Elvis Costello post 1986 C/D S/D

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Costello's early work is very much part of the rock "canon", discussed a lot of mentioned a lot etc.

But how about his later work? How about the stuff he did after he signed with a major?

Personally, I feel that some of his best ever albums have been released during this period. Sure, he isn't "punk" anymore, and those who loved him because he was "fast and angry" will not like his current stuff. I feel like, side projects aside, his later career is more of a continuation of what he started on "Imperial Bedroom" in 1982 - the sophisticated pop genius working on little pop symphonies, having no ambition at all to "fuck the system", just to make nice and sophisticated music. This may of course piss of punks though.

As I said, some of his better work are IMO during this more recent period. I particularly love "Spike", which has "Veronica", one of the best songs he ever wrote, and also a couple of really nice Celtic influenced ballads.

After the somewhat more patchy "Mighty Like a Rose" he worked on a couple of collaborative side projects before he released what I consider his late career masterpiece, "Brutal Youth", a brilliant collection of great classic pop songs, masterfully produced by Mitchell Froom. "Sulky Girl" and "London's Brilliant Parade" are both among his best songs.

After that, he has again been working on some side projects, but in-between he has also released great albums. "All This Useless Beauty" had some of the same kind of strong moments as his earlier 90s pop albums. "Painted From Memory" did of course also contain a lot of really great moments, even though I felt like filling an entire album with just ballads became a bit weary (where have all those bossa-nova-like moments that Bacharach tended to write in the 60s gone?). "When I Was Cruel" was to me a huge disappointment, sounding too much like "Blood And Chocolate", his worst album. Elvis Costello just doesn't fit as a raw rocker. "North" was better again, although with the same weaknesses as "Painted From Memory".

So then, what is the conclusion? Personally I definitely feel like he has released his share of classics during this period too. But 10 years have now passed since his last classic, so maybe he is now finally on a creative downturn?

Anyway:

Search: "Spike", "Brutal Youth", "All This Useless Beauty", "Painted From Memory"

Destroy: "When I Was Cruel", some of the weirder side projects

As for the rest, search them, but only after having searched other stuff at first.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Saturday, 16 October 2004 16:09 (twenty-one years ago)

dud

― peter smith (plsmith), Saturday, 16 October 2004 16:19 (twenty-one years ago)

dud. i have never been able to get into any elvis costello records besides "my aim is true" and "blood and chocolate"

― Helios Creed (orion), Saturday, 16 October 2004 16:20 (twenty-one years ago)

this is a good idea for a thread, I hope it doesn't get hated on just for being a Geir creation.

I only have about half of his post-86 albums, mostly the more 'rock' ones. here's a random POX:

Rocking Horse Road
You Tripped At Every Step
It's Time
Why Can't A Man Stand Alone?
God Give Me Strength
Toledo
45
Episode of Blonde
Bedlam
The Name Of This Thing Is Not Love

― Al (sitcom), Saturday, 16 October 2004 16:34 (twenty-one years ago)

The only album I'm half tempted to buy from this era is Brutal Youth. I like what I've heard (esp. "Kinder Murder") even if the lyrics don't mean shit to me.

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 16 October 2004 16:38 (twenty-one years ago)

dunno about albums but "Let Him Dangle", "God Give Me Strength" and "That Day Is Done" are good songs

― zebedee (zebedee), Saturday, 16 October 2004 16:41 (twenty-one years ago)

oh and lest we forget, heh heh...
Is Elvis Costello rock?

― zebedee (zebedee), Saturday, 16 October 2004 16:45 (twenty-one years ago)

Brutal Youth is overall pretty good. my favorite album overall from this era is All This Useless Beauty, though. what can I say, I like the balladeering.

― Al (sitcom), Saturday, 16 October 2004 16:52 (twenty-one years ago)

I think my favorite McCartney album is Flowers in the Dirt because of Costello's compositions, most notably That Day Is Done and You Want Her Too.

And there's The Juliet Letters, which I think is pure genius.

― Catty (Catty), Saturday, 16 October 2004 16:59 (twenty-one years ago)

"Veronica" is classic squared.

― Tantrum The Cat (Tantrum The Cat), Saturday, 16 October 2004 17:44 (twenty-one years ago)

I've been hanging out with someone named Veronica so I've got that song in my head all the goddamn time. I've grown to like the song just so I won't go insane.

