Hey Clockface released October 30, 2020

Pretty self-explanatory
Post Reply
sweetest punch
Posts: 5964
Joined: Sat Apr 03, 2004 5:49 am
Location: Belgium

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

Post by sweetest punch »

https://www.soundsandbooks.com/elvis-co ... bumreview/

Elvis Costello: Hey Clockface – Albumreview

Ein disparates Elvis-Costello-Album mit traumhaft schönen Balladen und ein paar experimentellen Songs

Zwei Jahre nach dem mit seiner Begleitband The Imposters aufgenommenen und auch bei Sounds & Books besprochenen Album „Look Now“ meldet sich Elvis Costello zurück. Der britische Songwriter hat sein neues Album in Helsinki, Paris und New York aufgenommen. An seiner Seite fanden sich die Musiker Steve Nieve (Klavier, Orgel, Mellotron und Melodica), Renaud-Gabriel Pion (Klarinette, Kontrabassklarinette), Pierre-François „Titi“ Diufour (Cello), Mickaël Gasche (Trompete, Flügelhorn und Serpent) und Ajuq (Schlagzeug), sowie bei den New Yorker Sessions die Gitarristen Bill Frisell, Nels Cline (Wilco) und der Arrangeur und Multiinstrumentalist Michael Leonhart.

Elvis Costello zwischen Underground-Attitüde und traurigen Balladen

„Ich wollte, dass die Platte lebendig ist, egal ob die Songs laut und zackig oder intim und schön gespielt wurden“, sagt Elvis Costello über „Hey Clockface“. An Lebendigkeit oder Abwechslung mangelt es auf dem Werk des 1954 in London geborenen Musikers wahrlich nicht. So richtig laut und zackig wird es allerdings nur im als Vorabtrack veröffentlichten „No Flag“, das mit seiner Underground-Attitüde herausragt. Die aufgeladene HipHop-Nummer „Hatty O’Hara Confidential“ indes gehört nicht zu den Sternstunden Costellos. Das düster-bedrohliche „Newspaper Lane“ und das verstörende „We Are All Cowards Now“ zeigen Costello hingegen wieder auf der Höhe seiner Songwriterkunst. Einige balladeske Stücke gehören zu den Highlights von „Hey Clockface“. Das unendlich traurige „I Do (Zula’s Song)“, das pianobetonte „The Whirlwind“, das poetische „The Last Confession Of Vivian Whip“ sowie der sentimentale Abschlusstrack „Byline“ sind charmant und berührend.

Costello rettet die Liebe

Das nostalgische und jazzig angehauchte „I Can’t Say Her Name“ hätte auch von Paul McCartney für das „White Album“ der Beatles stammen können, während Elvis Costello in der Varieté-Nummer „Hey Clockface / How Can You Face Me“ Randy Newman evoziert. Insgesamt ein disparates Album mit einigen traumhaft schönen und einigen experimentellen Songs, das mit arabischen Klängen und Costellos Beschwörungszeile „Love is the one thing we can save“ („Revolution #49“) beginnt. Mit Elvis Costello muss man einfach immer rechnen.

———————————————-
Google translation:

Elvis Costello: Hey Clockface - album review

A disparate Elvis Costello album with wonderful ballads and a few experimental songs

Two years after the album “Look Now”, which was recorded with his companion band The Imposters and also discussed at Sounds & Books, Elvis Costello is back. The British songwriter recorded his new album in Helsinki, Paris and New York. At his side were the musicians Steve Nieve (piano, organ, mellotron and melodica), Renaud-Gabriel Pion (clarinet, double bass clarinet), Pierre-François "Titi" Diufour (cello), Mickaël Gasche (trumpet, flugelhorn and serpent) and Ajuq (drums), as well as guitarists Bill Frisell, Nels Cline (Wilco) and arranger and multi-instrumentalist Michael Leonhart in the New York sessions.

Elvis Costello between underground attitude and sad ballads

"I wanted the record to be alive, regardless of whether the songs were played loud and jagged or intimate and beautiful," says Elvis Costello of "Hey Clockface". There is certainly no lack of liveliness or variety in the work of the musician, who was born in London in 1954. But it only gets really loud and jagged in the pre-release track “No Flag”, which stands out with its underground attitude. The charged hip-hop number "Hatty O’Hara Confidential", however, is not one of Costello's great moments. The dark-threatening “Newspaper Lane” and the disturbing “We Are All Cowards Now” show Costello, however, at the height of his songwriting art again. Some ballad-like pieces are among the highlights of “Hey Clockface”. The infinitely sad "I Do (Zula’s Song)", the piano-accented "The Whirlwind", the poetic "The Last Confession Of Vivian Whip" and the sentimental final track "Byline" are charming and touching.

Costello saves love

The nostalgic and jazzy “I Can't Say Her Name” could also have come from Paul McCartney for the Beatles' “White Album”, while Elvis Costello in the variety show “Hey Clockface / How Can You Face Me” Randy Newman evoked. All in all a disparate album with some fantastically beautiful and some experimental songs, which begins with Arabic sounds and Costello's incantation line "Love is the one thing we can save" ("Revolution # 49"). You always have to reckon with Elvis Costello.
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 will be released October 30, 2020

Post by sweetest punch »

https://riffmagazine.com/album-reviews/ ... clockface/

REVIEW: Elvis Costello focuses on subtleties of songwriting on ‘Hey Clockface’

Reliably prolific songwriter Elvis Costello has achieved a special place in the rock canon, churning out hits since the ’70s. Now, as he and his second-wave rock peers approach 70s of their own, the quantity of their work may have taken a small hit but the quality a large one. But unlike some, Costello has a lot to show for his time on the scene.

Hey Clockface marks the pub rock luminary’s 30th studio album, if you include his work with The Imposters and The Attractions. His professional mien follows as he blazes song-trails into the natural order of things. Songs like the wayward “We Are All Cowards Now” roll out so effortlessly that it’s a wonder they sound as original as they do. Understated lyrical offerings like “They’re Not Laughing At Me Now” march forward with stoic heroism.

Costello’s thick-boned rhythms get their biggest boost from gritty guitars and sleazy synth. “No Flag” showcases his yelp on a set of sticky hooks. “Got no religion, got no philosophy,” he boasts, driving subterranean humidity amid a strapped tenor. Electronic processes and big-beat bombast set up the unlikely rhyme. “Got a head full of ideas, and words that don’t seem to belong to me,” he continues in his best gutter rasp, faintly echoing proto-punk phrasing and grit.

Elvis Costello greases the wheels for profundity with Eastern scales and bowed strings on opener “Revolution #49.” “Love is the one thing we can save,” he doggedly insists, topping the eerie spoken-word piece with a plea. The song does its job, but more stunning is the slow build and bleak fashionista strut of “Newpaper Pane.” Costello’s lyricism returns in force as he unpacks notions of freedom at the song’s zenith. “Freedom to be reckless, freedom to plunder, freedom to dream, freedom to wonder,” he sings, orchestrating a timely clash of innocence and cynicism.

The worst that can be said of Hey Clockface is that Elvis Costello and his musicians get carried away with the horns and the slow jams. As a result, he frequently forgets to pick up his guitar. On the plus side, “Byline” is a thoughtful meditation on a would-be friendship with tasteful Leonard-Cohen-esque vocal stylings over a classic one-time chorus. Converseley, “I Can’t Say Her Name” is an uncomfortable mishmash of Delta blues and New Orleans jazz pedantry.

Costello hit the London pubs hard in 1977 with shovelfuls of straightforward, everyman chorus-rock. Classic Americana asserts a heady influence on his catalog, replete with greaser boogie, hot blues and smoky saloons.

But despite his wit and rhyming, Costello’s voice can be alkaline for the casual listener. On Hey Clockface, he ventures into the sultry and miserable, as on the shadowy burlesque tune “I Do (Zula’s Song),” and dwells in swampy piano jazz through much of the record.

