Elvis Costello: Classic or Dud

The drums on BY sound like shit.

That's pretty much the drum sound on a lot of Mitchell Froom's productions...I'm fine with it, but it's an acquired taste. What does he actually do them anyway?

To me it just sounds like Pete Thomas used a clangy, 60s/Motown kind of snare throughout. I love the sound of that album, drums and all. I don't think it ever gets mentioned, but BY was his 'Back to Basics' album at the time

That's pretty much the drum sound on a lot of Mitchell Froom's productions...I'm fine with it, but it's an acquired taste. What does he actually do them anyway?

― birdistheword,

They bother me less on Richard Thompson and Suzanne Vega albums, though

I don’t enjoy Elvis’s guitar playing on most of his post-Brutal Youth records - it’s like he’s trying too hard to be Marc Ribot. And from the 2000s onwards, the Imposters are basically a guitar rock band and Nieve seems content to disappear unless it’s a duo record. I’ll take Froom’s 90s production over the dullness of the 2000s stuff though.

xpost Vega/Froom’s 99.9F is a masterpiece!

Pete typically used the classic Ludwig metal "biscuit tin" snare. Ironically, that trademark Froom clang is closer to what drums actually sound like than what we usually hear, but I think Froom/Blake play it up a bit to be even more distinctive. But for whatever reason, I think that approach just does not work with EC. *Everything* sounds so loud and abrasive and distracting, so much so it's sometimes hard to believe this is the same crack band that recorded all those classic Lowe-produced albums. I mean, Nick Lowe loves a clanging snare drum, too, at least sometimes, but his own trademark bash and pop production sounds downright restrained compared to "Brutal Youth." Which is also ironic, since iirc some of it was produced by Lowe, too!

the Crowded House albums produced by Froom also sound fine.

And Los Lobos, etc. It's only EC that sounds bad, and as the biggest ego of the bunch I wouldn't be surprised if it was all his fault.

I've actually got mixed feelings about the Thompson albums. A lot of those songs sounded MUCH better live, and not just for the extended solos.

Lowe did not produce any of BY's tracks. He only played bass and stepped aside late in the process when he suggested Bruce Thomas would be more suitable for the remaining songs they didn't nail down.

Los Lobos and Latin Playboys were great Froom productions. I liked SOME of the cuts he did with Bonnie Raitt. I'm not a Crowded House fan beyond one or two singles, but "Don't Dream Is Over" is still great.

I think Froom really saps the life out of Los Lobos (maybe that was what they were going for!), those records always sound dispiritingly mannered to me. Brutal Youth has lotsa energy even if sounds a little dated.

Lisa Germano's Slide is a Tchad Blake-credited production, but Froom is involved too and it's probably my favorite example of their sonic aesthetic

I sometimes forget that Brutal Youth has the Attractions on it; but All This Useless Beauty manages to sound much more like the Attractions than BY, while employing more expansive (and certainly more effective) arrangements.

And that album marked the return of Geoff Emerick, right?

Yep. I remember being struck by the production on first listen unaware it was Emerick.

love “shallow grave” on that record. It’s a throwaway but the chorus is tucking stomping.

Strange, I have to agree with EC's own take that All This Useless Beauty was more of a solo project. "Poor Fractured Atlas," the song he wrote for Roger McGuinn ("You'll Bow Down"), "I Want to Vanish," etc...I was actually surprised to see the Attractions were credited when I first paid close attention to the album. Anyway, it's a pretty good, low-key album.

You Bowed Down

Good song

My mistake, but yes, good song!

Anyone seem him on this tour? Worth seeing him for the first time?

Apparently good, as usual. I think Charlie Sexton is sitting in on guitar? Dylan just started touring again, so I guess that means Sexton is no longer in that particular crew.

Yeah, it's been confirmed Dylan had to replace Sexton.

Alright, I'll try to win tickets or check for last-minute deals next Saturday.

I played GET HAPPY !! this week for the first time in full, though I've known bits of the LP for decades.

It's marvellous.

One thing I like is how the relatively well known songs - 'new amsterdam', 'high fidelity', 'I can't stand up' - are in the middle of the 20 songs, so for a long time it's fronting up with relatively obscure numbers; some of which I barely knew.

It's a Motown / 60s beat pastiche, I suppose, very well enough done for my ears; but also at times an exercise in Ska, and one song maybe country-soul?

