Weaker sister to Mighty and perhaps an attempt to repeat the eclecticism of the stronger King Of America. Either way, I never cared much for Spike though "Let Him Dangle" and "God's Comic" are brilliant & uniquely Costello. I actually prefer the deluxe edition with all the demo versions, much more listenable to me than the busy & irritating production on the album proper. "This Town" is far better as an acoustic demo.
I find it over-appreciated. It goes on forever and has that lame late-80s stiff fussy sound. "Veronica" is cloying and overly cute. I also must admit to knowing a girl with that name who would dance like Elaine on Seinfeld whenever the song was (rarely) played at parties we attended. It was big let-down to me after Blood & Chocolate. I can't stand the album cover art either. One of my least favorite Costello albums.
Shoot, now that you bring that up, I did mean to bring up Paul in my original post. And what I wanted to mention was that it seems very clear to me now that a full McCartney/Costello probably woulda been, if not a blockbuster, a very big hit. It is obvious from the songs that they wrote together that they have a lot of chemistry. And I think it's fair to say that most of the best songs on Flowers in the Dirt, Off The Ground, Spike and Mighty Like A Rose were McCartney/Costello co-writes. Imagine an album with "My Brave Face", "Veronica", "The Lovers That Never Were", "Mistress And Maid", "So Like Candy" and a handful of others. You've got at least 2 hits right there. I think it woulda launched Elvis possibly higher into the stratosphere, as it seems like he was always on the verge of being a "brand", a la Springsteen or Billy Joel, but something always held him back. Also, I think this would've gave Paul a more "firm" comeback, as I feel like Flowers and the accompanying tour were a big comeback, yes, but perhaps a McCartney/Costello album woulda kept him more "contemporary" if you know what I mean. I mean, it can't be a coincidence that Flowers is the last McCartney album that had a top 40 single ("My Brave Face"). Anyways, I'm pretty sure Elvis was game for this, but apparently Paul didn't wanna look like he needed another witty guy with glasses to prop him back up.* *I'm actually a huuuuge Paul fan and I don't think he needs anybody to "prop him up" but supposedly this was feeling during this era.
"One day you're gonna have to face the deep, dark, truthful mirror And it's gonna tell you things that I still love you too much to say." An uneven album, granted, but the highlights are among the best of his career.
I've never heard any of Costello's albums, I prefer the films he did with Abbott. Seriously, would it have killed you to type "Elvis" in the title?
This album was an introduction, of sorts, between me and Elvis. And... as a result, I'll always have a soft spot for it. Only two songs I don't love on it, Chewing Gum and Stalin Malone. But other than that, it's stellar. And it started a discovery of this fine artist that I'm still enjoying this very day.
Spike was also my introduction to EC so I too have a soft spot for it. I haven't listened to it much in quite a while though. I remember the last time I tried putting it on that I was turned off by the artificial drums and reverb on This Town...oh what a great time the 80s were. At the time it came out I never noticed these things which is an indication of how brainwashed I was back then to those production practices. Regarding the eclectic sound palette, I'm totally cool with it. I think he's done enough 'classic' Costello so I'm fine with his genre hopping. As for the lyric content, this album is like the opposite of Blood & Chocolate, which is a very inward looking album - the narrator obsessed with his own feelings and neuroses. Spike's lyrics are mostly concerned with 3rd person narratives and topics external to the narrator...so to a certain extent this probably contributes to an 'impersonal' feeling to the album.
Spike doesn't just suffer the drum/reverb maladies of the '80s. It's extremely shrill... If I were Costello's manager, I'd suggest to him an idea for his next concept project: Go back and cherry pick his best songs from Warner era and redo them with warmth, arrangements that benefit the songs rather than call attention to the arrangements, and all real instruments. Maybe pull Geoff Emerick back again for another production (or someone like him). I think there are a lot of songs in this era that have been largely forgotten that could be reclaimed.
Not sure what that means. "Veronica" only got to #19 US, so it's not like it was some enormo-hit. #19 sounds about right - it's still one of the handful of EC songs non-fans seem to know...
It just seemed to come out of nowhere. "Everyday I Write The Book" got to #33 on the strength of single sales alone. A similar thing happened with "You Can Call Me Al", the label sort of shoved the single(and video) down our throats.
During this time I think he & McCartney could have put out a great album...instead the highlights are on this and "Flowers in the Dirt". I love "Veronica" but not much else-seems all over the place- his WB years are pretty spotty for me. He totally lost me with the next one, what with all the long hair and ragging on Madonna during his concerts.
I've never been a huge EC fan, but I did buy this album (on a cassette that's now dead, alas, -- finally getting around to replacing it next month) and like it a lot. Most of it I really like, and even the weaker tracks I don't mind. When Margaret Thatcher died, I played Tramp the Dirt Down in her honor. Does that make me a bad person?
I agree. If it had been pre CD era it would have worked on an lp because they would have been forced to trim it down. I like the album but I'm not a massive EC fan. The performance of Veronica on SNL was great except for the out of tune bass though it wasn't too noticeable.
Very "wide-screen" this album. Costello recently said he never made, and will never make, an album this "big" again. Takes a lot of listens but an interesting album.
