Elvis Costello and the Imposters: Look Now (2018)

Best album in over a decade.

 

Hear hear.
Unparalleled.

 

What is with the new EC quotes about never liking or relating to rock? He has what most people would consider "rock" on, at least, half the albums he's appeared on. I can't believe he made rock albums since the beginning - and hated them while he was making them - for cynical, careest reasons. It's not like he ever made the kind of money that would even possibly justify doing something you didn't like over and over for years. It just doesn't make sense. Sure, he also quickly introduced other styles and genres and showed he liked a LOT of other kinds of music, as well, but no one was holding a gun to his head to write and record "Go Away" on Momofuku (in 2008 when he could have made any album he wanted to make), which is a rockin' rock song on a very rockin' album filled with some of his most convincing rockers since his initial "classic" run of rock albums. Unless he's defining "rock" by some odd, narrow definition, in which case, he should clarify and say, "Oh, by the way, I think of 'Get Happy' as only a 'soul/R&B' album and 'Lovers Walk,' off 'Trust,' is an Albanian folk song in my mind."

In fact, I seem to recall he was saying (over and over through the years) he was done with pop music and pop had nothing to do with he did aymore starting around the time of "King of America." Now he's always loved pop and never liked rock? In his book he goes on and on about being a Beatles fan beginning in their early rock & roll stage. Starting when, exactly, did he begin "never" liking or relating to rock music? Very odd.

 

Obfuscation, perhaps.

(See: Bob Dylan's interactive music journalism intolerance seminar)

 

He was also never making another record again. When he says that he was lying …

 

Believe nothing you hear, and only one half that you see...

 

Elvis Costello liked rock. A lot. He was a big Beatles fan, but the Stones as well, and the Band. He even liked some of his competitors. I think “rock” has taken on a sour overtone to some of our aging rockers, especially those who were critical of some of the lifestyle culture (even if they get sucked in for a while). Perhaps in his 60’s, after decades of touring, “rock” doesn’t give him the same feeling. I do think he mentioned that in the last Imposters date before some cancellations (family issues, noticing to do with his health), they did a whole set of stuff recorded before the mid-80’s.

Maybe rock to him is Led Zeppelin. With Peter Grant being something of a mentor to Jake Riviera, the Attractions got some first hand experience, and launched into their own time of debauchery. I think that may be the kind of “rock” he doesn’t want much to do with now. Or maybe he just associated it with Bruce Thomas! (who he still calls “the bass player.”

 

Did anyone purchase a copy from recordstoreUK? Is the alternative bonus track listing correct?

 

According to Wiki

In the sourced interview he says, "Every record has its own method. This was the one for these songs," Costello says. As for the unusual name, it is not related to the hip New York restaurant Momofuku Noodle Bar, but rather "a tribute to Momofuku Ando, the inventor of the Cup Noodle. Like so many things in this world of wonders, all we had to do to make this record was add water."

Apparently he and the group recorded eight songs in six days and the allusion of cooking a quick noodle meal is to the speed of the recording.

I understand why people not familiar with the name 'Momofuku' (like myself) might phonetically sound it out and get a different understanding of a rude phrase in English.


In the end, a terrible title and cover.

 

Assuming yours is the same as the EU pressing, it’s done at GZ. As soon I pulled out the clingy, thick paper sleeves, I knew what to expect. It’s at the quieter end for their work, to be fair, although the Bacharach tracks have more noticeaable clicks here and there.

 

I don't know the credits for the cover art, but it reminds me of work by Henri Matisse.

 

Oops.

Nevermind.

I just figured out that He's Given Me Things was co-written with Bacharach.

No wonder.
(Costello's an OK songwriter...)

 

So I got my copy late yesterday and this is the track listing: Elvis Costello & The Imposters - Look Now

1. “Under Lime”
2. “Don’t Look Now”
3. “Burnt Sugar Is So Bitter”
4. “Stripping Paper”
5. “Unwanted Number”
6. “I Let the Sun Go Down”
7. “Mr. & Mrs. Hush”
8. “Photographs Can Lie”
9. “Dishonor the Stars”
10. “Suspect My Tears”
11. “Why Won’t Heaven Help Me?”
12. “He’s Given Me Things”
13. “Isabelle in Tears” *
14. “Adieu Paris (L’Envie Des Étoiles)” *
15. “The Final Mrs. Curtain” *
16. “You Shouldn’t Look at Me That Way” *

* So-called Bonus Tracks; available on the 2xLP version; the 1 LP version does not have these four tracks (according to DISCOGS).

 

Reminds me of Marc Chagall (sp) too.

 

Should this be listed as a separate EP on DISCOGS? Does anyone have a picture of this EP?

 

Yes, for the 2xLP green from Elvis Costello. Can't say for the 1 LP Black version.

 

Well said as usual.
I imagine it could be what's passed for 'Cock Rock' or "Arena Rock" or 'name your Rock' and the worst of which comes with the biz, lifestyle, etc. and not to be too pedantic lol but the EC of young and old has generally 'rocked' and 'rolled' - some Rock too just doesn't Roll and therefore can seem stiff, stilted, neanderthal, or just 'old'

 

Congrats.
How's the vinyl?
Is it etched too by CB?
My copy is enroute.

 

Interesting...both records in my indie store copy are red.

 

I asked the folks at The Sound of Vinyl that question. I received a reply but no answer yet; they say they're checking.

 

He is still that same Elvis; he just didn't make either of those records again. I love this new record. I also love the track "Bedlam" (and I want it go play it now that you mention The Delivery Man.) Nothing wrong with playing "Under Lime" on repeat, though. I'll bet a few of the other tracks will sneak up on you.

 

Elvis on “rock,” from a 1989 Canadian interview:

The worst thing that happened in my opinion was in about 1969 they coined this word “rock” ... before it used to be called “rock’n’roll.” The minute they took the roll out of it, that’s when a lot of the lights went out for me.

Rock’n’roll is a euphemism for sex... and a rock is a thing you dig up in the ground. It doesn’t move; it doesn’t breathe; it doesn’t dance around; it doesn’t buy you a drink. “Rock” is really responsible for the boredom of today.

 

And from 1999:

"I like rock and roll, because it swings and rolls, but I don't like rock. Rock I associated with that really square, monolithic beat that doesn't have anything to commend it, really. The minute you start building temples to these things, which has been the impulse for a number of years now - to build a temple to rock and roll - the more kind of solid and static it gets. It just crumbles away and it stops moving."​

 

I didn't know that Jake Rivera had a connection with LedZep's manager Peter Grant. I distinctly recall reading in an interview a long time ago that Costello didn't care much for Zeppelin, calling them "charlatans."
But Elvis Costello has always had eclectic tastes and passions when it comes to music and he's one of the few rock and roll artists I can seriously imagine having a career as a music critic if he wasn't making music himself.

 

Okay, so he IS defining "rock" as something different than what 99% of people mean when they use the term (short for "rock & roll"). I guess it is just obfuscation, because using a alternatively defined word in opposition to "pop" (which I imagine he's also defining differently by what he meant when he claimed to be done with pop), basically, without the context, means something very narrow and specific, but comes off as a bold, sweeping mission statement. Maybe I just bumped on EC saying something that seems so easily refuted in this modern era of "alternative facts." I'm so used to him not being that fashionable.