Elvis Costello: Classic or Dud

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Crafty, insightful, heart-rending word and songsmithery or speccy, no-mates, mannered-voice wankery? YOU decide.

― Venga, Wednesday, 23 May 2001 00:00 (seventeen years ago) Permalink

Ah yes: Dud! Crap voice, crap songs and indeed very boring. Nothing really interesting to add in the way of insults.

― Omar, Wednesday, 23 May 2001 00:00 (seventeen years ago) Permalink

Classic without doubt. Brilliantly twisted pop songs, and a voice like a velvet razor. It's late. I'll have more to say on this tomorrow.

― Melissa W, Wednesday, 23 May 2001 00:00 (seventeen years ago) Permalink

Although clearly wretched for the last 15 years or so, I have to say classic for "This Year's Model" and to a lesser extent "Get Happy!" and "Imperial Bedroom".

― Dr. C, Wednesday, 23 May 2001 00:00 (seventeen years ago) Permalink

This seems a good opportunity to mention that Tanya's archives have been restored to life. Here she is on EC .

Me? I liked him for a very long time. But I'm not sure how much I do now. I'll have a think and get back to you.

― Tom, Wednesday, 23 May 2001 00:00 (seventeen years ago) Permalink

I heartily agree with Dr.C, although I'd like to add ARMED FORCES to his list under "classic."

― alex in nyc, Wednesday, 23 May 2001 00:00 (seventeen years ago) Permalink

Classic, no doubt. Now that he's a veteran rock star, though, so he can do whatever he wants. I must admit he hasn't impressed me with any of his projects in some time.

― Armando, Wednesday, 23 May 2001 00:00 (seventeen years ago) Permalink

"Classic" seems to imply "dead" to me. I like Elvis Costello. Of course hes had his moments of barf, but on the whole I can't see why anyone wouldn't lik ehis music. Maybe people wouldlike his stuff more if it was sung by Bono or someone with more sex appeal and a singing voice. I used to think he was a bit lacking in innovation as far as his sound, but if you listen to "MIghty LIke A ROse" , its really experimental and odd. Not so good though, but still he tried. I guess hes what happens if you cross a nerd with Bob Dylan with Henry Macicni with....oh nevermind. I have become tedius.

― Mike Hanley, Wednesday, 23 May 2001 00:00 (seventeen years ago) Permalink

EC gets an amazingly bad press. My perspective on EC is - no, maybe I have perspectives, plural, on EC. Let's see:

1. Encountering him in 80s childhood: the almost capuccino-pop textures (I may be off the mark there) and heavy wordy satire of Punch The Clock seeped into me and made it my favourite EC LP for ever amen.

2. His eternal 'returns' and reinventions... come the end of the 80s I get mildly more clued up and start to work out how EC's career fits together, what he's been up to, what are the highs and lows... I decide, roughly, that he is pretty much a genius. People have said before that 'genius' is an unhelpful term, and I agree that it tells you little save that I admire EC. But what I mean is, a) I think he is the most accomplished lyricist in the history of pop over the last 40 or so years - at least amongst what I have heard. b) he is able to be comic and serious, elaborately tongue-in-cheek or straight-out sincere (but maybe I shouldn't exaggerate the range here - I'm not sure, I think there is an 'EC mode' somewhere). c) he is able to dip in and out of genres with rare distinction and understanding; he always shows huge (even excessive?) respect for the genres he uses. (This makes for a slight difference with Merritt, who clearly loves lots of the genres he essays but is still less 'respectful' towards them.) d) He has a rare melodic gift which gets rather eclipsed by his even rarer lyrical gift; he reminds me of McCartney, really. So, classic, classic, classic.

3. But hang on. I don't actually *listen* to EC that much. I have to admit that for all his brilliance, he's not always what I want to hear. Possibly there's a certain lack of... 'lightness' in his work - he's so 'full-on' about everything that I can't quite see him pulling off the nonchalant grace of, say, 'Ask', 'Here's Where The Story Ends' or 'The Saddest Story Ever Told'.

4. Then again - his 1998 collaboration with Bacharach, Painted From Memory, seems to me magnificent. Lyrical simplicity yet point; fabulous melodic dynamism; lush arrangements. From my particular POV, one of the most vital records of the last 10 years, and a great highlight of EC's entire career. In the end, I can only admire this fellow.