Proceedings are slow and his voice becomes pained. These aren’t deal-breakers, but on the other hand, Elvis Costello ain’t Iggy Pop or David Bowie, either. His inherently conservative style is evident on the bountiful yawn-inducing lounge numbers like “The Whirlwind” and “Vivian Whip.” Too often, the songs take on airs of a piano confessional. That’s fine for a fireside scotch and brandy, but mildly disappointing overall. This wiry “other Elvis” built his name on sweat, and on brash and declarative art.

Costello explores stark modernistic poetry on the thought-provoking “Radio Is Everything.” Reflective, a seaside requiem, the song provides an emotional anchor to the second half of the album. “Hetty O’Hara Confidential” looms nearby with compulsive swagger, and Costello drips cool-guy observation on the spicy boogie-funk jag.

Ultimately, he has more latitude than he needs here. Like Tom Petty, Costello is valid as a solo artist, but better with his signature band. The jazz numbers aren’t particularly memorable, and the best bits recall his more successful work with The Imposters.

For about half the album, he sounds old, and not only because of the clarinets and muted trumpets. His craggy voice gets sing-songy, while arrangements border on hackneyed old-man music. The title track manifests this frumpy direction, and the experiments don’t end there. Hey Clockface is quite subdued and less anthemic than his best.

But we can credit the man for avoiding dogmatic pomp. He won’t be an imitation of himself. Elvis Costello forges ahead consistently. His many and his process endure because in his work, he embodies the living singer-songwriter ethos. Actively producing new material on a regular basis, Costello seems to be one of the few who took things seriously from the start.
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 will be released October 30, 2020

Post by sweetest punch »

Since you put me down, it seems i've been very gloomy. You may laugh but pretty girls look right through me.
Pigalle
Posts: 99
Joined: Thu May 14, 2009 3:04 am

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

Post by Pigalle »

Red vinyl edition is just €16.99 at FNAC

https://www.fnac.com/a15078413/Elvis-Co ... earchpos=3

Shipping to the UK is €4.40
sweetest punch
Posts: 5964
Joined: Sat Apr 03, 2004 5:49 am
Location: Belgium

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

Post by sweetest punch »

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/10/28/ ... -far-wide/

ALBUM REVIEW
On ‘Hey Clockface,’ Elvis Costello ranges far and wide
By Stuart Munro, Globe correspondent,

From “Almost Blue” to “North” to “Wise Up Ghost” (to name but a few examples), a restless eclecticism has been one of the hallmarks of Elvis Costello’s career. His new album, “Hey Clockface,” distills that chameleonic proclivity into a single outing. Its eclecticism is rooted in the way in which its songs came to be. Costello recorded three of the album’s tracks, working alone, in Helsinki last February. He then headed to Paris, where he recorded nine songs a few days later with an ensemble, led by stalwart collaborator Steve Nieve, that Costello dubbed “le Quintette Saint Germain.” Then the pandemic intervened. The music for the two remaining tracks on “Hey Clockface” was recorded in New York by Michael Leonhart, with contributions from Bill Frisell, Nels Cline, and others; Costello added lyrics to complete them from an undisclosed location “via the miracle of telecommunications,” as the press release for the album puts it.

Each of those sessions turns out to have a distinct sonic character. The Helsinki tracks have an urgent, constructed intensity about them. “No Flag,” which offers a statement of principles (or rather, a statement of no principles — “I’ve got no religion, I’ve got no philosophy,” Costello barks), brings to mind early, rocking Elvis (C., not P.); “Hetty O’Hara Confidential,” the story of a gossip columnist’s reign and fall, has a jagged, angular syncopation.

In contrast, the Paris songs, which make up the bulk of the record, have an organic immediacy that encompasses both the jazzy (the buoyant whimsy of the title track, complete with a coda copped from Fats Waller; the noir-ish, trumpet- and clarinet-led vibe of “I Do [Zula’s Song]”), and the poppy (the chanson-like “What Is It That I Need That I Don’t Already Have?”; the classic vocal pop of “The Whirlwind”).

The two collaborative songs offer yet another change-up; “Newspaper Pane,” which moves from chronicling an unfortunate shut-in to range across centuries, has an epic sound that culminates in Leonhart’s sweeping, orchestral soul passages, and “Radio Is Everything” is a recitation that reads like a late-night confession with accompanying soundtrack.

Throughout, there seems to be something afoot that Costello variously hints at: a preoccupation with matters of communication (particularly the various public forms it assumes via the media) that surfaces both in the record itself and the preceding publicity for it, in songs such as “Newspaper Pane,” “Byline,” “Radio Is Everything,” and “Hetty O’Hara Confidential” and in the PR “bulletins” that announced the five song previews released over the summer.

Be that preoccupation as it may, other Costello constants besides sonic variation are here in abundance as well: his way with words and with wordplay (here are a couple of gems: “No forgiveness in your heart, you turned your coat and asked me to turn my cheek
”; “No God for the damn that I don’t give”), his abiding tendency for the scathing and the heart-on-sleeve, and the lyrical engagement he solicits by giving the listener enough to surmise, but rarely enough to know. “Hey Clockface” represents them all to generally marvelous effect.
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 will be released October 30, 2020

Post by sweetest punch »

https://www.google.be/amp/s/www.indepen ... html%3famp

Album reviews: Bring Me the Horizon, Elvis Costello and Eels

Bring Me the Horizon get heavy on their apocalyptic new record, Elvis Costello wheels out his cast of typically eccentric characters for ‘Hey Clockface’, and Eels sticking to the same old formula makes for a surprisingly comforting listen.

(...)

Elvis Costello – Hey Clockface

★★★★☆

“I don’t spend my time perfecting the past. I live for the future, because I know it won’t last.” So sings Elvis Costello on his new solo album, Hey Clockface. Yet it’s hard not to view the seasoned singer-songwriter’s latest release as an old curiosity shop, filled with quirky memorabilia and his typically eccentric cast of characters.

It opens on a strange note, with the spoken-word “Revolution #49”. While the instrumentation – Mickaël Gasche of jazz ensemble Le Quintette Saint Germain leading on a forlorn-sounding serpent – is nothing short of mesmeric, the Arabic influences jar with what follows. There are nods to Django Reinhardt and Stephane Graphelli in the sauntering arrangement of “I Can’t Say Her Name”; the title track has a jangly blues swing redolent of Randy Newman’s bonhomie.

Costello’s tender side emerges on songs such as closer “Byline” and the world-weary “They’re Not Laughing at Me Now”, while defiant blasts of brass dominate “Newspaper Pane”. This music might be disjointed, but its theme of time and how we choose to use it makes for a powerful through-line. Costello has always been an exceptional story-teller, and this is one of his most evocative albums.
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 will be released October 30, 2020

Post by sweetest punch »

https://www.google.be/amp/s/www.rolling ... 36909/amp/

Elvis Costello: «Non sarei qui se non avessi sfogato la rabbia nelle canzoni»

Ma anche passione, dolcezza, tristezza. Conversazione con un artista che non ha mai smesso di cambiare e di mettere pezzi di vita nei dischi, compreso il nuovo 'Hey Clockface'
di GRAZIELLA BALESTRIERI

9408 km è la distanza che separa Vancouver da Cirò Marina, Elvis Costello dalla sua intervistatrice. Opposti, da un lato all’altro del mondo, dal freddo al caldo, sembrerebbe tutto impossibile se non fosse per la musica. Lui seduto su un divano a righe blu, piccole e grandi, una tuta, gli occhiali e lo sguardo sempre vivo, parete bianca in legno con vetrata alle sue spalle. Dall’altra parte del pc io, una sedia, giacca nera, chitarra dietro le mie spalle e la consapevolezza di dover intervistare quello che Rolling Stone ha inserito tra i migliori 100 artisti di tutti i tempi. Inizia timidamente Elvis Costello con il chiedermi dove sono. «Calabria», gli rispondo semi urlando anche il paese da cui provengo. Lui è entusiasta del Sud, mi racconta che una volta è stato a Lecce, in Puglia.

