Elvis Costello: Classic or Dud

I think there are some really talented artists that go for such a long stretch of good enough that it overshadows all the previous great stuff. Like, Los Lobos has never put out a bad record, and the one they put out just a couple of weeks ago is pretty good! But no one is talking about it.

I don't think EC has ever run out of great songs; what varies is the filtering process that identifies those songs and excludes the merely good ones. Different forces have acted on his pace of releasing material, how (and by whom) the material is performed and produced, and what side journeys he felt like going on. There is a lot of noise, so locating the signal takes close work.

Impelled by his voracious appetite, his eclecticism, the curiosity of his audience, and shifting market conditions, it is natural that his long and prolific career will appear uneven. The nature of that unevenness will itself vary depending on the observer. Hence everybody's got a different opinion of when he jumped the shark, including those who think he hasn't.

I've gone a lot of places with the dude, and even I thought North was boring af.

Hmm, I think there are more than 4 good songs on Spike. Imo, most of them are pretty good, in fact!

Yeah, I would flip that ratio around - it's a good batch of songs, but he goes a little overboard with the recording, something he seems to suggest himself in his Rhino liner notes.

I should add that I favour people who splattergun and let us hear what they're doing but my old man no longer relevant or informed opinion was EC had a relatively fallow patch between the late 80s and the lateish 90s, at least in terms of his own recordings

And I like say Punch the Clock quite a bit so

I shouldn't have looked back at other EC threads

My thinking has barely budged in the last 16 years, and probably hadn't in the 16 years before that

EC had a relatively fallow patch between the late 80s and the lateish 90s, at least in terms of his own recordings

I like how EC was eclectic. But there's a distinct difference between dilettantism and eclecticism, and I always thought Almost Blue and King of America showed that distinction pretty clearly. When he moved to WB and Universal and made those deals that allowed him a much freer reign, that's when he became more of a dilettante. I kind of block out his side projects, but when I take those in consideration, his later output becomes especially spotty.

From the "jump shark" thread

This Years Model = Read Music/Speak Spanish
― miccio (miccio), Tuesday, January 18, 2005 11:27 PM (sixteen years ago) bookmarkflaglink

!

But there's a distinct difference between dilettantism and eclecticism, and I always thought Almost Blue and King of America showed that distinction pretty clearly. When he moved to WB and Universal and made those deals that allowed him a much freer reign, that's when he became more of a dilettante.

ILM poster Tim and I admire lots of songs on KING OF AMERICA.

I don't think I recalled that EC had anything to do with FILM STARS DON'T DIE IN LIVERPOOL, but - yes, the film is actually quite good. I find it odd, or a bit hard, to connect this somewhat older ms Grahame to the stunning younger one.

I love the fact that McCartney and McGuinn play on '... this town ...', with MacManus.

And the deliberately awkward ellipses in the title. (Would they in fact make it technically the first, or last, of an alphabetical list of EC songs?)

From The New Book Of Rock Lists (1994):

”I’d rather kill myself…I’m not going to be around to witness my artistic decline.” — Elvis Costello, who was wrong

Pings and Noodles: I too abandoned EC after Spike (and I was a big, obsessive fan). And I just happened to have a Punch the Clock revival and was surprised by how much I liked it. Much of the DNA of Get Happy seems to be in there, even if it is less serious. Actually it's the lack of seriousness on most of Punch the Clock that is so appealing!

Greil Marcus loved Punch the Clock.

I love the fact that McCartney and McGuinn play on '... this town ...', with MacManus.
It's quite a supergroup (even if they separately dubbed their parts)!

Re: King of America, if you drop those two covers and slotted in "King of Confidence" (which Costello nearly chose instead of "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood"), it might be my favorite Elvis Costello album, or at least tied with This Year's Model.

The beginning of "...This Town..." -- the organ, electric 12-string picking, galumphing drums -- is one of the most exciting moments on a Costello song, better than the song.

Re: King of America, if you drop those two covers and slotted in "King of Confidence" (which Costello nearly chose instead of "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood"), it might be my favorite Elvis Costello album, or at least tied with This Year's Model.

― birdistheword

"Gliter Gulch," "Eisenhower Blues," and "Poisoned Rose" though.

I'd toss out "Glitter Gulch" too, but some people seem to like it and it always flew by quickly for me. I actually think "Poisoned Rose" is great.

And I did mention "Eisenhower Blues," it's one of the covers!

I've heard some fans say it should've been a double LP but I don't think he had the recordings. The songs maybe, but the leftover recordings feel too skeletal or undeveloped when I slot them in the album proper. (Some of them are demos, so it's no surprise.)

"Glitter Gulch" is the song I skip.

It's his "Lily, Rosemary, and the Jack of Hearts." Which I also skip.

Never mind all that..

I used to own a boot called "50 million Elvis fans can't be wrong", a double lp, various rare tracks and live. I sold it, like you do sometimes.

Anyway, thought about finding it again, but it was either expensive, or blocked. So, I had a scout around for the tracks and found better sources for every track, and the entire gig that was on disc 2.

So,i made up a Cdr copy with the artwork, and damn it's good.

"Lily, Rosemary, and the Jack of Hearts" is AWESOME...but I've only listened to the original NY version that was bootlegged from the original acetate (not the new mix made for More Blood, More Tracks). It's tremendous, a beautifully detailed epic, but I think a lot of that is lost in the Minneapolis re-recording that was used instead. (I haven't gone back to that version in years.) Like the ending alone never made an impression on me until I heard the original NY recording where Dylan's delivery brings to mind the narration in Scorsese's The Age of Innocence or Welles's The Magnificent Ambersons - removed yet somehow personal and empathetic when giving the details floating through a character's mind.