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 16 October 2004 17:50 (twenty-one years ago)

And there's The Juliet Letters, which I think is pure genius.

wow - you don't hear that sentiment very much. but i definitely concur - this record really takes a lot of risks, has all sorts of song styles and different points of view in the lyrics, has really beautiful ballads in his signature style and adapts his weird song moments and ranting / complaint modes well too. if only the bacharach record had been half as risk-taking or varied...

brutal youth is indeed the record to start with, post demon-years [the first decade]. it has what he considers his finest song [the title track, a sort of diamond-hard compacted version of shipbuilding], plenty of hooks that surge forward in almost every song [especially clown strike, all the rage, you tripped at every step, & still too soon to know], and some nice noisy songs with decent production [usually a problem with elvis, good thing nick lowe was around i guess].

probably deep dead blue is another good place to start, it's short, it's minimalist, it's really good.

spike's got tons of great songs, for sure. satellite - his bacharach homage - pisses all over the bacharach lp. i like the lyrics on this record a lot, there's plenty of pointless surrealism mingled with stale inside jokes and strikingly rendered bathos - he's not trying to write classic-sounding songs, he's writing the kind of thing he personally likes to do. so it's natural, believable. eg miss macbeth is far more real to me than any of the girls on all this useless beauty.

mighty like a rose is tough going but the first and last tracks are superb, and the rest at least feels like diverse attempts at following ideas through, rather than filler [as on 90% of cruel, north, painted, beauty, kojak variety].

― mig (mig), Saturday, 16 October 2004 18:18 (twenty-one years ago)

Nearly everything on Brutal Youth is great, about half of Spike is good, I can leave the rest of it.

― Jamie Fake (the pirate king), Saturday, 16 October 2004 18:24 (twenty-one years ago)

I quite liked Spike and moments of Brutal Youth, but haven't really paid attention fully since Spike (on which I loved "Let Him Dangle" and "This Town", fwiw).

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 16 October 2004 18:29 (twenty-one years ago)

After he signed with a major? He was on Columbia in the U.S. from the get-go!

Geir, "Blood & Chocolate" is my favorite Costello album, so you should DEFINITELY NOT get his new one, "The Delivery Man," because I like it a lot for many of the same reasons...

I really like "Deep Dead Blue," though, and you might too--very stripped down & melodic.

My post-'86 POX for Costello (bearing in mind that "Blood & Chocolate" was '86):

Tear Off Your Own Head (It's a Doll Revolution)
You Bowed Down
There's a Story In Your Voice
13 Steps Lead Down
You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go
Hurry Down Doomsday (The Bugs Are Taking Over)
That Day Is Done
The Other End of the Telescope
When I Was Cruel #2
Monkey to Man

― Douglas (Douglas), Saturday, 16 October 2004 18:32 (twenty-one years ago)

am I (still) alone in thinking King of America is a bloated mess?

― lovebug starski (lovebug starski), Saturday, 16 October 2004 18:34 (twenty-one years ago)

no.

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 16 October 2004 18:36 (twenty-one years ago)

but after This Years Model I've got varying levels of beef with every album.

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 16 October 2004 18:37 (twenty-one years ago)

Spike was actually the last time I bought an Elvis Costello album, except for replacing the earlier ones on CD. Off that one, besides the songs mentioned, I like "Deep Dark Truthful Mirror" and "Baby Plays Around." "DDTM" has a great opening line: "Someday you're gonna have to face a deep, dark, truthful mirror/ And it's gonna tell you things that I still love you too much to say."

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Saturday, 16 October 2004 18:40 (twenty-one years ago)

xpost
now I feel better. Took a lot of shit on that one, and I wonder how many people still listen to KofA. Wilco fans, maybe? I'd begin the beef after Get Happy...

― lovebug starski (lovebug starski), Saturday, 16 October 2004 18:43 (twenty-one years ago)

Armed Forces is pretty great musically but lyrically...god, he had NOTHING to say other than Emotional Fascism - "Don't tread on me, bitch!" I haven't given Get Happy! the attention I probably should.

And I dig Wilco!

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 16 October 2004 18:46 (twenty-one years ago)

actually I think Wilco are something like a more successful modern update of what Costello was trying to do in the middle 80s, country-rock with avant-pop touches, but I haven't given THEM the attention I should. Those Rykodisc reissues on Costello have been gathering dust on my shelves for ten years, too.

― lovebug starski (lovebug starski), Saturday, 16 October 2004 18:53 (twenty-one years ago)

While Wilco isn't perfect, but their big frustrations in life thankfully aren't "why are the pretty ones always so stupid?" and "nobody realizes I'm a genius."

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 16 October 2004 18:56 (twenty-one years ago)

...give Jeff Tweedy another couple years of cult worship followed by the inevitable drop-off and he might get to "nobody realizes I'm a genius." Hope not. (and I dig Wilco, too).

