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Paget The Red and Black, Wednesday, February «, 1981
ELVIS PARANOIA SURFACES
Sinister goings-on populate ‘Trust’
By J. GREG CLARK
Staff writer
The singer's picture is
superimposed with the word
"Trust” located above his
head. His red glasses are
pulled down granny-style,
his eyebrows are arched and
his eyes have darted to the
side in a conspiratorial
smirk. He is saying, "the
hell it is."
In a way, this is a sum
mation of the Elvis Costello
persona that stares back at
you from the cover of the LP
from Costello and the At
tractions. 1980 s ‘Get
Happy!" was a harrowing
descent into the malelstrom
of embittered love that
became darker as the album
went on, ending with the
futile question “Can you
hear me?” at the record's
final fade. Last fall's
disappointing compilation of
Costello rareties, “Taking
Liberties,” seemed an
hand (as they did non 1978’s
“This Year’s Model").
Take "Clubland," the
opening cut, for instance.
Her Costello takes the
seemingly mundane world of
the rock club circuit and
turns it into a private hell
that he dares us to suffer
with him. "Don’t pass out
now, there's no refund — If
you find out what you were
missing," he laughs while
the Attractions play a
reptilian samba
arrangement. Here Steve
Nieve s piano solo conjures
up the best moments from
all the spy film soundtracks
ever written, and the rhythm
section of Pete and Bruce
Thomas reaffirm the
suspicion that the At
tractions may become the
first rock band to headline a
funeral parlor.
Instead of exploring
Clubland’s devastating
effects on innocence,
Costello then shows a torture
Trust
Elvis Costello
andthe
Attractions
F-Beat
By the end of the first side, Costello's
characters have become completely
consumed by sexual frustration and the
psychological war wounds that can
accompany it.
almost deliberate attack on
his fans. And "Trust," the
third Costello offering in a
year, is about anything but
trust. Paranoia and sinister
goings-on abound on almost
every cut, and in most in
stances the two go hand in
chamber that is more
readily available to us: the
potentially deadly cir
cumstance of romance.
"Lovers Walk" sets this
premise forward in a par
ticularly frightening way.
Beginning with a descending
Every Wednesday nite
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7 until
bass note resembling a coital
moan, the song plunges
ahead with pounding high-
hat and a piano riff taken
right from The Who's "U'gal
Matter.” Costello’s horrified
chant counter points the
chaos perfectly and thus
emphasizes it. "Be on
caution when lovers walk,";
he warns as the victims
scatter, running from the
things that threaten to mow
them down, until they
inevitably run straight into
them.
By the end of the first side,
Costello’s characters have
become completely con
sumed by sexual frustration
and the psychological war
wounds that can accompany
it. The singer in "You’ll
Never Be A Man" attributes
the affair’s collapse to his
lover’s biological defects
("Are you so superior? Are
you in such pain?") until
finally he disavows her by
screaming, “Don't want to
be first, I just won't last!”
Later, in "Pretty Words,” he
blames it on her imagined
ingratitude (“You don’t
know what you got.”).
The second side finds
Costello making an abrupt
about-face as he turns into
counselor for the tortured
woman. In "New Lace
Sleeves" he pleads with her
to lose her innocence before
she loses her life at the same
time, he wishes fervently
that the solution weren’t so
drastic. "The teacher didn't
tell you anything but white
lies," he explains, before
sighing wistfully, "and you
look so good in your new lace
sleeves."
The hard-rocking "From a
Whisper to a Scream" and
The Navy Officer Recruiting Team will be on campus 2-6 February Our PILOT
TRAINING Program is wide open. In Addition, we have a variety of other officer
programs available Starting salary range is $16,000-23,000 depending on the
program Come by Memorial Hall between 2-6 February or sign up for a
personal interview at the UGA placement center
STUDENT AFFAIRS
CAREER PLANNING AND PLACEMENT
1981 Federal Summer Internship Program
Junior, graduate students, and faculty who are interested in ap
plying for a 1981 Federal Summer Internship should check available
positions now posted in Career Planning and Placement. Positions
are available for applicants from almost every academic discipline.
Applicans must meet the following requirements:
1. Must be a junior, graduate student, or faculty member.
2. Must be in upper one-half of class or have equivalent work ex
perience.
3. Must have demonstrated leadership ability.
4. Must be planning to return to school in the fall.
5. Must have interest in the area of work described in the an
nouncement.
For more information, contact Ann Perry, Office of Career
Planning and Placement, Clark Howell Hall — 542-3377.
J7mi tm/ormdtioH bus been prepared jnd submitted by the Office ot Student Affairs
the country lament of
“Different Finger” brings
the focus back on the
abrasive relationships from
the beginning as the
selfishness of the charade
becomes apparent. “All I
want is one night of glory ...
So put your ring on a dif
ferent finger before I put out
the light,” he demands
calmly.
By the time that we see
"white knuckles on black
and blue skin," the violence
has exploded. But here
Costello indicts the woman
for her reluctance to fight
back ("You don't have to
take it so you just give in”).
Costello’s attempted
protrait of decaying
romance comes off as very
short-sighted from this point
on. The heavily
melodramatic "Shot With
His Own Gun” is the only
blow he aims at the man, and
it’s full of as many cliched
pretentions as the title in
dicates. Backed only by
Nieve’s bombastic classical
piano, Costello's voice seems
to be fighting against the
sermonizing but loses in the
end.
Trust ultimately ends in
one sickening whimper with
"Big Sister's Clothes" as
Costello suggest that the
victims of love get burned
becase they try to get bur
ned. Everyone secretely
wants to visit Clubland and
die on foreign sands for the
small chance that trust lives
there as well. The fact that
Costello guffaws at such
ideas doesn't make it any
easier.
Lecture on O’Connor’s works, personality
The University com
munity will have an op
portunity this week to delve
into the personality and
works of Flannery O’Connor,
one of Georgia’s greatest
writers.
Sally Fitzgerald, the
authorized biographer and
close friend of O'Connor, will
speak on "A Moving Target:
Filming Flannery O’Con
nor," Thursday at 3:30 p.m
in room 115 of Peabody Hall.
Fitzgerald’s appearance,
sponsored by the Georgia
Review and the University
Research Foundation, Inc.,
is being presented in con
junction with the Student
Union’s screening of "Wise
Blood." the film adaptation
of O’Connor’s novel of the
same name.
Fitzgerald, who is
currently working on an
O'Connor biography, will
provide an inside look at the
process of adapting the story
to the screen. Her sons,
Michael and Benedict,
handled the screenplay and
production and persuaded
John Juston to direct the
undertaking.
The movie, filmed in
Macon, relies on a cast of
relatively unknown actors to
protray the story of a young
war veteran who returns to
fiction. She said, "The
novelist with Christian
concerns will find in modem
life distortions which are