'Glitter Gulch' is fairly short, surely - whereas 'Rosemary ...' is about 8 minutes long. That makes a big difference.

The beginning of "...This Town..." -- the organ, electric 12-string picking, galumphing drums -- is one of the most exciting moments on a Costello song, better than the song

Great comment. LOVE this opening. Though Keltner(?)'s drums I find a subtle, not clumsy sound. Love how it's McGuinn who suddenly chimes in. But I would give quite a lot of credit to the whole song also.

That Age of Innocence analogy is a chef's kiss

A Scheff's kiss.

hmph

anyways

I love "Poisoned Rose," and the story of EC musing aloud about the vibe of an Ella Fitzgerald record he'd just been listening to, apparently unaware that his bassist (Ray Brown) had both played on that record and been married to Ella.

How could he be unaware of that?

Either unaware, or perhaps had temporarily forgotten. Or he told the anecdote that way as a humblebrag? I don't know.

Okay, per the liner notes:

While the introductions were underway T-Bone was musing as to why nobody seemed to be able to achieve the spontaneity that we had heard on a Louis Armstrong/ Ella Fitzgerald side playing on the inflight music around the time we were planning this very session. Being the diplomat Earl informed us... "Of course, you know, Ray was Ella's first husband..." and after a beat Ray added "I think I might have played on that session". "Oh yeah" I was thinking, "and now we're going to play this stupid little song I've written".

Earl? Earl Palmer?

Indeed

Surprisingly, Target is offering Spanish Model as a Target exclusive CD with three bonus tracks. I thought they reserved those exclusives for the biggest-selling artists. You've finally made the big time, Elvis!

.

Both. Stuck around way too long and became a dud but come on, he wrote some magnificent songs (too many to mention but "Beyond belief" is always staggering to me) and made some classic albums.

Hey the Spanish Model is shockingly great imo. It does exactly the opposite of what I thought the project was going to do: it keeps the ferocious Attractions recordings (and a little bit of Elvis's vocals here and there) and brings in new singers who not only translate the songs but in many cases adapt the rhythm and melody. And they are great. I've only listened once but I was completely blown away. The mastering alone brings things out that I'd not heard before, but these are also slightly new mixes so there are new parts as well.

Listened to PUNCH THE CLOCK on old vinyl last week. It was marvellous. His lyrics never better; also his voice; and subtlety in the arrangements and playing.

Have we come this fa-fa-fa
To find a soul cliché?

yeah I've only listened to a few tracks and I think it's pretty good! definitely good enough to justify what comes off as a silly idea at first. the instrumental bits almost sound like they could be new - some of the drum parts sound different and a few guitar bits sound pitched down. I do wonder if some of it was re-recorded though. or maybe different takes were used. or maybe I just don't remember the original all that well!

also my Spanish is not too great but I feel like a lot of the lyrics are different?

i do remember a lotta people whos take on EC is "the songwriting is great and the Attractions rule, but I can't get over his voice" - I guess this is for them

Agree! My guess is that the mix is different which means that there were bits and pieces on the tape that they didn't use but are bringing in here -- lots of guitar ornaments. I don't hear any different drum parts, but the mastering makes everything sound better. It's been a perennial problem with Costello's records but I never expected the guitar to sound as good as it does here.

And yes I think the translations are "taking liberties" with the lyrics, as they should!

I just read that right before he went on stage the other night, Steve Nieve tested positive for Covid and couldn't perform, so the band (augmented by guest Charlie Sexton on guitar) winged an entire set without keyboards. That's pretty cool.

yeah i think they did a number of shows like that -- two guitars, no keys.

Apparently they did a bunch of songs and covers they hadn't performed in a while. Turns out it was a false positive so Nieve was back the next night.

The test came back and his viral load was less than zero

wait, fuck, no...

The initial test result was a brilliant mistake

Is uhh this a good tour if one is really only familiar with EC up to 1992 or so?

Dud

setlists appear to be mostly stuff from his first few albums + covers

He doesn't have his backup singers this time, which may help. I've seen him twice with them - first time was on the tour revisiting Imperial Bedroom and it worked in that context due to the complex arrangements, but the second time (supporting Look Now) both highlighted what felt overdone about that album AND may have negatively impacted his performance. The second time was post-surgery so I don't know if he was in weaker shape, but he had to project louder over everything else and he was noticeably dragging behind everyone vocally - it almost seemed like he was struggling.

New single is sounding good:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnQIWS5F4PU

Yeah, it almost sounds like something the B-52's would've recorded in the early '80s. I don't think he's made a consistently good album since When I Was Cruel and The Delivery Man (they would have been back-to-back albums if it weren't for his excursions into ballet and tepid jazz) so here's hoping.

Actually, looking over the 25 or so albums he's put out since 1989, there's maybe seven I actually like:

Spike (if you take the 11 demos from Rhino's bonus disc and slot in the demo-like "God's Comic")
Brutal Youth
All This Useless Beauty
Costello & Nieve
Painted from Memory
When I Was Cruel
The Delivery Man

And I would supplement these with a compilation of highlights from the rest. He's had enough ideas and songs to sustain a nice run of really good EP's out of the likes of National Ransom, Wise Up Ghost, Look Now, Hey Clockface, etc.

Would love to hear a s&d of the post '89 years, if someone has the stamina.

Like Prince, I think Elvis Costello's post-peak years (after 1986 in his case, after 1996 with Prince) would have looked pretty good and consistent had 60 to 70% of what he released been kept in the vaults.