Fermi sui nostri divani, a distanza di 9408 km, riusciamo a viaggiare attraverso il suo nuovo album Hey Clockface. Passiamo per Parigi, sorvolando Liverpool, fermandoci un po’ a Helsinki, uno scalo veloce a New York, per poi tornare tra le braccia delle persone care. E barattiamo distanze con i pensieri che ci possono accomunare. Scambiando le paure di questo tempo e le sue passate personali con le emozioni di un album che sembra uscito da una delle sue innumerevoli tempeste emotive. Da un lato è completamente ghiacciato, dall’altro fuoco con fiamme altissime. E quello che è sempre stato Costello: il più intelligente di tutti (musicalmente), curioso, arrabbiato, passionale, dolce, profondo e triste. Dotato di una scrittura che va oltre la semplice dimestichezza con la creatività. Avendolo davanti, per assurdo, la prima domanda che salta in testa è: chissà se ha paura di un tornado. E la risposta è che Elvis Costello non può avere paura di un tornado: è lui il tornado. Dove passa spazza via tutto e ha solo lui la capacità di ricostruire anche meglio di prima.

Il suo ventiseiesimo album (non calcolando le innumerevoli collaborazioni) è la coscienza musicale perfetta di un artista che non ha mai evitato gli altri stili musicali oltre al rock, ma ha sempre attraverso tutto e tutti, diventando così non solo il cantastorie, ma la fiaba stessa. E come se fossimo nel primo verso dell’Orlando furioso: le donne, i cavallier, l’arme, gli amori, le cortesie, l’audaci imprese di Declan Patrick McManus io canto.

Nella canzone che dà il titolo all’album dici: “Time is just my enemy”. Cosa intendi?
Da una parte dico che il tempo sta passando in un modo che mi fa paura, dall’altra parte la canzone parla del momento in cui aspetti il ritorno della persona amata. Il tempo si muove troppo lentamente quando si è distanti e invece quando è il momento di lasciarsi il tempo si muove troppo in fretta. Così inizi a credere che l’orologio, proprio il quadrante sia come un rivale. In realtà è un verso comico, non è una particolare e profonda idea filosofica sul tempo che passa. È solo il tempo che ti separa dal tuo amore.

In We Are All Cowards Now chi sono i vigliacchi? E che significato ha questo termine per te?
È avere paura. Nascondersi dietro la paura, nascondersi dietro le divisioni, i conflitti. Ho scritto questa canzone perché mi capita di infuriarmi per qualcosa che accade nel mondo e non riesco a provare amore per gli essere umani. Credo onestamente che l’unico modo per vivere meglio sia la comprensione. Anche se non sei d’accordo, ci deve essere comprensione. Questo è quello che dico in We Are All Cowards Now e in un qualche modo tutti possiamo e dobbiamo trovare il modo di amare, fare qualcosa di meglio per il mondo perché essere sempre divisi e in lotta tutto il tempo non ci fa arrivare e costruire nulla. A volte senti dire «quelle persone sono davvero cattive». Ok, ma perché credi che siano cattive? Devi provare a capirlo prima di giudicare.

In Newspaper Pane canti “I don’t spend my time perfecting the past, I live for the future”. Considerato il momento in cui stiamo vivendo, che senso ha dire “vivo per il futuro”?
Quando l’ho scritta stavo pensando a come esaminiamo gli errori del passato. Dobbiamo riconoscerli, ma ci si consuma a vivere con il desiderio di correggere il passato. Correggere il passato non è la stessa cosa di capirlo e imparare da esso. Disperdi un sacco di energie cercando di cancellare gli errori che hai fatto, perché facendolo fai sì che gli errori stessi diventino ancora più forti. Invece devi riconoscerli e cercare di fare di meglio. Per quanto riguarda il futuro, dobbiamo mantenere alto il nostro spirito anche se è difficile, dobbiamo credere che andrà tutto nel verso giusto e dobbiamo lavorare affinché diventi migliore, perché non possiamo cadere nei conflitti e nelle paure.

Questa cosa così particolare che ci sta tenendo chiusi in una stanza alla fine si risolverà, la scienza troverà una soluzione e quello che possiamo fare nell’immediato è affrontare tutto con il buonsenso. L’informazione deve trasmette fiducia. Noi in Canada siamo stati fortunati, ci hanno dato consigli con calma e per il nostro bene, non per motivi politici. Negli Stati Uniti tutto ha assunto un significato politico e così la maggior parte delle persone non si fida di ciò che gli viene detto. E non fidarsi di chi ti governa è pericoloso. Poi io devo pensare per forza al futuro, ho dei figli di cui occuparmi, mia mamma che ha 93 anni e ha bisogno di me… dobbiamo pensare al futuro!

In The Whirlwind c’è un piano delicatissimo, ha un suono profondo da spezzare il cuore. Sembra uscita da un carillion o da quelle sfere di vetro natalizie che se le capovolgi scende giù la neve. E la tua voce sembra sempre di più uscita da una fiaba. Insomma, una musica che riempie tutto lo spazio: ce ne parli?
È un gran complimento quello che stai facendo ai musicisti con cui ho suonato a Parigi. C’era una grande comprensione dell’emozione che ci stava dando questa canzone. Non c’era orchestrazione, niente era stato pianificato, tutto è stato improvvisato. Suonare questa canzone è stato fantastico. È l’ultima che abbiamo registrato a Parigi. Siamo riusciti a registrare otto canzoni in due giorni e questo è straordinario. I musicisti mi hanno incoraggiato a fare una canzone in più in quella session. È la numero nove ed è la mia preferita di questa session. Quello che accomuna me e Steve Nieve (il suo tastierista, ndr) è una grande condivisione e comprensione. Suona con me da 43 anni. Gli altri musicisti non li conoscevo bene, ad esempio il giovane batterista che suona in tutte le canzoni, e poi ci sono clarinetti, violini, trombe. Eravamo una piccola orchestra e per questo il suono è così particolare ed emotivamente coinvolgente. Eravamo tutti molto concentrati e tutti riuscivamo a sentire le emozioni della musica che stava venendo fuori.

What Is It That I Need That I Don’t Already Have? è molto intima, anche musicalmente: cosa ti manca che non hai?
La canzone parla di ricerca, della sensazione che deve esserci sempre qualcosa dietro la porta, deve esserci qualcosa dietro l’angolo che mi può rendere la vita migliore. Non siamo mai contenti e non ci basta quello che abbiamo, che poi a ben guardare è davvero tanto. È l’idea di sforzarsi a capire che bisogna essere soddisfatti di quello che si ha in questo momento.

Hai registrato a Parigi ed Helsinki, due città completamente differenti che però rispecchiano le differenti anime di questo album.
Sì, sono davvero molto differenti in tutti i sensi. Sono andato a Helsinki in pieno inverno. Prendevo tutti i giorni un traghetto dal centro di Helsinki che sta a 20 minuti da questa isoletta dove si trova lo studio di registrazione. Mi svegliavo la mattina con l’aria gelida che mi soffiava in faccia e poi tornavo al mio hotel. Così è stato per tutti i giorni che mi sono fermato lì. E poi Parigi, dove è ripresa la vita sociale di tutti i giorni, con altre persone. Poi da lì siamo andati a Liverpool dove abbiamo aperto il tour nel Regno Unito. Nel giro di due settimane mi sono reso conto che sarebbe stato irresponsabile continuare a suonare e chiedere alle persone di venirci a vedere. Ho anche pensato che c’era il rischio di rimanere lontano dalla mia famiglia e quindi bisognava sbrigarsi e tornare a casa. Così alla fine ho completato l’album con l’aiuto del mio amico Michael Leonhart, con alcuni musicisti di New York che mi hanno mandato Newspaper Pane e la musica di Radio Is Everything. Sebastian Krys, il co-produttore dell’album precedente Look Now, ha mixato tutto.

