Author Topic: ET & Elvis Costello Have a Cup of Coffee (or Two)  (Read 9204 times)

Eric/E.T.

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Re: ET & Elvis Costello Have a Cup of Coffee (or Two)
« Reply #40 on: May 12, 2020, 11:46:48 PM »
I had 9-12 in the can, just did 13. I'll just let it rip, sorry if it seems self-absorbed to do them in single posts, but it's how it would've been anyway, had the board not gone for a few days. Backlog's getting cleared out.

Costello #11: Blood and Chocolate (1986)

Truth be told, when I asked about Costello on these message boards, got referred to I Want You, and threw the track on, I was totally skeptical of Costello and my idea to do this marathon. Not that I thought the song was bad, no sane lover of modern pop and rock could think as such, but I was concerned that the high-energy, firebrand poet I knew from the first quartet of albums was sapped of such verve. I thought he was “maturing,” which is a term I usually associate with an act that’s losing its raison d’etre, but still has a profit motive to keep putting out music. That’s the level of ignorance you can possess when you don’t follow examinations and explorations of a career or catalog through to the end, which is probably something it’s good for everyone to consider when they’re going step up and give an opinion on something in which they’re only half-versed. (Granted, I think there are things that are dumb, mass-produced, trite, superficial, or clearly done for the LCD (least common deniminator) that you can denounce a little more off-hand, but yeah, Elvis Costello isn’t that.)

In King of America, Costello utilized the sounds of Americana as if he were taking us on a tour of the classic sound of America past and present, while also previewing the future  “indie-rock” through a subset of sounds that would play its influence. Then, with Blood & Chocolate, he got back with Nick Lowe and The Attractions and merged power pop, classic rock, rhythm & blues, and Americana to make that CINECAST!ing indie-rock album. Like, no shit. That dirty electric guitar riff that starts Uncomplicated, followed by Costello beltin’ out “Blood and chocolate / I hope you’re satisfied what you’ve done / You think it’s over / But we’ve only just begun.” Like, CINECAST! yeah, Elvis. And B&C makes good on the bold opener big time. Tokyo Storm Warning’s lyrics are a futuristic fever dream containing KKK conventions and robots telling fortunes, over a classic Costello perpetual music machine that is fleshed-out - as all these tracks are - to its fullest potential. In the past, Costello gave you a set of two-to-three minute energetic, maximalist songs that never gave in and never let up, and he made many good-to-great albums with that, but on Blood & Chocolate (and surely King of America, as well) his lyrics more effectively build and destroy worlds, he gets every little variation from his keyboard parts, and lets his guitars rock on a bit. It has a bit of a looser feel, though always staying tight enough to avoid becoming jam-my or, really, anything but tunes from a man who’s still a detailed-oriented perfectionist. He’s just letting ideas evolve a little more now. All of which brings us back ‘round to I Want You, which begins as one thing, kind of a sweet folky love song, before morphing into something a little more sinister. That CINECAST!ing guitar riff is liable to cut your throat at any point in time, while the bass colors the lows in a moody and threatening vibe. (This is actually how I like describing music, so much better than talking about ascending keys, distortion, crescendos, reverb, things being bright, minor key, etc. Earl Sweatshirt, a wonderful DIY rapper/producer who made some of the best rap of the 10’s, says he associates his beats with colors. I feel that. Anyhow.) The poetic repetitions in the lyrics maintain an unhinged feel, coming toward the end with, “I want you / You’ve had your fun, you don’t get well no more / I want you / No one who wants you could want more.” Not going to ruin the very final lyrics, but...concern is warranted, but as a listen, it’s delicious, captivating, and basically perfect.

