It’s interesting because I’ve been reading his catalogue lately.
I’m down for a deep dive of EC.
He’s mentored a new band that’s been on my radar: Larkin Poe, so I’d even be into delving into his current works as well. I’ll be honest I usually stop around Spike so this will be fun!
What’s the game plan?
Chronological?
Yeah, chronological, and will start posting tomorrow. I've listened to My Aim is True a couple times through in the last several hours, but with all the movie writing tonight I won't anything any justice without sleep.
Just background, I'm not brand new to Costello, but have only really listened to his early works, My Aim is True to Get Happy!! I get the "reading" the catalog so much, a big reason I want to do this is because of his writing. I think I will come to grips better with his music because his it's not a style to which I'm totally prone - at least the style from the late 70's/early 80's isn't - but I'm expecting some personal breakthroughs with that. In fact, I think the importance of Costello on a personal level is something I expect, though I'm also good at admitting when my expectations were off the mark. (Basically, I think I can evaluate his work from a neutral standpoint, but expect to be thrilled.)
Looking forward to this thread. It takes a while for an album to really sink in for me, I am not sure I can really appreciate most albums having just listen to them for 1 day though, especially when it comes to appreciating the deep cuts and maybe not the "hit song" or two.
I also agree that music needs to be lived with, at least a little while. Even when I wrote a lot about music, I had to drive around with the CD spinning, play it at home sober, play it at home after a drink, play it with a friend, sing along, etc. That's why I'm not going to rate them immediately, more just react. The ones I really like will end up in my rotation anyway, so I expect a somewhat organic process. I also don't drink and hangout at much, so Costello comes to an ET in a different context than the college/post-grad aughts. The latter albums may not get as much run just because they're the latter albums, so I might wait a week or two at least to give a final analysis and evaluation. We'll see, I want to get it right.