Hey Clockface released October 30, 2020

Pretty self-explanatory
Post Reply
bronxapostle
Posts: 4914
Joined: Wed Jul 12, 2006 2:27 pm

Re: New album Hey Clockface released October 30, 2020

Post by bronxapostle »

no status email here either. i only bought the NO FLAG 7" from the officials however. yes i love ephemera(?)/JUNK as much as the next guy...just not EXPENSIVE junk. :lol: :lol: the LP is coming from AMAZON, allegedly the 13th. i must state, at least they kinda communicate.
sulky lad
Posts: 2425
Joined: Fri Jul 29, 2005 5:21 pm
Location: Out of the kitchen,she's gone with the wind

Re: New album Hey Clockface released October 30, 2020

Post by sulky lad »

My CD came today at last (whilst the vinyl is obviously absent) and I opened the card cover, pinched the sides to get out the pamphlet to have a read and the cardboard split - how cheap and nasty is that ! It means I'll have to go to the nearest HMV after lock down and shoplift an empty cover now, putting my family good name at risk for a criminal record ( gettit ??!!!!!) :D :D :roll: :wink:
User avatar
Top balcony
Posts: 923
Joined: Fri Sep 08, 2006 5:48 pm
Location: Liverpool

Re: New album Hey Clockface released October 30, 2020

Post by Top balcony »

sulky lad wrote:My CD came today at last
...was that 'breaking news' ?.....
Last edited by Top balcony on Mon Nov 09, 2020 10:39 am, edited 2 times in total.
Ulster Boy
Posts: 317
Joined: Mon Sep 18, 2006 3:27 pm

Re: New album Hey Clockface released October 30, 2020

Post by Ulster Boy »

sulky lad wrote:My CD came today at last (whilst the vinyl is obviously absent) and I opened the card cover, pinched the sides to get out the pamphlet to have a read and the cardboard split - how cheap and nasty is that ! It means I'll have to go to the nearest HMV after lock down and shoplift an empty cover now, putting my family good name at risk for a criminal record ( gettit ??!!!!!) :D :D :roll: :wink:
Same thing happened to me. Cover is very stiff.
bronxapostle
Posts: 4914
Joined: Wed Jul 12, 2006 2:27 pm

Re: New album Hey Clockface released October 30, 2020

Post by bronxapostle »

I am confused....what broke? Photo please!!
Ulster Boy
Posts: 317
Joined: Mon Sep 18, 2006 3:27 pm

Re: New album Hey Clockface released October 30, 2020

Post by Ulster Boy »

On mine it’s a tear on the top right corner of the cd wallet (front).
192847DE-14CE-434B-82AD-2A2361EE2DEB.jpeg
192847DE-14CE-434B-82AD-2A2361EE2DEB.jpeg (28.74 KiB) Viewed 48237 times
User avatar
Man out of Time
Posts: 1827
Joined: Fri Jul 06, 2007 8:15 am
Location: just off the coast of Europe
Contact:

Re: New album Hey Clockface released October 30, 2020

Post by Man out of Time »

May I thank Sweetest Punch for diligent work in sharing reviews of Hey Clockface from across the world. Please keep up the good work. I will add these to the Wiki, at some point, but at the moment, the volume of reviews appearing online is more than we can keep up with.

For what it is worth, this review from Brazil (some say Brasil) by Carlos Eduardo Lima on what looks to be his own blog, rates Hey Clockface 2.5 stars out of 5, but everyone is entitled to their opinion. It is in Portuguese, so please count this towards our target for diversity and inclusion.

Elvis Costello – Hey Clockface

Elvis Costello chega a mais um disco de sua extensa carreira tendo a caminhada inexorável do tempo como tema. Quer dizer, não necessariamente. Se há algo complexo em “Hey Clockface” é determinar qual o assunto abordado. Sim, porque Elvis lançou um de seus trabalhos mais fragmentados até hoje. Se ele ganhou notabilidade por ser capaz de encarnar várias vertentes musicais – do blues e do pop clássico à música erudita – sem perder suas características como cantor e compositor, aqui ele abre espaço para todas as influências possíveis em um só álbum. Há até pouco tempo, Costello destinava espaços maiores para dar conta de suas vontades criativas. Eram discos inteiros de jazz, de música clássica, de blues, de pop, enfim, o campo de experimentações era maior ou, melhor dizendo, ele precisava de mais tempo e espaço para exorcizar estes arroubos dirigidos de criatividade. Como tudo ficou mais rápido e fragmentado nesta vida de 2020, por que não o velho EC? Sendo assim, é o que temos por aqui, um trabalho que parece vários e, talvez, não pareça nenhum.

Elvis Costello é um dos sujeitos mais talentosos surgidos no levante punk inglês. Só que ele nunca foi um cara como um Joe Strummer ou mesmo como um Paul Weller. Logo ele se provou muito mais erudito e amplo em termos de espectro musical. Ao contrário do que pode parecer, tal característica não causou a perda de identidade de sua música, mas conferiu a ele uma espécie de compreensão maior por parte de fãs e críticos. “Ora, é Costello, vale tudo”. Pois bem, talvez a redução de espaço para dar conta das influências primordiais não tenha funcionado completamente neste novo álbum e o resultado seja equivalente ao de ouvir uma trilha sonora ou mesmo uma coletânea de vários períodos de tempo. Além disso, a safra de composições não é exatamente a melhor, deixando uma impressão estranha de ouvirmos um raro disco fraco de um dos maiores artistas do pop das últimas décadas. Mas é bom que se diga: “Hey Clockface” é um trabalho menor na carreira de Elvis.

Tal impressão só vem com a audição completa e reiterada das canções e causa surpresa, especialmente pela qualidade dos singles lançados. “No Flag”, por exemplo, eletrônica e apunkalhada, soou perfeita como uma declaração de virulência – ainda que meio isentona – em tempos de politização do espaço. Costello, que sempre foi um cara crítico e inteligentíssimo, não deixou passar o atual momento e se posicionou. Depois veio “Hetty O’Hara Confidential”, uma espécie de r&b, meio jazzística, meio eletrônica, com melodia dançante e criativa. Manteve o otimismo lá em cima. Depois Costello surgiu na mídia dizendo que havia gravado o disco em Helsinque, misteriosamente, procurando ir para um lugar no qual não fosse conhecido pela maioria das pessoas. Legal, deu ao álbum um tom de fuga e escapismo, que poderia indicar um bom trabalho.

Mas nada disso: Costello surgiu na mídia há pouco, dizendo que o álbum foi finalizado em Paris e com as outras canções, todas mais fracas que os singles lançados. Na verdade, há apenas outros dois momentos, bem distintos do que ele havia lançado. “The Last Confession Of Vivan Whip”, uma balada jazzística ao piano, arrepiante, com belo arranjo de sopros; e a última faixa do álbum, “Byline”, outra canção lenta e píanística, mas com jeito de cantiga de ninar, rabiscada, otimista e ingênua. Aqui está presente o Costello crooner, que faz milagres com sua voz de curto alcance, soando forte e visceral em meio a instrumentais singelos e doces. E só. Daí a gente fica pensando que o mundo atual nos faz duros, crueis e impiedosos, mas não. O álbum é só isso, gente.

“Hey Clockface” é um raro trabalho em que Elvis Costello perde a mão para dosar suas personas musicais. Pior: é um disco com canções esquecíveis em sua maioria. Porém, como o homem tem crédito de sobra, seguimos confiantes de que ele recuperará o terreno perdido no próximo lançamento.

Ouça primeiro: “No Flag”

Or in quite passable English:-

"Elvis Costello comes to another album of his extensive career with the inexorable journey of time as a theme. I mean, not necessarily. If there’s anything complex about “ Hey Clockface”Is to determine which subject is addressed. Yes, because Elvis released one of his most fragmented works to date. If he gained notability for being able to embody various musical strands - from blues and classical pop to classical music - without losing his characteristics as a singer and composer, here he makes room for all possible influences on one album. Until recently, Costello used larger spaces to deal with his creative desires. They were entire records of jazz, classical music, blues, pop, in short, the field of experimentation was larger or, better said, he needed more time and space to exorcise these driven outbursts of creativity. As everything got faster and more fragmented in this life of 2020, why not the old EC? So, this is what we have here, a job that looks like several and, perhaps,don't look like any.

Elvis Costello is one of the most talented guys to emerge in the English punk uprising. Only he was never a guy like Joe Strummer or even Paul Weller. Soon he proved to be much more erudite and broad in terms of the musical spectrum. Contrary to what it may seem, this characteristic did not cause the loss of his music's identity, but it gave him a kind of greater understanding on the part of fans and critics. "Well, it's Costello, anything goes". Well, perhaps the reduction in space to account for the primordial influences did not work completely on this new album and the result is equivalent to listening to a soundtrack or even a collection of different periods of time. Furthermore, the crop of compositions is not exactly the best,leaving a strange impression of hearing a rare weak record from one of the greatest pop artists of recent decades. But it is good to say: “Hey Clockface ”is a minor job in Elvis' career.

Such an impression only comes with the complete and repeated listening of the songs and is surprising, especially for the quality of the released singles. "No Flag", for example, electronic and apunkalhada, sounded perfect as a declaration of virulence - albeit somewhat exempt - in times of space politicization. Costello, who has always been a critical and highly intelligent guy, did not let the current moment pass and took a position. Then came “Hetty O'Hara Confidential”, a kind of r & b, half jazz, half electronic, with a dancing and creative melody. He kept his optimism up there. Then Costello appeared in the media saying that he had recorded the album in Helsinki, mysteriously, trying to go to a place where he was not known by most people. Cool, it gave the album a tone of escape and escapism, which could indicate a good job.

But none of this: Costello appeared in the media recently, saying that the album was finished in Paris and with the other songs, all weaker than the released singles. In fact, there are only two other moments, quite different from what he had released. “The Last Confession Of Vivan Whip”, a jazzy ballad at the piano, chilling, with beautiful wind arrangement; and the last track on the album, “Byline”, another slow and pianistic song, but with a lullaby, scribbled, optimistic and naive style. Here is the Costello crooner, who works miracles with his short-range voice, sounding strong and visceral amid simple and sweet instruments. And only. So we keep thinking that the current world makes us hard, cruel and ruthless, but it is not. The album is just that, guys.

"Hey Clockface" is a rare work in which Elvis Costello loses his hand to dose his musical personas. Worse: it is a record with mostly forgettable songs. However, as the man has credit to spare, we remain confident that he will recover the lost ground in the next launch.

Listen first: “No Flag”. "

And finally, my own reflection on record-buying these days. I had to venture into the West End of London last week, to buy a physical CD copy of "Hey Clockface". I have a vinyl copy on order with Rough Trade, as part of the package deal for the Janice Long Webcast coming later this week, but no idea when it might arrive. I also ordered the Armed Forces super duper deluxe etc from Universal a month ago, but no idea when that might arrive. Their website merely says that the order has been "processed". And as for "Fuji~Rama" - Steve Nieve's new album, ordered back in July - the record company (Q-Rates) say I can expect them to dispatch a copy on Valentine's Day 2021 - which would clearly be a record. This thread relates:

http://www.elviscostellofans.com/phpBB2 ... =2&t=11547

So when Elvis insists that vinyl is the way forward, and CDs to be avoided, I hope he realises how difficult it is to actually get hold of LPs these days, even if you can afford them.

MOOT
sweetest punch
Posts: 5964
Joined: Sat Apr 03, 2004 5:49 am
Location: Belgium

Re: New album Hey Clockface released October 30, 2020

Post by sweetest punch »

https://radio1.be/win-de-nieuwe-elvis-costello-0

ALBUM VAN DE WEEK, ELVIS COSTELLO
Win de nieuwe Elvis Costello

Elvis Costello is een van de belangrijkste muzikale duizendpoten die deze wereld rijk is. De iconische songwriter heeft talloze hits op zijn naam, werkte samen met onder andere The Roots, Allan Toussaint en Burt Bacharach, en componeerde zelfs voor het Londen Symphony Orchestra. Daar bovenop wist hij zijn hele carrière lang fris te blijven qua sound. Dat zijn muziek anno 2020 nog steeds relevant is, bewijst hij alweer op 'Hey clockface', zijn 31ste (!) studioalbum.

