Word: musicalization
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...recording history is one of those success stories that's satisfying because the artist deserves every bit of acclaim he's received. His first album, recorded with only a bassist and drummer backing him, shocked people in 1977--forces that small hadn't produced such energetic and memorable music in ages. The follow-up only a few months later, This Year's Model, landed on the public almost too soon--it was hard to believe one man could write that many great songs so fast, and record them so well. This Year's Model added an organ to Costello...
...last album. Costello--the little guy in the seedy suit and black plastic glasses--sounds worried himself on his latest release. He's always powered his songs with two emotions, woman-hating sexual frustration and corporate paranoia. On Armed Forces, the paranoia takes over and twists his music into some very strange, chilly shapes and sounds...
...name "Emotional Fascism." The old title is a perfect epithet for Elvis Costello's obsessions, but he had to bow to the commercial wisdom that would advise against that title. Costello hasn't completely given up on womankind, but his misogyny makes way for the paranoia here, and the music reflects the change. It's less straightforward, a bit less dynamic, and relies heavily on the work of studio whiz Nick Lowe...
...maintain the hot-and-bothered pace of Costello's first two albums, and Armed Forces does have its share of rockers--"Goon Squad" and "Accidents Will Happen" in particular carry on the tradition. But all over the new album there are signs of his evolution towards more versatile music-making. He's always had a touch of the middle-of-the-road about him--he recorded a Burt Bacharach number on a live anthology last year. "What's So Funny About Peace, Love and Understanding," a Nick Lowe song which Costello belts out on Armed Forces, brilliantly parodies good-hearted...
...trend on Armed Forces he should guard against is the over-production that seeps into the album. Nick Lowe has produced all of Elvis Costello's albums, and has always done right by his music, but on Armed Forces the fiddling just begins to interfere with his simple music formulas. Costello's voice may not be beautiful, but it's strong, warm, and conveys angry emotion better than any other popular singer's today. There's no need for it to be buried in muddy mixing, bounced from one stereo channel to another, or treated with synthetic echo...