Elvis Costello: Classic or Dud

(letting Froom/Blake off their leash, I meant to say)

A lacuna, your Lordship. Do I even own a copy of Trust? I may have once had a cassette copy of it (as I inherited a box of dubbed EC tapes from a cooler older sister in 1983 or so) but I don't remember listening to it in sequence all the way through.

By the CD era I probably would have just been okay with the singles and songs that made it to the various greatest hits / girls girls girls / other compilations. Which would be, I guess, "Watch Your Step" and "Clubland." I like those songs plenty but it never translated into love for the album.

BTW there is a splendid cover of "Watch Your Step" by Brenda Kahn on the Almost You tribute record.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eak4CmfMBso

Funny -- "Watch Your Step" is cool, "Clubland" okay, but neither represents the album. Better examples of its hysterical miscellany: "Big Sister's Clothes," "New Lace Sleeves," "White Knuckles," "You'll Never Be a Man," "Fish and Chip Paper."

The Favorite Hour is one of his best album closers

Agree.

One of my favorite EC closers is "It's Time," from "All This Useless Beauty," though of course ... it's not the last track, either, followed as it is by "I Want To Vanish," another piano ballad a la "Favorite Hour."

He performed a corker of a version on Letterman in 1996 or '97.

"It's Time," that is.

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

All This Useless Beauty is one I didn't expect to appreciate. First time I heard it, I thought it was a nothing album. But I came back to it much later (after Costello & Nieve) and I think it's a fine album now, I like it quite a bit. I wish Costello & Nieve wasn't a limited release - makes sense in the original five-EP format, but they should've just reissued it as a more affordable double-CD set and kept it in-print that way.

From the 1977-1986 era, the only two albums I still don't like are Almost Blue and Goodbye Cruel World. I love his live versions of "Psycho," both the 1979 cut with the Attractions and the 1981 solo rendition on that charity LP but nothing on Almost Blue comes remotely close. And again, Rhino's bonus disc for Goodbye Cruel World is excellent - there's a far better album in there that I do enjoy listening to.

After that, I think the only things like an album that I enjoy are the 1987 McCartney/Manus demos (from the Flowers in the Dirt box set), the "solo" version of Spike that you can piece together from the Rhino reissue, Brutal Youth, All This Useless Beauty, the Costello & Nieve live set, Painted from Memory, When I Was Cruel and The Delivery Man (which actually had nice bonuses on the deluxe set). Everything else ranges from a complete dislike to 3-5 tracks that seem pretty good.

From 1979, with the Attractions and released as a B-side:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Vln9g1WXp0

From 1981, I didn't know video existed until recently - it was originally released on an LP of this charity show:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-akyoO4MqI

Forgot. there's also a studio outtake on the Rhino reissue of Almost Blue, but it was disappointing to me compared to these two live versions.

Yeah, that '79 live "Psycho" is the one that got me

"solo" version of Spike

Was just thinking, are there any "singer with guitar" albums (aside from scratchy '78 stuff and the like) that sound dated the way a lot of full band records sound? Is there an equivalent of "well, in the early '80s those acoustic guitars were practically dripping with gated reverb"?

Trust rules. I like Brutal Youth, too! I haven't listened to it in eons, but as I recall the issue I had with the production was not Froom/Blake but that it sounded like Froom/Blake (who I usually like) going for a rough and tumble Nick Lowe style production, which might have been a reaction to letting him off his leash on Mighty Like a Rose, but it still kind of ended up too ... hot? Bright? Good songs but tough to listen to. Probably didn't help that it was the product of multiple sessions at multiple studios. Anyway, given Lowe was very involved with Brutal Youth I think I would have preferred him just producing again. The albums he produced for Elvis are his best sounding albums.

For some reason Trust took a while. It seemed grab bag and uneven the first time I heard it, and I couldn't understand the love it got (I think Rob Sheffield said it might've been Costello's best, and Christgau - who typically gave Costello's '80s work B+'s - actually gave it a solid A). I grew to love it when I got the "in-jokes" of making tracks as if they were for other bands (mainly New Wave bands I was catching up to like Squeeze).

Stephen Thomas Erlewine also suggested that Nick Lowe should have produced Brutal Youth. Not a bad idea at all - ah well. Lowe actually made a better album himself that same year.

Trust's grab bag approach is a scrappier version of his take on the American songbook the following year.

Was just thinking, are there any "singer with guitar" albums (aside from scratchy '78 stuff and the like) that sound dated the way a lot of full band records sound? Is there an equivalent of "well, in the early '80s those acoustic guitars were practically dripping with gated reverb"?

A hesitant "yes"....there are records that sound too clean and polished, especially when they throw some very clean sounding reverb (especially digital echo) on top of the vocal. I had a roommate who was into soft county/folk and adult contemporary acts, especially when it was just a voice and piano or guitar, and you can definitely hear it there. It's dated in the sense that no one's going to mistake it for the sound of Sun or even Dylan's old folk albums.

