Word: costelloe
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...doesn't have to look too hard, obviously, to see where Costello's coming from. The only problem with such a direct and insistent attack is that the listener may well find himself sated with the singer's cynicism before long. In this case, that would be a real shame--there's more to this album than the crazed rumblings of an embittered anachronism. There are three cuts, especially, that deserve a careful second listening. They're not only the record's most interesting expressions of Costello's viewpoint--they point up strengths, both lyric and musical, obscured elsewhere...
MYSTERY DANCE," a one-and-a-half minute gem, is straight-ahead rock and roll, the kind of fast, urgent and purely visceral rock where the cleverness of the lyric is no more than a pleasant but totally superfluous surprise. Costello proves here that his singing is equal to the trickiest tempo and the rawest lyrics; his guitar playing is a wonder, a crashing solo in the best '50s tradition. "I'm Not Angry" gives further evidence of his instrumental strength; here too the guitar work is excellent, searing and fluid in a more contemporary style. It's a truly...
...apocalyptic and dark-sounding song, reminiscent of Hendrix's version of "All Along the Watchtower," and Costello proves in it that his music is more than just a clever recreation of vintage rock...
...Alison" is the album's most interesting song. A ballad, it's unsettling in the same way as "I'm Not Angry"--what Costello says works at cross-purposes with how he says it. The music is quiet and lyrical, and another aspect of Costello's instrumental skill is revealed in the reflective, jazz-like guitar figures he plays under the vocal. The words, however, belie the tradition of rock and roll ballads to lost loves. Yes, there's sadness there for what used to be--but the norm in classic rock lyrics is the graceful acquiescence, and Costello will...
...ALISON," as in "I'm Not Angry" and throughout My Aim Is True, Elvis Costello anticipates our reactions and responds by ringing changes on them. Comparisons are inevitable--to Presley, from whom he took his name; to Springsteen, and Mick Jagger, and Graham Parker, like all of whom he sounds; to the r&b revivalists, of whom he is certainly one; to the punks, of whom he is not. The comparisons will be made, but they will be unfair. They'll be easy handles for people who will be scared away by outward appearances and won't recognize this album...