Galway Advertiser, October 4, 1984

Bibliography   72 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 UK & Ireland weeklies UK & Ireland magazines UK & Ireland newspapers US newspapers US rock magazines US music magazines US magazines US alternative weeklies European magazines European newspapers Canada  •  Mexico  •  Asia Australia  •  New Zealand South America  •  Africa Blogs  •  Fanzines  •  Books Online publications Galway Advertiser   1984 August 23  1984 October 4 1986 May 15 1986 May 22  1999 August 5  Newspapers   The Australian Belgium Soir Berliner Zeitung Cleveland Scene Columbus Dispatch Connecticut Post Correio da Manhã Corriere della Sera Le Figaro Financial Times Gazeta Wyborcza Hamburger Abendblatt Irish Examiner Irish Independent Irish Press Irish Times Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger Liverpool Echo London Daily Mail London Evening Standard London Guardian London Independent London Observer London Telegraph London Times Los Angeles Herald-Examiner Louisville Courier-Journal Mail & Guardian Marin Independent Journal Mail Tribune Melbourne Age El Mundo Neue Zürcher Zeitung New Zealand Herald Otago Daily Times El Pais Philadelphia Inquirer Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Pittsburgh Tribune-Review La Presse Providence Journal Radikal Reading Eagle la Repubblica Satakunnan Kansa South China Morning Post Der Spiegel La Stampa Der Standard St. Petersburg Independent St. Petersburg Times Süddeutschen Zeitung Svenska Dagbladet Trondheim Adresseavisen Trouw De Volkskrant La Voz de Galicia Wanganui Herald Wiener Zeitung Die Zeit — Elvis Costello: An Entertainer Worth A Trip Brendan Duffy To some people Elvis Costello is just another name on the roster of fly-by-night popstars that come and go and leave maybe a couple of memorable songs in their wake. To a certain amount of followers, those who constitute the dedicated audience he's built up over the wars, he's the most important singer-songwriter of the post-1977 generation, and very possibly an artist at least the equal of Dylan, Bowie, or any other great you'd care to name. Last Friday night's gig in Leisureland proved that Costello himself certainly has it in him to last as long as any of the big names I've just compared him with — and that he has not only the required staying power, but also the "talent" — and if you knew how rare true talent is, you'd put the word in italics too. The man can knock out great songs like most of us make cups of tea, and it's a gift he doesn't take lightly. Himself and his band, The Attractions, are also in the enviable position of not needing massive chart success — because through seven years of hard work, writing, recording and gigging they've ploughed out their own furrow in the music marketplace. Some think that the peak of Costello and the Attractions career came in 1979 when Armed Forces and "Oliver's Army" topped the charts. But the truth is that the man had not yet begun to write. Today, five years and as many albums later, Elvis Costello and his cohorts have built up an enormous repertoire of songs — a selection so extensive that even the longer than usual set they played in Leisureland couldn't accommodate all the favourites that people were constantly yelling for. Costello's Irish tour definitely wasn't a "plug-the-new-album" tour. We were treated to some healthy dollops of new material from the Goodbye Cruel World L.P., starting off with the taut R. & B. riffing of "Sour Milk Cow Blues" which opened the set. But they fit in quite a lot of old stuff as well — going all the way back to 1977 for "Red Shoes," and stopping everywhere in between. The first time one got the feeling that something a bit special was taking place, though, was when they played the latest single, "The Only Flame in Town." The vinyl version, some of you may recall, features Elvis Costello duetting with Daryl Hall in a boppy, accessible enough number — above average Costello alright, but not among his classics. The live version is something else altogether, because they dispense completely with the recorded arrangement, and slow the song down to the pace of a soul/blues ballad. The result had to be heard, or rather, felt to be believed. Daryl Hall? Who's "he"? Most acts wait until the end of the night before they pull something like that — but "The Only Flame in Town" was the "fourth song of the set". Very few people can get away with this sort of thing, but Elvis Costello and the Attractions are among those who can. Revising and extending old songs is a common enough Costello habit, and a healthy one at that. It keeps material fresh and alive. One of his oldest songs, "Alison" was given this sort of treatment — furnished with some new lyrics, plus a quote from an old Jackson Five number and an Otis Redding type fade. The much neglected "King Horse," from 1980, benefited from a similar treatment: some new lyrics, some new kicks in the arrangement, and a bass guitar intro shamelessly filched from the Temptations, "Papa was a Rolling Stone." Costello's other habit of cheekily quoting, quite openly, other people's tunes (rather than surreptitiously ripping them off) means that his gigs are, in a way, a crash course in pop music history. Cover versions were in abundance too — most especially their faithful reading of the other Elvis' "Little Sister," and the medley of 50's hits they laid on for the encore. The little man with the glasses and the guitar wailed his way through Little Richard's "Slipping and Sliding" and Carl Perkins' "Slow Down" as though posessed by the ghost of his fellow Liverpudlian, a certain Mr. Lennon. The musical secret weapon came in the form of Gary Barnacle, who fleshed out the arrangements on sax, and on "Shipbuilding," flute. Ah, "Shipbuilding." I think a lot of people would have come to Leisureland and paid six quid just to see them do that number. Because on Friday night they played the definitive version of the song Costello and Clive Longer wrote for Robert Wyatt. Barnacle's silvery flute solo and Costello's own impassioned singing took the song far beyond either of the recorded versions. Other pop stars, if you like, come and go like ships in the night. Costello and the Attractions are building their own ship, not painted up too brightly, but strong and sturdy without question. They'll be sailing along for quite some time yet. Galway Advertiser, October 4, 1984 Brendan Duffy reviews Elvis Costello & The Attractions with Gary Barnacle, Friday, September 28, 1984, Leisureland, Galway, Ireland. Images Clipping. Page scans.

External links

• Advertiser.ie
• Wikipedia: Galway Advertiser
• Elvis Costello Fan Forum