When I Was Cruel

Okay, here's the place to put your thoughts on the latest Costello release: When I Was Cruel (Island 314 586 775-2)...

The sound is wonderful and the tracks are very good, too. I have only given it 2 listens so far but I think that any Elvis Costello fan will find this to be a perfect purchase. Very good!

 

This a real return to form for Elvis. Songwriting and performance are spot on. Sound wise this disc suffers from huge doses of compression (there are some soft songs, but no quiet moments on the disc), and some good ol' MoFi style smiley face EQ (I have to dive to reduce my bass response as soon as I get to the second song "Scary Girlfriend").

Still - it's his best rock record since Imperial Bedroom, and worthy of a purchase.

 

Just listened again on my home system for the first time and you're right on target with the bass response Big Al. Had to hit it quickly! It's a great album, though. Very reminiscent of the early stuff while retaining a contemporary edge.

Did anyone catch 'Musicians' on the Bravo channel today. Elvis was there and was interviewed over the scope of his career up to this new release. He played solo (with a drum box) 'Tear Off Your Own Head' and 'Watching The Detectives'. There were many other little snippets of songs with him playing guitar. It was a pretty good show.

 

Good album. I agree about the compression.

 

I'm not trying to start an argument here but I've heard a great deal of hype surrounding this release since the first of the year. Supposedly a "return to form" for Elvis and "best since his days at Columbia."

Now, I used to buy every Elvis album automatically without reviewing the content in advance. I have to admit, as of All This Useless Beauty, I no longer do that. Brutal Youth is the only post-Columbia disc that sees any play in my home anymore (and that is very rarely).

After listening to this latest release, I guess I'm wondering if all the hype is deserved. To me, it sounds like it could have come straight from the Brutal Youth or All This Useless Beauty sessions. And he still has a penchant for writing some incredibly unmelodic tunes that has plagued him over the years, especially since moving to Warner.

For Elvis fans like me, that lost interest in the early 90's, I don't feel there is anything here to get too excited about.

 

To each his own, but for Elvis fans like me who lost interest in the mid-eightees (with "Goodbye Cruel World"), and thought that Blood & Chocolate and Spike were highly overated, this sounds like a return to form. He retains (or regains) his lyrical edge, the band delivers, and the production is top-notch (aside from the over-compression and EQ boost - they CAN be judged separately).

It's strange that your feelings about this release mirror my own about Blood & Chocolate - an album that was also felt to be a "return to form" when it was released. I thought that the "Attractions" re-union (at the time) was less than genuine, the songs were melodically lacking, and the whole thing seemed forced. To me, this current release seems like a performer who didn't have to SEARCH for his edge (like he did on most of his 90's rock related releases), but one that has found it.

But I could be wrong, ask me next year. In the meantime I'll just enjoy it.

 

I'm enjoying the heck out of the album. However, I am a huge Costello fan, have never lost interest, and believe his only artistic failures to be Punch the Clock, Goodbye Cruel World, and Mighty Like a Rose. I think the album is being mismarketed a bit, although I don't know if it is more the fault of the record company or the reviewers - from the pre-release hype, I was expecting a Attractions-style guitar-oriented rocker of an album. It, of course, really can't be pigeonholed that way - it is as diverse and idiosyncratic as any of Costello's mid-to-late period albums. The music stretchs into new areas, his wordplay is interesting, and he sounds committed to the material - definitely a success to me. To go from Brodsky, to the Attractions, to Bacharach, to Von Otter, and to this....I say to EC, keep up the good work.

Is it on Rhino's schedule for remastering and re-release yet? I want a second disc of goodies.

 

It's probably more understandable if you consider that I am one of those that fell in love with Blood & Chocolate after nearly giving up after Punch the Clock & Goodbye Cruel World. I do not, however, consider Blood & Chocolate on par with Get Happy, This Years Model, etc...
I always thought it was kind of a favorite of mine for personal reasons (some strong memories linked with it). Didn't think it was universally accepted when it first came out (too dark for many people's tastes) but I liked it nonetheless. Apparently, it has gained more of a following since its original release.
Anyway, I wasn't trying to bash the new release it's just that I was so hopeful it would give me a spark the way so many of his albums have since the late 70s.

 

That might be the funniest sentence I've read here to date. Or the most honest.

 

I'm new here, but I'm an old Costello fan.

As much as I respect the guy for branching out (string quartets, opera singers, acting in a straight-to-cable movie (he played a schoolteacher in "Prison Song," starring Mary J. Blige), the only Elvis records I return to over and over are the ones that say "Produced by Nick Lowe" on the sleeve.