I greatly admire EC's craftsmanship in writing and arranging the songs, and the way that again and again and again he inserts a tremendous little couplet, phrase, pun, barbed sequence into the words - usually about 3 per song.

One other note, not a new thought, is the prevalence of cultural history in the lyrics - the sense of animating a history of eg: noir motifs, old movies. At times ('motel matches', 'black and white world') maybe this is explicitly reflected on? (Well, I'm assuming there that 'black and white world' refers to film, but actually I'm not sure it does.)

I've been back into EC a lot lately. Properly 'discovering' this LP after so long deepened this experience.

I like Froom's drum sound a lot, particularly on BY.

Hoover Factory on Get Happy, I could listen to that over and over again, it might be my favourite EC song.

Lol, I meant "Secondary Modern" but I love "Hoover Factory" too

I love his singing on "Secondary Modern," especially the way he sings the chorus. Get Happy!! in general is pretty awesome - I can't remember where, but I remember reading somewhere that the engineer Roger Bechirian said it was his favorite album by EC too. (He'd go on to co-produce Squeeze's best album with EC.)

I didn't know 'secondary modern' well at all but yes, outstanding sound, song and singing.

Get Happy was my favorite growing up; I listened to it on the way to school every morning. Later I thought that the "serious" ones were better (Imperial Bedroom, King of America, This Years Model maybe). But I pulled out my vinyl copy a couple of months ago and was completely blown away by how solid the whole thing is, and was especially impressed by his "backing vocals." It really holds up.

Also, as Nick Lowe insists, "no groovepacking!"

"Human Touch" and "I Stand Accused" are the only middling songs on here; he recorded better outtakes but probably felt he needed to keep the tempo up. There's an interview where he explains that the lyrics were almost like automatic writing; songs were written nearly as soon as they were written. There's a lot of amusing nonsense in the words that was actually more appealing than when he took more time and used more craft to come up with more perfect words.

According to someone on Song Meanings:

"Black and White World" refers to the black and white photography used in the cheaper porno mags of the 60's and 70's.

OTM. He really had a tendency to overwork things until they turned bad.

Yes, and that's one reason Get Happy is so good: he's working quickly.

Pete's drumming on Human Touch is all-time great.

The b-sides comp Ten Bloody Marys & Ten How's Your Fathers is a great companion to this - another 20 songs, short and sharp, no duffers

They’re also both records that don’t make sense to me unless they’re on cassette

I love his singing on "Secondary Modern," especially the way he sings the chorus.

Yep, for me it's how he sings the line "Now my whole world goes from blue to blue"

Get Happy!! is best Elvis.

Yes that moment is so lovely

Ten Bloody... would be classic even if it were just "Stranger in the House" and "My Funny Valentine."

It's one of the best-ever b-sides and outtakes records.

I acquired that one late since my intro to buying Costello albums was Girls, Girls Girls (still his best overall comp) and then the Ryko reissues which had all of Ten Bloody Marys sprinkled in as bonus tracks; when I recently went through and cleared out some vinyl, I pulled that out thinking I might sell it back but quickly realized that one is a keeper.

Rare EC track in a very Scouse context:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3Ai8q_0e8o

I see that the song appeared on OUT OF OUR IDIOT.

Black and White World probably my favorite track from that record

I love so many of the b-sides from the 2nd/3rd/4th album era, Talking In The Dark, Hoover Factory, Dr Luther's Assistant with its drunken rhythm section.

First time I ever saw Elvis Costello in concert, he invited Questlove to come up and play drums on "Black and White World." This was two years before they collaborated on Wise Up Ghost so at the time it was a complete surprise. Before Questlove stepped down, he took a photo with his phone, and sure enough it showed up on his Instagram feed. Great show for a lot of reasons, but mostly because I finally got to see him live.

I think my favourite part about most live gigs is seeing the artist perform, too.

:)

https://www.edinburghlive.co.uk/news/celebs-tv/elvis-costello-pulls-out-edinburgh-24017495

As someone who had been bought a ticket (it's not being rescheduled), this crawls to new lows not experinced since 'North'

I've had shows rescheduled due to playoff games claiming priority over the venue, but it's kind of ridiculous to see artists cancelling them just to SEE the game. FFS if it means that much, black out those dates before you go scheduling a tour.