a Weakness" mumbles guardedly like an elderly aunt's latest gossipy dispatch. Several of the melancholy kiss-offs (such as "Taking My Life in Your Hands") hit their romantic targets like classic Costello letter bombs. Actually, the artfully stinging divorce notification "Jacksons, Monk and Rowe" could fit onto ''Imperial Bedroom''. | ||
Though he's written a modern classical ensemble piece for reeds and strings since the completion of '' | Though he's written a modern classical ensemble piece for reeds and strings since the completion of ''The Juliet Letters'', EC hints at yet another new direction. "I've written a musical play," he says. "It should be produced next year. It's about the afterlife: God melts in the bathtub and comes back to haunt people in the water system; they drink, and he gets in their bodies. The title has changed several times." | ||
He hasn't exactly abandoned the pop-song format, either. "I wrote fifty songs last year," Costello says rather casually. "My wife and I got a phone call and wound up writing ten songs for this girl, Wendy James of the pop-punk group Transvision Vamp. Not one — ten. We just had a weekend to spare, so we wrote ten. I said: 'If we don't finish by Sunday, forget it. It's got to be quick, like a Tin Pan Alley job.' I always said I could write pop songs to order, and then somebody said prove it. And I did." | He hasn't exactly abandoned the pop-song format, either. "I wrote fifty songs last year," Costello says rather casually. "My wife and I got a phone call and wound up writing ten songs for this girl, Wendy James of the pop-punk group Transvision Vamp. Not one — ten. We just had a weekend to spare, so we wrote ten. I said: 'If we don't finish by Sunday, forget it. It's got to be quick, like a Tin Pan Alley job.' I always said I could write pop songs to order, and then somebody said prove it. And I did." | ||
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[[image:1993-03-04 Rolling Stone page 23.jpg|360px|border]] | |||
<br><small>Page scan.</small> | |||
<small>Photo by [[Kevin Westenberg]].</small><br> | |||
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[[image:1993-03-04 Rolling Stone cover.jpg|x120px]] | [[image:1993-03-04 Rolling Stone cover.jpg|x120px]] |
Revision as of 04:08, 26 October 2015
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