I haven’t even hit Side B, and I’ve had more than a few cups of coffee here. I’m not doing a full album review, or I will not get to anything else on the docket today. I shall just say that Blood & Chocolate, as well as the prior King of America, are part of a larger tradition of rock, Americana, and post-punk that would lay the groundwork for some of my favorite artists of the 90’s and 00’s. You always hear The Beatles referenced when people talk of the song-craft of Elliott Smith, but I hear just as much, if not more Costello, especially in the song structure of the more rocking tunes on XO and Figure 8. Pavement are their own beast, one of the greatest rock bands ever, but they are also undoubtedly indebted to Americana and roots rock, sounds that they took from lo-fi to progressive indie-rock with psychedelic flourishes. Stephen Malkmus may be some CINECAST!ing slacker, but listen to the core, including his smart and witty lyrics, and undeniably this period’s Costello is part of the format. I think people tend to overplay influences and make every other band out to be some cheap Beatles’ copycats, but it’s often incredibly complicated, and we often get it wrong. But Elliott Smith, Pavement, Arcade Fire, Ya La Tengo, Band of Horses, they were next in line, some debuting not too long after Blood & Chocolate. They have done incredible things (and Costello still makes music, too!), taken music to new heights, yet are still part of the lineage where, if you look back, just a little, I think you see the name “Elvis Costello”. I am not sure that happens just off the success of the first four, to be honest. And I’m not sure how many artists could reinvent and renew themselves as Costello did, especially considering Albums 8 and 9. He really pulled something off, here.
« Last Edit: May 15, 2020, 12:22:10 AM by etdoesgood »
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Eric/E.T.

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Re: ET & Elvis Costello Have a Cup of Coffee (or Two)
« Reply #41 on: May 12, 2020, 11:48:08 PM »
Costello #12: Spike (1989)

A sprawling, eclectic work where, unlike with his previous two efforts, King of America and Blood & Chocolate, Costello doesn’t seek to too tightly follow a musical theme and shows us all the places his talents can take him. I mean, hello Veronica, can I get a #1 hit? And unlike a few other past hits, this one is a great song, co-writer Paul McCartney driving things, along with those bass drum kicks, as Costello croons a lively pop tune with smartly layered vocals dedicated to his grandmother, who had Alzheimer’s. “Is it all in that pretty head of yours? / What goes on in that place in the dark? / Well I used to know a girl and I could have sworn / That her name was Veronica.” Elsewhere, you have an impressive jazz instrumental track in Stalin Malone, earlier the bluesy anti-capital punishment tune Let Him Dangle; and can I get some of that true Irish shit plush with the Irish flute, guitar picks, and Elvis’ mournful and decidedly anti-war Tramp the Dirt Down? Just go listen and read the lyrics simultaneously, and I dare you not to be moved. Any King’s Shilling continues the themes, musical and political, from Tramp the Dirty Down, and is another headphone piece with wonderful instrumentation that you will want to give multiple takes. It’s a song like this that makes me feel good about my headphone/DAC-amp/Tidal choice of combo. Closer Last Boat leaving is a first-person, father-to-son soul-bearing piece, fairly cryptic, but reads like another song discussing the fall-out of armed conflict. It features a psychedelic Beatles-esque hook and a progression/crescendo in instrumentation that grabs at the emotions before it lets go, and the long, ambitious Spike fades away. Initially, I thought it might be too long, the styles on the album too diffuse, to really work. A few listens later, and I know I was wrong. It’s not dud-free; Chewing Gum is a jazzy number that falls flat, for example. They are very few, though. Ultimately, this just continues the post-Langer & Winstaley winning streak for Costello, with three albums that might well be among his best.
« Last Edit: May 15, 2020, 12:22:43 AM by etdoesgood »
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Eric/E.T.

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Re: ET & Elvis Costello Have a Cup of Coffee (or Two)
« Reply #42 on: May 12, 2020, 11:49:28 PM »
Costello #13: Mighty Like a Rose (1991)

We’ve now entered the 90’s with Mr. Costello, and his first of the decade is a mixed bag of tricks, kind of like Spike in that manner, but with some level of diminishing returns. He has more success taking shots at the Beach Boys (The Other Side of Summer, no Back in the USSR, but really good with the vocal harmonies needed to pull it off) than working with a Beatle, as shown in one dud, So Like Candy, and one embarrassingly bad song in the super cheesy Playboy to a Man (that singing cadence, though!). After the Fall is well-written, but also a mild sedative musically. But initially, I was more positive on this album, as there all some pretty interesting turns. How To Be Dumb is another high-energy Costello rocker, showing the next generation the right way to utilize brass in pop and rock. Broken is the highlight for me, featuring Costello experimenting in drone, with a chorus exposing the troubled soul of a man of some experience, some wear on the treads. Hurry Down Doomsday (The Bugs Are Taking Over) also shows sports electronic/industrial experimentation, a bit of a everything and the kitchen sink approach to the production, while the lyrics amount to an acidic takedown of popular culture, and it all comes together superbly. Seeing Mighty Like a Rose at or toward the bottom of a lot of Costello rankings lists must indicate a high quality of output, because there are plenty of artists who’d love this just to be their average album. There’s undoubtedly some poor, even cringe-inducing material, but also some wonderful experiments, and, of course, the regularly spectacular lyricism.
« Last Edit: May 15, 2020, 12:22:57 AM by etdoesgood »
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Eric/E.T.