― lovebug starski (lovebug starski), Saturday, 16 October 2004 19:03 (twenty-one years ago)

I'll admit he's getting gradually more insufferable with his abstract poetic pretensions. Note the increasing size of the lyrics in the liner notes (now they've got a book coming out with a CD attached, haha).

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 16 October 2004 19:07 (twenty-one years ago)

I love the songs on "Brutal Youth," but hate the production (and generally like Mitchell Froom, at least when he's teamed with Tchad Blake). I think that's partly what made that '94 Attractions reunion so great - strong new material that sounded much better live.

I really like a lot of "When I was Cruel" and "Spike." Oh, and every single one of those recent Rhino double-disc reissues = classic, especially for cost to content ratio.

― Josh in Chicago (Josh in Chicago), Saturday, 16 October 2004 22:03 (twenty-one years ago)

I love the production on "Brutal Youth", particularly those sound effects in towards the end of "London's Brilliant Parade". I like it when the producer is trying to add some detail and sophistication to the production, rather than "rawness", which I have never been a fan of.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Saturday, 16 October 2004 22:05 (twenty-one years ago)

I thought Nick Lowe produced Brutal Youth!

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 16 October 2004 22:08 (twenty-one years ago)

I think he was somewhat involved in the band process, but Mitchell Froom is the one credited as producer.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Saturday, 16 October 2004 22:11 (twenty-one years ago)

Manthony off the money on 'Armed Forces' lyrics. A very sympathetic, empathetic record, I think.

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Saturday, 16 October 2004 23:17 (twenty-one years ago)

songs about dealing with shit from girls: "Accidents will happen," "big boys," "Green shirt," "Party Girl," "busy bodies," "chemistry class," "two little hitlers"

songs about dealing with shit from society: "senior service," "oliver's army," "goon squad," "sunday's best," "moods for moderns"

exception that proves the rule: "What's So Funny About Peace Love and Understanding?" by Nick Lowe

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 16 October 2004 23:26 (twenty-one years ago)

despite (as he noted on VH1 Storytellers when discussing "Accidents Will Happen") his tendency to fog up the pronouns so that its not as emotionally revealing as it could be, the dudes two statements are 1) let me be who I want to be and 2) it's bullshit the stuff I gotta do to get laid.

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 16 October 2004 23:29 (twenty-one years ago)

Of course, when it comes to songs about dealing with shit from girls, Joe Jackson is even more into that subject...

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Saturday, 16 October 2004 23:59 (twenty-one years ago)

i've paid attention to him a little bit since '86. saw him in nashville at the ryman, he was pretty good. there are a few decent songs on "spike." "blood and chocolate" is good. every album has something pretty nice on it. i never liked "king of america," that's when he went all roots or whatever, i have no use for it at all. he wanted to get "real" and "drop the masks" and why do that if you're elvis costello? i have real respect for his accomplishments early on, but he's been an embarrassment for nearly twenty years--that episode of "frasier" where he's singing in the coffee shop being one of the prime examples, the stupid bacharach shit being another.

― eddie hurt (ddduncan), Sunday, 17 October 2004 17:06 (twenty-one years ago)

mostly dud, I now think, though I loved all this stuff at the time it came out. Spike is too long but has a lot of great songs. Mighty LIke A Rose not so many but closes with what I think is one of his best songs (Couldn't Call it Unexpected #4). Brutal Youth never really excited me but All This Useless Beauty has a lot of good material as well. Last one was a bit blah and I didn't bother with North or the new ones.

― kyle (akmonday), Sunday, 17 October 2004 17:35 (twenty-one years ago)

four months pass...

To no artist was the CD era less kind than Elvis C. There's still great shit on his post '86 albums, but you gotta dig through loads of loquacious blather (King of America is a perfect example of bloat). And his repulsive sense of self-entitlement means we have to endure loads of songs attesting to his Significance in the Western Canon.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 22 February 2005 17:47 (twenty years ago)

i like "taking my life in your hands" -- i think that's the title anyway -- from the string quartet album. i like a few random other songs here and there. but basically the end for him came before '86. imperial bedroom was the last half-good album he made, and calling that album half-good may be a stretch. in the 20-plus years since then, he's combined some decent melodies with some awful ideas.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Tuesday, 22 February 2005 18:02 (twenty years ago)

I always thought he titled it Imperial Bedroom because he thought his ornate, cryptic verse made him sleepy.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 22 February 2005 18:05 (twenty years ago)

OTM. I think I've been trying to make that joke for over twenty years but couldn't figure out how to do it right.

― Ken L (Ken L), Tuesday, 22 February 2005 19:45 (twenty years ago)

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