― the pinefox, Wednesday, 23 May 2001 00:00 (seventeen years ago) Permalink

pinefox, i think we've found our common ground. we're likely bound together for eternity as the only ilm posters who will readily admit an unabashed love for painted from memory.

― fred solinger, Wednesday, 23 May 2001 00:00 (seventeen years ago) Permalink

Wait, I like Painted from MEmory. AT least most of it. AT times I feel liek it could have been produced better though. It sounds too LA for me, too modern. I like Bacharach's olde tyme stuff better, where the recourdings have no less bass. True som e of the songs on PFM are gross, (The Long Division) but who can deny the overall catchiness an d pop apeal of the rest? Leave it to these two to make pop music that is at once trite/candy and dark/dramatic.

― Mike Hanley, Wednesday, 23 May 2001 00:00 (seventeen years ago) Permalink

Well, he was on the final episode of "3rd Rock" last night, so he's got to be good! I like a lot of his stuff, but I really hate some of it. "Veronica" pisses me off.

― , Wednesday, 23 May 2001 00:00 (seventeen years ago) Permalink

I liek Veronica. WHat's with Sting lately? Appearing on Ally MC Beal to sing "every Breath You Take? Going to Madonnas wedding? Is the same guy who wrote "Darkness" and "Walking on the Moon" ? I really have a special place in my heart for the Police, but egad, what has happened to the man? I hope Elvis COstello doesnt becoem liek him.

― Mike Hanley, Wednesday, 23 May 2001 00:00 (seventeen years ago) Permalink

I hope Elvis Costello licks Sting.

― proton, Wednesday, 23 May 2001 00:00 (seventeen years ago) Permalink

It would be fun to see Elvis COstello and Sting in a xxx film. Especially if Liz Taylor was watching in the backgruond and Michal Jackson was trying to mount her

― Mike Hanley, Wednesday, 23 May 2001 00:00 (seventeen years ago) Permalink

All of a sudden a boring thread (since the subject is fairly boring) has become brilliant.

I'll have to combine this with the 'records never played' answer. Somehow I have a near complete EC collection and I've never listened to any of it!

My favorite quote about him came from Bernard Sumner, god among men:

Interviewer: "What do you think of wordsmiths like Elvis Costello?"

Sumner: *deep breath* "Don't talk to me about that overrated fucking jerk."

Genius.

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 23 May 2001 00:00 (seventeen years ago) Permalink

Another fine EC quote from ILM-er Taylor Parkes: "Most music journalists like Elvis Costello because most music journalists look like Elvis Costello."

Heh.

― Venga, Wednesday, 23 May 2001 00:00 (seventeen years ago) Permalink

I think it was David Lee Roth made that crack first...

― Andrew L, Wednesday, 23 May 2001 00:00 (seventeen years ago) Permalink

yes, that's a popular crack. it probably dates back to bob dylan. the most recent artist i've heard it applied to is beck. but what can you do when it's so true?

― fred solinger, Wednesday, 23 May 2001 00:00 (seventeen years ago) Permalink

Point and laugh?

― proton, Wednesday, 23 May 2001 00:00 (seventeen years ago) Permalink

I don't think that those supposedly good quotations are good at all. I think they're rubbish, and that Sumner and Parkes - talent though they may have for the particular things they do - are not really fit to wash EC's guitar.

― the pinefox, Wednesday, 23 May 2001 00:00 (seventeen years ago) Permalink

This implies somebody would *want* to wash EC's guitar. I'm content to let it rot away. As it is, Sumner has more soul in his 'soulless' voice than EC does for all his gurning and straining and stultifying reverence for the past. Taylor, meanwhile, is cool, and that's enough. ;-)

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 23 May 2001 00:00 (seventeen years ago) Permalink

I recently got the Album Revenge :One True Passsion. Peter Hook sings just liek Bernard Sumner.

― Mike Hanley, Wednesday, 23 May 2001 00:00 (seventeen years ago) Permalink

I'm not sure that Bernard Sumner is in any kind of position to be calling people overrated.

