Baltimore Sun, February 10, 1981

Bibliography   72 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 UK & Ireland weeklies UK & Ireland magazines UK & Ireland newspapers US newspapers US rock magazines US music magazines US magazines US alternative weeklies European magazines European newspapers Canada  •  Mexico  •  Asia Australia  •  New Zealand South America  •  Africa Blogs  •  Fanzines  •  Books Online publications Baltimore Sun   1977 December 9 1979 January 14 1979 February 20 1979 April 13 1981 February 10 1981 February 27 1982 August 8 1982 August 26 1983 August 2 1983 August 17 1984 June 26 1984 August 9 1986 March 6 1986 September 26 1989 March 5 1989 August 21 1991 June 13 1991 June 17 1994 March 8 1998 September 29 1998 October 11 1999 June 20 2001 May 31 2002 May 16 2005 January 20 2006 April 19 2006 April 22 2007 May 10 2009 June 2 2017 June 23 Maryland publications  Annapolis Capital Baltimore City Paper Baltimore Sun Easton Star-Democrat John Hopkins News-Letter Loyola College Greyhound St. John's College Gadfly Towson University Towerlight Univ. Maryland Diamondback Univ. of Maryland Retriever Univ. of Maryland Terrapin Washington College Elm W. Maryland Coll. Scrimshaw US publications by state  AL  •  AK  •  AR  •  AZ  •  CA CO  •  CT  •  DC  •  DE  •  FL GA  •  HI  •   IA   •   ID   •   IL   IN   •  KS  •  KY  •  LA   •  MA MD  •  ME  •   MI  •  MN  •  MO MS  •  MT  •  NC  •  ND  •  NE NH  •  NJ  •  NM  •  NV  •  NY OH  •  OK  •  OR  •  PA  •  RI SC  •  SD  •  TN  •  TX  •  UT  VA  •  VT  •  WA  •  WI  •  WY — Elvis Costello: a New Wave Dylan? Geoffrey Himes College Park — The title of Elvis Costello and the Attractions' new album is Trust. The cover photo shows Mr. Costello peering over his orange-tinted sunglasses. His eyebrows are cocked skeptically. It's clear that Trust is the album's subject, not its message. At the University of Maryland's Ritchie Coliseum in College Park, Elvis Costello wore the same sunglasses for a recent concert. Between songs he cocked his eyebrows in the same skeptical manner. When he sang, though, he bore down with a sense of mission this writer hasn't encountered since Bob Dylan at his peak. "Clown time is over," Mr. Costello sang with trembling rage. "Time to take over while others just talk and talk." His bristling intensity made it clear that he had no patience for the bozo fantasies of most pop songs. Elvis Costello is ready to take over if given the chance. In less than five years he has written and recorded 84 songs. Some of them have been covered by the likes of Linda Ronstadt, George Jones, Carlene Carter and Dave Edmunds. He's widely regarded as the best lyricist in rock and roll at the moment. In many ways Elvis Costello now occupies the position Bob Dylan held in the Sixties. Just as Mr. Dylan was never as popular as the Beatles. Mr. Costello will never be as popular as Bruce Springsteen. Yet Mr. Dylan forced critics, fans and musicians to take a brand new approach to rock and roll. Mr. Costello is having the same effect. Mr. Dylan attacked social injustice and cultural rigidity in his songs. Mr. Costello has turned his aim on pop music itself and the fantasies it produces about love. He sees the pop notion of "love" as an instrument of social repression. His songs report on the "war between the sexes" with the grim battlefield realism of a George Orwell. Mr. Costello sees men and women as duped pawns who repress each other and thus spare the powers that be the trouble. These pawns only spar if they believe in unreal notions of romance. It's those notions that Mr. Costello wants so bitterly to expose and purge. He writes of his own personal wounds at the hands of romance. He seethes with promises of revenge. Mr. Costello has been relentless in pursuing this theme. Some people feel he repeats himself too much as a result, Yet the theme is so crucial to pop culture and it is so guarded against that it requires repeated assault. Mr. Costello has constantly sharpened his point as if trying to pierce our defenses against them. He has never been sharper than on Trust (Columbia JC 37051). He dares us: "Will you look what love has done?" His 1979 Armed Forces was unified by the Phil Spector sound; last year's Get Happy! was held together by the Booker T & the MGs sound. Trust, by contrast, is a dazzling array of styles. Each one is just the right vehicle for the lyrics. 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 Sun, February 10, 1981 Geoffrey Himes profiles Elvis Costello, reviews Trust and reports on his concert with The Attractions and opening act Squeeze, Wednesday, January 28, 1981, Ritchie Coliseum, University Of Maryland, College Park, Maryland. Images Clipping. Page scans.

External links

• Baltimoresun.com
• Wikipedia: The Baltimore Sun