I find that some 60s acoustic records have a really "boxy" reverb sound that I dislike, too.

I just remembered, I used to hate Painted from Memory, but sometime later, it seemed endearing that Costello would make the kind of album so many loved but somehow consigned as being lost to time. Dusty in Memphis is the first thing that comes to mind - the songs live up to that standard, and in a lot of ways Painted from Memory sounds like it would've Springfield's great comeback à la Van Lear Rose or American Recordings had she been able to sing it. Even Costello's phrasing seems to echo some of the choices she made on Dusty in Memphis. So the album works when I think of it as Costello doing his best with songs intended for someone else. Like when I hear the album now, I almost imagine it starting with the closing remarks from Michael Powell The Red Shoes: "Ladies and gentlemen, I'm sorry to tell you that Ms. Springfield is unable to sing tonight...Nevertheless, we've decided to present this because we think she would have wished it."

What do you thing of assessment in the 1992 Rolling Stone Album Guide, which says that "Costello writes songs that he's physically incapable of singing"?

Was just thinking, are there any "singer with guitar" albums (aside from scratchy '78 stuff and the like) that sound dated the way a lot of full band records sound? Is there an equivalent of "well, in the early '80s those acoustic guitars were practically dripping with gated reverb"?

Not an album, but the Replacements' "Here Comes A Regular" sounds very much like 1985, and would without the synth pad. The acoustic guitar sound, and the reverb it's dunked in, is painfully piercing.

At the time, glancing nervously at Mighty Like a Rose, I agree, and certainly in a foul mood I want to toss his albums off the balcony.

Another vote for live "Psycho"!

What do you thing of assessment in the 1992 Rolling Stone Album Guide, which says that "Costello writes songs that he's physically incapable of singing"?

I think that was a J.D. Considine entry. I thought his entries in that guide have aged terribly - he was assigned all of the "newer" music but he seemed painfully out of touch. (IIRC, he clearly didn't get Prince's "If I Was Your Girlfriend" at all.) To be fair, this was me reading them with the benefit of 20 years worth of hindsight, but I bet if someone like Bill Wyman of the Chicago Reader got that assignment, those entries would have aged a hell of a lot better.

Anyway, I think that's too broad of an assessment, especially if you hear All This Useless Beauty. Those were all songs meant for other people, and you can see how they were tailored for the people they were written for, but I think they work better as Elvis Costello recordings. I think Joyce Millman nails it: "Costello's vision of his idols, his ideas of what his idols represent (or ought to), is often more complicated than their own view of themselves." When someone else does a better job, it's usually because Costello can't get a grasp of the song himself (like "Girls Talk," which he gave away partly because he never recorded it himself in a satisfactory way). But I don't think there are many covers that do a better job than his original recordings because his songs end up feeling too idiosyncratic and too personal to be re-interpreted easily by anyone else.

I should add that Bacharach's contributions to Painted from Memory may be a big reason why it's a notable exception. Same with many of the songs he usually "co-wrote" with others. Like with McCartney, it wasn't usually an even split, but McCartney generally helped compose those songs to fit him as well, even if you can see Costello's influence.

Painted from Memory really brought out the best in both of them.

listening to this year's model for the first time in a long time - good stuff, check out this sleeper

I bet if someone like Bill Wyman of the Chicago Reader got that assignment, those entries would have aged a hell of a lot better.

Really? His take in the SPIN Alternaive Guide is not dissimilar from Mark Coleman's (he wrote the RS entry; he used to post here!).

Sleeper?

Did Mark stop posting here? I guess maybe he did.

XP

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSe3dV7dPYw

It's really only Costello's post-Trust singing that he criticizes.
Unlike, say, Joe Jackson, I don't think Costello's voice gets in the way of a good song, but it does make it a chore to listen to an average song.

Trying to think: is there actually anything wrong with his singing or is it something else?

he sings the hell out of some of the songs on 'look now.'

I might have to check that out. His singing is the least of my problems with him.

I saw him in March last year and am sorry to say vocally he was not great. He made a real mess of Shipbuilding in particular, oversinging when he may no longer be able to carry it

I think he's the correct singer for his snide punky New Wave songs. I do not think he's the virtuosic crooner he imagines himself to be.

I often enjoy his Sinatra-isms tbh

Although Frankie didn't oversing so...

I saw him in March last year and am sorry to say vocally he was not great. He made a real mess of Shipbuilding in particular, oversinging when he may no longer be able to carry it.