Elvis Costello staat al decennia bekend voor 2 soorten nummers: enerzijds toegankelijke en tijdloze rock- en popnummers, anderszijds meeslepende ballades, die perfect zouden thuishoren in 'The Great American Songbook'. Deze twee kanten van Costello zijn op 'Hey clockface' opnieuw talrijk aanwezig, maar toch lukt het de 66-jarige zanger om soms verrassend uit de hoek te komen.

De rode draad op 'Hey clockface' is het genadeloze verloop van de tijd. Hij verhaalt doorheen het album meerdere memoires, die hij met de nodige smart achter zich laat liggen. Lyrisch blijft zijn talent steeds stand houden. Op de experimentele opener Revolution #49 brengt hij ons zelfs een gesproken gedicht, vergezeld door een dreunende basnoot en geïmproviseerde Arabische toonladders. Deze formule gebruikt hij op het einde nog eens, op het sombere Radio is rverything.

Costello baant zich op 14 nummers een weg doorheen een spectrum aan stijlen. Van het jazzy I can't say her name en I do (Zula's song) tot het speelse Hey clockface / How can you face me? , brengt Costello een korte bloemlezing van zijn muzikaal en vocaal talent. Hij is niet bang om te tonen dat zijn stem niet meer zo glad is als vroeger, maar weet er op meesterlijke wijze mee om te gaan. Hij haalt uit en duwt zichzelf vocaal tot het uiterste, zonder ooit de grens van zijn eigen kunnen te overschrijden.

De directe, opzwepende No flag en Hetty 'O Hara confidential tonen dat de rock in Costello nog lang niet weg is. Scheurende gitaren en dreunende bas domineren het explosieve No flag, een nummer dat rechtstreeks van een St. Vincent-album zou kunnen komen. Zowel muzikaal als productioneel klinkt het album redelijk eclectisch. Dit is te wijten aan de twee verschillende studio's en bezettingen waarmee Costello heeft opgenomen. In Helsinki heeft hij zich helemaal laten gaan en heeft hij bijna alles zelf ingespeeld. In Parijs werd hij vergezeld door een jazzband, waardoor er op veel nummers improvisatie te horen is. Door de twee studiosessies samen op één album te zetten, en geregeld af te wisselen in de tracklisting, zorgt Costello dat we ons op 'Hey clockface' geen seconde vervelen.

——————————-
Google translation:

ALBUM OF THE WEEK, ELVIS COSTELLO
Win the new Elvis Costello

Elvis Costello is one of the most important musical centipedes in this world. The iconic songwriter has numerous hits to his name, collaborating with The Roots, Allan Toussaint and Burt Bacharach, among others, and even composed for the London Symphony Orchestra. In addition, he managed to stay fresh in terms of sound throughout his career. That his music is still relevant in 2020, he proves again on 'Hey clockface', his 31st (!) Studio album.

Elvis Costello has been known for decades for 2 types of songs: on the one hand accessible and timeless rock and pop songs, on the other hand compelling ballads, which would perfectly belong in 'The Great American Songbook'. These two sides of Costello are again abundantly present on 'Hey clockface', but the 66-year-old singer still manages to sometimes come out surprisingly.

The common thread on 'Hey clockface' is the merciless passage of time. Throughout the album, he narrates several memoirs, which he leaves behind with the necessary sorrow. Lyrically his talent continues to hold up. On the experimental opener Revolution # 49, he even brings us a spoken poem, accompanied by a thumping bass note and improvised Arabic scales. He uses this formula again at the end, on the gloomy Radio is everything.

Costello makes his way through a spectrum of styles on 14 songs. From the jazzy I can't say her name and I do (Zula's song) to the playful Hey clockface / How can you face me? , Costello presents a short anthology of his musical and vocal talent. He is not afraid to show that his voice is no longer as smooth as it used to be, but knows how to handle it in a masterful way. He lashes out and pushes himself to the limit vocally, without ever exceeding the limits of his own ability.

The direct, uplifting No flag and Hetty 'O Hara confidential show that the rock in Costello is far from gone. Cracking guitars and booming bass dominate the explosive No flag, a song that could come straight from a St. Vincent album. Musically as well as production the album sounds quite eclectic. This is due to the two different studios and line-ups with which Costello has recorded. In Helsinki he let himself go completely and played almost everything himself. In Paris he was accompanied by a jazz band, so improvisation can be heard on many songs. By putting the two studio sessions together on one album, and regularly alternating in the track listing, Costello ensures that we don't get bored for a second on 'Hey clockface'.
Since you put me down, it seems i've been very gloomy. You may laugh but pretty girls look right through me.
User avatar
wardo68
Posts: 854
Joined: Wed Jul 14, 2004 10:21 am
Location: southwest of Boston
Contact:

Re: New album Hey Clockface released October 30, 2020

Post by wardo68 »

Top balcony wrote:
sulky lad wrote:My CD came today at last
...was that 'breaking news' ?.....
Mine arrived yesterday, and thanks to the heads up I've been handling it gingerly so as not to tear the cover.

The review should be up next week, and I still like it more than Look Now. The Helsinki mouth songs work a little better in this context, and I'm not so sure we need two knockoffs of "Voice In The Dark" in the middle of the program. Stay tuned.
Arbogast
Posts: 248
Joined: Tue Nov 19, 2013 1:00 pm

Re: New album Hey Clockface released October 30, 2020

Post by Arbogast »

Any consensus emerging at the ECFF as to faves from Hey Clockface?
invisible Pole
Posts: 2228
Joined: Tue Jun 29, 2004 2:20 pm
Location: Poland

Re: New album Hey Clockface released October 30, 2020

Post by invisible Pole »

Arbogast wrote:Any consensus emerging at the ECFF as to faves from Hey Clockface?
Loving the anger and the guitar riff of No Flag, the hypnotic vibes of Newspaper Pane, and the sad tenderness of the beautiful closer, Byline. These are my three favourite songs at the moment.
Last edited by invisible Pole on Wed Nov 11, 2020 3:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.
If you don't know what is wrong with me
Then you don't know what you've missed
User avatar
FrankieJ
Posts: 125
Joined: Thu Feb 27, 2014 1:41 pm
Location: England

Re: New album Hey Clockface released October 30, 2020

Post by FrankieJ »

I still feel like I haven’t formed an overall opinion of the album yet. I don’t think I can until I’ve heard it at least 50 times.

For now, I’d say it’s a wonderfully varied album and it’s strange to think it was meant to be something slightly different (with the Abbey Road/Imposters sessions cancelled... or maybe and hopefully just postponed).

I do think the second half could’ve done with one more upbeat song. It’s very heavy on the slower ones. But my favourite slow song, which I haven’t seen many people mention, is I Do (Zula’s Song). Anyone else have a soft spot for this? I wonder who or what Zula is.
sweetest punch
Posts: 5964
Joined: Sat Apr 03, 2004 5:49 am
Location: Belgium

Re: New album Hey Clockface released October 30, 2020

Post by sweetest punch »

https://www.culturesonar.com/hey-clockf ... ses-again/

“Hey Clockface”: Elvis Costello Surprises Again

The fun thing about growing up as an Elvis Costello fan was that I could always count on something surprising. His prolific output, consisting of 31 studio albums over 43 years, has produced a variety of styles and musical approaches. This body of evidence is proof that he’s one of the most successful artists despite continuing to live and breathe outside of the musical mainstream. So what more could he do?

Judging from his newly-released effort, Hey Clockface, he’s decided to visit his past. This is not a band album (from the Imposters, only the loyal Steve Nieve appears on various keyboards), nor is it a rock and roll album. It’s a wonderfully eclectic mix of songs that he’s touched upon before. It’s all here for us to enjoy: the world of orchestra ballads, roaring ’20s ragtime, brass-laden melodies, tech-driven-beat-box tones, and witty regrets. We return to textures from his past work, conjuring up familiarities like visits from old friends, as we pass sonically through these wide-ranging channels.

My most difficult task was to pick out the few times that an electric guitar appears. When it does, as in the opening track, “No Flag,” it sports a riff that will keep you up at night, and instantly snatches from his 1994 Brutal Youth album’s “20% Amnesia.” Initially, I thought this was a political song, but upon closer listen, the song revealed a hard-edge tune (one of the very few on the album) that goes down the path of missing love: “No time for this kind of love/No flag waving high above/No sign for the dark place that I live/No god for the damn that I don’t give!” We have been here before, but this time, Costello delivers with the punch and conviction of an older, wiser man done wrong.

We revisit his 2013 album Wake Up Ghost when listening to “Newspaper Pane” (written in partnership with Michael Leonhart and guitarist Bill Frisell, who in 1999 released a companion album to Costello and Burt Bacharach’s Painted from Memory collection). It’s a wonderfully- flowing song laden with horns that brings out rhythms reminiscent of his work with The Roots.

“The Whirlwind” could have been a tune straight from his 2003 North album (which hit #1 on the traditional jazz charts in the US that year). This is a beautiful piano-based ballad where he places his harmonies over his own recorded voice, a rare blend for Costello. Further down this trail is “The Last Confession of Vivian Whip,” a heartbreaking melody that brings us back to where he left off in 1996 with “I Want to Vanish” from the All This Useless Beauty album.

Just for old time’s sake, Elvis stands right next to the iconic writings of Carol King, with this album’s best song “I Do.” Listen carefully, as this tune contains a middle bridge very similar to her “I Feel the Earth Move” melody. It must have rubbed off, as King and Elvis partnered-up in writing “Burnt Sugar Is So Bitter” for his last effort, 2018’s Look Now album, that eventually won a Grammy for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album.

Costello has toyed with the ragtime era several times, witnessed in his National Ransom album (2010) offered “Jimmy Standing in the Rain” and “A Slow Drag with Josephine.” Now he’s at it again with the title song, “Hey Clockface.” This tune blends the classic Fats Waller/Andy Razaf song, “How Can You Face Me?” perfectly, and jump-jives us to consider the dimensions of time and love.

Finally, while enjoying this album, the one observation that kept poking at me was how “young” the 66-year old’s voice sounds. Costello’s nasal Brit-twang is nearly gone, and his years have helped him become a truly powerful crooner. Something always surprising comes out of Elvis-land and Hey Clockface delivers on that as usual.

-Steven Valvano
Since you put me down, it seems i've been very gloomy. You may laugh but pretty girls look right through me.
User avatar
Fishfinger king
Posts: 620
Joined: Sat Feb 05, 2005 6:41 am
Location: On the border

Re: New album Hey Clockface released October 30, 2020

Post by Fishfinger king »

FrankieJ wrote:
I do think the second half could’ve done with one more upbeat song. It’s very heavy on the slower ones. But my favourite slow song, which I haven’t seen many people mention, is I Do (Zula’s Song). Anyone else have a soft spot for this? I wonder who or what Zula is.
Frankie I agree with both your points here. There needs to be an upbeat song after Vivian Whip. I also love I Do - very noir - I can’t listen without thinking that Barbara Stanwyck is about to come down the stairs.

I also don’t really understand the need for spoken word pieces. I think If by Telly Savalas has had a deep, long-lasting detrimental effect.
Can't you see I'm trying to change this water to wine
sweetest punch
Posts: 5964
Joined: Sat Apr 03, 2004 5:49 am
Location: Belgium

Re: New album Hey Clockface released October 30, 2020

Post by sweetest punch »

https://coachellavalleyweekly.com/elvis ... d-records/

ELVIS COSTELLO “Hey Clockface” (Concord Records)

I’ve got no religion, I’ve got no philosophy, I’ve got a head full of ideas and words that don’t seem to belong to me… I’ve got no illusions, I’ve had no epiphany, why should anyone listen to me?”

That’s Elvis Costello kicking against the pricks on “No Flag,” a song off his newest record, Hey Clockface. Anyone who knows me, knows that Elvis is my all-time favorite musician . His first album came out in 1977, and I heard a few intriguing songs on KMET and KLOS radio, but it wasn’t until 1980, that I actually owned some of his music.

