Melody Maker, June 25, 1977: Difference between revisions
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"Let's talk about the future now, we'll put the past away." <br> | "Let's talk about the future now, we'll put the past away." <br> | ||
''{{m}}{{m}}{{m}}{{m}}{{m}}{{m}}{{m}}{{m}} | ''{{m}}{{m}}{{m}}{{m}}{{m}}{{m}}{{m}}{{m}} — Elvis Costello, "Less Than Zero." | ||
{{Bibliography text}} | {{Bibliography text}} | ||
Elvis Costello was emphatic: he would volunteer no information about his past. "I don't," he said, adjusting his shades impatiently, "really think that the past | Elvis Costello was emphatic: he would volunteer no information about his past. "I don't," he said, adjusting his shades impatiently, "really think that the past — my past — is all that interesting. | ||
"I don't see any point in talking about the past. I don't want to get into that. I mean, I haven't just learned the guitar in the last ten minutes, but I'm not going to get talking about what I've done in the past. | "I don't see any point in talking about the past. I don't want to get into that. I mean, I haven't just learned the guitar in the last ten minutes, but I'm not going to get talking about what I've done in the past. | ||
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Elvis Costello, let me tell you, bowled me out of my breeches that night. Why, I even swore that if a platter containing such Costello meisterwerks as "[[(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes|(The Angels Wanna Wear) My Red Shoes]]," "[[Mystery Dance]]," "[[I'm Not Angry]]" and "[[Waiting For The End Of The World]]," was not in the vicinity of my Dansette turntable by the end of the month I'd be around to Stiff looking for the head of Jake Rivieria. | Elvis Costello, let me tell you, bowled me out of my breeches that night. Why, I even swore that if a platter containing such Costello meisterwerks as "[[(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes|(The Angels Wanna Wear) My Red Shoes]]," "[[Mystery Dance]]," "[[I'm Not Angry]]" and "[[Waiting For The End Of The World]]," was not in the vicinity of my Dansette turntable by the end of the month I'd be around to Stiff looking for the head of Jake Rivieria. | ||
The fact that Jake's head remains unsevered would suggest that the platter for which I yearned has been delivered: and so it has, to my immense delight. Trouble is that Stiff, after falling out with Island, are without a distribution organisation. El's album has been temporarily suspended | The fact that Jake's head remains unsevered would suggest that the platter for which I yearned has been delivered: and so it has, to my immense delight. Trouble is that Stiff, after falling out with Island, are without a distribution organisation. El's album has been temporarily suspended — it was originally due for release this very week, actually. Fear not, however. It will be with you soon: in the meantime, I thought I'd bring you a despatch from the Elvis Costello front... | ||
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"They're not all classics. I mean, I've discarded songs I wrote last month because I thought they were inept or didn't match up to the best of what I've written. I wouldn't talk about them, let alone songs I wrote eight years ago." | "They're not all classics. I mean, I've discarded songs I wrote last month because I thought they were inept or didn't match up to the best of what I've written. I wouldn't talk about them, let alone songs I wrote eight years ago." | ||
I had been interested in these earlier songs, I explain, simply because I wanted to form some idea of the pattern and evolution of his writing. The songs collected on his forthcoming album, ''[[My Aim Is True]]'', for instance, are marked by a precocious maturity. Costello may deal principally with themes familiar in rock | I had been interested in these earlier songs, I explain, simply because I wanted to form some idea of the pattern and evolution of his writing. The songs collected on his forthcoming album, ''[[My Aim Is True]]'', for instance, are marked by a precocious maturity. Costello may deal principally with themes familiar in rock — the majority in fact, are concerned with fiercely detailed accounts of romantic encounters and failures — but he introduces a ruthless honesty to these themes and invests his observations and scenarios with perceptive insights and astonishingly vivid images. | ||
The insecurities and infidelities of relationships, adolescent attempts to attain a personal identity and independence, are examined with sensitive compassion and wit often quite acerbic, but equally as often, as on the classic "Alison," with an exquisite tenderness. Always, Costello retains his originality as a lyricist: he avoids conclusively the obvious and tiresome teendream preoccupations of comparative writers like [[Nils Lofgren]] (the midget Yank's recent work, at least), Elliott Murphy and [[Bruce Springsteen|Springsteen]]. No, Elvis' songs possess the cutting clarity of the best of Graham Parker and [[Van Morrison]]: indeed, like this latter pair, Costello's music refers constantly to the classic pop/rock standards of the last decade, each song being sharply defined and full of irresistible hooks and delightful instrumental phrasing (for the verve and incisiveness of the album's sound, some considerable credit must be attributed to [[Nick Lowe]], Elvis' producer). | The insecurities and infidelities of relationships, adolescent attempts to attain a personal identity and independence, are examined with sensitive compassion and wit often quite acerbic, but equally as often, as on the classic "Alison," with an exquisite tenderness. Always, Costello retains his originality as a lyricist: he avoids conclusively the obvious and tiresome teendream preoccupations of comparative writers like [[Nils Lofgren]] (the midget Yank's recent work, at least), Elliott Murphy and [[Bruce Springsteen|Springsteen]]. No, Elvis' songs possess the cutting clarity of the best of Graham Parker and [[Van Morrison]]: indeed, like this latter pair, Costello's music refers constantly to the classic pop/rock standards of the last decade, each song being sharply defined and full of irresistible hooks and delightful instrumental phrasing (for the verve and incisiveness of the album's sound, some considerable credit must be attributed to [[Nick Lowe]], Elvis' producer). | ||
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"This influence stuff," says Costello, when several of the aforementioned musicians are mentioned, "is really irritating, `cos people are always trying to pin you down to sounding like somebody else. I appreciate the comparison you drew with Graham Parker. I suppose that it's because he's currently maybe the only person that's doing anything like me. | "This influence stuff," says Costello, when several of the aforementioned musicians are mentioned, "is really irritating, `cos people are always trying to pin you down to sounding like somebody else. I appreciate the comparison you drew with Graham Parker. I suppose that it's because he's currently maybe the only person that's doing anything like me. | ||
