For the last fifteen years, Evlis Costello has seemed intent on annoying his longtime fans enough to make them forget he was ever any good. But I've got a good memory and he can't really eradicate the worth of his early achievments. And I especially remember the wonder and thrill of hearing this, the opening track from his debut, My Aim Is True.
I've always been a sucker for pop hooks, and this this uptempo number manages to cram in a lot in its short playing time: Beatles-like harmonies and changes over a vaguely early Kinks backdrop, with enough poison to feed a dozen "Positively Fourth Street"s.
In the old days, with no internet, if an album didn't come with a lyric sheet, you could spend a lifetime deciphering the meaning of your favorite songs. Which is especially cruel with a clever, wordy writer like Costello (not that it seems like a particularly worthy endeavor in the case of something like All This Worthless Beauty, mind). Now we have the internet and a long time personal Sphinx has been solved:
Why do you want to be my friend
When I feel like a juggler running out of hands?
Copyright 1977 Elvis Costello
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2 comments:
ikvmgvww. Wow.
Just a footnote: I might disagree about the quality of EC's recorded work in the last "fifteen years" (I assume you still judge "albums" not "tracks" as the ultimate test of the recording artist, but even if you don't care for the albums, he has had some pretty worthy tracks). I wonder, though - much as EC is an intensive recorder, he is ten times the performer. Can you judge him only on the basis of his recorded work? There's more to discuss there, but just a thought for now.
The man creates albums so I would judge him by them. I agree he has some worthy tracks on even his most abysmal records.
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