Ned - it must be really cool to have a complete collection of records by people you dislike.

I wouldn't mind looking like Beck, or even Elvis Costello, but I guess that just proves David Lee Roth's point - but I'm not a critic, so maybe it's OK.

― Patrick, Wednesday, 23 May 2001 00:00 (seventeen years ago) Permalink

It's *bizarre*, is what it is. I think they're around in some sort of attempt to convince myself that one day I'll like them more than I do, which right now is...not much. For all my bile (which I still think is well deserved towards him), I don't outright hate his stuff, I think it just might succeed better if done by others, same way I feel about Dylan. Except I won't have Dylan in the house and clearly I have all this EC stuff lying around. It must mean *something*.

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 23 May 2001 00:00 (seventeen years ago) Permalink

I think it is a sign that you should send me Elvis Costello CDs so I can see if I like him, Ned.

― Josh, Wednesday, 23 May 2001 00:00 (seventeen years ago) Permalink

To EC's admirers: You have to admit, despite its pithiness, that Sumner's response was entirely justified. Can you imagine how many times the man had been asked questions like "What do you think of WORDSMITHS like Elvis Costello?..." with the unstated but implied "...since YOU are so completely far from a wordsmith that you must be dripping with jealousy towards this lyrical genius!"

I find Sumner's voice far more compelling than EC's; like Ned, lyrics to me are not the be-all-end-all qualification for "good vocals." (Even though I'd take Sumner's lyrics over EC's...) But I can see why people like EC; he does have a knack for a hook (but so does Sumner--no pun intended ;-)--but I must say, I have two of his records, and I hardly listen to them, ever.

Dylan I like, though. He sounds quite fragile ("Har-har-har, that's 'cause he can't sing in tune!" NOT FUNNY, CLICHE-WIELDING ASSHOLES!), as opposed to EC, who comes across to me as pretty smug a lot of the time. Of course, Bright Eyes sounds fragile, and I don't know if I could name one vocalist whose teeth I'd rather kick in...

― Clarke B., Wednesday, 23 May 2001 00:00 (seventeen years ago) Permalink

I have two of Costello's records, that is... sorry about the jumbled punctuation and ambiguous pronouns.

― Clarke B., Wednesday, 23 May 2001 00:00 (seventeen years ago) Permalink

Bernard Sumner and Elvis Costello BOTH get by not on being majestic voices of beauty but rather projecting a personality.

― Mike Hanley, Wednesday, 23 May 2001 00:00 (seventeen years ago) Permalink

barney has a personality?

― fred solinger, Wednesday, 23 May 2001 00:00 (seventeen years ago) Permalink

Yes. He comes across to me as a depressed, peachy, preppie sort of insecure type. At times bitchy yet always revealin g his inner vulnerability. " I kno w, you know, we belive in the land of love"

― Mike Hanley, Wednesday, 23 May 2001 00:00 (seventeen years ago) Permalink

Maybe you're right about them both getting by on projecting a personality, Mike. It might be the case I just like Sumner's personality better than Costello's--at least the way it comes across on record. There's always been something a bit sinister and unsettling (not in a good way) in EC's voice to me, and if I could pin down exactly what that is, I'd probably be better off. Lemme think on that one...

― Clarke B., Wednesday, 23 May 2001 00:00 (seventeen years ago) Permalink

I want to marry Tanya. That was some funny mocking.

My Aim Is True is a great record that took me a long time to get into. In fact, it's one of my favourites, despite the pub-rock backing group. I always thought they were the perfect band for the 50s Punk Buddy Holly thing he was being marketed as at the time. The lyrics are great, too: "now that your picture's in the paper / being rhythmically admired"? Brilliance. I haven't listened to any of his other stuff except "Pump It Up" and "I Don't Want To Go To Chelsea" and "Veronica" and they're all good too. Hey Ned, how much for the collection?

― Dave M., Wednesday, 23 May 2001 00:00 (seventeen years ago) Permalink

i find ec's voice quite compelling and engaging; it has color and there are certain songs of his that i can't imagine another singing because of the way he tackles it.

that said, he's not luther vandross and when he sings out of his range, it's at best endearing, at worst really, really, really bad.

i like e.c. because he's got a lot of pop smarts, see for example his nicks of everyone from abba to stax. i can listen to him rather than, say, dylan because not only does he have fine lyrics but he takes an active interest in the recording process and is an underrated melodist.