Perché Helsinki?
Sembra pazzesco, potevo andare ovunque, posti dove sono già stato, una rotta sicura, come per te è andare da Roma in Calabria. Mi sono detto che volevo registrare in un posto dove non ero mai stato. Così dieci giorni prima che iniziasse il tour da Liverpool mi sono detto: Helsinki. E sono partito da solo, senza band. Sai, quando ho registrato il mio primo vero disco non avevo una band, dovevo prenderla in prestito e non sapevo esattamente cosa stessi facendo in studio. Questa volta volevo riprovare la sensazione che ti ho descritto ora, da solo con una chitarra e una vecchia batteria italiana. Tutto quello che senti è semplicemente quello che abbiamo registrato io e il mio fonico. Tutto quanto era finalizzato a riscoprire il divertimento di suonare rock’n’roll senza regole. È così è stato, come puoi sentire ad esempio in No Flag. Non riuscivo a trovare da nessuna parte il suono di quella stanza. Mi sarebbe piaciuto registrare più canzoni del genere, ma non avevo più tempo.

Perché sei così “estremo” nelle tue canzoni?
Forse ora sono pronto a trovare una forma di bilanciamento fra gli estremi, mentre un tempo non avrei messo emozioni contrastanti nello stesso disco. Non c’è motivo per non farlo: queste sono le canzoni che avevo in mano. La pandemia mi ha impedito di registrare a Londra e a Los Angeles in primavera e in estate. Di conseguenza, sono stato obbligato ad ascoltare con attenzione il materiale che avevo già in mano e le due canzoni che Michael Leonhart mi ha spedito da New York. Dovrò aspettare per registrare le altre 30, forse 40 canzoni che ho. Non le devo pubblicare tutte subito. Sarà per l’anno prossimo o per quello dopo ancora.

La rabbia è una costante delle tue canzoni, da sempre e anche ora: da dove proviene?
Il punto è esprimersi attraverso musica. Sono sicuro che i sentimenti espressi in No Flag, dove canto “I’ve got no religion, I’ve got no philosophy”, sono quelli di tante altre persone rispetto a come va il mondo. Quand’ero giovane ho pubblicato tante canzoni arrabbiate. Non sarebbe stato saggio condividere a parole i miei pensieri col mondo intero, non saremmo qui se l’avessi fatto, e perciò ho lasciato che a parlare fossero le canzoni. Ho sempre lasciato che fossero belle dirette. Tutto quel che ho imparato lo devo alle canzoni e a musicisti con cui condivido il mio lavoro, come Pete Townshend e Steve Nieve. Siamo sempre in contatto, sempre in cerca di una buona occasione per cantare e suonare assieme.

Una domanda banale per chi ha avuto un tumore due anni fa e ne è uscito vivo e ora come tutti vive la pandemia: sei felice?
Lo sono, lo sono. Sono felice perché sono con la mia famiglia, dove sento tutto l’amore e il conforto del mondo. Non ho mai passato tutto questo tempo ininterrottamente con i miei figli piccoli. I musicista professionisti sono spesso lontani dalla famiglia, ho fatto anche degli errori quand’ero giovane, mi ficcavo in situazioni in cui non sarei dovuto essere, mancavo per un bel po’ di tempo. Sono sempre in tour, specie invecchiando, perché i dischi non sono più un business. Sono felice, sì, perché finalmente sto con la mia famiglia.

Hey Clockface riporta alla mente la spiegazione di Henri Bergson sul senso della parola “esistere”: per un essere cosciente, esistere significa mutare, mutare significa maturare e maturare significa creare continuamente sé stesso. È quello che Elvis Costello fa da sempre e continua a fare in Hey Clockface, album di una coscienza musicale (la sua) che muta, matura e si ricrea.

—————————

Google translation:

Elvis Costello: "I wouldn't be here if I hadn't vented my anger in the songs"

But also passion, sweetness, sadness. Conversation with an artist who has never stopped changing and putting pieces of life on records, including the new 'Hey Clockface'
by GRAZIELLA BALESTRIERI

9408 km is the distance that separates Vancouver from Cirò Marina, Elvis Costello from his interviewer. Opposite, from one side of the world to the other, from cold to heat, it would all seem impossible were it not for the music. He sat on a sofa with blue stripes, small and large, a suit, glasses and an ever-alive gaze, white wooden wall with glass behind him. On the other side of the pc I, a chair, black jacket, guitar behind my back and the awareness of having to interview what Rolling Stone has included among the best 100 artists of all time. Elvis Costello starts timidly by asking me where I am. «Calabria», I reply semi screaming also the country from which I come. He is enthusiastic about the South, he tells me that once he was in Lecce, in Puglia.

Standing on our sofas, at a distance of 9408 km, we are able to travel through his new album Hey Clockface. We pass through Paris, flying over Liverpool, stopping for a while in Helsinki, a quick stopover in New York, and then returning to the arms of loved ones. And we trade distances for the thoughts that can unite us. Swapping the fears of this time and his personal pasts with the emotions of an album that seems to come out of one of its countless emotional storms. On one side it is completely frozen, on the other fire with very high flames. And what Costello has always been: the most intelligent of all (musically), curious, angry, passionate, sweet, deep and sad. Equipped with a writing that goes beyond the simple familiarity with creativity. Having it in front of him, absurdly, the first question that jumps to his head is: who knows if he is afraid of a tornado. And the answer is that Elvis Costello can't be afraid of a tornado: he is the tornado. Where he passes he sweeps everything away and only he has the ability to rebuild even better than before.

His twenty-sixth album (not counting the countless collaborations) is the perfect musical conscience of an artist who has never shunned other musical styles besides rock, but always has through everything and everyone, thus becoming not only the storyteller, but the fairy tale itself. And as if we were in the first verse of Orlando furioso: the women, the cavalliers, the arms, the loves, the courtesies, the daring exploits of Declan Patrick McManus I sing.

In the song that gives the title to the album you say: "Time is just my enemy". What do you mean?
On the one hand I say that time is passing in a way that scares me, on the other hand the song talks about the moment when you are waiting for the return of your loved one. Time moves too slowly when you are distant and instead when it is time to let go, time moves too fast. So you begin to believe that the watch, the dial itself, is like a rival. In reality it is a comic verse, it is not a particular and profound philosophical idea about the passing of time. It is only time that separates you from your love.

In We Are All Cowards Now who are the cowards? And what does this term mean for you?
It is to be afraid. Hiding behind fear, hiding behind divisions, conflicts. I wrote this song because I happen to get mad about something happening in the world and I can't feel love for humans. I honestly believe that the only way to live better is understanding. Even if you don't agree, there must be understanding. This is what I say in We Are All Cowards Now and somehow we all can and must find ways to love, do something better for the world because being divided and fighting all the time doesn't make us get there and build anything. . Sometimes you hear "those people are really bad". Okay, but why do you think they are bad? You have to try to figure it out before you judge.

In Newspaper Pane you sing "I don't spend my time perfecting the past, I live for the future". Given the moment we are living in, what sense does it make to say “I live for the future”?
When I wrote it I was thinking about how we look at the mistakes of the past. We must recognize them, but we are consumed living with the desire to correct the past. Correcting the past is not the same as understanding it and learning from it. You waste a lot of energy trying to undo the mistakes you have made, because by doing so you make the mistakes themselves become even stronger. Instead you have to recognize them and try to do better. As for the future, we must keep our spirits high even if it is difficult, we must believe that everything will go in the right direction and we must work to make it better, because we cannot fall into conflicts and fears.

