Galway Advertiser, October 4, 1984: Difference between revisions
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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. | 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 | 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. | 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. |
Revision as of 05:41, 26 March 2016
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