Customer Reviews

Get Happy

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This album found Costello at the peak of his songwriting powers. Nick Lowe's production give's the record a harsh sound when compared with Costello's first three efforts. The Attractions have never sounded better, as is apparent on exuberant 'Five gears in reverse'. Although there is plenty of up-tempo invective on display, the highlights for me are the record's more tender moments. I particularly like the uncharacteristically straightforward ballad, 'Motel Matches', where a woman gives away sex like motels give away matches. As in many of his songs, the narrator treads a fine line between revulsion and compassion for the song's female subject. This album is a study in conciseness. Costello demonstrates more songwriting talent on these twenty tracks than other artists manage over a whole career. The volume of songs here make this record one that rewards attentive, repeated listening. Treat it like a seven course meal to be enjoyed over several hours.

This is the one that could brighten any dull party, turn a frown into a smile & keep you young!!! I've loved Elvis C. ever since I saw the video in the late seventies of this nerdy looking dude walking crooked while singing Watching the Detectives. He's a genius who never fails to please. Even when he does something different (eg. Juliet Letters), it may take awhile but you'll get there somehow.
Get Happy is one body of work that seems thrown together, but is a great example his mastery of his craft. If one wishes to learn songwriting - esp. how to turn a phrase, buy this immediately. If you simply are tired of recordings with random filler, then buy Get Happy. There is no filler here. I love every song here. I also love the Mowtown/Stax influence on some of the songs. If I were to point out a few gems - love for Tender, Opportunity..Hell, the first 6 songs, right off! Then Clowntime, I Can't Stand Up..., High Fidelity, Blk & Wht World, 5 Gears..., I stand Accused & Riot Act. Get it!! Warning: It is highly addictive!!

"Love for Tender" starts what may be the most perfect sequence of songs in all of rock and roll history. The whole album is great, but what (I'm assuming) must have been the first side of the original album, those first 10 songs, are as close to perfection as anything I have ever heard. It floors me everytime. The other "side" is fantastic too, but just the way this album kicks off and keeps coming at you...man, it kicks. This album is also the one that convinced me that Steve Nieve is one of the great keyboard players of pop music as well, since he is the drive behind all that great music, imho. (Not intended as a slam IN ANYWAY on EC, either.)

Mr. Stanley is correct in one--and only one--respect: Get Happy!!! is NOT R&B.

It is a fantastic approximation, and a perfect imitation. Sleeping through this album, with all due respect to other reviewers, is simply not possible.

Elvis has said he was writing some of the lyrics for this album as the Attractions were laying down their tracks in adjoining studios. Either he's fibbing or he's even more of a genious than I already suspect. Lyrically (sp?) witty, musically groovin', a bass/drum/horn section that pounds without plodding--I simply cannot say enough about Get Happy!!!. I consider it one of the 20 or so best albums of the Rock era.

The fact that Elvis, who had been considered kind of a runty, quirky annoyance by a lot of critics since his sophomore LP was released, could put together this album--and the accompaning tour, which was closer to the TAMI Show than the typical punk rockers he was so often compared to--is, to me, one of the miracles of the age.

I'd love to pick out individual tracks and explain why I love this LP so much but, frankly, I don't know where to start. "I Stand Accused," with it's "I-S-T-A-N-D-A-C-C-U-S-E-D!" finale? The heartache of "Hi Fidelity," an ominous prelude to Elvis' later flirtation with C&W? "Riot Act," the ultimate finger pointer?

I dunno. I lose all pretense of articulation when it comes to this great, great album. Buy it early, buy it often.

I was an Elvis fan from the release of My Aim Is True. By the time this album was released, I'd become convinced that he and The Attractions could do no wrong. First time I heard it was when a NYC radio station played it in it's entirety, and I listened on headphones while I taped it. That's how you should listen to it if you've never heard it before. To hear so many great songs one after the other, it makes you dizzy. I got the same feeling the first time I heard "London Calling". All these years later, some of the Clash music doesn't thrill me like it did then, but this album does.

Hands down the best EC/Attractions album ever. I first heard it in 1983, and continue to be inspired and surprised by both lyrics and music. If you are a songwriter or aspiring recording artist, you should study this masterpiece. And extra credit to those who can fathom the meter changes in "B Movie".

With Get Happy, Elvis Costello's genius and talent come out in its purest form. The songs are vibrant, energetic, passionate, and real. Elvis sings every phrase as though it is coming from deep within. The songs, mainly eye-opening love songs, are breathtakingly original in their style and content, although I have to admit that some of the lyrics are somewhat mysterious to me. If you buy this CD, listen to it with while reading the lyrics (available on the Internet). Musically, the album is unsurpassed. This recording is worth twice the price. The opening of "Riot Act" is worth the cost of the CD. You just can't find this type of lyrical genius anymore. This music may not please everyone's taste, but the talent is there all the way.

Not enough attention seems to be given to the brilliance of The Attractions as E.C.'s back-up band. These guys created a dynamite sound for literally hundreds of songs and are probably the reason Elvis was such a smash in the New Wave era.

As a bass player, I have always admired Bruce Thomas, and if you listen to the mix on "Get Happy" you'll notice that Nick Lowe was equally impressed. This is one bottom-heavy recording and I don't think it's just for drive or to fill out an otherwise lean quartet sound. Nearly every song relies heavily on the hooks and counterpoint found in Bruce's parts. Considering E.C.'s liner notes explaining how they went about arranging and recording songs, I get the impression everybody pretty much wrote their own part most of the time. It's obvious, then, that Elvis owes much to Bruce and the others.

Listen to how tightly everything fits, how perfectly the drums and bass complement each other, how imaginatively Steve uses his keyboards. Do you believe Elvis could have scripted all of this by himself? Do you believe there would have been anything approaching the relentless energy and creative variety?

I don't know if this is the best Elvis Costello and The Attractions album, or even if there is such a thing, but I am inclined to think this is one of the finest examples of GROUP PLAYING AND COMPOSING in rock and roll that I've ever heard. And if you're a musician, I highly recommend studying everything Bruce, Pete, and Steve do on this and all the other great E.C. records.

All you need to know about how amazing Get Happy is that other reviewers mistakenly believe it was a "compilation" album (or previous hits, etc). Get Happy's 20 songs represent a nearly timeless, bouncy...yet intelligent pop perfection.

Get Happy also is important because its almost a lesson in how E.C's post "Blood & Chocolate" writing has become absurdly verbose and labored dreck. His writing now seems to be guided by a "more words the better" ethic. In sharpest contrast conceivable, Get Happy stands as empirical evidence why the antithesis will always be more lasting and enjoyable over the long haul.

I don't know of any other pop album that has twenty great songs, with nothing close to being filler.