Newspaper Page Text
HH
The Ked and Black, Friday, October 3, 1980
Page 7
Entertainment
THE EVER—UNCATEGORI7. ABLE ELVIS
‘Taking Liberties’ a Costello showcase
By MYRA MOORE
Staff writer
“...most energetic rock V
roll since the coming of
Bruce Springsteen.
Newsweek, May 8, 1978
“Woody Allen sings
Nietzsche."-New Times,
May 29, 1978
“...Dionne Warwick with
fangs...“-New Republic,
March 24, 1979
“Don't want just anybody
saying, ‘You belong to me’"
—Elvis Costello
For the past three years,
American critics have run
themselves ragged trying to
catch a glimpse of what
Elvis Costello is all about
Not surprisingly, about all
they’ve done is chase them
selves into corners attempt
ing to categorize his music,
putting themselves in the
awkward position of then
justifying the sound his next
inclination leads him to re
lease.
Finally, it has become
safest to save all definite
statements on Costello's
work for retrospective com
parisons. Thus, "My Aim Is
True” has been tagged an
"exciting debut." "This
Year’s Model” is "rock and
roll.” And "Armed Forces”
is simply “pop.”
However, with his latest
release, the critics’ obses
sive awe of Costello wained.
Subconsciously riding on the
memories of a disillusioning
79 tour, racial slurs and
perhaps even the shock of
Costello’s total disinterest in
their quest to comprehend
him, reviewers yawned at
"Get Happy!!.”
Rolling Stone’s Tom Car-
son called the LP "hard to
get into. Get Happy!!’
fails,” he wrote, "because
Costello fails; he doesn’t
break through." Still, no
one has actually placed the
album on its "proper” shelf
y«’t
In short, we Americans
Taking
Liberties
Elvis Costello
Columbia
are always behind Costello
in the race. Yet all the
while, we keep expecting
him to look over his
shoulder and applaud our
ungainly lopes. Ah, but he
has no intention of such
action; he is probably not
even aware of us.
Of course, Elvis’ U.S. fans
didn’t take on such expecta
tions without reason.
Costello was a taste of the
latest British fad to which
we could, at last, relate. My
goodness, accessible punk
for a Top Forty culture!
Humming "Alison” and
buying old clothes came
into vogue really fast.
Somehow Costello was "our
man"~a better-late-than-
never preparation for the
increasingly softer shock
waves of punk that had
been tossing across the At
lantic for some time. Shock
waves which we now know
(again the retrospect) were
actually the first ripples of
new wave.
Thus, the U.S. acquired
its first real taste for rau
cous punk via the gentle
tugs of Elvis Costello. Our
experience was just the op
posite of England’s, where
the volume began at 10, and
came down to a less violent
level.
The big brother image
was fostered, and we
thought we understood
Costello, when, in reality,
we were in no position to
comprehend his anger, his
cynicism, his spitting im-
potency. We were as naive
as Henry James’ "innocents
abroad.”
It took Elvis himself to
rescue us-though he never
asked to play this role
either. “I’m a menace,” he
said and proceeded to tear
apart our red, white and
blue traditions. And at last
we awoke, shocked at first
(i.e. the refusal to accept
"Get Happy!!”), but at
least prepared to realize
that Costello was not going
to do what we expected.
And it is at this point on
such a rocky road we finally
stand as Columbia Records
unfurls its latest bundle of
Costello tunes. "Taking
Liberties" is a 20-song col
lection that gives the best
look at this artist’s ex
tremely diverse talents to
date. Containing seventeen
singles never before re
leased in the U.S. and three
previously recorded
pieces, this album spans the
career that has so entangled
American music
enthusiasts. The best part is
that we get all of Costello’s
greatest tricks without this
becoming a greatest hits
collection.
Here, Costello takes over
a good deal of the produc
tion duties from the talented
Nick Lowe, thus giving
himself the total freedom of
choice in the direction of his
statements. Surprisingly,
most of these numbers
comprise the album's
quieter cuts, bringing for
ward the low, moody
vocals. Not the arrogant
move it might seem, this
tactic makes for some of
"Taking Liberties" best
material.
"Hoover Factory” is one
such piece. Like last
spring's "New Amster
dam," it immediately
stands out on vinyl. This is
one of the new songs, which
continues Costello's love of
changing styles with its vox
humana-like back-ups and
soothing melody. However,
that sardonic perception
can creep in even here, as
Elvis sings "It’s not a
matter of life or death-But
what is, what is?.”
“Black and White World”
and "Clown Time Is Over”
are reworked at a similar
pace On "Clowntime’’ this
goes a bit overboard; at
3:30, it becomes one of
Costello’s longest record
ings so far On the other
hand, "Black and White”
works nicely with the slight
reggae phrasing that be
comes dreamy for the line,
“There’ll never be days like
that again,” and more
clipped when faced with
reality.
"Just A Memory" and the
ironic version of "My
Funny Valentine" are
equally pleasing soft cuts
with the former showcasing
some rich keyboard work
by Steve Nieve.
Lowe takes back his pro
ducer’s seat for most of the
rock and roll numbers, re
establishing his ability to
make Costello and the At
tractions fuse to create
their powerful magnetism.
The hence-unheard "Clean
Money" begins the LP at
such a pace with its fren
zied "Pump It Up”-styling.
That old phrase "You won’t
take my love for tender”
reappears in a new context
here, characterizing the
Costello love of such word
play. "Wednesday Week” is
equally grabbing as Elvis
first growls, "You won’t
give a damn by Wednesday
week,” then does a com
plete about face musically
and moans “I’d better lose
my memory by Wednesday
week.”
An old friend from the 79
tour "(I Don’t Want to Go
to) Chelsea" is included
with some tough guitar and
organ accented by Costel
lo’s staccato vocals. An
other vaguely familiar cut,
“Night Rally” (which re
placed "Radio, Radio” on
the British release of "This
Year’s Model") is equally
haunting, though in a more
violent fashion.
Elvis continues his occa
sional flirts with country
music on "Stranger in the
House” and "Radio Sweet
heart,” where John McFee
of Clover does a great job
on steel guitar. "Gettin”
Mighty Crowded" leans to
"Elvis has more than enough talent to be whatever he wants to be’
ward R&B; "Sunday's
Best" sounds like a carnival
nightmare; and "Talking in
the Dark" is immediately
catchy.
attempts to pin him down.
We’ve been given a moment
to stop the race, take a
breath and perhaps even
capture the flash ahead of
"Taking Liberties" is
Columbia's retrospective
look at Elvis Costello to
answer all our floundering
It’s time to realize that
Elvis Costello is not unde-
finable, but his vocabulary
is ever so much extensive
than we ever will imagine
In short, Elvis has more
than enough talent to be
whatever he wants to bt
and usually is.
Or to put it in his words,
"I’m not sure what I want,
but that's not the point-it’s
that I want it now."
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