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Old 11-16-2008, 04:27 PM   #21 (permalink)
Bulldog
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Now, time to soldier on with this thing again...

Trust
1981, F-Beat Records, DJM Studios/Eden Studios


After the frenzied genre experiment of Get Happy!! Elvis Costello, the Attractions and producer Nick Lowe made a speedy return to the studio to follow it up. These sessions saw the result of Costello's increasingly ambitious songwriting hit the first of a fair few peaks to come, culminating in his most stylistically diverse record yet and arguably his most impressive with the Attractions as his backing band. We see the Attractions show their mettle yet again as one of the finest backing bands in the business and Nick Lowe's production values which do so much to show this. Anyway, here goes...

1. Clubland
With its jazzy flourishes and almost virtuoso drumbeat, the opening title here sounds like nothing Costello had recorded before and is early evidence that we're going to be treated to an artistic step forward of an album. Not only that, but the line 'the long arm of the law slides up the outskirts of town' is just genius 9/10


2. Lover's Walk
Led again by an almost jazzy piano line and furious drumbeat, Lover's Walk instead goes for an old-styled rock 'n' roll sound which lands it quite some distance from Clubland. One of the less intriguing songs around, but not bad at all. 6/10

3. You'll Never Be a Man
Written in the same vein as the two tracks before it, we're presented with a slightly slower tune which kind of rolls along on the back of Steve Nieve's inspired keyboard-bashing, building up to a fabulously memorable refrain before it fades out. The lyrics (as any keen ears will find with most of the rest of this album) are as disenchanted, brutal and suggestive as Costello's had been as well ('though the fist is mightier than the lip, it adds the adoration'). Brilliant song, simple as that. 10/10

4. Pretty Words
Edging along via a very prominent Bruce Thomas bassline, Nieve's well-chosen piano chords and a killer chorus, this song (inspired by Costello's brush with the world press - because of how he, in a moment of drunken stupidity, called James Brown and Ray Charles a name that rhymes with digger) is another example of wonderful songcraft and performance at play. 9/10

5. Strict Time
One thing I love about this album is how Costello's guitar is either not used at all or pushed so low down in the mix that you can hardly notice it, giving the Attractions and producer Nick Lowe their opportunities to shine. This song is no exception to that rule. An almost reggae-inspired riff is only played by Costello for the opening 10-odd seconds, from where drummer Pete Thomas' wild, repetitive beat almost pushes the song up to an upper echelon of quality. 9/10

6. Luxembourg
A-rockin' and a-rollin' to a Bo Diddley beat, the furious tempo of this particular item practically jumps out of the speakers at you. A decent enough tune, but another one of the weaker moments here. 6/10

7. Watch Your Step
And there's a massive juxtaposition between that and the laid back serenity of the bass-led Watch Your Step. This full studio workout for a song first recorded during the Get Happy!! sessions is a real winner, Nieve's calm and beautifully composed solo being one of my favourite moments in any song. 10/10

8. New Lace Sleeves
What follows is the song which convinced that Costello is more than just some washed-up songwriter with a few hits to his name. Boasting possibly the best drumbeat (in rock music before you say anything) that I've ever heard, as well as a superb ensemble display from the other Attractions and a beautiful, soulful vocal performance from Costello, this gorgeous slow burner is almost as good as music gets. 10/10


9. From a Whisper To a Scream
Again we're taken back a few years through Costello's discography by a tune that rocks as hard as anything from This Year's Model. This punchy, razor-backed and hyped-up song also features guest vocalist Glen Tilbrook of Squeeze as part of the duet. 9/10


10. Different Finger
Another unusual and ambitious moment in this guy's early repertoire, Different Finger is the first country ballad Costello wrote since Stranger In the House was recorded for (and dropped from) My Aim Is True some four years earlier. Don't let the country tag put you off though - this is an unusually emotional and tender moment on the album, which juxtaposes what comes next quite nicely... 8/10

11. White Knuckles
..which, as the title may suggest, is a fast and furious slice of rock which features another brutal and unnerving lyric ('white knuckles on black and blue skin, you didn't mean to hit her but she kept laughing'). Scary lyrics aside though, it's another truly brilliant song which builds to an ingenious and memorable tempo-change as the fade-out approaches. 10/10

12. Shot With His Own Gun
Yet another first for Costello's songwriting, this entirely piano-led and brooding song features a mesmerising display from Nieve and another fine vocal track from Costello (the video shows a live rendition, which is slightly inferior to the studio version in my opinion). Yet another high-point for the album. 10/10


13. Fish 'n' Chip Paper
The penultimate track is much more of an up-tempo, almost jolly and bubbly affair which doesn't sound all that removed from the new-wave-isms of Armed Forces. Good lyrics, good performances all-round (a particularly nice organ solo), but nothing too remarkable. 7/10

14. Big Sister's Clothes
The backwards-recorded accordion sets the tone for more moody, bleak and acoustic guitar-led ending to a bafflingly diverse and eclectic album (so, in fact, does the first lyrical couplet of 'sheep to the slaughter, oh I thought this must be love'). A calm and laid back song puts the lid on this record very nicely indeed. 8/10

The Outtakes.

Black Sails In the Sunset: The tell-tale sign of an album's quality can often be how good the outtakes from the respective studio sessions are and this slow, piano-led tune is indeed a very fine song.

Big Sister: Big Sister's Clothes is a slowed-down re-working of this furiously-paced rock 'n' roll song, and a very good one at that.

Twenty-Five To Twelve: An above-average rocker here, it's not a bad song by any means. Probably a right move to leave it off the album though.

Sad About Girls: One of the best 'songs that never made it' from Costello's repertoire, this Steve Nieve-penned tune is a sublime piece of piano-led balladry.

Slow Down: Better (certainly a lot faster) than the Beatles' and the Jam's re-readings of Larry Williams' rock 'n' roll classic.

Hoover Factory, Love For Sale, Boy With a Problem, Weeper's Dream, Gloomy Sunday and the Long Honeymoon: All these were (I'd imagine) never really considered as album material, being solo-recorded vocal warm-ups for Costello, rough workings of songs in the making or instrumentals. A lot of them are nice enough on their own though (Gloomy Sunday and Love For Sale are quite something).

So, summing up then...
When I kept yammering on earlier in this thread about how better was to come from Costello, this (in part) is what I meant. A truly brilliant, mind-bogglingly diverse and unique record, it could very well be my favourite Elvis Costello album (tends to change between three or four of them by day though). I don't care how neutral your opinion on this guy is, get this album An absolute essential

10/10

Last edited by Bulldog; 11-16-2008 at 05:37 PM.
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