"If there's a general musical area that he's working in, then I accept that I'm working in a similar area and the comparison is validly drawn. And I'd rather be compared to Graham Parker than Tom Jones. If someone came along and said that I sounded like John Denver then I'd f------ worry. It's better to be compared to somebody good; but it still doesn't mean that I sit at home trying to think of ways to re-write songs from ''Heat Treatment''. "Anyway, if I'd had a record out before Graham Parker, it would all be reversed ... `cos, you know, the people who're saying that I sound like Graham Parker are the same people who said that Graham Parker sounded like Bruce Springsteen, who are the same people who said that Bruce Springsteen sounded like Van Morrison, who are the same people who said that Van Morrison sounded the same as [[Bobby Bland]] or whoever. You know, the people who NEVER listen to the f------ music." The prospect of being compared to Springsteen, whose panavision scenarios | "If there's a general musical area that he's working in, then I accept that I'm working in a similar area and the comparison is validly drawn. And I'd rather be compared to Graham Parker than Tom Jones. If someone came along and said that I sounded like John Denver then I'd f------ worry. It's better to be compared to somebody good; but it still doesn't mean that I sit at home trying to think of ways to re-write songs from ''Heat Treatment''. "Anyway, if I'd had a record out before Graham Parker, it would all be reversed ... `cos, you know, the people who're saying that I sound like Graham Parker are the same people who said that Graham Parker sounded like Bruce Springsteen, who are the same people who said that Bruce Springsteen sounded like Van Morrison, who are the same people who said that Van Morrison sounded the same as [[Bobby Bland]] or whoever. You know, the people who NEVER listen to the f------ music." The prospect of being compared to Springsteen, whose panavision scenarios — replete with so much obvious romantic, rock-mythology imagery of a kind quite antithetical to Costello's writing — fills Elvis with anguish and dread. "Springsteen always romanticising the f------ street," he complains, with no little justification. "I'm bored with people who romanticise the f------ street. The street isn't f------ attractive. I mean, I don't pretend to live in the heart of one of the worst areas of the world, right. | ||
"I live near Hounslow. It's a very boring area. It's a terrible place. Awful. Nowhere. Nothing happens. "There's nothing exciting or glamorous or romantic about it. "There's nothing glamorous or romantic about the world at the moment. There is no place for glamour or romance. Romance, in the old pop song sense, has gone right out of the f------ window for the moment. Nobody's got the time or the money. It's gone beyond all that. But, please remember, I don't sit around wondering how people see the world, or how they feel about things. | "I live near Hounslow. It's a very boring area. It's a terrible place. Awful. Nowhere. Nothing happens. "There's nothing exciting or glamorous or romantic about it. "There's nothing glamorous or romantic about the world at the moment. There is no place for glamour or romance. Romance, in the old pop song sense, has gone right out of the f------ window for the moment. Nobody's got the time or the money. It's gone beyond all that. But, please remember, I don't sit around wondering how people see the world, or how they feel about things. | ||
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"They let me do it. I'm still working, right. I'll only give up the job when I start working with a band." | "They let me do it. I'm still working, right. I'll only give up the job when I start working with a band." | ||
"Elvis mentions, mischievously, that none of the musicians that contributed their services to his album are credited on the sleeve (Nick Lowe gets a production credit on the label, though). It transpires that this was El's idea of a caustic comment upon the contemporary state of the music business | "Elvis mentions, mischievously, that none of the musicians that contributed their services to his album are credited on the sleeve (Nick Lowe gets a production credit on the label, though). It transpires that this was El's idea of a caustic comment upon the contemporary state of the music business — an industry for which Elvis has very little admiration or respect. | ||
He had a caption, in fact, prepared for the sleeve of his album, which would have read: "No thanks to anybody." Unfortunately, the Damned got there first when they had printed on the sleeve of their album: "Thanks to no one." El didn't want anyone to think he'd copped the idea so it was abandoned. | He had a caption, in fact, prepared for the sleeve of his album, which would have read: "No thanks to anybody." Unfortunately, the Damned got there first when they had printed on the sleeve of their album: "Thanks to no one." El didn't want anyone to think he'd copped the idea so it was abandoned. | ||
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"I want to put a band together as soon as possible and get out on the f------ road. We're auditioning people this week. We're looking for young people. People that want to get out and play. Putting a band together is the most important thing at the moment. | "I want to put a band together as soon as possible and get out on the f------ road. We're auditioning people this week. We're looking for young people. People that want to get out and play. Putting a band together is the most important thing at the moment. | ||
"I think it might be difficult getting the right kind of people and I can imagine us wading through a right bunch of idiots. The group sound I want will be a lot sparser than the album sound. I just want bass, drum, guitar | "I think it might be difficult getting the right kind of people and I can imagine us wading through a right bunch of idiots. The group sound I want will be a lot sparser than the album sound. I just want bass, drum, guitar — my guitar — and for keyboards we'11 probably go for a VOX or Farfisa sound. | ||
"I want to get away from the conventional group sound. I'd say that I want a kind of pop group line-up, but people might take that as something lightweight or trivial. But it will be a pop line-up in the sense that it won't be a rock band. | "I want to get away from the conventional group sound. I'd say that I want a kind of pop group line-up, but people might take that as something lightweight or trivial. But it will be a pop line-up in the sense that it won't be a rock band. |
Revision as of 18:28, 6 August 2013
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