Elvis Costello turns 65 today.

[jeffk]

Wow! Let that sink in. 

[~ / % ? *]

I am glad we have him, but i kinda feel like after the first ten wonderful years we've been doing all the work

[Mr. FOLLARD]

Yeah, well put Gav.

I still can't 'get' Imperial Bedroom. Beatles-level it ain't.

[jeffk]

I lost interest when he started trying too hard. The songs were rolling out of him the first few years but then he became more forced.

[rayge]

In hindsight, what made those early singles (and, if you must, slbums) so attractive at the time was, well, the Attractions. Some great songs, too, but it was the mesh of the tight, angry writing and the tight, bright, yet somehow supple sound of the band that makes them stand out.
I think they faded when they became an album act. EC was writing so much the band didn't have as much time to nail things down. And then at some point I realised I had bought his last two or three albums when they came out but just hadn't got round to playing them yet, and something turned off the switch and I never bothered with him again.

[DarknessFish]

Hasn't he always been 65?

[toomanyhatz]

I get what Knucklehead is saying above, and agree to a degree, but I don't totally buy that a great majority of the good stuff is in the first ten years. Shirley he was already showing signs of diarrhea of the pen/word processor by Punch the Clock, and I'll always stick up for a dilettante who offers up the occasional success (although I'm the only person in the world that likes the Brodsky Quartet album). I thought his answer to those criticisms was a good one, which is basically, I'm an artist, these things interest me, this is what I'm supposed to do. Doesn't mean we have to listen, of course. But occasionally I'll poke my head in to his world for a second and will think "oh, this is pretty good."

A lot like Nick Cave, in other words.

[Sneelock]

you had me up until the Nick Cave reference.

[Deleted]

Aug 26, 2019 19:06:48 GMT Sneelock said:

you had me up until the Nick Cave reference.

I was gone after the Brodsky Quartet mention.

[Deleted]

[osgood]

Aug 26, 2019 18:48:26 GMT toomanyhatz said:

 (although I'm the only person in the world that likes the Brodsky Quartet album).

Well, I kind of like it. Enough to play it every two years or so.

I agree with you about Punch the Clock. I'd say that one, Goodbye Cruel World, Mighty Like a Rose and All This Useless Beauty are the only failures up until When I Was Cruel, after which I decided to jump off. And even in everyone of those there are some tracks worth saving. Then the only one I've got is The River in Reverse which is a fine album in my view.

[neige]

There's something to love on almost every album - and the last one is killer, a real return to form

But I'm a fanboy

[Sneelock]

me gusta!

[~ / % ? *]

I hope he finds a way out of always turning 65, but then maybe that isn't so bad.

[Sneelock]

65 is the new 39!