4/5
Costello Music.
Spectacle stuck between the rock and roll of fellow Liverpudlian's The Beatles and a first namesake, King crowning Presley place, Elvis Costello still makes legendary music (oh and as an aside, for the record we know he wasn't born in Birkenhead, but instead London's Paddington like the bear...but this Sandgrounder so close from Southport will take it). So much so the icon spins a wheel of fortune of songs at concerts (remember those?) for fans spoilt for choice when it comes to his greatest hits. The man in black like Cash and the reason I buy bifocals has more albums than he has prescription lenses under those stetsons. From the drums that sound like nothing else, stampeding in like elephants with his band The Attractions. Or The Imposters of last years almost album, 'Purse' EP. To even cutting a record with Jimmy Fallon's 'Late Night' house band and hip-hop legendary Roots crew (the wonderful 'Wise Up Ghost' back in 2013), between 'Alison's' and 'She', his own talk show like Letterman back in the day and an 'Austin Powers' cameo. Now one of the greatest of all-time comes back alive out of quarantine with an album as big as the new Busta Rhymes bang (the super sequel 'Extinction Level Event 2: The Wrath Of God') and surprise EP from urban legend Common ('A Beautiful Revolution (Pt.)'). Not to mention the 20th anniversary deluxe release of OutKast's 'Stankonia' ("stank love" forever. Forever ever? Forever ever!) and that Rage remix of 'Bombs Over Baghdad (B.O.B.)' for the machine now this great with hip-hop Roots moves in rap circles. One big weekend after last weeks letter from alumni, luminary, Boss, Bruce Springsteen and the wordless reply from this generations greatest, Ben Harper because 'Winter Is For Lovers'. No longer staring at the clock on the wall like Willie Nelson, Costello turns his new album 'Hello Clockface' (clockface people...clockface) just in time in the fall of the truly, terrible 2020 that was supposed to be Gastby old sport. But the party's not over yet people. With his 31st album and his first full-length since 2018's 'Look Now' take a gander at the Guggenheim worthy album artwork and see Elvis is still painting perfect pictures even in the obliterated outlook of this calendar. Thank you very much.
Poetry prose opens this clock with 'Revolution #49' for fans of the fab four. Elvis evokes compelling narratives as he "cold as stone" says, "the land was white, the wind a dagger/Life beats a poor man to his grave/Love makes a rich man from a beggar/Love is the one thing we can save." All before rip roaring raw into the best song off the album and his in years to get us started. Waving 'No Flag', but tearing through the strings as he sings," I've got no religion/I've got no philosphy/I've got a head full of ideas and words that don't seem to belong to me" in protest. All for an anthem that could march the streets of a million men from Selma to Black Lives Matter. Adding, "Here's a line in the sand/A word or two in the aftermath." Chortling in chorus, ""You could shake my hand/If I could unfold my fist/If I were a gentleman/If I were a Christian/But I wouldn't risk it/Why would you?/You know my name now/And it's "Mister" to you," for the last laugh in the, 'They're Not Laughing At Me Now' for the haters in this generation of division. A tonic for our troubled times, Costello rhymes," "To keep out the nonsense/And block out the needing/To keep up her spirits/With improving reading/But the ink from the columns/Dissolved down into the stain/On the bare wood floor/That extended to the door", on the headlines of the organ haunting and grinding 'Newspaper Pane' for our news of a coronavirus stricken world like a Queen album or new Tom Hanks Western. But just you wait for the back of the paper, closing 'Byline' that lyrically you should really read all about. "You'll see my photo beside the article/"That's just some guy I used to know/I was never his/He was always mine/But I wrote him off by line by line"/By line by line by line by line by line by line." Stop press! Now how's that for a closing statement? But like the beauty of 'I Do (Zula's Song)' in a time where, 'Radio Is Everything', he and we ain't done.
"We're All Cowards Now' Costello chides in a Trump time that has turned all our piss and vinegar into brine. "The emptiness of arms/The openness of thighs/The pornography of bullets/The promises and prizes can't disguise/We are all cowards now", he tells is like it is during a perplexing period were likes have replaced love and we continue to shoot and f### each other to death. 'Hey Clockface/How Can You Face Me' he asks on the alt album title track that just goes around and 'round like these quarantined days and the hands we have over our eyes, even though we're holding up a smartphone as we idly swipe past genuine and genius all for the Apple we shouldn't Adam bite on the eve of the end of the worst year. Helsinki, Paris and New York held home for the recordings of this 14 track EP, at the same time as his wonderful wife, Canadian jazz singer Diana Krall released her latest classic ('This Dream Of You') this year. It's been 'The Whirlwind' like he storms on that twister of a track before giving us the storytelling, 'Hetty O'Hara Confidential', journaling journalists again with his second single. "She could kill a man with a single stroke/She's not the one you want to provoke" he warns, "if you can't take the heat/or if you can't take the joke" in classic Costello tones. This all newspaper rolls into 'The Last Confession Of Vivian Whip' changing roles as Elvis tell us all about it in epic eulogy. "Hear the last confession of Vivian Whip/If you're reading this/"My life was lonely/Never hurt a fly/Or spared a kiss/Never killed a soul/Except my own."" Storytelling hasn't been this stellar since Dylan went in on what happened to JFK in '63 behind the knoll with 'Rough and Rowdy Ways'. 'What Is It That I Need That I Don't Already Have' he asks in solitary solace on one of the last tracks, finding comfort at home in inspired isolation, quarantining with the one he holds dear. Diana. But still wondering if woe will befall him before the calendar turns. "Some glasses for my eyes and an hour or two of speed/My hands don't blister/My hands don't bleed" he closes all before he finds the words to this wonder on 'I Can't Say Her Name'. "How can I show my face?/I'm a mess and I fear I may confess/I'm a fool with or without her/Make up what you will about her/It's part of the game/I can't say her name." Our narrator looking for love, but trying to find himself as he loses, as Elvis gives us another rock and roll winner 'round the clock that will keep us ticking over like that face on the wall. Oh hey! Far away and East in Japan, isolated from my friends and family back home (although I am living the life, I can't complain), there's an autobiography from Elvis Costello ('Unfaithful Music') waiting for me back at home near Liverpool, like 'Carol' or a warm embrace. But at 688 pages long and cinder block, hardbook big, I have book, but can't travel with it (can't travel light anyway). But that's OK, one day I'll return to it like a bookmark and far more important things I hold close. Until then Elvis and the story of ourselves, is still being written. No matter the byline or time. Face that clock on your wall. TIM DAVID HARVEY.
Playlist Picks: 'No Flag', 'We Are All Cowards Now', 'Byline'.
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