That year I had a “PUNK” party on my 17th birthday (that’s a whole other column), and a friend gave me a “Regatta de Blanc” tape from the Police. Problem was, I already had, and loved that one. So, I took it back to Gemco (ahh, Gemco) to exchange it. Luckily, they had Elvis’ latest, his fourth album, “Get Happy,” so I took the plunge.

I became obsessed, much to my mother’s dismay (she didn’t like his voice). I listened to Get Happy before and after school. I parsed the lyrics and marveled at the melodies. It was sort of Punk, but so much more. That summer I cycled through six other albums, the B-52’s debut, London Calling from the Clash, the Beatles’ Red and Blue singles collections plus Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon and The Wall. But first in rotation was Elvis.

As the year wore on, I back-tracked and got his Armed Forces album, then the new-ish Taking Liberties, as well as his debut, My Aim Is True. The following January I saw him live for the first time when he toured around the release of his sixth effort, Trust. His next record was a sharp right turn. Almost Blue was an album of Country standards recorded in Nashville. At that point in my life I had no interest in Country music, I found it kind of corny and old-fashioned. But because it had Elvis’ stamp of approval, I began to open my mind.

In the ensuing years, Elvis provided that service again and again for me, acting as a musical ambassador, introducing me to artists like N.R.B.Q., Gram Parsons and Dusty Springfield. Elvis covered songs by Bob Dylan, John Hiatt and Richard Thompson, and I’d take a deep dive into their catalogues. It didn’t always work, I still don’t get Randy Newman, but E.C.’s love of Abba made me re-evaluate what I had previously considered to be AM Pop radio fluff. Yes, I actually like “Waterloo.”

Elvis was born Declan McManus in 1954, in Paddington, London, the son of Lillian and Ross McManus. His parents met through their affinity for music. She ran Jazz clubs and worked in record shops, he was a Jazz trumpeter and later gained fame as a vocalist for The Joe Loss Orchestra. As a kid, Declan was exposed to myriad musical styles and retained a love for Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald, even as he was discovering the Beatles, the Stones, and later Bob Dylan, the Band, the Flying Burrito Brothers and Pub Rock.

By 1970, he began performing, first as a solo artist and then in the band Flip City. He had also started writing his own songs. Fast forward seven years and Declan was married with a young son, working as a computer-programmer for Elizabeth Arden. By then his manager had rechristened him Elvis Costello (several months before the King Of Rock & Roll met his ignominious end). But more importantly, he had amassed an impressive stockpile of original songs.

Using up his sick days at work, he went into Pathways studio with producer Nick Lowe and a backing band from San Francisco called Clover (they later evolved into Huey Lewis’ band, the News). The result was his stunning debut, My Aim Is True.

An instant classic, the record matched angular melodies to vitriolic lyrics. Along with bands like The Clash, The Jam, The Damned and The Sex Pistols, Elvis helped usher in the Punk era. Although he was part of the Class Of ’77, his music was never really defined by that narrow paradigm. Once he connected with Bruce Thomas, Pete Thomas (no relation) and Steve Nieve, on bass, drums and keys, respectively, they became his backing band The Attractions.

Elvis’ second and third albums, This Year’s Model and Armed Forces exceeded expectations. Released in 1978 and 1979, the former married the snarl of Punk with concise songcraft that echoed the Rolling Stones’ mid ‘60s output. The latter took inspiration from Abba (!) as well as the more Pop-tastic sounds of New Wave. This triptych is considered Elvis’ classic “Angry Young Man” period. Some fans were content to stop there, but really, the best was yet to come.

Although New Wave was the musical lingua franca of the 1980s, Elvis, to quote Linda Ronstadt quoting Mike Nesmith, traveled to the beat of a different drum. Get Happy channeled the hard-charging R&B of Stax and Motown. Almost Blue was a Country-Western effort recorded in Nashville.

In 1982, he delivered Imperial Bedroom, a dazzling collection of songs that owed as much to Cole Porter and Frank Sinatra as it did to the Beatles. A year later, he followed up with Punch The Clock, a sleek Pop record that featured back-up singers and a horn section.

It seemed as though his appetite for musical exploration knew no bounds. 1986’s King Of America, produced by new pal T-Bone Burnett, was a deep dive into Country and Folk. Three years later, Spike featured contributions from The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, the Chieftans Chrissie Hynde and Allen Toussaint. His first ‘90s effort, Mighty Like A Rose leaned closer to the ornate Pop flavors of ‘60s bands like The Left Banke, Love and The Zombies.

In 1993 he connected with a String section, the Brodsky Quartet. Together they wrote The Juliet Letters, a song cycle based on the imaginary letters of Juliet Capulet. A year later he reunited with the Attractions (after an eight-year hiatus), for the caustic Brutal Youth album and the more opulent All This Useless Beauty.

Throughout the years Elvis produced albums for The Specials, Squeeze, The Pogues and classical vocalist Anne Sofie Von Otter. There were also acclaimed collaborations with Paul McCartney and Burt Bacharach. Shortly before he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame, he returned to his Punk roots with his new backing band, The Imposters (basically still Steve Nieve, Pete Thomas and new bassist Davey Farragher) and released the blistering When I Was Cruel. Naturally, his next effort North, was a collection of jazzy Torch songs. After two divorces, Elvis finally met his match in Jazz chanteuse Diana Krall. The pair married in late 2003 and welcomed twin sons, Dexter and Frank three years later.

As the 21st century progressed, Elvis and The Imposters retreated to Mississippi to record the Countrified Delivery Man. He also created a Classical orchestral work, Il Sogno. Hurricane Katrina motivated him to collaborate again with New Orleans legend Allen Toussaint to record The River In Reverse. Then he whipped up the Rock & Roll raver Momofuku in a matter of days in Los Angeles.

Reuniting with his best mate, T-Bone, they made a Bluegrass effort, Secret, Profane & Sugarcane in 2009 and the more Folk-flavored National Ransom the following year. 2013 found Elvis at his most experimental when he hooked up with celebrated Hip-Hop collective The Roots. Not only did Wise Up Ghost include new songs, but it also deconstructed and recalibrated a few songs from Elvis’ extensive back catalogue. The unlikely collaboration actually made it to #16 on the charts.

In the ensuing years, Elvis has continued to tour at a furious clip. 2015 saw the release of his autobiography, Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink. A serious health scare in 2018 truncated a summer tour, but he still released his 30th album, the brilliantly Baroque Look Now. It featured the Imposters and included collaborations with Burt Bacharach and Carole King. Earlier this year, it won the Grammy Award for “Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album.” In between touring and recording commitments, he has been working on a Broadway musical based on Budd Schulberg novel, A Face In The Crowd, which was also a powerful Elia Kazan film.

Elvis has always excelled in confounding expectations. But his die-hard fans have stuck with him nearly every step of the way. Now he is back with his 31st album, Hey Clockface. Executing a stylistic 180, the new record sounds nothing like his last effort. Toward the end of his last tour and before the Covid pandemic really hit, he holed up alone in Helsinki, sans Imposters, and later with Steve Nieve in Paris and New York, accompanied by a Jazzy combo of Parisians dubbed Le Quintette St. Germain.

The album’s first four cuts hopscotch through a series of moods and musical idioms. “Revolution #49” opens tentatively, like an orchestra warming up. Lowing serpent notes (a brass/woodwind instrument somewhere between a cornett and a tuba) are buttressed by cor anglis oboe, Lowrey organ, cello, melodica and a soupcon of drums. The modal melody swirls around Elvis’ spoken soliloquy, as he intones; “Life beats a poor man to his grave, love makes a rich man from a beggar, love is the one thing we can save.”

The aforementioned “No Flag,” which is also the record’s first single, is essentially a one-man effort, as Elvis handles all the instrumentation. Stinging guitars, whooshy keys and tensile bass lines are tethered to a clanky, industrial crunch. Elvis’ vocals are suitably sinister and snarly as he unleashes a cynical rant that mirrors these divisive days; “You may be joking but I don’t get the gag, I sense no future but time seems to drag/No time for this kind of love, no flag waving high above, no sign for the dark place that I live, no God for the damn that I don’t give.”

The musical sturm und drang of “…Flag” is replaced by plangent guitars, towering grand piano, shivery Fender Rhodes, peppery Flugel horn, mellifluous tenor sax, graceful cello and percussive drums on “They’re Not Laughing At Me Now.” Settling a few scores Elvis hurls loquacious bon mots like “You could shake my hand, if I could unfold my fist, if I were a gentleman, if I were a Christian/But I wouldn’t risk it, why would you? You know my name now, and it’s ‘Mister’ to you,” with deadly accuracy. The melody, which is an amalgam of spiky Folk and jagged Jazz, aligns perfectly with the effortless eloquence of the lyrics.

Meanwhile, “Newspaper Pane” is awash in sprightly Farfisa and Vox colors, percolating bass lines brittle baritone guitar, as Stratocaster blasts atop a tick-tock beat. The language is vivid and the narrative dense as Elvis paints a portrait of a woman trapped by circumstance; “Weeping Miss Imogen said to her priest ‘I gave him my virtue, it was the least I could leave him, on the eve of departure, though I will long for him now and hereafter/And the child I’ll be raising may have his blue eyes, what if he grows up and dies on some distant unnamable hillside or field, because a king and a concubine put a mark on his shield’.” Horns pulsate and twitch on the bridge, giving this sad-sack saga a caffeinated kick.

The record swings mightily on the title track, (which Elvis co-credits to Jazz giants Andy Razaf and Fats Waller), as well as “I Can’t Say Her Name.” The former is Elvis at his most exuberant, as he impatiently urges time to move forward. The melody and instrumentation a heady brew of Ragtime and English Music Hall flavors. The latter opens with plaintive acoustic guitar and Elvis’ tender croon before launching into a jaunty, Gypsy Jazz refrain powered by trumpet, all manner of clarinet, piano, Lowery organ, cello and a swellegant backbeat.

Several ballads dot the record as well. “The Last Confession Of Vivian Whip” pairs painterly piano chords with willowy cello, shadowy trumpet, searing bass clarinet and beatific cor anglais. Elvis’ manner is both ominous and seductive as he unspools the story of Vivian Whip, again the wordplay is labyrinthine; “Just when I needed it, when I couldn’t conceive that it’s so hard to lose your nerve, to just get what you need and not what you deserve.”

“What Is It That I Need That I Don’t Already Have” is a litany of regret wrapped in jangly acoustic guitar, swooping cello, mad scientist organ, slippery Flugel horn and sidling bass flute. Contrition and complacency coalesce on couplets like “What is it that I lost that I don’t really need, some glasses for my eyes, an hour or two of speed/My hands don’t blister, my hands don’t bleed, but I’ll never be contented, repent or even lamented, ‘Til I’m planted down like rotten crops and covered up with weeds.”

Elvis has been previewing “Face In The Crowd” songs for concert audiences for the last couple years. “The Whirlwind” is the latest. A delicate post-mortem that blends wistful piano, melancholy Flugel horn, wily bass clarinet and swoony cello. You don’t need to know the story of Lonesome Rhodes, to appreciate lyrics like “I’ve had my moments, but all too few, you think you know me, maybe you do/You will turn to see me go, nothing’s lost and no one’s won, it’s all over now and now it’s done.”

For my money, the best tracks here are “No Flag” and the other two solo songs from his Helsinki sessions, “Hetty O’Hara Confidential” and “We Are All Cowards Now.” On “Hetty…” EC is a bit of a human beatbox, matching his noises to junky Rhythm Ace, carnivalesque Hammond organ, stately upright piano and his trusty Fender Jazzmaster. Tart lyrics conjure up a fictional counterpoint to 20th century gossip columnists like Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons. “Hetty” is nearly made obsolete by social media and the cancel culture; “Her reputation curled like yellow smoke, she named the wrong man in the story she broke/She had an unfortunate character flaw, the irresistible impulse to assassinate, but the damage it did was quite substantial to Hetty O’ Hara Confidential.” Elvis’ noirish vocal delivery echoes the terse reportage of a bygone era.