This very particular thing that is keeping us locked in a room will eventually resolve itself, science will find a solution and what we can do immediately is to face everything with common sense. Information must convey trust. We in Canada were lucky, they gave us advice calmly and for our good, not for political reasons. In the United States, everything has taken on political significance and so most people don't trust what they are told. And not trusting those who govern you is dangerous. Then I have to think about the future, I have children to take care of, my mother who is 93 years old and needs me ... we have to think about the future!

In The Whirlwind there is a very delicate piano, it has a deep heart-breaking sound. It looks like it came out of a carillion or those Christmas glass balls that if you turn them upside down, the snow falls. And your voice seems more and more out of a fairy tale. In short, a music that fills all the space: can you tell us about it?
It is a great compliment what you are doing to the musicians I played with in Paris. There was a great understanding of the emotion that this song was giving us. There was no orchestration, nothing was planned, everything was improvised. Playing this song was great. It is the last one we recorded in Paris. We managed to record eight songs in two days and this is extraordinary. The musicians encouraged me to do one more song in that session. She's number nine and my favorite of this session. What unites me and Steve Nieve (his keyboard player, ed) is a great sharing and understanding. He has been playing with me for 43 years. I didn't know the other musicians well, for example the young drummer who plays in all the songs, and then there are clarinets, violins, trumpets. We were a small orchestra and for this reason the sound is so particular and emotionally involving. We were all very focused and we could all feel the emotions of the music that was coming out.

What Is It That I Need That I Don’t Already Have? it's very intimate, even musically: what do you miss that you don't have?
The song is about research, about the feeling that there must always be something behind the door, there must be something around the corner that can make my life better. We are never happy and what we have is not enough, which is really a lot. It is the idea of ​​trying to understand that you have to be satisfied with what you have at the moment.

You recorded in Paris and Helsinki, two completely different cities which however reflect the different souls of this album.
Yes, they are very different in every sense. I went to Helsinki in the middle of winter. I took a ferry every day from the center of Helsinki which is 20 minutes from this islet where the recording studio is located. I woke up in the morning with the cold air blowing in my face and then I went back to my hotel. So it was for all the days that I stopped there. And then Paris, where everyday social life is resumed, with other people. Then from there we went to Liverpool where we opened the UK tour. Within two weeks I realized it would be irresponsible to keep playing and ask people to come and see us. I also thought that there was a risk of staying away from my family and therefore we had to hurry up and go home. So in the end I completed the album with the help of my friend Michael Leonhart, with some musicians from New York who sent me Newspaper Pane and the music of Radio Is Everything. Sebastian Krys, the co-producer of the previous album Look Now, mixed everything.

Why Helsinki?
It sounds crazy, I could go anywhere, places I've been before, a safe route, like for you it is going from Rome to Calabria. I told myself I wanted to record in a place I've never been to. So ten days before the tour from Liverpool started I said to myself: Helsinki. And I left alone, without a band. You know, when I recorded my first real record, I didn't have a band, I had to borrow it and I didn't know exactly what I was doing in the studio. This time I wanted to try again the sensation I have described to you now, alone with an old Italian guitar and drums. All you hear is just what my engineer and I recorded. Everything was aimed at rediscovering the fun of playing rock'n'roll without rules. That's how it was, as you can hear for example in No Flag. I couldn't find the sound of that room anywhere. I would have liked to record more songs like that, but I ran out of time.

Why are you so "extreme" in your songs?
Maybe now I'm ready to find a form of balance between the extremes, whereas once I wouldn't have put conflicting emotions on the same record. There is no reason not to do it: these are the songs I was holding. The pandemic prevented me from recording in London and Los Angeles in the spring and summer. As a result, I was forced to listen carefully to the material I already had and the two songs that Michael Leonhart sent me from New York. I'll have to wait to record the other 30, maybe 40 songs I have. I don't have to publish them all right away. It will be for next year or for the one after that.

Anger is a constant in your songs, always and even now: where does it come from?
The point is to express yourself through music. I'm sure that the feelings expressed in No Flag, where I sing "I’ve got no religion, I’ve got no philosophy", are those of many other people compared to how the world goes. When I was young, I published many angry songs. It would not have been wise to share my thoughts with the whole world in words, we would not be here if I had, and therefore I let the songs speak. I've always let them be pretty direct. Everything I've learned I owe to the songs and musicians I share my work with, like Pete Townshend and Steve Nieve. We are always in contact, always looking for a good opportunity to sing and play together.

A trivial question for those who had a tumor two years ago and came out alive and now like everyone else lives the pandemic: are you happy?
I am, I am. I am happy because I am with my family, where I feel all the love and comfort in the world. I have never spent all this time continuously with my young children. Professional musicians are often far from family, I also made mistakes when I was young, I got into situations where I shouldn't have been, I was missing for quite some time. I'm always on tour, especially as I get older, because records are no longer a business. I am happy, yes, because I am finally with my family.

Hey Clockface brings to mind Henri Bergson's explanation of the meaning of the word “exist”: for a conscious being, to exist means to change, to change means to mature and to mature means to continually create oneself. This is what Elvis Costello has always done and continues to do in Hey Clockface, an album of a musical consciousness (his) that changes, matures and recreates itself.
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 will be released October 30, 2020

Post by sweetest punch »

https://www.plattentests.de/mobile/rezi.php?id=17278

Der Stimmungsmacher

Mmh, wie soll der Rezensent das finden? Zur letzten Platte von Elvis Costello, "Look now", fiel dem Schreiberling auf, dass manch Ambivalentes in Costellos Songwriting nicht schlüssig zusammenfand. Es gab durchaus feine Melodien, der Rest der Presselandschaft feierte das Album auch ziemlich, doch blieb für den ein oder anderen das Gefühl, Costello habe ein bisschen das Feeling für die kontrastierenden Elemente in seinen Songs eingebüßt. Jetzt steht "Hey clockface" an und Befürchtungen ob eines unentschlossenen Kuddelmuddels könnten schnell aufkommen. Erstens wurde diese Platte in drei Sessions, Helsinki, Paris und New York, mit jeweils unterschiedlichen Musikern aufgenommen. Und zweitens offenbart ein erster flüchtiger Hördurchgang ganze Wagenladungen an Stimmungen und Stilen. Doch gibt man dieser Platte mehrere Chancen, lässt sich von ihr ein, zwei Wochen begleiten, wird schnell klar, dass Costello die stilistischen Zügel fest in der Hand hält. "Hey clockface" deckt unheimlich viel ab, die klangliche Bandbreite ist enorm, doch ergänzen sich die verschiedenen Stimmungen ganz hervorragend.

Ein Spoken-word-Auftakt mit orientalischer Instrumentierung wie "Revolution # 49", Nähe suchend, fast feierlich, ist das krasse Gegenteil vom folgenden "No flag", welches Industrial-Drums, rotzig sägende Gitarren und eine fahrige Aggressivität im Gesang in sich hochschaukelt. nur um, und das ist der Kniff, im Refrain ein leidenschaftliches, ja romantisches Sehnen rauszuschreien. Nächster Song, nächstes Setting: "They're not laughing at me now" beginnt als Folk-Schleicher, zieht seine zärtlichen Melodien vorbei an fein orchestrierten Bläsern und baut letztlich einigen hymnenhaften Bombast auf. Diese Hochglanz-Positur ist dann natürlich wieder ein starker Kontrast zum vorhergehenden Rüpel-Rocker. Und dieses Stil-Hopping geht munter weiter, doch hält die künstlerische Persönlichkeit Costellos das Album dieses Mal vortrefflich zusammen. Immer scheint eine verschmitzte Ironie durch den Gesang und die Texte des Engländers, dabei nimmt er jedoch die verschiedensten Haltungen ein.