 

EC & j-stu

Yeah, but Elvis had some good Artie Shaw & Destiny's Child stories
on Comedy Central's Daily Show a few nights back...

This Years Bottle,
kenny

 

For the most part, I'm with you too.

 

I think I am the opposite. Elvis's talent and writing seem to have broadened and deepened...those early albums are great, but seem to be far far away from the current Elvis. It seems like I reach for Painted from Memory or Blood and Chocolate or King of America much more often than those from the Nick Lowe days. However, that is the best part of such a long and deep career - all the different periods are there to enjoy.

 

I agree, with the exception of the Spike album. Definitely one of my favorites and probably my most listened to outside of My Aim Is True

 

I agree wholeheartedly with the quote I pasted above. All the pre-release hype, print ads, reviews, etc. made me think I was going to pop this CD in on release day and hear a close cousin to "This Years Model". I was initially let-down.

As many have pointed out here, this album is probably more closely tied to his later Columbia work than his earlier albums with the Attractions. Even so, I think the album is one that I will listen to much more than his Warner Bros. releases (as I do believe it is a very good effort) - and this year will also be the first time I will catch Elvis live since his "Blood and Chocolate" Tour (I have tickets to the Beacon Theater in NY).

 

I don't know why, but for the first time ever I have not rushed out to get the new one.

I am one of those in the "I love Blood and Chocolate" lobby. To me (and I know some disagree) it is such a powerhouse of a album. The band has that "live in the studio" sound.

It is also the last of his albums I can honestly say I truly love...

Others that fall into that category are "This Years Model" (in my Top 10 albums list), "Get Happy", "Trust", "Imperial Bedroom" and "King of America"...the "Girlsx3" compilation can't be beaten for track selection (as lbangs would agree!)

That said, I still quite like "Spike" and a bunch of tracks on his later albums.

One last thing...I think his voice has changed considerably since the Brodsky thing and not for the better...he seems to strain for the high notes more than he used to. Maybe it is just me but anyone agree?

 

His voice has changed, but to me it hasn't been as drastic an evolution as, say, Dylan's. Personally, I really like when Elvis strains or reaches out beyond his fairly limited range. To me, that is what really makes some of his best performances - when he really sings the hell out of a song, God-given range be damned.

My favorite is Painted from Memory, and besides loving the Bacharach/Costello songs, I love hearing the contrast between EC's ocassionally nasal or gnarly voice and the lush arrangements.

 

CM Wolff, I have been monitoring your posts and everytime that you send up a new one in this thread I find myself in total agreement. You've been one step ahead of me the whole way.

This album will not be the answer to 'My Aim Is True' but it's a damn good album all the same. Like I said before...I believe that anyone that has ever liked Costello's music will find much to like on this album. Even the one's who didn't care much for his 'darker days' music.

Give it a shot...I don't think you'll be disappointed in the tunes, maybe the sound, but not the tunes...

 

MagicAlex, thanks for the compliment. I hope people do pick up this album, as you suggest.

 

Magic Alex - I ditto.

This is a damn good album - a sort of in-between to the Nick Lowe days and the better part of all that came after. Despite my comments concerning production, this is what long time fans have been waiting for.

The lead off track alone is almost worth the price of admision. Talk about lyrical GENIUS - a song called "45" which in the first verse alludes to WWII vets coming home to a world less than they imagined in 1945 - and moves into kids listening to pop "45" singles - and the advent of the lp ("but the words are a mystery, I've heard, till you turn it down to thirty three and a third").

The girl that wants to know WHY you aren't looking up her skirt, the discordant horns in the rocker 15 Petals (one petal for every year I spent with you...), the dumb ass woman in "Episode of Blonde", the comparisson between a a pissed off lover and his tart girlfriend (did I say girlfriend? EC didn't - he is only talking about the flavor of fruit).

I haven't scratched the surface.

Oh yeah man - one week in - and this is only better. Rock and roll music for the thinking, non brain dead.



Maybe it's doomed to die.

 

OK guys...you are convincing me!

When I Was Cruel will now be added to my shopping list...

Just shows the power of the SH Forums...and EC himself of course!

Thanks!

 

Lost contact with EC the better part of a decade - I think since Spike. I still remember listening to Armed Forces when it first came out. The thing that stood out more than anything was the sound he and the Attractions made. It was just different, like in a good way. And the same with his lyrics, different, in a good way. And his live performances. different, in a good way.
OK, I'll give him another try.