― fred solinger, Wednesday, 23 May 2001 00:00 (seventeen years ago) Permalink

Rhino is doing a whole reissue of Costello's back catalog, so everything should be readily available again soon

― JC, Wednesday, 23 May 2001 00:00 (seventeen years ago) Permalink

I hate Elvis Costello because I was named after one of his bloody songs. Fuck that. Doesn't stop me from keeping all his albums, but jesus, naming after a song is a dud.

― Ally, Wednesday, 23 May 2001 00:00 (seventeen years ago) Permalink

Sorry, not for sale. I await the day I understand. ;-)

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 23 May 2001 00:00 (seventeen years ago) Permalink

I never offered to pay you for them, Ned. ;)

― Josh, Wednesday, 23 May 2001 00:00 (seventeen years ago) Permalink

No, but Dave M did. So ha. ;-)

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 23 May 2001 00:00 (seventeen years ago) Permalink

I reckon Clarke B. is on the money here with a couple of his points. Firstly, Barney Sumner may not be the world's best lyricist but in terms of music Costello isn't fit to press the demo button on New Order's drum machine. And secondly, the Bright Eyes singer has got the most kickable voice this side of Alanis Morissette. It's even worse when you see him live and he's emoting through his artfully positioned floppy fringe.

― Richard Tunnicliffe, Wednesday, 23 May 2001 00:00 (seventeen years ago) Permalink

I look nothing like Elvis Costello, except, for perhaps, except for my glasses. But I love him nonetheless. The early stuff (through Imperial Bedroom) is magnificent. Trust, in particular, has the cleverness-as-dodge arise into a theme of its own, and I find that very emotionally powerful and resonant. Almost Blue is notable only for "Good Year For The Roses" but oh what a track it is. Armed Forces has some of the best inner-sleve artwork, ever, and careens between overdone wordplay, earnest emotion, and cutting lines like "she has a chemistry class, I want a piece of her... mind" which I adore. Blood & Chocolate, and King of America are both standout albums, but he really comes back with Brutal Youth whose tunes are so well crafted as to be nearly unforgettable. I mean, the content is take-or-leave-it lyrically, with some very notable exceptions, but the music is always top-notch.

― Sterling Clover, Thursday, 24 May 2001 00:00 (seventeen years ago) Permalink

Mike, the reason Sting doesn't write songs like "Darkness" anymore is that Stewart Copeland actually wrote that one.

― tarden, Thursday, 24 May 2001 00:00 (seventeen years ago) Permalink

I think it is bizarre to claim that Sumner or Parkes are more talented than EC. I can hardly believe that anyone really believes that.

― the pinefox, Thursday, 24 May 2001 00:00 (seventeen years ago) Permalink

i don't really have any interest in who is the most talented. but i know the following...

1. i would much much rather listen to new order than elvis costello.

2. i would rather read taylor parkes than listen to elvis costello.

― gareth, Thursday, 24 May 2001 00:00 (seventeen years ago) Permalink

Tarden really? Shit! NO wonder. He also wrote "Oh mY GOd" which is marvelous IMO. BUt I assuem his post Police stuff has been rot.

― Mike Hanley, Thursday, 24 May 2001 00:00 (seventeen years ago) Permalink

I'm not interested in measuring talent, pinefox, that's a slippery slope of biased judgment. I *am* interested in saying that New Order mean a hell of a lot more to me than someone who's been bemoaning the 'death of proper songwriting' or whatever since 1975.

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 24 May 2001 00:00 (seventeen years ago) Permalink

Really Ned ? Does Elvis Costello complain about that, or is it just something about his image that makes you think he would ?

― Patrick, Thursday, 24 May 2001 00:00 (seventeen years ago) Permalink

my only concern is that ned calls bernard sumner "god among men." i mean, _up_ and _closer_ were #1 and #13 on my 40-records list and _1981/1982_ was on there too but the man who sang "i saw some people look down on me/i hope they like what they see" a divine being? possibly understandable if you were talking about peter hook but only possibly.