Durch "Newspaper pane" bewegt er sich zum Beispiel mit ätzender Resignation, "Hetty O'Hara confidential" zeigt Costello hingegen als latent aufgekratzten Spielleiter, der den Hörer durch ein zackig-gewitztes Rhythmus-Setting führt. Hier lässt die Nähe zu HipHop und generell zur schwarzen Musik zwar aufhorchen, doch wirkt dies wie alles auf dieser Platte nicht gezwungen und aufgesetzt, sondern schlüssig eingefügt. Und vor allem scheint immer echtes Gefühl, echtes Engagement durch. "We are all cowards now" hat mit seinem kühl und bluesig ausgelegten Klaviertönen einen markanten Einschlag in Richtung diffuser Schattigkeit. Doch wie Costello in seine gesangliche Ernüchterung derat viel Wärme und zartes Gefühl legt, ist beeindruckend.

Ähnlich weich gebettet ist "I can't say her name", welches eine Liebeserklärung direkt von der versifften Bühne einer nur Insidern bekannten Kneipe im Herzen New Orleans zu senden scheint. Dass es diese klassischen Costello-Momente auch auf "Hey clockface" in Hülle und Fülle gibt, der Künstler sich aber nicht auf ihnen ausruht, macht aus diesem Album ein großes Vergnügen, nicht nur für Stamm-Fans des Briten. Eine butterweiche Ballade wie der Abschluss "Byline" geht natürlich immer, doch da gibt es eben immer wieder Artfremdes und latent Schräges, was sich sperrt, aber letztlich doch hervorragend ins Ganze einfügt.

—————————-
Google translation:

The mood maker

Mmh, how is the reviewer supposed to find that? When it came to Elvis Costello's last record, "Look Now", the writer noticed that some of the ambivalent things in Costello's songwriting did not come together coherently. There were fine melodies, the rest of the press community celebrated the album quite a bit, but for one or the other the feeling remained that Costello had lost a bit of the feeling for the contrasting elements in his songs. Now is "Hey clockface" and fears about an indecisive mess could quickly arise. First, this record was recorded in three sessions, Helsinki, Paris and New York, each with different musicians. And secondly, a first cursory listening session reveals whole truckloads of moods and styles. But if you give this record several chances, let it accompany you for a week or two, it quickly becomes clear that Costello has the stylistic reins firmly in his hand. "Hey clockface" covers a lot, the tonal range is enormous, but the different moods complement each other perfectly.

A spoken word prelude with oriental instrumentation like "Revolution # 49", looking for closeness, almost solemn, is the stark opposite of the following "No flag", which rocks industrial drums, snotty sawing guitars and an erratic aggressiveness in the vocals . only to, and this is the trick, to scream out a passionate, even romantic longing in the chorus. Next song, next setting: "They're not laughing at me now" begins as a folk sneak, pulls its tender melodies past finely orchestrated brass and ultimately builds up some anthem-like bombast. This high-gloss stance is of course a strong contrast to the previous rowdy rocker. And this style-hopping continues, but this time the artistic personality of Costello holds the album together perfectly. A mischievous irony always shines through the song and the lyrics of the Englishman, but he assumes the most varied of attitudes.

Through "Newspaper pane", for example, he moves with caustic resignation, while "Hetty O'Hara confidential" shows Costello as a latently exhilarated game master who leads the listener through a jagged, witty rhythm setting. The closeness to hip-hop and generally to black music makes you sit up and take notice, but like everything on this record, this doesn't seem forced and artificial, but rather coherently inserted. And above all, a real feeling, real commitment always shines through. With its cool and bluesy piano tones, "We are all cowards now" has a striking twist in the direction of diffuse shadiness. But how Costello puts a lot of warmth and tender feeling into his vocal disenchantment is impressive.

"I can't say her name", which seems to send a declaration of love straight from the filthy stage of a pub in the heart of New Orleans, known only to insiders, is similarly soft. The fact that these classic Costello moments are also in abundance on "Hey clockface", but the artist does not rest on them, makes this album a great pleasure, not only for regular fans of the British. A buttery ballad like the ending "Byline" is always possible, of course, but there is always something alien and latently weird, which is blocked, but ultimately fits perfectly into the whole.
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 will be released October 30, 2020

Post by sweetest punch »

https://writteninmusic.com/albumrecensi ... clockface/

Elvis Costello
Hey Clockface
4,5 sterren van 5
Geschreven door: Dick Hovenga

Het was na het succes van Look Now te verwachten dat Elvis Costello op een volgend album niet zou schromen de spannende muzikale lijn op dat album ingezet, zou vervolgen. Met zijn nieuwe, onderhand alweer 31ste, album Hey Clockface overtreft hij Look Now schijnbaar moeiteloos.

Geen muzikale remmingen, gewoon doen waar je zin in hebt, dan is de oorspronkelijk Londense maar reeds jarenlang in Toronto wonende Costello op zijn allerbest. Altijd geweest. Zelfs in zijn startjaren eind jaren zeventig schoot hij al vol door de muziekgeschiedenis heen en vond daarin zijn eigen vorm. Het leverde baanbrekend werk op dat door zijn fascinerende manier van songs schrijven en zijn karakteristieke stem tot tientallen klassieke songs leidde.

Voor Hey Clockface reisde Costello de wereld af om op te nemen. Zo nam hij eerst, verrassend genoeg, songs op in Helsinki, trok hij daarna een weekend een studio in Parijs in om het album vervolgens af te maken in New York. Verschillende studio’s met verschillende sferen zoals we al snel merken als we Hey Clockface opzetten.

Samen met producer Sebastian Krys heeft Costello een ronduit briljante collectie songs vastgelegd. Robuust en rafelig (No Flag, Hetty O’Hara Confidential) dan weer ingetogen met gitaar en maar weinig anders, rijke, van jazz doortrokken, songs in vaudeville Parijs stijl en tot slot een aantal van de mooiste ballads die hij ooit schreef (They’re Not Laughing At Me Now, I Do (Zula’s Song), The Whirlwind, The Last Confession Of Vivian Whip, What Is It That I Need That I Don’t Already Have?, Byline). Daarnaast nog een paar fascinerende stukken spoken word (albumopener Revolution #49, Radio is Everything) voorzien van meesterlijke soundtracks.

De songs die hij in Finland opnam deed hij compleet in zijn eentje. Hij was niet alleen zanger maar speelde ook alle instrumenten en bediende alle pedalen en voorzag de tracks van beats en soundscapes. Voor de sessies in de Les Studio San Germain in Parijs vroeg hij Steve Nieve, zijn vaste kompaan van The Attractions, op de toetsen sinds zijn allereerste album, als leider voor een klein jazzcombo dat hij Le Quintette Saint Germain doopte. New York gebruikte hij om met kleine combo’s met vrienden als meestergitarist Bill Frisell het album te vervolmaken.

Hey Clockface is zo’n fascinerend goed Costello album zoals we ze uit zijn rijke oeuvre zo goed kennen. Bijna drie handen vol meesterlijke songs, geweldig gespeeld en fantastisch gezongen. Gevarieerd in sferen en tegelijk geweldig coherent vastgelegd. Costello is de muzikant die na het herstellen van een ingreep van kanker twee jaar terug, het volledig plezier in het maken van muziek optimaal hervonden heeft en de wereld maar weer eens met een meesterstuk verblijdt.

Hey Clockface is Costello op de toppen van zijn kunnen. Een songschrijver die zijn leven in muziek altijd door avontuur heeft laten doordrenken en elk moment dat hij voorspelbaar leek te worden weer een andere muzikale kant opdook. Een zanger die met de jaren ook alleen maar doorleefder en mooier is gaan klinken. Die in de rockers nog net zo puntig en krachtig klinkt als in zijn beginjaren en in de ballads emotievoller dan ooit. Hey Clockface is een fantastische Costello plaat.

——————————-
Google translation:

Elvis Costello
Hey Clockface
4,5 stars out of 5

After the success of Look Now, it was to be expected that Elvis Costello would not hesitate to continue the exciting musical line on that album on a next album. With his new, now 31st, album Hey Clockface he surpasses Look Now seemingly effortlessly.