With “…Cowards…” Elvis stacks his own dissonant harmonies over a blend of wah-wah guitars, skittery bass, brittle keys and a stompy beat. The melody, a soulful slice of syncopated angst, the lyrics, a scathing take on the paranoia that fuels every assertion that all liberals are eager to repeal the Second Amendment; “They’re coming for our Peacemakers, our Winchesters and Colts, the rattle of our Gatling Guns, our best cowboy revolts and threats and insults, we are all cowards now/The emptiness of arms, the openness of thighs, the pornography of bullets, the promise and prizes can’t disguise we’re all cowards now.”

Other interesting tracks include the mournful, moody magnificence of “I Do (Zula)” and “Radio Is Everything,” which is another spoken-word entry. The record closes with the elegant epistle of “Byline.” Elvis deftly caresses each sharply turned phrase as nimble Flugel horn notes thread through burnished piano, sly bass clarinet, warm cello notes and barely-there drums. The lyrics offer a rueful dissection of a failed romance; “I read by line by line by line, that old sarcastic Valentine, that you’d denied you sent to me, then took it back/It’s a though that we shared, a careless phrase, a curse or a joke, so words of praise, but I didn’t write, did you wonder why? It was the easiest way to say ‘goodbye’.”

Hey Clockface is not made for casual listening. It’s best consumed through headphones, where complex melodies and knotty, erudite lyrics slowly reveal their hidden charms. The first time through it didn’t connect completely for me, but then I had the same reaction to When I Was Cruel and National Ransom, which became two of my favorites. Anyone still waiting for Armed Forces 2: Electric Boogaloo has missed the point. On the song “Newspaper Pane,” Elvis spells it out for us; “I don’t spend my time perfecting the past, I live for the future, because I know it won’t last.”
Since you put me down, it seems i've been very gloomy. You may laugh but pretty girls look right through me.
sweetest punch
Posts: 5964
Joined: Sat Apr 03, 2004 5:49 am
Location: Belgium

Re: New album Hey Clockface released October 30, 2020

Post by sweetest punch »

https://couleurz.com/lifestyle-magazine ... clockface/

MUSIC REVIEW: ELVIS COSTELLO – ‘HEY CLOCKFACE’

Elvis Costello – ‘Hey Clockface’ While rummaging through my older brother’s extensive record collection back in 1977, I came across a debut release from a quirky guitarist with thick, black-rimmed glasses, skinny tie and a catchy name.

“My Aim Is True” spotlighted Elvis Costello performing gritty tracks of punk passion with jolts of new wave, rock and power pop. Costello’s arrangements packed a potent punch and exhibited a vibrant energy that fueled his biting lyrics about jealousy, apathy, anger and youthful rebellion.

Costello’s next album, 1978’s “This Year’s Model,” would be a continuation of his biting social commentary and give me yet another reason to follow the talented English singer-songwriter throughout his iconic career.

Forty-two years later, Costello is still going strong with the release of his 31st studio album. Recorded in various locations, “Hey Clockface” illustrates Costello’s musical diversity as it methodically zigs and zags in multiple directions over the course of its 14 tracks.

“Revolution #49” opens the set as a spoken-word confessional with an alluring Middle Eastern vibe that finds Costello hauntingly emphasizing love is the one thing we need to save.

Costello channels some malcontent musings inspired from his early days on “No Flag.” “Got a head full of ideas and words that don’t seem to belong to me/You may be joking but I don’t get the gag/I sense no future but time seems to drag,”agitatedly declares Costello on this track that would fit seamlessly on 1979’s “Armed Forces.”

Being a huge fan of Costello’s 1998 collaboration with Burt Bacharach on “Painted from Memory,” the new album contains three arrangements that drew my immediate attention. The piano-led ballads “The Whirlwind,” “The Last Confession of Vivian Whip” and “Byline” possess a timeless elegance that is a pure delight to digest through a simplistic vulnerability that showcases Costello’s heartfelt vocals as the 66-year-old sings, “I’ve had my moments/But all too few/You think you know me/Maybe you do.”

Revisiting the glory days of his debut release, “Radio Is Everything” features Costello still dishing out his quick wit as he proclaims, “I sound much better than I look/Like a hero in a book.”

With his latest effort, Costello demonstrates that his aim is still indeed true.

Rhodes
Since you put me down, it seems i've been very gloomy. You may laugh but pretty girls look right through me.
sweetest punch
Posts: 5964
Joined: Sat Apr 03, 2004 5:49 am
Location: Belgium

Re: New album Hey Clockface released October 30, 2020

Post by sweetest punch »

https://www.elsewhere.co.nz/music/9629/ ... l-outlets/

Elvis Costello: Hello Clockface (Concord/digital outlets)
Graham Reid

So how does Elvis Costello, now umpteen albums into his career – which has embraced phlegmatic New Wave post-punk, country music, folk-rock, work with the Brodsky Quartet, Allen Toussaint and Burt Bacharach, the Wise Up Ghost revisions with the Roots and more – keep himself, and just as importantly us, interested?

By opening this 31st studio album with a mournful Middle Eastern melody and a spoken word piece (Revolution #49), by bringing in a French ensemble as well as guitarist-without-portfolio Nels Cline, by firing off the scratchy salvo of No Flag which sounds like he hasn't aged or become more calm since the bitter fury of Pump It Up more than four decades ago: “Why should anybody listen to me, I'm tearing up the sheets your love left stained...”

Whether you like him or not – and that once irritating vibrato which ruined many an album here returns, mercifully briefly, on the lovely piano ballad The Whirlwind – you'd have to concede that Elvis Costello still has it in him to find new approaches and ideas.

What critics note about this album is that it was recorded in three separate locales: Helsinki for solo sessions, in New York during isolation, and in Paris with that small ensemble and longtime fellow traveller Steve Nieve on keyboards.

There may be the music hall/retro-Kinks title track but he reconstitutes Nawlins beats in the nasty Hetty O'Hara Confidential (“who's got your girlfriend [then in a wickedly up-close echo] and who had her first?”) and in The Last Confession of Vivian Whip creates a flickering cinematographic black'n'white miniature.

He drops in a jazz-noir, Spillane-with-a heart/21stcentury fascism behind the shoulder holster on the ambient-cum-spoken word piece of the excoriating Radio is Everything: “The lie I tell doesn't matter, or if I should deceive you doesn't matter ... radio is everything...”

At this point you might wish Costello – who did that terrific Spectacle TV series of interviews with music – would embrace a radio broadcast, not in the manner of Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour (although he could doubtless do that) but in the way Ken Nordine did: by making people uncomfortable.

He can still be the venomous, character-driven songwriter as on the tightly wrought and unusually-arranged Newspaper Pane from the perspective of some acerbic, fallen star not waiting for her close-up or moment to exact vengeance -- even if it goes unheard beyond her own head -- is an absolute, if unusual highpoint.

“You think you know me, maybe you do,” he sings on The Whirlwind.

Well maybe we do, but actually – on the evidence of this and his capacity to surprise and reinvent himself – we don't.

And that, for old and latter day Costello followers, is excellent news.
Since you put me down, it seems i've been very gloomy. You may laugh but pretty girls look right through me.
sweetest punch
Posts: 5964
Joined: Sat Apr 03, 2004 5:49 am
Location: Belgium

Re: New album Hey Clockface released October 30, 2020

Post by sweetest punch »

https://www.abendzeitung-muenchen.de/ku ... art-683331

Elvis Costello: Singende Enzyklopädie

Von Jazz bis zu wildem Ein-Mann-Rock: Elvis Costello beweist auf "Hey Clockface" seine verblüffende stilistische Vielseitigkeit.

Elvis Costello ist ein Pop-Enzyklopädist in Theorie und Praxis. Den theoretischen Aspekt kann man in der wunderbaren Serie "Spectacle" sehen - in Teilen kostenlos auf Youtube: Da interviewte der mit stupendem Hintergrundwissen ausgestattete Musiker Kollegen aus verschiedenen Genres zu deren Werk und Leben: Smokey Robinson, Elton John, Bruce Springsteen, Herbie Hancock, Tony Bennett, The Police - und den politisierenden Saxophonisten Bill Clinton.

Elvis Costello: Stilübergreifendes Wissen praktisch-kreativ

Costello kann sein stilübergreifendes Wissen aber auch praktisch-kreativ einsetzen. Unter den großen Pop-Songwritern gibt es keinen vielseitigeren. So hat er Alben mit Künstlern der unterschiedlichsten Genres aufgenommen: Easy-Listening-Pop (Burt Bacharach), New-Orleans-Soul (Allen Toussaint), Hip-Hop (The Roots) und sogar Klassik (Brodsky Quartett, Anne-Sofie von Otter). Und auch jedes Solo-Album war stets eine andere Angelegenheit als das letzte: Schon früh in seiner Karriere spielte Costello mal New Wave (1979), dann Soul (1980), dann Country (1981), dann beatlesquen Pop (1982). Und so ging das immer weiter.

In "Hey Clockface" werden unterschiedliche Ansätze gemischt

Jetzt, auf dem neuen Album "Hey Clockface", kann Elvis Costello gar nicht mehr an sich halten. Da mischt er die unterschiedlichsten Ansätze und montiert die Ergebnisse aus drei Sessions. Die wildesten Songs entstanden in Helsinki, wo er nur mit sich selbst rockte: mit Drum Machine, E-Gitarre, Orgel und etwas elektronischem Gedöns. Auf seinem großartigen Album "When I Was Cruel" (2002) hatte er das auch so gehalten, und entsprechend ähnlich sind die Ergebnisse. "No Flag" ist der aufregendste Song des Albums. Eine andere Solo-Nummer ist weniger Komposition, sondern eher Ein-Mann-Jam-Session mit der (wohl digitalen) Bandmaschine: Auf "Hetty O'Hara Confidential" montiert Costello elektronisches und analoges Gezirpe, legt einen Proto-Rap in Gedenken an Chuck Berry hin und lässt all die rotzige Energie eines 66-Jährigen raus.

Die New Yorker Aufnahmen sind das Gegenprogramm: Da überließ Costello die Musik ganz dem Jazz-Trompeter und Produzenten Michael Leonhart, der unter anderem die Gitarristen Nels Cline und Bill Frisell dazu bat. Die atmosphärisch dichten Aufnahmen "Newspaper Pane" und "Radio Is Everything" schickte Leonhart an Costello, der dazu sang.

Hauptteil des Albums in Paris entstanden

Der Hauptteil des Albums entstand in Paris, wo Costello an zwei Tagen neun Songs aufnahm: mit seiner rechten Hand, dem Piano-Virtuosen Steve Nieve, sowie drei hochklassigen französischen Session-Musikern an Blasinstrumenten, Cello und Percussion. Das Ergebnis mit dieser so ungewöhnlichen Besetzung ist so warm und wohlklingend wie stilistisch bunt.

Typisch Costello sind die Balladen: "Bygone", "The Whirlwind", "The Last Confession Of Vivian Wood" und das jazzigere "I Do (Zula's Song") klingen höchst gediegen, "They're Not Laughing At Me Now" mit Lowrey-Orgel und Flügelhorn nervös-zerbrechlich.

Mit "Hey Clockface/How Can You Face Me?" erweckt Costello eine Nummer des Jazz-Pianisten Fats Waller zum flotten Leben. "I Can't Say Her Name" ist ein originell intonierter Western Swing mit einer Scat-Gesangseinlage am Ende.

Costellos Stil-Palette reicht bis zu arabischen Klängen

Diese Stil-Palette zieht Costello mit zwei Spoken-Word-Nummern noch größer: Die erste eröffnet das Album mit arabischen Klängen und dem Blasinstrument Serpent, und zwar unter dem Titel "Revolution #49". Spielt er auf die Beatles-Collage "Revolution 9" an, um zu signalisieren, dass es stilistisch ähnlich bunt wird wie auf dem Weißen Album?

Eine programmatische Formel enthält auch "Radio Is Everything", die zweite gesprochenen Aufnahme: "They say I have a perfect face for radio and a trumpet for listening". Sein Gesicht sei perfekt fürs Radio, sagt der lustige Brite, und man hofft, dass seine Ehefrau Diana Krall ihn da ab und an beschwichtigt.

Dass er irgendeine besondere Gabe fürs Zuhören hat, steht freilich außer Frage. Und es fasziniert immer wieder, wie er dank all der Einflüsse, die er aufsaugt, originelle eigene Musik schafft.

