Word: costelloe
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Formerly, Costello had a female antagonist worthy of sparring; "Two Little Hitlers" defined relationships as an unending series of one-upmanships and clashes, a dance of death with each power in turn vowing to return. Here, his sometime partner, presumably aging Playboy centerfold and intercontinental pleasure-kitten Bebe Buell, is merely a "B Movie," "a sob-soap story" devoid of all but carnal interest; this is not two Hitlers, but Hitler and Mussolini. The song climaxes as Elvis taunts her for her shallowness: "You can't feel, you can't feel," his voice echoing in her vacuity, while Bruce Thomas...
...Happy!!, known among the cognoscenti as "20 Hits 20," sports 20 songs, and any one of them would redeem any album by any other artist. Elvis Costello is aggressively showing off, sneering "anything you can do, I can do better," and getting away with it because he's right. The scope of the music is vast, expanding an already startling repertoire of styles. Lyrically, Elvis continues to be ambitious and elliptical, outrageous, profound. The themes are familiar: betrayal, emotional imprisonment, greed, loss of feeling...
...Happy!!, Elvis Costello pays homage to his American musical influences--soul, blues, much Motown and Stax, as well as reggae. Costello, in Lou Reed's phrase, "wants to be Black." One of the two covers is an old Sam and Dave song, the rousing, "I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down." Charmingly, it comes out sounding like Graham Parker and the Rumour. Influences being what they are, maybe it was supposed...
...emotional limitations, Elvis recorded "Big Tears" on a single last year, in which he accused his partner of calculated crying, empty tears, while dissolving into sobs himself. It was a pretty good song (though not good enough for inclusion on Armed Forces, undercut by an unexpansive melody and Costello's lack of vocal control). The concept reappears on Get Happy!! in "B Movie," this time with a meaner, more controlled vocal; but the style, the emotion, is successfully rendered in "Riot Act." Hanging on every heavy, condemnatory thump of Pete Thomas's drum as he is led into custody, Elvis...
...could look upon Elvis Costello's vision as anything but limited. But few would look for a comprehensive overview in August Strindberg, either. Immature and oversensitive, Elvis dehumanizes to keep from being dehumanized; he gives us nothing less than the genesis of evil. What we have in the music of Elvis Costello is an extraordinarily detailed delineation of the twists and turns of a single tortured, adolescent mind. It's not us, but it's not that far removed; you may feel it next time you masturbate. In "High Fidelity," Elvis gives us, for once, a moral afterthought, a vicious...