No musical inhibitions, just do what you want, then Costello, originally from London, but who has lived in Toronto for years, is at his very best. Always been. Even in his early years at the end of the seventies, he shot through music history and found his own form in it. This resulted in groundbreaking work that, due to his fascinating way of writing songs and his characteristic voice, led to dozens of classic songs.

For Hey Clockface, Costello traveled the world to record. Surprisingly, he first recorded songs in Helsinki, then moved into a studio in Paris for a weekend and then finished the album in New York. Different studios with different atmospheres, as we soon notice when we set up Hey Clockface.

Together with producer Sebastian Krys, Costello has captured a truly brilliant collection of songs. Robust and frayed (No Flag, Hetty O'Hara Confidential) then modest with guitar and little else, rich, jazz-steeped songs in vaudeville Paris style and finally some of the most beautiful ballads he ever wrote (They ' re Not Laughing At Me Now, I Do (Zula's Song), The Whirlwind, The Last Confession Of Vivian Whip, What Is It That I Need That I Don't Already Have ?, Byline). In addition, a few fascinating spoken word pieces (album opener Revolution # 49, Radio is Everything) with masterful soundtracks.

He recorded the songs he recorded in Finland completely on his own. He was not only a singer but also played all the instruments and operated all the pedals and provided the tracks with beats and soundscapes. For the sessions at Les Studio San Germain in Paris, he asked Steve Nieve, his regular companion of The Attractions, to play the keys since his very first album, to lead a small jazz combo that he christened Le Quintette Saint Germain. He used New York to complete the album with small combos with friends such as master guitarist Bill Frisell.

Hey Clockface is such a fascinatingly good Costello album as we know it so well from his rich oeuvre. Almost three hands full of masterful songs, played great and sung fantastically. Varied in spheres and at the same time captured very coherently. Costello is the musician who, after recovering from a cancer surgery two years ago, has regained his full enjoyment of making music and is once again making the world happy with a masterpiece.

Hey Clockface is Costello at the top of his game. A songwriter who has always allowed adventure to permeate his life in music, and every moment he seemed to become predictable, he emerged a different musical direction. A singer who has only become more alive and beautiful over the years. Which still sounds just as sharp and powerful in the rockers as in his early years and in the ballads more emotional than ever. Hey Clockface is a fantastic Costello record.
Since you put me down, it seems i've been very gloomy. You may laugh but pretty girls look right through me.
Pars
Posts: 38
Joined: Sun Jun 02, 2013 1:00 pm

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

Post by Pars »

A tad disappointed that the vinyl edition is not being released until 13th November 2020. First time in 40 or so years that I haven’t rushed out to buy an EC album on the day of release.
Pigalle
Posts: 99
Joined: Thu May 14, 2009 3:04 am

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

Post by Pigalle »

Pars wrote:A tad disappointed that the vinyl edition is not being released until 13th November 2020. First time in 40 or so years that I haven’t rushed out to buy an EC album on the day of release.
FNAC shipped my red vinyl yesterday
Pars
Posts: 38
Joined: Sun Jun 02, 2013 1:00 pm

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

Post by Pars »

Pigalle wrote:
Pars wrote:A tad disappointed that the vinyl edition is not being released until 13th November 2020. First time in 40 or so years that I haven’t rushed out to buy an EC album on the day of release.
FNAC shipped my red vinyl yesterday
Someone’s trying to dupe me. I’ll be beating down the door at Rough Trade Nottingham for the red vinyl first thing in the morning. Merci beaucoup!
Pigalle
Posts: 99
Joined: Thu May 14, 2009 3:04 am

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

Post by Pigalle »

Pars wrote:
Pigalle wrote:
Pars wrote:A tad disappointed that the vinyl edition is not being released until 13th November 2020. First time in 40 or so years that I haven’t rushed out to buy an EC album on the day of release.
FNAC shipped my red vinyl yesterday
Someone’s trying to dupe me. I’ll be beating down the door at Rough Trade Nottingham for the red vinyl first thing in the morning. Merci beaucoup!
I was a bit surprised to receive the shipping note. I wonder if they were pressed somewhere different to TMR? And you do know it would be cheaper to buy it from FNAC than Rough Trade don’t you. Rough Trade are charging £29.99 for the red vinyl and £24.99 for the black vinyl edition. FNAC is still €16.99 for the red vinyl.
sweetest punch
Posts: 5964
Joined: Sat Apr 03, 2004 5:49 am
Location: Belgium

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

Post by sweetest punch »

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/elvi ... -9f8zf366g

Elvis Costello interview: How I turned the crisis into my most creative year
With a joyous new album, Hey Clockface, Elvis Costello tells Will Hodgkinson why he feels free to write anything at the moment

Image

Anyone with a subscription?
Since you put me down, it seems i've been very gloomy. You may laugh but pretty girls look right through me.
Pars
Posts: 38
Joined: Sun Jun 02, 2013 1:00 pm

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

Post by Pars »

Pigalle wrote:
Pars wrote:
Pigalle wrote:
FNAC shipped my red vinyl yesterday
Someone’s trying to dupe me. I’ll be beating down the door at Rough Trade Nottingham for the red vinyl first thing in the morning. Merci beaucoup!
I was a bit surprised to receive the shipping note. I wonder if they were pressed somewhere different to TMR? And you do know it would be cheaper to buy it from FNAC than Rough Trade don’t you. Rough Trade are charging £29.99 for the red vinyl and £24.99 for the black vinyl edition. FNAC is still €16.99 for the red vinyl.
Thanks for the tip but I’m content to pay a bit more to support my local record shop.
Pigalle
Posts: 99
Joined: Thu May 14, 2009 3:04 am

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

Post by Pigalle »

Pars wrote:
Pigalle wrote:
Pars wrote:
Someone’s trying to dupe me. I’ll be beating down the door at Rough Trade Nottingham for the red vinyl first thing in the morning. Merci beaucoup!
I was a bit surprised to receive the shipping note. I wonder if they were pressed somewhere different to TMR? And you do know it would be cheaper to buy it from FNAC than Rough Trade don’t you. Rough Trade are charging £29.99 for the red vinyl and £24.99 for the black vinyl edition. FNAC is still €16.99 for the red vinyl.
Thanks for the tip but I’m content to pay a bit more to support my local record shop.
Well it is for real, my copy has already been delivered!
sheeptotheslaughter
Posts: 762
Joined: Thu Nov 27, 2008 10:51 am

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

Post by sheeptotheslaughter »

Thanks for the heads up I have the CD coming from Rough Trade I will walk out to my local record shop tomorrow see if I can get the vinyl
sweetest punch
Posts: 5964
Joined: Sat Apr 03, 2004 5:49 am
Location: Belgium

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

Post by sweetest punch »

https://www.google.be/amp/s/amp.dailyte ... 73687bb32d

Elvis Costello releases his musical love letter to the old ‘jet set lifestyle’ of recording all over the world

Elvis Costello marvels at the “glamorous jet set lifestyle” which made his new album Hey Clockface.

The recordings started in February when he took a detour to Helsinki in Finland en route to London to fashion some musical ideas in his head in a small studio with musicians he had never met before.

And then it was on to Paris where another eight or nine songs were brought to life.

The night he landed in the French city, it was the birthday of his longtime pianist and friend Steve Nieve.

“He was also celebrating the delivery of his French passport and I stood in his apartment with his partner and all of their Parisian friends, all with our arms around each other, eating cake and drinking champagne and singing the Marseillaise,” Costello says.

“All things you would think are reckless if not actually dangerous right now.

“And the next day we were up early to get to the studio in St Germain.”

As Costello shares the mental postcards of the making of Hey Clockface, he is ensconced with his family, jazz artist Diana Krall and their twin sons Dexter and Frank, at their home in Vancouver.