———————————
Google translation:

Elvis Costello: Singing Encyclopedia

From jazz to wild one-man rock: Elvis Costello proves his amazing stylistic versatility on "Hey Clockface".

Elvis Costello is a pop encyclopedia in theory and practice. The theoretical aspect can be seen in the wonderful series "Spectacle" - in parts free of charge on Youtube: The musician with amazing background knowledge interviewed colleagues from different genres about their work and life: Smokey Robinson, Elton John, Bruce Springsteen, Herbie Hancock, Tony Bennett, The Police - and the politicizing saxophonist Bill Clinton.

Elvis Costello: Cross-style knowledge, practical and creative

Costello can also use his cross-style knowledge in a practical and creative way. There is no one more eclectic among the great pop songwriters. He has recorded albums with artists from a wide variety of genres: easy listening pop (Burt Bacharach), New Orleans soul (Allen Toussaint), hip hop (The Roots) and even classical music (Brodsky Quartet, Anne-Sofie von Otter ). And every solo album was always a different matter than the last: early in his career, Costello played New Wave (1979), then soul (1980), then country (1981), then beatlesque pop (1982). And so it went on and on.

Different approaches are mixed in "Hey Clockface"

Now, on the new album "Hey Clockface", Elvis Costello can no longer contain himself. He mixes the most diverse approaches and assembles the results from three sessions. The wildest songs were made in Helsinki, where he only rocked with himself: with a drum machine, electric guitar, organ and some electronic fuss. He kept it that way on his great album "When I Was Cruel" (2002), and the results are correspondingly similar. "No Flag" is the most exciting song on the album. Another solo number is not so much a composition, but rather a one-man jam session with the (probably digital) tape machine: On "Hetty O'Hara Confidential", Costello assembles electronic and analog chirps, sets a proto-rap in memory of Chuck Berry and lets out all the snotty energy of a 66-year-old.

The New York recordings are the counter-program: Costello left the music entirely to jazz trumpeter and producer Michael Leonhart, who asked guitarists Nels Cline and Bill Frisell, among others, to do so. Leonhart sent the atmospherically dense recordings "Newspaper Pane" and "Radio Is Everything" to Costello, who sang them.

The main part of the album was made in Paris

The main part of the album was created in Paris, where Costello recorded nine songs over two days: with his right hand, the piano virtuoso Steve Nieve, and three high-class French session musicians on wind instruments, cello and percussion. The result with this unusual line-up is as warm and melodious as it is stylistically colorful.

The ballads are typically Costello: "Bygone", "The Whirlwind", "The Last Confession Of Vivian Wood" and the more jazzy "I Do (Zula's Song") sound extremely dignified, "They're Not Laughing At Me Now" with Lowrey -Organ and flugelhorn nervous and fragile.

With "Hey Clockface / How Can You Face Me?" Costello brings a number by jazz pianist Fats Waller to life. "I Can't Say Her Name" is an originally intoned western swing with a scat vocal at the end.

Costello's range of styles extends to Arabic sounds

Costello pulls this range of styles even bigger with two spoken word numbers: The first opens the album with Arabic sounds and the Serpent wind instrument, under the title "Revolution # 49". Is he alluding to the Beatles collage "Revolution 9" to signal that it will be as colorful in terms of style as on the White Album?

A programmatic formula also contains "Radio Is Everything", the second recorded recording: "They say I have a perfect face for radio and a trumpet for listening". His face is perfect for the radio, says the funny Brit, and it is hoped that his wife Diana Krall will calm him down every now and then.

Of course, there is no question that he has any special gift for listening. And it is always fascinating how he creates his own original music thanks to all the influences he soaks up.
Since you put me down, it seems i've been very gloomy. You may laugh but pretty girls look right through me.
sweetest punch
Posts: 5964
Joined: Sat Apr 03, 2004 5:49 am
Location: Belgium

Re: New album Hey Clockface released October 30, 2020

Post by sweetest punch »

https://elpais.com/cultura/2020-11-10/e ... abada.html

Elvis Costello: “La pandemia puede servir para que valoremos de nuevo la música grabada”

El músico publica un disco terminado durante el confinamiento. “Soy consciente de que muchos de mis seguidores son de mi misma generación y van a tardar tiempo en sentirse seguros en un concierto”, afirma

“Está ahora mismo un poco fresco. Nublado. Pero creo que llega viento del sur, por lo que subirán un poco las temperaturas. Decían que iba a llover, pero creo que no va pasar, al menos, hoy”. Elvis Costello está en su casa de Vancouver (Canadá), al otro lado de la línea telefónica, y esta es la respuesta tremendamente inglesa que da a la pregunta de cómo se encuentra. Hace dos años este músico nacido en Londres hace 66 años se recuperó de un cáncer, pero su respuesta a cómo se siente es el parte meteorológico para hoy en la costa suroeste canadiense. Algunos artistas pueden pasar 40 años en la escena sin necesidad de crear ningún personaje, pues su persona es mucho más interesante. Elvis Costello, que acaba de lanzar su disco número 31, Hey Clockface (Universal), es una de ellas.

La historia de este álbum, el primero tras el exitoso Look Now, que en 2018 le valió un Grammy y la enésima celebración del retorno a su mejor forma, corre prácticamente paralela a la de la pandemia. Un mes antes de que Europa empezara a confinarse, Costello se hallaba en Helsinki. Durante unos días grabó allí junto al productor Sebastian Krys y un grupo de músicos locales los temas de este disco, una de las propuestas musicales más heterogéneas que ha lanzado nunca. Hay ritmos nerviosos, hay intimidad, hay jazz, hay incluso temas que nos informan de cómo hubiese sido la nueva ola si la hubiesen propuesto en vez de veinteañeros criados en el punk, señores maduros como él, casados con divas del jazz, como su pareja, Diana Krall. El disco no lo grabó con la colaboración de The Imposters, su banda habitual en las últimas dos décadas. “Llevo el doble de tiempo con ellos que con The Attractions [conjunto con el que grabó sus primero discos]. El tiempo, como ves, es lo que quieras ver en él”, cuenta.

“Cuando terminamos, nos fuimos a París. Celebramos un cumpleaños. Al día siguiente, me encerré en el estudio con un grupo de músicos que apenas conocía. Todo iba perfecto”, recuerda. Se embarcó en una gira por Inglaterra. Actuó en sitios en los que hacía más de quince años que no tocaba. Incluso vino a verle su madre de 93 años. Bailó. “En la última semana de la gira pude ir a Anfield a ver al Liverpool jugar con el Atlético de Madrid. Me senté a dos sillas del presidente del Atlético. Y nos machacaron. Ahí ya vi que algo iba a salir mal”, bromea Costello.

“El día después del partido tocamos en Manchester y mucha gente no vino, a pesar de haber agotado las entradas. Luego fuimos a Londres e incluso más gente no acudió al concierto a pesar de tener entrada. Era sábado y me desperté pensando que alguien iba a declarar algún tipo de confinamiento, porque estaba claro que aquello no iba bien. Pero las autoridades fueron tan lentas con esa decisión que la tuve que tomar yo. Cancelé la grabación prevista en Londres aquel día y volví a casa”. Allí, con Krall (con la que contrajo matrimonio en 2003 en casa de Elton John) y los dos hijos de la pareja se confinó. Y como no tenía nada mejor que hacer, terminó este disco.

“He perdido a dos colegas en esta pandemia”

Los meses los pasó en su casa, dando ocasionales paseos por los bosques cercanos y tratando de entender que esta vez el tiempo con su familia no era el mismo al que estaba acostumbrado, aquel intervalo de tiempo entre giras que con los años Costello había aprendido a llamar vacaciones. Una llamada de un amigo desde Nueva York, de aquellas que regularmente hacía y recibía con la intención de asegurarse del estado de salud de los suyos, le convenció para ponerse con el disco. “He perdido a dos colegas con esta pandemia. Es muy duro. Soy consciente de que muchos de mis seguidores son de mi misma generación y van a tardar tiempo en sentirse seguros para ir a un concierto. Tengo recitales programados para el año que viene, pero no sé si los voy a cancelar. No sé si quiero poner en riesgo a mi madura audiencia [ríe]. Además, creo que esto nos puede servir para que valoremos de nuevo la música grabada. En los últimos tiempos parecía que se editaban discos solo para salir de gira. Tal vez es el momento de pasar página con esa tontería y encerrarnos en casa a trabajar. Yo lo estoy haciendo. Y es un gusto”, explica.

En el tiempo que pasó encerrado en casa también tuvo sus primeras reuniones (en remoto) con un sello discográfico en varias décadas. Esta vez, para ultimar los detalles de la reedición en vinilo de Armed Forces, su tercer álbum, el que se editó en 1979, cuando perdió un Grammy al mejor artista novel a manos de la banda de música disco A Taste Of Honey. “Es un artefacto muy bonito y muy elaborado”, comenta al respecto de la reedición. “Sé que es un producto caro [41 euros en vinilo] y que no es para todos, pero creo que si no presentas algo bello en este tipo de proyectos, no vale la pena. El disco lleva mis letras reproducidas de los papeles originales y es todo un homenaje a Barney Bubbles, que hizo aquella maravillosa portada”.

Costello posee los derechos de todas sus grabaciones a excepción de las que realizó para Warner entre 1989 y 1996. Desea mantener el control de su negocio, aunque odia esa palabra, y de su legado, aunque odia hablar del pasado. Sobre lo primero, antes de preguntar con cierta sorna si esto va a ser publicado en la sección de Economía o en la de Cultura, apunta: “Soy responsable de crear riqueza, pero no me considero un hombre de negocios. Cuando trabajas 40 años en esto de la música, la gente cree que estás forrado. No es mi caso. Todo lo que gano lo invierto de nuevo en la música. Y no me quejo. No soy rico, soy un trabajador. Llevo un una vida cómoda, pero sé lo que cuestan las cosas y lo duro que hay que trabajar. No estoy alejado de a realidad como otros. Trabajo desde que tengo 17 años”.

En cuanto a la tentación de mirar atrás, él, que ha trabajado con Burt Bacharach, The Specials, Nick Lowe, Squeeze o The Roots -aunque sería más correcto decir que son ellos, en casi todos los casos, quienes han colaborado con él-, afirma que no es que deba evitarla, es que le cuesta no ignorarla. “Cuando empecé, pasé de vender 10 discos en un día, a cien, luego mil… Se aceleró muy rápido y luego se frenó. Lo importante, lo que aprendí entonces, es que no debes dar por hecho que siempre habrá público para ti. Una vez eres consciente de eso te puedes permitir hacer cosas distintas, muy específicas para una audiencia muy concreta. Esas cosas son las que te dan luego satisfacciones. Por ejemplo, el disco Juliet Letters".

Editado junto a The Brodsky Quartet, a quienes había conocido en Londres cuando interpretaban los cuartetos para cuerda de Shostakóvich, Juliet Letters era una delicada fascinación de pop orquestal a partir de unas letras que eran cartas a un personaje imaginario, Juliet Capulet. En Estados Unidos se quedó en el puesto 128 de las listas de ventas. “¡Pero en España fue un éxito enorme! Dimos más conciertos por ese disco en España que en ningún otro país del mundo. Estaba pensado para una audiencia pequeña y así fue, pero fue suficiente como para poder girar y girar. Era curioso ver que podrías ir a sitios, tocar Juliet Letters y salir del escenario sin que nadie te pidiera Alison [su célebre primer single de 1977]. En cambio sé que hay gran parte de mi público que no sabe ni que Juliet Letters existe, del mismo modo que en aquella época sentí que muchos a los que les gustó este disco no sabían ni el nombre de mis primeros trabajos. Hay que arriesgarse. Esas cosas son importantes”.

Afirma Costello que jamás va a ser aquel tipo que se niega a tocar material antiguo, pero que tampoco quiere ser el que confía cada vez que sale al escenario en que puede tocar aquel single de finales de los setenta y llevarse los aplausos que se merece. “Podría mañana hacer un concierto con 25 canciones nuevas. Al fin y al cabo, eso es lo que hacía en 1977 y no me fue del todo mal”.