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Re: ET & Elvis Costello Have a Cup of Coffee (or Two)
« Reply #43 on: May 13, 2020, 08:00:37 PM »
Costello #14: The Juliet Letters (1993)

This is first Costello album (chronologically) that truly feels long. There is frankly not a lot of personality behind a lot of these songs. This is especially apparent when you compare all of the “letters” to Shakespeare’s Juliet to the single, Jacksons, Monk and Rowe, which is a song about one of the quartet’s member’s childhood. As with any of these, it’s simply strings and voice, but with a catchy melody, less meandering, and less formalistic. The lyrics manage to be both bizarre and frightening for a song about childhood, but they don’t take away from the pop sensibilities the song possesses. However, the rest of this is, by and large, a dreary snoozer that I’m not sure even a fan of classical music would get a ton out of. Even in Costello’s lesser albums, there are always some really good songs that make you think they were worth it; well, except maybe in Goodbye Cruel World. While this isn’t of the low, cheesy quality of that unfortunate release, it’ll probably get just as few listens going forward, because of its dearth of memorable moments. I'll add Jacksons, Monk, and Rowe to the Costello master playlist and move on.

Also wanted to mention that I though up a few different possibilities for future musical marathons: Paul Simon/Simon & Garfunkel, Iconic Iceland: Bjork and Sigur Ros (have heard lots of releases from them, but a systematic rundown could be fun), Sonic Youth, Bob Dylan (who I've never been crazy about, but also haven't given him his due), or Consequence of Sound's list: 50 Albums That Shaped Punk Rock. The Simon and Sonic Youth marathons are especially way overdue for me, given how crazy I am about the work I have heard from them.
« Last Edit: May 15, 2020, 12:23:06 AM by etdoesgood »
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Eric/E.T.

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Re: ET & Elvis Costello Have a Cup of Coffee (or Two)
« Reply #44 on: May 14, 2020, 05:26:47 PM »
Costello #15: Brutal Youth (1994)

Elvis Costello and (Sometimes/Sort of) The Attractions bring you: BRUTAL YOUTH! The three albums between Blood & Chocolate, the last album featuring The Attractions, and Brutal Youth were a mixed bag. Spike, awesome. Mighty Like a Rose, ehh. The Juliet Letters, a leftfield classical/pop concept album that turned out to be quite dreary and boring. If anything, Brutal Youth is a combination of a lot of things, a bit old school bass/drum/keyboard and/or piano energetic pop/rock, indie rock, and some tight Beatles-esque pop tunes. All of this does come together to make a fairly coherent statement, although it doesn’t do a lot to displace King of America and Blood & Chocolate in the heavy rotation. Kinder Murder uses hazy guitar riffs, with clean vocal layers on the chorus, all in service of lyrics about a rape that can be quite difficult to listen to, but are nonetheless respectful to the subject manner. I love the bass part that opens and reappears throughout my Science Fiction Twin, though it doesn’t seem many are buying its strange, maybe cringey theme and lyrics. 13 Steps Lead Down and Sulky Girl are perfect examples of stock Costello/Attractions rock tunes that are good, possess the energy and instrumental arrangements that are part of his best post-Get Happy! work, definitely listenable, but not going to be among the most memorable of his output in the same way that Brutal Youth is good enough, but no standout. You Tripped at Every Step is the big highlight here, with a moving piano part and a lovely chorus containing a serene vocal melody and harmony. Brutal Youth is a middle-to-good work for most any artist, but middling-to-lower tier work for Costello himself. He’s playing to his strengths on Brutal Youth, but without many standouts, it’s hard to really dig into and appreciate.

A note going forward:
Costello recorded two soundtracks with Richard Harvey, G.B.H. and Jake’s Progress, which I won’t be covering since they’re not on Tidal and don’t seem essential to his body of work. There are two others not there, the Allen Toussaint collaboration The River in Reverse, and the solo record National Ransom, both of which I consider essential to his catalog, so I’ll figure out another channel for giving them a listen. Overall, there are 15 installments left.
« Last Edit: May 15, 2020, 01:57:20 AM by etdoesgood »
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Eric/E.T.