Sorry to say, I'm not surprised. When I saw him in 2011, he was perfect. GREAT show. But when I saw him next in 2017 (on the tour revisiting Imperial Bedroom and well before his health scare), there were hints that something was wrong. For the first 15 minutes or so, something was off, but he seemed to right the ship so I figured it was just a rough start. Then I caught him at Riot Fest, and it was the same deal for the most of the set - he was falling behind the beat, and it didn't seem like a choice in phrasing. He seemed to be trying really hard to catch up with the pace of each song, and in the process it kind of sounded like he was oversinging. For their last number, they did "I Want You" and it was glorious, but it was also a much slower song, without the entire band playing full tilt, so it may have been much easier to sing. I saw him one more time on the Look Now tour and it was often a struggle, trying to keep up and sing over the blaring arrangements. I don't think he has the same vocal strength anymore. He'd probably rip me a new one for saying that, but he is up there in years and it's not an uncommon problem.

I'm surprised how many people really liked Look Now - I thought only a handful of songs really worked. Greil Marcus didn't seem to like it at all but he heaped a lot of praise on one track on the bonus EP, "The Final Mrs. Curtain," and it really is great:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvFWs65c3tM

It's really only Costello's post-Trust singing that he criticizes.

I thought it was JDC not Coleman - my mistake! I'll have to read it again, but I remember the entry complaining about every album Costello did after Get Happy!!, even when they were rated positively (if not glowingly) in terms of stars rewarded.

Really? His take in the SPIN Alternaive Guide is not dissimilar from Mark Coleman's (he wrote the RS entry; he used to post here!).

I haven't read Wyman's SPIN entry, but I thought his take was pretty different from Coleman's based on his Chicago Reader reviews and his excellent Brilliant Careers feature for Salon.. (Wyman did a great Brilliant Careers feature on Dylan as well.) For Wyman, it's basically a glorious ten years following by an unusual three years of silence and a steep plunge off a cliff.

Wyman's Salon piece, which I read at the time, extends his SPIN piece. The late-career summa strikes me as hysterically overwritten as EC's more overstuffed Imperial Bedroom tunes.

I found the first half solid with more than a few insights.

I dislike Look Now and in fact basically everything post When I was Cruel (and even that album I'm not really a fan of). For me he just had a precipitous, obvious decline in quality at that point. Which is too bad because I think All This Useless Beauty is a magnificent album, one that doesn't get the appreciation it deserves, though god knows he tried (he did a big duo tour with Nieve, released a live box set of those shows, etc).

I forgot he put out an album last year two that I could not get through

As for his voice and stretching: look his voice can be an acquired taste. But I saw him perform the Juliet Letters with the Brodsky Quartet and fuck if it was not utterly amazing. I doubt he could do that now.

hey, now, you've got plenty of new artists -- no need to continue spending time on Costello after 2002 (or 1994, 1986, 1984, etc.). I saw Costello in 2002 and 2004, both shows excellent. He also opened for Steely Dan in 2015 -- eh.

I think All This Useless Beauty is a magnificent album, one that doesn't get the appreciation it deserves, though god knows he tried (he did a big duo tour with Nieve, released a live box set of those shows, etc).

Don't forget, he actually toured the album with the whole band! I saw the show here, which as I recall was the same night as the Sex Pistols reunion. It was only OK, possibly because Bruce Thomas was about to quit again. The reunion show behind Brutal Youth was tons of fun, though.

But I saw him perform the Juliet Letters with the Brodsky Quartet and fuck if it was not utterly amazing. I doubt he could do that now.
Wow, that's impressive. I don't doubt it came off great for anyone who was there, but I can't imagine ever enjoying that album in any setting.

King of America (with slight pruning) is very close to the best album he's ever done, IMHO. Wyman and plenty of others certainly make the case for it and Blood and Chocolate, and they both came out in 1986. (Both in the P&J top ten too - I think King of America actually placed second.) I think he's pretty much right that Spike is the dividing line, and he even suggested that in his original 1989 review:

"(Costello) keeps breathing, and writing songs about funny townspeople, and cute old insane women, and the 'Deep Dark Truthful Mirror.' Fine stuff, on the whole, but it’s not about changing the world, or changing rock ‘n’ roll, or even about an anger at anything at all that just boils up inside you. That’s what Costello used to do, and today other people do it–people like the members of Public Enemy, or Billy Bragg, or Peter Garrett of Midnight Oil, or Michelle Shocked, or even crazy Bono or Tracy Chapman. Together, they all represent the future of rock music. Elvis Costello doesn’t anymore."

There is still plenty of good stuff since then - I already listed a bunch, but it's the type of stuff that rewards the converted and probably not much more.

Does anyone rate the Deutsche Grammophon albums. I always figured they were on a par with McCartney’s “classical”.

Holy shit I forgot about the Wendy James album which was once given away for free in copies of Q magazine.

Are you all talking about a person called Bill Wyman who is not the lecherous veteran bass player Bill Wyman?

I think beating up Costello's reputation at this point is - maybe 'cruel' is a topical word. He's a magnificent talent, maybe a rare genius. He's survived and kept going. He's already left us 40+ years of music. We should cherish him.