————————
Google translation:

Elvis Costello: "The pandemic can help us revalue recorded music"

The musician publishes a finished album during confinement. "I am aware that many of my followers are from the same generation and it will take time to feel safe in a concert," he says.

“It's a little cool right now. Cloudy. But I think the wind is coming from the south, so the temperatures will rise a bit. They said it was going to rain, but I don't think it will happen, at least today ”. Elvis Costello is at his home in Vancouver (Canada), on the other side of the phone line, and this is the tremendously English answer he gives to the question of how he is doing. Two years ago this 66-year-old London-born musician recovered from cancer, but his answer to how he's feeling is the weather forecast for today on the Canadian southwest coast. Some artists can spend 40 years on the scene without having to create a character, because their person is much more interesting. Elvis Costello, who just released his 31st album, Hey Clockface (Universal), is one of them.

The history of this album, the first after the successful Look Now, which in 2018 earned him a Grammy and the umpteenth celebration of the return to his best form, runs practically parallel to that of the pandemic. A month before Europe began to be confined, Costello was in Helsinki. For a few days there, together with producer Sebastian Krys and a group of local musicians, he recorded the songs on this album, one of the most heterogeneous musical proposals he has ever released. There are nervous rhythms, there is intimacy, there is jazz, there are even songs that inform us of what the new wave would have been like if it had been proposed instead of twentysomethings raised in punk, mature men like him, married to jazz divas, like his partner. , Diana Krall. The album was not recorded with the collaboration of The Imposters, his regular band for the last two decades. “I've been with them twice as long as I have been with The Attractions [with whom he recorded his first albums]. Time, as you can see, is what you want to see in it ”, he says.

“When we finished, we went to Paris. We celebrate a birthday. The next day, I locked myself in the studio with a group of musicians I hardly knew. Everything was perfect ”, he remembers. She embarked on a tour of England. She performed in places where she hadn't played in more than fifteen years. Her 93-year-old mother even came to see her. I danced. “In the last week of the tour I was able to go to Anfield to watch Liverpool play for Atlético de Madrid. I sat two chairs away from the president of Atlético. And they crushed us. There I saw that something was going to go wrong ", jokes Costello.

“The day after the match we played in Manchester and a lot of people didn't come, despite having sold out. Then we went to London and even more people did not attend the concert despite having a ticket. It was Saturday and I woke up thinking that someone was going to declare some kind of confinement, because it was clear that it was not going well. But the authorities were so slow with that decision that I had to make it myself. I canceled the scheduled recording in London that day and went home. " There, with Krall (with whom she married in 2003 at the home of Elton John) and the two children of the couple was confined. And since he had nothing better to do, he finished this album.

"I have lost two colleagues in this pandemic"

The months were spent at home, taking occasional walks through the nearby woods and trying to understand that this time with his family was not the same as he was used to, that interval of time between tours that over the years Costello had learned to call vacation. A call from a friend from New York, the kind he regularly made and received with the intention of making sure of the health of his family, convinced him to get on with the album. “I have lost two colleagues to this pandemic. It is very hard. I am aware that many of my fans are from the same generation and it will take time to feel safe to go to a concert. I have recitals scheduled for next year, but I don't know if I'm going to cancel them. I don't know if I want to put my mature audience at risk [laughs]. In addition, I believe that this can help us to value recorded music again. In recent times it seemed that records were released just to go on tour. Maybe it's time to turn the page with that nonsense and lock ourselves at home to work. I am doing it. And it's a pleasure ”, he explains.

In the time he spent locked up at home, he also had his first meetings (remotely) with a record label in several decades. This time, to finalize the details of the vinyl reissue of Armed Forces, his third album, which was released in 1979, when he lost a Grammy for best new artist at the hands of disco music band A Taste Of Honey. "It's a very nice and elaborate artifact," he says of the reissue. “I know that it is an expensive product [41 euros in vinyl] and that it is not for everyone, but I think that if you do not present something beautiful in this type of project, it is not worth it. The album has my lyrics reproduced from the original papers and is a tribute to Barney Bubbles, who made that wonderful cover.

Costello owns the rights to all of his recordings except those he made for Warner between 1989 and 1996. He wants to keep control of his business, although he hates that word, and his legacy, although he hates talking about the past. Regarding the first, before asking with some sarcasm if this is going to be published in the Economy section or in the Culture section, he points out: “I am responsible for creating wealth, but I do not consider myself a businessman. When you work 40 years on this music thing, people think you are loaded. It's not my case. Everything I earn I invest back in music. And I am not complaining. I am not rich, I am a worker. I lead a comfortable life, but I know what things cost and how hard you have to work. I am not far from reality like others. I've been working since I was 17 ”.

As for the temptation to look back, he, who has worked with Burt Bacharach, The Specials, Nick Lowe, Squeeze or The Roots - although it would be more correct to say that it is they, in almost all cases, who have collaborated with him- , affirms that it is not that he should avoid it, it is that it is difficult for him not to ignore it. “When I started, I went from selling 10 albums in one day, to a hundred, then a thousand… It accelerated very quickly and then stopped. The important thing, what I learned then, is that you should not assume that there will always be an audience for you. Once you are aware of that, you can allow yourself to do different things, very specific for a very specific audience. Those things are what give you satisfaction later. For example, the album Juliet Letters ".

Edited with The Brodsky Quartet, whom he had met in London when they performed Shostakovich's string quartets, Juliet Letters was a delicate fascination of orchestral pop based on lyrics that were letters to an imaginary character, Juliet Capulet. In the United States, it was ranked 128th on the sales charts. “But in Spain it was a huge success! We gave more concerts for that album in Spain than in any other country in the world. It was intended for a small audience and it was, but it was enough to be able to twist and turn. It was funny how you could go places, play Juliet Letters and leave the stage without being asked by Alison [his celebrated first single from 1977]. On the other hand, I know that there is a large part of my audience that does not even know that Juliet Letters exists, in the same way that at that time I felt that many who liked this album did not even know the name of my first works. You have to take risks. Those things are important ”.

Costello affirms that he is never going to be the guy who refuses to play old material, but does not want to be the one who trusts every time he goes on stage that he can play that single from the late seventies and get the applause he deserves. “I could do a concert tomorrow with 25 new songs. At the end of the day, that's what I was doing in 1977 and it wasn't bad at all ”.
Since you put me down, it seems i've been very gloomy. You may laugh but pretty girls look right through me.
sweetest punch
Posts: 5964
Joined: Sat Apr 03, 2004 5:49 am
Location: Belgium

Re: New album Hey Clockface released October 30, 2020

Post by sweetest punch »

https://www.sueddeutsche.de/kultur/neue ... -1.5112116

Der ewige Hitzkopf

Die Musik ist nicht mehr ganz so stimmig wie früher, aber die herrlichsten inneren Monologe des Pop schreibt Elvis Costello immer noch.

Elvis Costello kann niemals sterben, denn er ist die vollendete Figur. Wie Bugs Bunny, Seemann Popeye oder, tja, wie Heino. Als hätten die Etagenchefs von Marvel, Disney und dem Mad-Magazin zusammengesessen und diesen Storchentypen erfunden, mit Brille, hoher Stirn, Hochwasseranzug und spuckiger Aussprache.

Man könnte wetten, dass lustige Journalisten ihn in den Siebzigern als "singenden Buchhalter" bezeichneten, Costello, diesen hysterischen Charakter mit Gitarre, dieses arrogante, englische Genie, das sich - anders als andere Superhelden - auch bei wilden Wutausbrüchen eben nicht in einen Muskelmann oder fliegenden Polizisten verwandelte, sondern der kleine, zeternde Kerl blieb, unten auf der Erde.

Gekränkte Narzissten und traurige Napoleons

Immer noch am schönsten zu sehen in der "Saturday Night Live"-Folge von 1977, in der er seinen Song nach wenigen Sekunden abbricht und die Band, spontan und empört, in eine grandiose Darbietung von "Radio, Radio" hineindirigiert, ein Stück darüber, wie eklig und korrupt die Sender geworden sind, die früher den jungen Leuten noch die Heilsbotschaften brachten.

Man erkennt diese Figur immer noch, den prototypischen New-Wave-Cartoon-Costello, wenn man ihn heute anguckt, den Künstler mit 66 und Hut, mit britischem Empire-Orden am Hemd, in den Herbstjahren einer flaumig-wohltemperierten Karriere. Und, das ist das Irre: Man kann den frühen Bollerkopf-Costello sogar noch hören, auf vielen Stücken seiner neuen, 31. Platte "Hey Clockface".

Zum Beispiel auf "Hetty O'Hara Confidential", einer lautmalerisch fiependen und brummenden Herz-Lungen-Maschine, durch deren Lärm hindurch der Sänger so atemlos und mit prall geschwollenen Halsadern schimpfnörgelt wie in besten Tagen. Es geht um Rufmord und üble Nachrede, um die Verleumdungstechnik im Wandel der Zeit, und man will schon nach dem ersten Hören losrennen und sich ein Federmäppchen kaufen, nur um all diese Sprüche draufschreiben zu können: "Who's got the dope? Who's got the potential?"

Darum beneidet man Elvis Costello allerdings nicht: Am meisten gelobt wird er immer dann, also auch hier von uns, wenn seine Musik am stärksten an die alten Werke erinnert, an die der Siebziger und Achtziger.

Im deutschen Sprachraum zittern ja gerade Hunderttausende, ob sich beim Lesen von Christian Krachts angekündigter "Faserland"-Fortsetzung wohl noch mal das Gefühl von 1995 einstellen wird, der Kitzel, der von Krachts aufreizend entspanntem Kulturstalinismus kam, von der Großromantik ohne Gefühlsäußerung. Der Impuls kann praktisch nur enttäuscht werden, denn Kracht - der ja viel von Bret Easton Ellis hatte, der wiederum zwei Bücher nach Costello-Songs benannte - hat seinen Duktus in 25 Jahren stärker und weltklüger vorangetrieben, als es die Identifikationssehnsucht jung gebliebener Generation-X-Mitglieder erlauben wird.

Gekränkte Narzissten und traurige Napoleons

Auch Costello hat sich bald vom Post-Punk-Pop wegdiversifiziert. Nahm schon 1983 mit Chet Baker auf, machte Musik mit Streichquartetten und Mezzosopra nistinnen, schrieb einen Zyklus mit Burt Bacharach und tatsächlich auch eine klassische Ballettpartitur (nur gerappt hat er nie). Viele legen ihm das als verkappten Kulturpessimismus aus, als Wichtigtuerei. Aber übersehen dabei, dass der mit Music-Hall-Klimbim und Jazz aufgewachsene Costello hier schlicht an den eigenen Wurzeln herumgrub, ab dem Moment, als er die Hitparade nicht mehr brauchte.

Und so gibt es nun auch auf "Hey Clockface" - neben ein paar altgewohnten Brechern - Dixieland-Stücke zu hören, "Väter der Klamotte"-Musik, Orientalismen, Torch-Songs à la Gershwin, die Liebesgeschichten und Weltklagen erzählen, deren Personal in den Funduskostümen einer Charles-Dickens-BBC-Verfilmung herumzulaufen scheint.

Die Mischung ist nicht so stimmig wie einst so oft, und natürlich bleibt es eine irritierende Erfahrung, neue Costello-Songs zu hören, die - bei aller Liebe - nicht mehr als Nebenbeimusik sein können. Dass hier dennoch in jeder Sekunde der freigeistige Hitzkopf durchstrahlt, der aus der Sicht gekränkter Narzissten und trauriger Napoleons die herrlichsten inneren Monologe schreibt, rettet alles doch auf die nächsthöhere Ebene.

Es gibt auch wieder einen Radio-Song, "Radio Is Everything", ein verrauscht gesprochener Monolog mit "Taxi Driver"-Jazz im Hintergrund, ein Hohelied auf die Verführungskraft von Menschenstimmen. Anders als damals bei "Radio, Radio": noch zweischneidiger. Costello zu hören kann vieles mit einem machen, dümmer macht es nie.

—————————-
Google translation:

The eternal hothead

The music isn't quite as coherent as it used to be, but Elvis Costello still writes the most wonderful inner monologues in pop.