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Re: ET & Elvis Costello Have a Cup of Coffee (or Two)
« Reply #45 on: May 15, 2020, 01:02:13 AM »
Costello #16: Kojak Variety (1995)


I’d recommend checking this out just for the cover of Days by The Kinks, which was previously heard on a 1991 soundtrack for a film called Until the End of the World. I mean, a decent singer could karaoke this song and make it memorable, but Costello’s deconstruction and reconstruction of different pieces of the instrumentation works well, and the added emotional inflection of his voice does justice to the original songwriting. It’s not as good as The Kinks’ song, but covers rarely are. The rest is just Elvis C. Plays Old School Rhythm & Blues (Because He Can). He does do a Dylan cover, I Threw It All Away, which doesn’t really hold up, as the theatricality of his delivery doesn’t work for the song, especially if you listen to the original and cover back-to-back. Dylan does so much more with so much less in his delivery of the lines and lets the words have their effect. If there was another standout to accompany Days, it’s Costello’s take on The Drifters’ Please Stay, which was originally a doo-wop joint that he takes in the direction of country-rock with a lovely bassline and a hypnotic, quietly psychedelic guitar part. A good cover both interprets and reinterprets already-good music, and he succeeds on the Kinks’ and Drifters’ joints in this regard, but not on the Dylan. No lie, most of the rest blends together a bit for me, as I’m not all that into the style of music, especially with all the ballads. I’d also say it’s a step down from his far earlier covers album, Almost Blue, because it’s missing any discernible Costello style to merge with most of these songs. Apparently he threw this down in Barbados, sounds like a fun trip, and if anything, the album sounds like it was fun to record. It’s just very, very far from essential Costello.
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Eric/E.T.

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Re: ET & Elvis Costello Have a Cup of Coffee (or Two)
« Reply #46 on: May 15, 2020, 10:55:29 PM »
Costello #17: All This Useless Beauty (1996)

Costello got high on ballads on Kojak City, and kept riding the wave of low-to-mid tempo numbers into All This Useless Beauty. Just about two decades out from his debut, and Costello is embracing a fairly traditional singer-songwriter identity, which makes sense these songs were primarily intended for artists, including Aimee Mann, Johnny Cash, and Sam Moore. Instead, Costello took the Attractions out for one more go-round and here we are, Costello #17 (19 if you count the two soundtracks I have no access to, but I'm not, at least for the purpose of this series).

All This Useless Beauty is a slow-burn, and I’m still not sure about its quality, but I was truly dubious on this one on first listen. Especially listening to this back-to-back with tracks from This Year’s Model or Armed Forces, and I wouldn’t blame you for saying “What happened?” Why Can’t a Man Stand Alone? is a light pop-rock song that borders on minimalist soft rock, eventually crescendoing into something closer to a forceful Costello maximalist ballad. Distorted Angel follows it with more of the same. These are more sketches of songs than full pieces. However, then you have something like Complicated Shadows, the song intended for Cash, that seriously lets loose with a few rocking guitar chords that come and go, leaving room for Costello’s commentary on killers within and outside of the law, comparing it to the wild west, bringing a little move knowledge to bear: “You can say just what you like with a voice like a John Ford film / Take the law into your hands / You will soon get tired of killing / In those complicated shadows.” It’s Time, one of the six singles, might pack a few more beats per minute to be a power ballad, but it’s in that lane, a six-minute drum/bass/piano driven, highly emotive break-up song, and possibly the song that could make or break this album for many. I love the production on it, building toward sonic overload, then stripping it down to a little electric guitar and voice, lots of interesting stuff going on in the midst of the sea of sentimentality. The Other End (Of the Telescope), the Aimee Mann joint, is the other song that will either rope people in or repel them, a slow-burn in and of itself. Mann herself has always missed me because I find her albums too produced, although I know she is known for poetic lyrics and often tackles depression, an issue dear to my heart. This song - and album, for that matter - is also particularly clean and crisp in production, and took me a while to get with. Now that I’m typing this, I realize I’m fairly on the fence with All This Useless Beauty. Initially, I thought it was seriously bad, but reading along with the lyrics has opened up the meaning on some of this. And yet, by the standards of Costello’s best work, this falls extremely short. I doubt it gets much more run from me at any point in time.
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Eric/E.T.