― sundar subramanian, Thursday, 24 May 2001 00:00 (seventeen years ago) Permalink

See also: my comments about his rapping on the electronic/electronica thread. No one who can rap that poorly can be considered a god -- he's not even in the Ben/Glory category.

― Nicole, Thursday, 24 May 2001 00:00 (seventeen years ago) Permalink

Based on some of the interviews I've read over time (hey, I even read RATM interviews at points, I like seeing what they're going to come up with next to amuse me), he pretty much says as much. I recall one piece from around the time of _Spike_ or the like where he compares acid house's then explosion in the UK to the punk scene when he started, but then complained about both that most of what would be released wouldn't last the test of time. The implicit comparison was that he on the other hand was Crafting Lasting Quality. Yawn.

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 24 May 2001 00:00 (seventeen years ago) Permalink

Skipping 362 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

also "Couldn't Call it Unexpected" is one of his greatest songs. Ok I'm done

― akm,

otm

― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 27 June 2018 20:25 (two months ago) Permalink

Juliet Letters is really better than it could/should have been, for such an odd idea.

I love his title track here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKXH8CD08yw

Stripped down with Frisell here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_xMZ-_XTJ4

― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 27 June 2018 20:27 (two months ago) Permalink

Oh, and really doesn't get enough credit for Almost Blue. The idea of this guy of all people paying tribute to George Jones, Merle Haggard, or Gram Parsons in 1981 (!) was insanely progressive, imo.

― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 27 June 2018 20:28 (two months ago) Permalink

those frisell things were good, forgot about those. used to have to pay through the nose for that CD.

― akm, Wednesday, 27 June 2018 20:34 (two months ago) Permalink

All This Useless Beauty - classic

yeah i'm not a costello fan but this is great, esp "the other end of the telescope" and "distorted angel"

― brimstead, Wednesday, 27 June 2018 20:37 (two months ago) Permalink

I loved that when it came out but it hasn't held my attention in the past 10 years. I should revisit it.

― akm, Wednesday, 27 June 2018 20:43 (two months ago) Permalink

he certainly toured a shitload behind it and did a bunch of duo shows with Steve Nieve (which he bundled up and sold in an overpriced box set)

― akm, Wednesday, 27 June 2018 20:43 (two months ago) Permalink

Walked into an Italian restaurant on Sunday and was surprised to hear This Is Hell playing. Admittedly Elvis was playing in the Playhouse across the road and it was probably just Spotify on random, but still a nice surprise.

After years of never being able to pick a favourite EC album, I think I may have to choose Brutal Youth after all. But like Bowie, no one album comes close in defining him, so there is that.

I personally like the production, clearly a backtracking from the kitchen sink sound of Mighty and Spike and most likely a welcome product of the post-grunge stripped down "BACK TO BASICS" ethos, although I do not believe her ever pushed it as such (thankfully)

― PaulTMA, Wednesday, 27 June 2018 20:45 (two months ago) Permalink

This last week I've finally heard this and surprisingly like a lot:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hsh61d6qBzE

― PaulTMA, Wednesday, 27 June 2018 20:46 (two months ago) Permalink

it's funny that both MIghty Like a Rose and Brutal Youth are produced by Mitchell Froom. He uses similar reverbs and studio effects on both frankly, but the band makes the difference.

― akm, Wednesday, 27 June 2018 20:48 (two months ago) Permalink

xpost I like the Back to Basics approach, I just don't like how BY literally sounds. Unlike This Years Model and Armed Forces, or Trust and Blood n Chocolate, impeccable Nick Lowe productions that are powerful and passionate but also very precise, the Lowe/Froom hybrid of Brutal Youth is just a mess to my ears.

I saw one of those Elvis/Steve duo dates, was great.

Saw him on Useless Beauty tour, too, which was the last with Bruce, and you could sort of tell.

― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 27 June 2018 20:48 (two months ago) Permalink

For some reason I thought Froom only produced part of that record and three or four songs were handled by Lowe. Maybe I'm just thinking of him playing bass.

― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 27 June 2018 20:50 (two months ago) Permalink

I can appreciate that the saucepan-like snare drum on BY may not be pleasant to everyone's ears, but I like it

― PaulTMA, Wednesday, 27 June 2018 20:52 (two months ago) Permalink

maybe that's right (xpost)

― akm, Wednesday, 27 June 2018 20:52 (two months ago) Permalink

I hate the drums recorded for BY.

― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 27 June 2018 20:53 (two months ago) Permalink

and I like them!

― akm, Wednesday, 27 June 2018 20:55 (two months ago) Permalink

Just decided to listen to My Aim Is True on a whim for the first time in 10-odd years and it's not as awful as I remembered; helps that I forgot those 'authoritative' reviews I so readily trusted back in the day.

― pomenitul, Wednesday, 27 June 2018 21:06 (two months ago) Permalink

Get Happy is the peak for me. Hook after hook after hook, and the wordplay is out of control.

― J. Sam, Wednesday, 27 June 2018 21:29 (two months ago) Permalink

yeah it's a great album, and long, and full of songs! so many songs crammed onto one LP. keeping everything short, like 2.5 minutes, was a great idea.

― akm, Wednesday, 27 June 2018 21:34 (two months ago) Permalink

I love how Xgau, in his review of Get Happy!, backhandedly praises the wordplay:

why deny lines like "You lack lust you're so lackluster" or "I speak double dutch to a real double duchess"? On the other hand, why bother digging them out?

(The album gets a B)

And then in his Trust review makes fun of it:

Who ever said he wasn't much of a singer? Was that me? No, I said he wasn't much of a poet--all wordplay as swordplay and puns for punters (one of which means something, one of which doesn't, and both of which took me ten seconds).

(The album gets an A)

― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 27 June 2018 21:35 (two months ago) Permalink

The bootlegs from the Get Happy era - really any from that early era - are so propelled by amphetamines they're hilariously exhausting. As if the thing the band needed was the play more, and faster! I love it, though.

― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 27 June 2018 21:36 (two months ago) Permalink

christgau's whole schtick is always backhandedly praising something while low key being a dick about it i dunno, i feel like i don't even know or care wtf he's even talking about like 75% of the time

― The Desus & Mero Chain (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 27 June 2018 21:56 (two months ago) Permalink

Xgau taught me what it means to hate music.

― pomenitul, Wednesday, 27 June 2018 21:57 (two months ago) Permalink

Same! God bless him.

― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 27 June 2018 22:07 (two months ago) Permalink

Do we not like the Dean? Inscrutable as his prose may sometimes be, he has turned me on to so much great music over the years I will forever be in his debt.

― kornrulez6969, Wednesday, 27 June 2018 22:20 (two months ago) Permalink

I do not like the Dean, can't speak for anyone else
Alfred has his poster above his bed iirc

― The Desus & Mero Chain (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 27 June 2018 22:21 (two months ago) Permalink

I have found his reviews educational and his prose influential, but in general (and particularly from the 90s on) I find his approach and opinions as often vapid as they are on point.

― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 27 June 2018 22:28 (two months ago) Permalink

The bootlegs from the Get Happy era - really any from that early era - are so propelled by amphetamines they're hilariously exhausting.

Indeed:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P94pXANbucw

― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Wednesday, 27 June 2018 22:35 (two months ago) Permalink

I do not like the Dean, can't speak for anyone else
Alfred has his poster above his bed iirc

― The Desus & Mero Chain (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, June 27, 2018

I'm glad I piss everyone off. His fans are skeptical of if not downright hostile toward me. We haven't agreed consistently in over thirty years.

― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 27 June 2018 22:43 (two months ago) Permalink

and in person I've found him a creep.

― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 27 June 2018 22:43 (two months ago) Permalink

i've heard that the dude's a bit of a creep too, but to be honest i get that from his writing too. i think some of his older essays, the one on al green and the one he wrote after lennon died, are thoughtful and better than his blurbs. "i feel like i don't even know or care wtf he's even talking about like 75% of the time" is otm for me.

― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Wednesday, 27 June 2018 22:46 (two months ago) Permalink

UMS is speaking partly in jest, but the reality is we don't agree on sexuality, his fascination with certain so-called geniuses, and his increasingly cramped blurbing style.

― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 27 June 2018 22:50 (two months ago) Permalink

His disdain for anything even remotely artsy or Romantic, especially in the more European sense, is why I've never managed to take him seriously, though our tastes overlap at least 20% of the time.

― pomenitul, Wednesday, 27 June 2018 22:55 (two months ago) Permalink

RC being a creep in person (as opposed to just in print) is the least surprisingly thing I've ever heard.

― Police, Academy (cryptosicko), Wednesday, 27 June 2018 23:03 (two months ago) Permalink

here's a question: I feel like I once heard, somewhere, a bouncy reggae cover version of "the beat" by someone. but I can't seem to locate that now. ring any bells?

― akm, Wednesday, 27 June 2018 23:20 (two months ago) Permalink

it's by Elvis Costello on TYM iirc

― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 27 June 2018 23:24 (two months ago) Permalink

man y'all are making me want to dive back into this catalogue again. I don't think I've heard much past Blood & Chocolate but I remember liking that one a lot.

tbh it's been really tough for me to listen to Elvis Costello these last few years. I had a friend who was really big into him - I brought My Aim is True to one of our poker nights and he absolutely loved it, we'd listen to that CD pretty much every time we got together. saw EC w/ him at Summerfest and it was awesome. he died of an overdose 4 years ago. I heard "Watching the Detectives" in a mall a few months after that and felt like I was getting PTSD. I had to run away. It was so weird. I've been kind of scared to hear his music again.

― frogbs, Thursday, 28 June 2018 14:20 (two months ago) Permalink

I do not like the Dean, can't speak for anyone else
Alfred has his poster above his bed iirc

― The Desus & Mero Chain (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, June 27, 2018

I'm glad I piss everyone off. His fans are skeptical of if not downright hostile toward me. We haven't agreed consistently in over thirty years.

― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, June 27, 2018 5:43 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

alfred it was just a light zing, i just recalled you seemed like a big fan, which i obviously exagerrated in my memory, apologies!

― The Desus & Mero Chain (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 28 June 2018 14:56 (two months ago) Permalink

Get Happy is the peak for me. Hook after hook after hook, and the wordplay is out of control.

opportunity & secondary modern, both sooo great. watch yr step is like a chorus-less retread of secondary modern.

― Chuck_Tatum, Thursday, 28 June 2018 15:07 (two months ago) Permalink

love opportunity, probably my favorite on get happy!!

i hear the similarity beween watch your step and secondary modern, but i disagree about watch your step being a retread, possibly my fav song on trust.

― supreme court justice samuel lance-ito (voodoo chili), Thursday, 28 June 2018 15:14 (two months ago) Permalink

you lack lust, you're so lacklustre

― akm, Thursday, 28 June 2018 16:37 (two months ago) Permalink

I wish you luck with a capital F

― can'tdelabra (Ye Mad Puffin), Thursday, 28 June 2018 16:46 (two months ago) Permalink

His vocal on Watch Your Step is one of his best.

― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 28 June 2018 16:57 (two months ago) Permalink

possibly nieve's most measured and beautiful piano/organ

― supreme court justice samuel lance-ito (voodoo chili), Thursday, 28 June 2018 16:59 (two months ago) Permalink

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/jul/06/elvis-costello-cancer-diagnosis-cancels-tour-dates :(

― StanM, Friday, 6 July 2018 11:11 (two months ago) Permalink

my 50yo Fall-mad housemate played me his 'my aim is true' LP the other night. it took a few goes round, but its such a fun album!

― meaulnes, Friday, 6 July 2018 11:39 (two months ago) Permalink

three weeks pass...

New album with the Imposters coming. I like the two songs he shared this week.

― sctttnnnt (pgwp), Friday, 27 July 2018 16:48 (one month ago) Permalink

Under Lime being the better of the two.

― sctttnnnt (pgwp), Friday, 27 July 2018 16:51 (one month ago) Permalink

one month passes...

yeah Under Lime is a great song; haven't liked his stuff for quite some time. However, the album cover is in the running for the worst cover of all fucking time.

― akm, Wednesday, 19 September 2018 17:12 (three days ago) Permalink

Scroll past the bellend 2001 posts

― PaulTMA, Wednesday, 19 September 2018 23:07 (three days ago) Permalink

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