Elvis Costello can never die because he is the perfect figure. Like Bugs Bunny, sailor Popeye or, well, like Heino. As if the floor bosses of Marvel, Disney and Mad magazine had sat together and invented this type of stork, with glasses, high foreheads, flood suits and spotty pronunciation.

You could bet that funny journalists in the seventies described him as a "singing accountant", Costello, this hysterical character with a guitar, this arrogant English genius who - unlike other superheroes - does not turn into a muscle man or even in wild rages flying cops turned, but the little, screaming guy stayed down on the ground.

Offended narcissists and sad Napoleons

Still best seen in the "Saturday Night Live" episode from 1977, in which he breaks off his song after a few seconds and, spontaneously and indignantly, directs the band into a grandiose performance of "Radio, Radio", a piece about it how disgusting and corrupt the stations have become that used to bring the messages of salvation to young people.

You can still recognize this figure, the prototypical New Wave cartoon Costello, if you look at him today, the artist at 66 and hat, with the British Empire medal on his shirt, in the autumn years of a fluffy, well-tempered career. And, that's wrong: You can even still hear the early Bollerkopf Costello on many tracks on his new 31st record "Hey Clockface".

For example on "Hetty O'Hara Confidential", an onomatopoeic chirping and humming heart-lung machine, through the noise of which the singer complains as breathlessly and with bulging neck veins as in the best of days. It's about character assassination and defamation, about the slander technique in the course of time, and after the first hearing you want to run off and buy a pencil case just to be able to write all these slogans on it: "Who's got the dope? Who's got the potential? "

Elvis Costello is not to be envied for that: He is always praised the most, also here by us, when his music is most reminiscent of the old works, of the seventies and eighties.

In the German-speaking world, hundreds of thousands are trembling as to whether, reading Christian Kracht's announced "Fiberland" continuation, the feeling of 1995 will reappear, the tickle that came from Kracht's provocatively relaxed cultural Stalinism, from grand romanticism without expression of emotion. The impulse can practically only be disappointed, because Kracht - who had a lot from Bret Easton Ellis, who in turn named two books after Costello songs - has pushed his style stronger and more worldly in 25 years than the desire for identification of the young at heart Generation X. -Members will allow.

Offended narcissists and sad Napoleons

Costello, too, soon diversified away from post-punk-pop. Recorded with Chet Baker in 1983, made music with string quartets and mezzo-sopra nists, wrote a cycle with Burt Bacharach and actually also a classical ballet score (he just never rapped). Many interpret this as disguised cultural pessimism, as self-importance. But overlooked the fact that Costello, who grew up with music hall clutter and jazz, was simply digging at his own roots from the moment he no longer needed the hit parade.

And so there is now Dixieland pieces to be heard on "Hey Clockface" - in addition to a few familiar breakers, "Fathers of Clothes" music, orientalisms, torch songs à la Gershwin that tell love stories and worldly complaints whose staff in seems to be walking around the fundus costumes of a Charles Dickens BBC film adaptation.

The mixture is not as coherent as it was so often in the past, and of course it remains an irritating experience to hear new Costello songs which - with all due love - can no longer be used as sideline music. The fact that the free-spirited hothead shines through here every second, who writes the most wonderful inner monologues from the point of view of offended narcissists and sad Napoleons, saves everything to the next higher level.

There is also another radio song, "Radio Is Everything", a noisy monologue with "Taxi Driver" jazz in the background, a song of praise for the seductive power of human voices. In contrast to "Radio, Radio" back then: even more double-edged. Hearing Costello can do a lot to you, it never makes you dumber.
Since you put me down, it seems i've been very gloomy. You may laugh but pretty girls look right through me.
sweetest punch
Posts: 5964
Joined: Sat Apr 03, 2004 5:49 am
Location: Belgium

Re: New album Hey Clockface released October 30, 2020

Post by sweetest punch »

https://www.benzinemag.net/2020/11/03/h ... classique/

“Hey Clockface” : un Elvis Costello à la fois audacieux et classique
Eric Debarnot

Album oscillant entre choc moderniste et chic éternel, Hey Clockface rappelle combien Elvis Costello, artiste relativement sous-estimé, voire un peu oublié depuis une vingtaine d’années, reste immense.

Deux ans seulement se sont écoulés depuis l’opulent Look Now et le fait de pouvoir déjà retrouver Elvis Costello avec un nouvel album semble confirmer un retour en forme, au moins physique, après les problèmes de santé des années 2010. Et ce d’autant que Hey Clockface, album apatride (enregistré à New York, Helsinki et même Paris, mixé à Los Angeles !) mais regardant sans baisser les yeux le monde de 2020, renoue avec le goût pour l’expérimentation, ou au moins pour l’aventure, qui s’empare régulièrement d’Elvis. Entre poussées de colère, pour des motifs politiques évidents, constructions sonores inhabituelles, voire déroutantes qui surprendront même les fans les plus aguerris, et sublimes chansons jazzy à haute teneur émotionnelle, Hey Clockface s’apparente à un étrange voyage entre un passé fondateur et un présent où tout est possible, ou encore entre déséquilibre angoissant et classicisme rassurant.

Hey Clockface« Cold as stone, hard as winter / She turned to me and this she said / “Kiss me once and you’ll remember / Lay with me ’til we’re both dead” » (Froide comme la pierre, dure comme l’hiver / Elle s’est tournée vers moi et elle a dit / “Embrasse-moi une fois et tu te rappelleras / Allonge-toi avec moi jusqu’à ce que nous soyons tous les deux morts”) : Revolution #49 est la plus étonnante des introductions – un texte récité sur une étrange mélopée arabisante, qui fait littéralement froid dans le dos – de toute la longue discographie de Costello.

« I got no religion, I got no philosophy / Got a head full of ideas and words that don’t seem to belong to me / You may be joking but I don’t get the gag / I sense no future but time seems to drag » (Je n’ai pas de religion, je n’ai pas de philosophie / J’ai la tête pleine d’idées et de mots qui ne semblent pas m’appartenir / Vous avez l’air de plaisanter mais je ne comprends pas / Je me ne sens aucun avenir, mais le temps ne semble pas avancer) No Flag est l’un morceaux les plus étranges de l’album, mais sa construction littéralement déviante – et pourtant indiscutablement accrocheuse – supporte un chant d’une rage folle, comme on n’a plus entendu Costello depuis très longtemps : le monde va-t-il si mal ? Ou bien est-ce lui ? Est-ce nous ?

They’re Not Laughing At Me Now confirme qu’une étrange maladie contamine le « crooning » d’Elvis : cette chanson aurait pu être, sur un album précédent, une ballade sans histoire, mais elle se trouve comme blessée ici de dissonances légères, qui l’emmène vers un indiscutable malaise. Et ce n’est pas Newspaper Pane qui suit qui nous réconfortera, puisque le chant de Costello se révèle curieusement atone sur une mélodie qui aurait pu devenir un mini-tube jazzy et swinguant, et qui devient un tourbillon menaçant qui se délite sans prévenir : « Look at that child bride and her ideal bouquet / Boys, pick up a rifle / That’s too much to pay / Count out her teardrops / Wipe them away… » ( ). La munificence de I Do (Zula’z Song) vient nous réconforter un temps, mais ressemble bien à une fausse promesse de félicité, puisque cette beauté frémissante, intemporelle introduit le terrible We Are Cowards Now : en forme de règlement de comptes impitoyable qui rappellerait la méchanceté de Armed Forces si le désespoir n’était pas plus prégnant, c’est une protest song moderne, avec sa pique anti-Trump (« At least the Emperor Nero had an ear for music / But that’s history » – -), mais surtout son constat accablé d’une époque en forme de démission morale générale : « The emptiness of arms / The openness of thighs / The pornography of bullets / The promises and prizes can’t disguise / We are all cowards now » (Les mains vides / Les cuisses ouvertes / La pornographie des balles / Les promesses et les récompenses ne peuvent pas se déguiser / Que nous sommes tous des lâches maintenant).

Et l’album continue ainsi, ressemblant parfois à un dernier tour de piste d’un vieil amuseur tour à tour fatigué (Hey Clockface / How Can You Face Me ?) et reprenant du poil de la bête (Hetty O’Hara Confidential et son human beatbox et son phrasé hip hop). Pour se redresser aussitôt grâce à des moments de sombre désespoir (Radio Everything, un autre morceau parlé…) ou au contraire de splendeur lumineuse : The Whirlwind, The Last Confession of Vivian Whip, ou le superlatif What Is It that I need That I don’t Already Have ? sont de pures merveilles, qui renvoient aux meilleures chansons intimes, bouleversantes du grand Costello d’hier, avec des arrangements plus que mélancoliques, réellement tragiques, de cuivres ou de cordes…

Dans la toute dernière ligne droite de Hey Clockface, Costello semble retrouver in extremis un certain équilibre, ou en tous cas ses marques dans ces formes musicales plus « classiques » qu’il semble chérir depuis deux ou trois décennies : il en va ainsi du jazz joueur de I Can’t Say Her Name ou plus encore de la chanson « américaine » classique, comme le somptueux Byline qui clôt l’album en forme de réconciliation, ou peut-être… d’adieu : « It’s a thought that we shared, a careless phrase / A curse or a joke, some words of praise / But I didn’t write / Did you wonder why? / It was the easiest way to say “Goodbye” / You’ll see my photo beside the article / “That’s just some guy I used to know / I was never his / He was always mine / But I wrote him off by line by line” » (C’est une pensée que nous avons partagée, une phrase imprudente / Une malédiction ou une plaisanterie, quelques mots de félicitations / Mais je n’ai pas écrit / Vous êtes-vous demandé pourquoi? / C’était le moyen le plus simple de dire “Au revoir” / Vous verrez ma photo à côté de l’article / “C’est juste un type que je connaissais / Je n’ai jamais été à lui / Il a toujours été à moi / Mais je l’ai effacé ligne après ligne”). De la part d’un parolier (presqu’un écrivain) aussi émérite, aussi virtuose qu’Elvis Costello, c’est là une conclusion d’album particulièrement forte, bouleversante même.

Et si Hey Clockface était, enfin, ce chef d’œuvre tardif que nous attendions d’un Costello jadis immense ? Il est bien trop tôt pour le dire : une dizaine d’écoutes ne suffit jamais à circonscrire un album d’Elvis. On en reparlera dans quelques mois, mais en tout cas, ce noir capharnaüm, percé de trouées saisissantes de beauté nous va parfaitement bien en bande-son de cette année 2020 de cauchemar.

4 stars out of 5
———————————
Google translation:

“Hey Clockface”: an Elvis Costello both bold and classic
Eric Debarnot

An album oscillating between modernist shock and eternal chic, Hey Clockface recalls how immense Elvis Costello, an artist relatively underestimated, even a little forgotten for twenty years, remains immense.

Only two years have passed since the opulent Look Now and the fact of already being able to find Elvis Costello with a new album seems to confirm a return to form, at least physical, after the health problems of the 2010s. that Hey Clockface, a stateless album (recorded in New York, Helsinki and even Paris, mixed in Los Angeles!) but looking without lowering its eyes at the world of 2020, revives a taste for experimentation, or at least for adventure , who regularly grabs Elvis. Between outbursts of anger, for obvious political reasons, unusual and even confusing sound constructions that will surprise even the most seasoned fans, and sublime jazzy songs with a high emotional content, Hey Clockface is akin to a strange journey between a founding past and a present where everything is possible, or even between distressing imbalance and reassuring classicism.

Hey Clockface “Cold as stone, hard as winter / She turned to me and this she said /“ Kiss me once and you'll remember / Lay with me 'til we're both dead ”” (Cold as stone, hard as winter / She turned to me and she said / “Kiss me once and you will remember / Lie down with me until we're both dead”): Revolution # 49 is the most astonishing of the introductions - a text recited on a strange Arabist chant, which is literally cold in the spine - of all the long discography of Costello.

"I got no religion, I got no philosophy / Got a head full of ideas and words that don't seem to to me / You may be joking but I don't get the gag / I sense no future but time seems to drag "(I have no religion, I have no philosophy / My head is full of ideas and words that don't seem to belong to me / You seem to be joking but I don't understand no / I don't feel any future, but time doesn't seem to move on) No Flag is one of the weirdest tracks on the album, but its literally deviant - and yet unmistakably catchy - construction supports a song of rage crazy, as we haven't heard Costello for a very long time: is the world so bad? Or is it him? Is it us?

