Elvis Costello: Classic or Dud

It's just that I'm ridiculously intellectually precious about people who have, what seems to me, an outmoded view of the place in which I live, and it only takes one brief comment to provoke me. That's all.

>>> I appreciate passion and opinion. I detest dogma. It's as simple as that.

It sure sounds simple and appealing when you put it that way. Everyone likes to think they detest that awful thing 'dogma', which is always conveniently something that somebody else has. "He is a redneck; you are rigidly ideological; I, on the other hand, hold views with delicious suppleness".

This is all fair enough but seems to me like a very weak critique of EC's records, which have been consistently interesting and experimental (albeit not consistently excellent). I think it's possible to get hung up on his words and miss the fact that he has a knack of writing fantastic tunes from time to time.

Of course, I'm one of those people who likes the sound of his voice, so that makes things easier.

Your point is taken, Tim, that I've not yet heard everything he's done, and I allow for those records that EC himself has problems with, notably _Goodbye Cruel World_. I actually think Andy's point comparing him to Van Morrison is worthy -- what you see as experimenting I see as generally dry genre exercise, such as the Brodsky Quartet album. I'm vaguely impressed with the attempt but not keen on the results. As for 'consistently interesting,' can we take it as read at this point that this is NOT universal opinion?

As for my being an Oasis enthusiast, what of it? EC and Noel Gallagher may both be stodges of Irish descent at heart, but at least I don't feel like I'm at a damn lecture about How To Be An Important and Innovative Musical Figure when I listen to a song like "Slide Away." If EC inevitably projects that aura to me, that's life.

As for Oasis, there are no bigger slaves to craft and classicism in rock at the moment, and that's the comparison I was making. If you're saying *now* that EC's records sound like dry lectures in classicism that's very interesting and I'd like you to give some examples (particularly regarding his stuff pre-1985). However, that's not the argument I thought you were making above, which seemed to rely more on what EC *had to say* about music in interviews. Forgive me if I misinterpreted.

The problem with hardcore/jungle/garage mc-ing is that it hasn't yet (at least to my knowledge) evolved beyond formularised lyrical content that works as a support to a track rather than something that can inspire in its own right.

But the UK pop market would appear to me to be wide open to a charismatic garage mc with inventive lyrics.

I'm uncomfortable with the implication that people should make the noises their backgrounds suggest they should. This is way off topic, though.

But yeah, I'd say he's mostly a classic.

If you want some pre-1985 examples, sure -- _Almost Blue_ and _Imperial Bedroom_. The former admittedly seems, from what I can tell, to be seen as a misfire or at least a lesser album among many fans, and certainly I think Billy Sherrill is a horrible producer, as I muttered in another thread elsewhere. I note, though, that even Sherrill said to Costello that he didn't quite understand why EC was wanting to do something over again that had already done, and frankly I sympathize with him. _Imperial Bedroom_, meanwhile, from what I can remember of it sounded partially like an attempt to create a late Beatles album over again, correct me if I'm wrong or that sounds utterly misapplied. As such it didn't impress me much.

*shrug* I read once that Woody Allen was the eternal film school undergrad, perhaps prolific but never or rarely truly inspired. I don't know enough about Allen's work to agree with that particular judgment, but I almost feel it could be applied to EC and rock and roll.

And Elvis Costello, for that matter. I know it sounds funny, but I certainly hope I am more talented than EC, though I'm not sure that you could really be persuaded of that based solely on Melody Maker articles I wrote years ago. The point is, it's not very hard to write songs like Elvis Costello, the reason so few people do is that so few people want to. Torture a pun; look out of your window and watch some sexy girls walk past, contemplate how you're never going to screw them, get bitter then quickly write a bit more; doff your cap to dead guys who wrote better songs than you. I estimate it'd take you 40 minutes, an hour if you stop for two bottles of whisky.

That thing I wrote about EC - which Allan Jones ordered I rewrite and still never quite forgave me for - attributed that quote to Dave Lee Roth. I used it to make a further point: most music journalists like Elvis Costello because most music journalists think like Elvis Costello. I'm not sure that's true anymore, by the way. Increasingly, they all want to be bloody Lee & Herring, which is worse. No, worse still. Adam & Joe.

PS I once met Joe Strummer - during the summer of 1995, which I think he spent perpetually on E, and not long after that review was published. I was amazed when he recognized my name and told me he'd read the EC thing: "I tell you," he said, "I've been waiting 20 fucking years for someone to say that about that cunt..." I was never a punk or anything, but I felt quite proud.

I much prefer "Costello: he's so brilliant he's bad": the lookylikey idea is just clever-clever RoMo body-fascism (he said, crossly tugging his goatee and polishing his glasses), and will only fly if we get to apply it to everyone else as well.

Please tell me that isn't the "After Dark" in Laygate, South Shields???

That's abt 1/2 mile from where I sit now, typing thiz cobblerz, instead ov working. Christ....

x0x0

the virus circulates by dodgy mixtapes, calling on EVIL ITSELF:

DUF DUF DUF DUF 'witha cocaine,ectasy,marjuana,lsd - BRING THA NOIZE WHISTLE POSSE'

didnt elvis costello punch some full of it feminist and/or pop singer in the face one time?

he got in an argument with members of the stephen stills band which quickly escalated into a shouting match. apparently, he and bruce thomas were utterly shitfaced and wanted to say 'the worst thing they could possibly say', so ec said that ray charles was a 'blind, ignorant n*****' and proceeded to trash james brown and the whole of america in a similar manner. then bonnie bramlett decked him, and it erupted into a bar fight. ec is horribly contrite about it, says it was a huge mistake etc (see In The Fascist Bathroom, G Marcus)

-- David (huntsma...), May 25th, 2001.

David wins!

http://launch.yahoo.com/read/album.asp?contentID=7205

I still adore This Years Model (and My Aim Is True for the most part) and various songs from later periods (mainly for the melody - I dig a good part of Brutal Youth actually)...

I guess he qualifies as a dud Classic, meaning somebody who you can't truly hate on but doesn't offer much joy. A classic Dud is someone you love to hate, a band that's recorded career is basically worthless but you wouldn't want to live in a world without them (Kiss is a big one for me).

wow there are no less than THREE c/d threads for elvis.

anyway, November 8th, San Francisco, Great American Music Hall: Elvis Costello and Clover perform "my aim is true". sold out though and just found out about it so phooey.

EC: My new record is too expensive. Please don't buy it.

ha! i wouldn't mind hearing the show...but who pays for these kinds of things? the 1%?