It was where he finished off the record and a raft of new songs have come to life for future projects with both artists having to curtail their touring plans for the indefinite future.

Besides competing with his sons for bandwidth as they homeschooled and he composed and recorded, and a long drive to pick up grocery supplies, Costello is grateful for the unexpected opportunities the shutdown offered the family.

“We were in a little cabin on Vancouver Island … I got to watch my wife put her record together, which is something I never really get to see in such detail,” he says.

“Not that she’s asking my opinion every step of the way but at the end of the working process, I got to sit and have the premiere of the playback of that record knowing that she put everything into producing these sessions and that was a beautiful thing.

“I might have otherwise been on a tour bus going to Tuscaloosa or somewhere.

“And likewise I was there with my young lads who were into their virtual schooling.”

Hey Clockface continues Costello’s dizzying exploration of musical boundaries which kicked off in the 1970s when he emerged at the vanguard of New Wave with enduring classics such as Alison, Watching The Detectives and Pump It Up.

The British songwriter has successfully experimented with jazz, classical and pop standards across the decades and his 31st studio record fuses elements of all of these strands.

The threads which bind the disparate themes and sonic palettes are his voice and a sense of immediacy, with most of the sessions – excepting those in New York which were conducted via telecommunication – completed in days not weeks.

The song titles alone, including Revolution #49, Hetty O’Hara Confidential, The Last Confession of Vivian Whip and recent single Newspaper Pane, pique the listener’s curiosity.

Hey Clockface could be the soundtrack to a movie which is yet to be made.

“The recording sessions were something like a dream you had that came true. There were some stories that are beneath these songs but those are for people to discover themselves,” he says. “There are some clues within the album package that will lead the way to that.

“This music goes from the extremes of something like No Flag, a song for the day when you get up and have no hope, no faith, no allegiance, nothing will give you solace – and obviously I don’t dwell there every day – my experience is that it’s better to sing that out, to get it outside myself.

“And there’s Hetty O’Hara, which compared with the other Helsinki tunes, is the comedy number of the album.”

Costello is also a master of the love song, as evidenced by I Do (Zula’s Song) and the album closer Byline.

“It’s about the love letter you never quite had the courage to send, that might have changed the course of your life,” he says of the final song.

“I believe that’s a story people will recognise; it’s obviously not something I am living in this moment but a story I imagined.

“You know, you can remember the way things felt … I don’t think I necessarily have to have been having that experience to know what is true in a story I am writing or we would be sending all the crime novelists to jail for murder, wouldn’t we?”

Costello predicts he will have at least another two records ready to go by the time international borders are opened to touring, to his jet set lifestyle.

“It’s been a couple of years since I’ve last been to Australia. I’ve got to hope that the next couple of years when things do improve we will be able to return,” he says.

“By then, we might have two or three records worth of new material to play you because who knows what speed we can keep making things if we have to wait much longer to return to the road.

“But right now, I am glad that we did this.”
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 will be released October 30, 2020

Post by Top balcony »

sheeptotheslaughter wrote:Thanks for the heads up I have the CD coming from Rough Trade I will walk out to my local record shop tomorrow see if I can get the vinyl
I've got mine on order from a small independant shop, which has told me they will be getting the vinyl in on Friday 13th Nov!
JONPD
Posts: 1672
Joined: Thu Oct 14, 2010 3:49 pm

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

Post by JONPD »

sheeptotheslaughter wrote:Thanks for the heads up I have the CD coming from Rough Trade I will walk out to my local record shop tomorrow see if I can get the vinyl
My local record shop has said the vinyl has been put back to 13 November.
bronxapostle
Posts: 4914
Joined: Wed Jul 12, 2006 2:27 pm

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

Post by bronxapostle »

And my local Barnes and Noble says cd release pushed back to 11/6. :cry:
WallyRando
Posts: 31
Joined: Mon Jun 15, 2020 3:49 pm

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

Post by WallyRando »

I gave it a half listen late last night before falling asleep (it's been a long week). My prediction was this would be a sort of modern "Spike" based on what we had heard to this point - a bit uneven and all over the place. It definitely veers here and there, but I can't confirm my initial thought, as this is rather cohesive. The general tone of this is... Very dark to me. Not quite like anything else in the discography, to me. I'm listening to "I Do" at the moment and feeling deeply sad.

If I had to compare it to any other records, I'd maybe call it the intersection of When I Was Cruel, North, and Don't Look Now.
bronxapostle
Posts: 4914
Joined: Wed Jul 12, 2006 2:27 pm

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

Post by bronxapostle »

HELP!!!! anybody know a store in the suburbs of NYC that is selling this today?? I miss TOWER RECORDS so much, even Best Buy selling cds or anyplace else where you could ALWAYS grab a release on the first day of sale if you wanted it that badly! I ordered the vinyl; from AMAZON. does that mean it should be in MY AMAZON MUSIC??? let me go check. update: IT IS NOT IN MY AMAZON MUSIC either. :twisted:
sweetest punch
Posts: 5964
Joined: Sat Apr 03, 2004 5:49 am
Location: Belgium

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

Post by sweetest punch »

https://lflmagazine.nl/cd-recensies/elv ... -clockface

Elvis Costello – Hey Clockface

Na 43 jaar, een kleine dertig reguliere albums en tal van zij- en duoprojecten weet Elvis Costello nog steeds te verrassen. Het in Helsinki, Parijs en New York opgenomen Hey Clockface is alleen al in puur stilistisch opzicht van een schier ongekende rijkdom: Midden-Oosterse elementen, New Orleans-blazers, door akoestische gitaar ondersteunde slijpers, felle rockers met ongebruikelijke instrumentaties, etc. En wanneer je bij door de maan overvallen prachtballads als The Whirlwind en Byline merkt dat je zit te speculeren over hoe ze geklonken zouden hebben als Sinatra ze gezongen had, dan weet je dat je met instant-klassiekers te maken hebt. In de teksten hekelt Costello ‘the pornography of bullets’, tekent hij vol mededogen indringende karakterportretten, bepaalt ferm zijn positie in het huidige tijdsgewricht en laat zich al met al vooral van zijn meest humanistische kant zien. ‘I’ve got a head full of ideas and words that don’t seem to belong to me’, stelt hij op bijtende toon in No Flag. Hey Clockface, een nieuw hoogtepunt in het oeuvre, logenstraft die bewering in praktisch iedere song.

5 / 5 stars

——————————-
Google translation

Elvis Costello - Hey Clockface

After 43 years, some thirty regular albums and numerous side and duo projects, Elvis Costello still manages to surprise. Recorded in Helsinki, Paris and New York, Hey Clockface is of an almost unprecedented richness in purely stylistic terms alone: ​​Middle Eastern elements, New Orleans wind instruments, grinders supported by acoustic guitar, fierce rockers with unusual instrumentations, etc. And when When you hear beautiful ballads like The Whirlwind and Byline that take you by the moon and you find yourself speculating about how they would have sounded if Sinatra had sung them, you know you're dealing with instant classics. In the lyrics Costello denounces "the pornography of bullets", he draws penetrating character portraits full of compassion, firmly determines his position in the current era and, all in all, shows his most humanistic side. "I've got a head full of ideas and words that don't seem to belong to me," he says in No Flag. Hey Clockface, a new highlight in the oeuvre, belies that claim in practically every song.

5/5 stars
Since you put me down, it seems i've been very gloomy. You may laugh but pretty girls look right through me.
cwr
Posts: 784
Joined: Tue Jun 05, 2007 7:14 pm

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

Post by cwr »

I love it.

I was expecting it to be kind of a hot mess COVID album-- and undoubtedly it is a different LP than we might've gotten if the pandemic hadn't happened and EC had gone into Abbey Road with The Imposters as planned-- but it holds together nicely. It is adventurous and experimental but the advance tracks hadn't prepared me for anything quite like "Byline."
Post Reply