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Re: ET & Elvis Costello Have a Cup of Coffee (or Two)
« Reply #47 on: May 16, 2020, 06:46:34 PM »
Costello #18: Painted from Memory
Collaboration with Burt Bacharach



Not going to pull punches here, this is terrible. I wonder where the lines blur between R&B and adult contemporary, and I’m going to conclude that the former still retains some level of groove, where adult contemporary is even less confrontational, musically. Listening to This House is Empty now, and the band Chicago comes to mind. Just as I write that, the soft rock 4.5 second guitar solo comes in. The backing vocals are sublime, a good touch on several songs here, including the opener, In the Darkest Place. They bring an R&B/soul flavor to what is otherwise very much piano-driven adult contemporary. If there’s a “best” song, I’d say it’s The Sweetest Punch, for the bells and the slightly more energetic pace, as well as being a little less woe-is-me on the lyrics. It’s a pretty little tune, but it’s also fairly likely I’ve heard it for the last time. It’s crazy to me that these guys won a Grammy for I Still Have That Other Girl. With the bass/piano/light drum combo, it’s much like everything else on this album. One song bleeds into the next. It’s a neat little bad package.

This is where the “Cup of Coffee with…” comes into play. Were I in a hotel lounge somewhere, and you had a few musicians playing/singing this stuff, I might give them a light clap. I think about it how I had always thought about music at the club: works in a setting, but I’d never turn it on voluntarily. Painted from Memory, even more so. Yet, I said I’d take all albums into account, so there it is, I did my 52 minutes, 7 seconds plus relistening to a few tracks. I’m out now.

The 90’s for Costello are now completed. Here are the albums, minus the two soundtrack collaborations:

Mighty Like a Rose (‘91)
The Juliet Letters (collab with The Brodsky Quartet) (‘93)
Brutal Youth (‘94)
Kojak Variety (‘95)
All This Useless Beauty (‘96)
Painted from Memory (collab with Bacharach) (‘98)

Dude fell off, and how. I could make a good ten-cut playlist from the best songs spanning this decade, but not much else, and those songs would come nearly completely from Mighty Like a Rose and Brutal Youth. I have a four-tier list of Costello albums going, and the 90’s surely helped me fill in the bottom.

Note: I've listened to half of For the Stars, the collaboration with Anne Sofie von Otter, and it's not a Costello album, he's more the producer/arranger than anything. It makes no sense to compare it to the rest of his catalog. He's got eight others in the aughts that do need to be tackled, so next up: 2002's When I Was Cruel.
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Bondo

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Re: ET & Elvis Costello Have a Cup of Coffee (or Two)
« Reply #48 on: May 16, 2020, 07:18:53 PM »
Does this have "I'll Never Fall In Love Again" on it? The scene with the two of them from Austin Powers 2 is my main interaction with Costello's music.

Haven't been following along (because again, very few thoughts about Costello). Saw the reference to The Smiths and while I don't know a ton from them (and Morrissey being who he is now doesn't inspire me), How Soon Is Now? is a song I've done at karaoke a few times. Though I only came into that song through t.A.T.u. I like the compactness of their version, though Morrissey's vocals are the plaintive wail it needs.

Eric/E.T.

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Re: ET & Elvis Costello Have a Cup of Coffee (or Two)
« Reply #49 on: May 16, 2020, 07:46:51 PM »
Does this have "I'll Never Fall In Love Again" on it? The scene with the two of them from Austin Powers 2 is my main interaction with Costello's music.

Haven't been following along (because again, very few thoughts about Costello). Saw the reference to The Smiths and while I don't know a ton from them (and Morrissey being who he is now doesn't inspire me), How Soon Is Now? is a song I've done at karaoke a few times. Though I only came into that song through t.A.T.u. I like the compactness of their version, though Morrissey's vocals are the plaintive wail it needs.

That song's not on here.

I'd say that in the mid-80's, Costello played a little with jangle-pop/rock like a lot of Smiths' songs, but How Soon Is Now? is fairly removed from that sound. I'm thinking something more like The Smiths' Ask, at least in the guitar parts. Great karaoke choice, though. Depending on where you are, I imagine a lot of people singing along with you.
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