They're Not Laughing At Me Now confirms that a strange disease infects Elvis 'crooning': this song could have been, on a previous album, a ballad without history, but it is as though wounded here by slight dissonances, which takes him to an indisputable malaise. And it is not Newspaper Pane which follows which will comfort us, since the song of Costello turns out to be curiously sluggish on a melody which could have become a jazzy and swinging mini-tube, and which becomes a threatening whirlwind that disintegrates without warning: “Look at that child bride and her ideal bouquet / Boys, pick up a rifle / That's too much to pay / Count out her teardrops / Wipe them away…” (). The munificence of I Do (Zula'z Song) comes to comfort us for a while, but looks like a false promise of bliss, since this quivering, timeless beauty introduces the terrible We Are Cowards Now: in the form of a ruthless settling of scores that would recall the wickedness of Armed Forces if the despair was not more significant, it is a modern protest song, with its anti-Trump pike ("At least the Emperor Nero had an ear for music / But that's history" - -), but above all his overwhelmed observation of an era in the form of a general moral resignation: “The emptiness of arms / The openness of thighs / The pornography of bullets / The promises and prizes can't disguise / We are all cowards now” (Les mains empty / Open thighs / Ball pornography / Promises and rewards cannot be disguised / That we are all cowards now).

And the album continues like this, sometimes resembling a last lap of an old entertainer who is by turns tired (Hey Clockface / How Can You Face Me?) And picking up on the beast (Hetty O'Hara Confidential and her human beatbox and its hip hop phrasing). To straighten up immediately thanks to moments of dark despair (Radio Everything, another spoken song…) or on the contrary of luminous splendor: The Whirlwind, The Last Confession of Vivian Whip, or the superlative What Is It that I need That I don 't Already Have? are pure marvels, which refer to the best intimate, overwhelming songs of the great Costello of yesterday, with more than melancholy, truly tragic arrangements of brass or strings ...

In the very last straight line of Hey Clockface, Costello seems to find in extremis a certain balance, or in any case his marks in these more “classic” musical forms that he seems to cherish for two or three decades: it is the same with jazz player of I Can't Say Her Name or even more of the classic “American” song, like the sumptuous Byline which closes the album in the form of reconciliation, or perhaps… farewell: “It's a thought that we shared , a careless phrase / A curse or a joke, some words of praise / But I didn't write / Did you wonder why? / It was the easiest way to say “Goodbye” / You'll see my photo beside the article / “That's just some guy I used to know / I was never his / He was always mine / But I wrote him off by line by line ”” (This is a thought we shared, a reckless phrase / A curse or a joke, a few words of congratulations / But I didn't write / Did you wonder why? / That was the way easiest way to say “Goodbye” / You will see my photo next to the article / “He's just a guy I knew / I was never his / He was always mine / But I deleted it line after line ”). From such a distinguished lyricist (almost a writer), as virtuoso as Elvis Costello, this is a particularly strong conclusion to the album, even moving.

What if Hey Clockface was, well, that late masterpiece we've come to expect from a once huge Costello? It's far too early to tell: a dozen plays is never enough to narrow down an Elvis album. We will talk about it again in a few months, but in any case, this black mess, pierced with striking beauty gaps, suits us perfectly as the soundtrack of this nightmare year 2020.

4 stars out of 5
Since you put me down, it seems i've been very gloomy. You may laugh but pretty girls look right through me.
User avatar
Harry Worth
Posts: 106
Joined: Thu Jun 26, 2008 2:45 pm
Location: Manchester

Re: New album Hey Clockface will be released October 30, 2020

Post by Harry Worth »

Harry Worth wrote:After the range of 'the singles' ahead of this I was apprehensive, wondering if it would be a half-cooked, tins at the back of the lockdown store cupboard affair that I'd end up buying only because I'm a fan.
But no, from the moment I ventured into Fopp Records in Manchester to make my purchase where 'Newspaper Pane' was blasting over the speakers, it was clear I was wrong.
It's one of Elvis's most complete albums ever to my mind. It all hangs together in a fabulous eclectic shimmer. When it moves to a different style, it still feels like you've just turned a corner onto a street in the same town - amazing given its cross continental gestation.
I'll check my compass again in a week to see if I haven't been overcome by enthusiasm as another lockdown beckons and that it is still pointing towards the grid square where Fabulous is located. For now it certainly is!
Still agree with this verdict nearly two weeks later! Loving it!
sweetest punch
Posts: 5964
Joined: Sat Apr 03, 2004 5:49 am
Location: Belgium

Re: New album Hey Clockface released October 30, 2020

Post by sweetest punch »

https://lifestyle.livemint.com/how-to-l ... 10493.html

Why Elvis Costello is an underrated star

A new album is out from pub-rocker and genre-hopper Elvis Costello. And it’s a cue to look back at his varied career and multifaceted style
By Sanjoy Narayan

Elvis Costello is an underrated musician. At 66, the English singer-songwriter has done 31 studio albums, six live albums, 16 compilation albums and a host of other releases, including box sets and tribute albums. Yet, he remains underrated.

When he put up an “installation” this September, uploading a song each day on a playlist titled 50 Songs For 50 Days, he got barely 1,000 followers. Nearly all the songs he uploaded were from his back catalogue. The project ended on 3 November, presidential election day in the US.

When a musician of his standing does something like this, you would expect a horde of fans to follow the playlist. But then the taste for Costello’s music has been like the preference for liquorice—the metaphor first used by the late Jerry Garcia to describe the Grateful Dead’s music: You either love it or you hate it. The reasons for liking Costello’s songs could be the same as for disliking them. Costello’s vocal range, as anyone who has heard him will know, has an octave-switching ability—and sometimes he uses it within the same song. So, like a quick-change artist, he can shift from exuberance to melancholy, or from romantic sweetness to snarling anger, on a whim. And, as I said, within the same song. It can be delightful or disconcerting.

Strangely, my first serious introduction to Costello’s music came not from one of his numerous original songs but via the 1991 album Deadicated, a compilation of 15 songs by the Grateful Dead sung by other artists. Costello did Ship Of Fools. It wasn’t the best rendition of the iconic song from the Dead’s From The Mars Hotel album but as a long-time Deadhead, it was a cue for me to explore more of Costello. The music of Costello and the Dead has little in common, except, of course, the fact that the former is a self-confessed fan of the latter (several years later, I discovered on a hard-to-find-digitally album, Stolen Roses, a brilliant medley of Ship Of Fools and It Must Have Been The Roses by Costello, performed live).

Costello, a Londoner born Declan Patrick MacManus, began his musical career in the 1970s in a genre known as pub rock, a back-to-the-roots, bar-friendly kind of rock music that eschewed the excesses and heavy over-production that the then prevailing glam rock employed. A good example of the sort of pub rock songs that Costello sang is one titled (What’s So Funny ’Bout)Peace, Love, And Understanding. It’s not an original; it’s written by Nick Lowe, an English songwriter, but Costello’s version is probably the best. Gifted with a voice that can handle different genres, Costello has sung tunes that are influenced by country music (example: Alison, from 1977’s My Aim Is True) and soul (on the album Get Happy!! with his then band, The Attractions). Costello’s music is stylistic and his lyrics are literate, drawn from an expansive vocabulary. At the end of October, he released his 31st studio album, Hey Clockface. Recorded variously in Helsinki, Paris, and New York, Hey Clockface is not an easy album for the uninitiated. It’s as if Costello is traversing his career, moving back and forth across genres and styles. The opener is a spoken-word song, Revolution #49, with the lyrics: Life beats a poor man to his grave/ Love makes a rich man from a beggar. The closer is a piano ballad titled Byline. And in between, a dozen songs that keep defying classification. No Flag is delightfully angry and noisy; there are self-reflective acoustic numbers such as They’re Not Laughing At Me Now; in Radio Is Everything, another spoken-word song, the lyrics are poetic but sad: I’m sitting here wondering if this matchbox will hold my dreams/ The redhead in my arms go up in flames?/ Or dissolve mighty regimes with her screams, ha, or so it seems.

Hey Clockface is a multifaceted album that is like a showcase of Costello’s career. Its songs span genres and offer variety. But it certainly isn’t a release that could be recommended as a starter album for listeners new to Costello’s music. For that one should head back to his earlier albums. A good place to start would be 1977’s My Aim Is True (his debut album, on which you can hear traces of punk in his brand of pub rock), before moving to 1979’s Armed Forces (an easily accessible, well-arranged pop album) and 1981’s Almost Blue, to check out his fascination with country music. Then there are later albums, such as 2010’s excellent National Ransom, which was produced by the legendary American producer and songwriter T. Bone Burnett.

After conditioning one’s ears with those, a short detour could be in order too. Such as his cover of the song She for the film Notting Hill; and the song he did with Burt Bacharach, I’ll Never Fall In Love Again, from the movie Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. After those primers, Hey Clockface could work as a proper retrospective for one of contemporary music’s most underrated stars.
Since you put me down, it seems i've been very gloomy. You may laugh but pretty girls look right through me.
sweetest punch
Posts: 5964
Joined: Sat Apr 03, 2004 5:49 am
Location: Belgium

Re: New album Hey Clockface released October 30, 2020

Post by sweetest punch »

https://www.parool.nl/kunst-media/hey-c ... b2f2c79d7/

Hey Clockface van Elvis Costello luistert niet echt lekker
Peter van Brummelen

Revolution 9 heet het meest experimentele nummer van The Beatles: een door Karlheinz Stockhausen beïnvloede wirwar van geluiden, die zelfs de grootste fans van de groep met moeite uitzitten. Veiligheidsriemen vast dus als we zien dat het openingsnummer van het 31ste studio-album van Elvis Costello Revolution #49 heet. Costello weet hoe je een pakkende popsong schrijft, maar houdt er ook van het de luisteraar niet te makkelijk te maken.

Het valt reuze mee. Revolution #49 is allesbehalve een standaard popnummer, maar de Arabisch aandoende muziek met gesproken tekst zijn best te doen. Het nummer geeft wel meteen aan dat Hey Clockface een heel ander album is dan het twee jaar terug verschenen Look Now, waarop Costello terugkeerde naar de muziek die hij begin jaren tachtig maakte.

Zo gefocust als die plaat was, zo breed uitwaaierend is Hey Clockface. We horen ballads, rocksongs, voorzichtig gestoei met elektronica en in het titelnummer hangt Costello ineens de jazzzanger uit. Een heel traditionele jazzzanger ook nog eens, in de stijl van Fats Waller.

Een eclectisch popmuzikant is Costello altijd geweest, maar doorgaans hield hij zich per album aan één stijl. Slecht wordt het op Hey Clockface geen moment, maar een album waarop zowat in elke song een andere stijl wordt aangesneden luistert toch niet echt lekker.
Since you put me down, it seems i've been very gloomy. You may laugh but pretty girls look right through me.
User avatar
Top balcony
Posts: 923
Joined: Fri Sep 08, 2006 5:48 pm
Location: Liverpool

Re: New album Hey Clockface released October 30, 2020

Post by Top balcony »

Picked up my LP yesterday from 81 Renshaw St Records - via re-arranged pavement pass on.

Very disappointed that I had purchased a 'retail exclusive RED vinyl' edition, complained to the manager who is also a BLUE and he apologised profusely.

The 'gatefold experience' is hugely superior to breaking a cardboard cd cover (perhaps I should have done an unwrapping video?) but printing text over dark green etc backgrounds should be a crime against humanity. Luckily I have a searchlight strength reading light and an NHS magnifying glass.

I am already familiar with the singles tracks which i bought as they became available. And I've listened to the whole thing via big headphones from Spotie. As yet I'm unsure about it, think I'll need 50 listens like FrankieJ. I came to love the lyric-video clips. Perhaps this is another avenue for Costello Inc to pursue, the exclusive lyric-video DVD version?

So far the single most moving thing on the album took me back to the unforgettable 28th February show at a boisterous Eventim Olympia, the dedication: " For Lillian". A lovely touch.
Post Reply