Catchgroove’s Musical Memoir: Elvis Costello

In the fall of 1977, I entered the College of St. Thomas in St. Paul Minnesota (now the University of St. Thomas) as a Roman Catholic seminarian (that is worthy of another post). Fast forward two years and I was totally disillusioned with the seminary and decided to move on. I also figured it was a good time to drop out of college because, without the Archdiose’s financial aid, I didn’t want to waste money on college as I was clueless about my future and what I wanted to get out of college – it was time to find myself.

Finding myself meant getting a day job, moving into a duplex with an old friend (Jon), and partying like a rock star. Jon had cool music taste and at the time was obsessed with Elvis Costello (EC) – he dressed like EC, had glasses like EC, sang like EC, and constantly played EC on the stereo. I didn’t get EC at first: he had a funny voice, a sort of punkish style, and too many words (even for a Dylan fan like me). When EC’s 4th album, Get Happy, came out in February of 1980 it was in constant rotation by my roommate Jon. I was either going to become an EC fan or a hater. At first, I was a hater, but later that year, when the compilation of mostly B-sides came out, Taking Liberties, I was converted. Something about that collection of songs softened me to EC.

At this point I went back and re-listened and learned to appreciate the first three albums: My Aim Is True, This Year’s Model, and Armed Forces – one of the greatest three-album pop career starts. This Year’s Model has one of my favorite songs of all time: the “Subterranean Homesick Blues” inspired stomp “Pump It Up.”

The next couple of albums, Trust (1981) and the pseudo-country album Almost Blue (1981) deepened my interest in EC. Almost Blue was my introduction to Gram Parsons and George Jone. But it was Imperial Bedroom, released in the summer of 1982, that put me over the top and turned me from a respectful admirer to a hardcore fan.

I loved the baroque rock of Imperial Bedroom. I have never tired of the album and listen to it at least once a year to this day – that is a pretty good four-decade run. Imperial Bedroom is EC’s Sgt. Pepper’s: the arrangements are sophisticated and sonically adventurous. EC and his label boldly promoted the album as a “masterpiece” (I have the promotional poster – see below).

The next couple of albums, Punch the Clock (1983) and Goodbye Cruel World (1984) did not resonate with me. Although Punch the Clock’s “Everyday I Write the Book” and Goodbye Cruel World’s “The Only Flame in Town” are classic EC singles.

1986’s King of America brought back my enthusiasm for EC. It is a brilliant collaboration with T Bone Burnett that resulted in a great Americana album when that genre didn’t yet exist. Costello performs in several styles over the 15 songs – but is always Elvis Costello. Instead of Costello’s usual band (The Attractions), T Bone used a group of American session musicians dubbed “the Confederates” including Ray Brown, Earl Palmer, and former members of Elvis Presley’s TCB Band. The songs are brilliant, the vocal performances are inspired, and the arrangements are exquisite. At this point in his career (10th studio album), Costello was at the height of his powers. I can’t emphasize how great his vocals are. As always the songwriting is top-notch. King of America, like Imperial Bedroom, is an album that has stayed in regular rotation over the years.

EC has remained prolific, artistically ambitious, and adventurous. I have remained interested in every new album. None have sucked, but some have resonated with me more than others. But the first decade of EC albums are the ones I consistently go back to. Thanks, Jon for force-feeding me Elvis Costello in 1979.

Postscript: I was chatting with Jon on Facebook and he reminded me:

“When I moved in with Catchgroove we were musical opposites. He was all about Dylan. Dylan this, Dylan that. Not a Brit in the mix. I, on the other hand, might as well have an expat from across the pond. When we came together it was like the Revolution. We stood face to face volleying back and forth. The cut wars that transpired in that house were epic. In the years that followed, I discovered American music. I even developed a grudging appreciation for Dylan. He had a weird voice, bizarre phrasing, obscure references, and was the counterpart to my Elvis idiocy. My thanks go out to Catchgroove for his (not so gentle) shepherding of me into a broader musical spectrum of appreciation.”

Postscript #2 (crate digger’s gold): I visited Dead Wax for the first time recently – Dead Wax is a new(ish) record store in Goodyear AZ. I was in an EC state of mind and they had near-mint used copies of Imperial Bedroom and King Of America at reasonable prices and so I snatched them up for the Desert Sessions.

I was impressed by Dead Wax. It is small with a pretty thin inventory (my guess is the store’s size could easily accommodate double the inventory). But what they had was very good. About half used and half new, I could have easily bought 25 records there. I restrained myself to three used albums (including the two EC albums). A bonus is it is an aesthetically nice store. Prices are high but fair. Used wax is high quality and they include audiophile-quality sleeves and are wrapped in reusable cellophane – a nice touch. They had $1 crates on the floor, but I was too lazy to dig in them. I will be back to check out the buck crates (and regular crates). Dead Wax has crate digger’s gold!