Customer Reviews

When I Was Cruel

5 star:		(78)
4 star:		(33)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(13)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

A lot of ink has been devoted to harking Elvis's return to the substance (if not the style) of his early triumphs, My Aim Is true and This Years Model, with this release. While both of those albums are rightfully viewed as classics, it's great to hear Elvis update his sound while maintaining his edge.
Working with Leo Pearson (U2, various electronica artists), and a number of members of the Attractions, EC has cut an album that rocks with the biting wit that has been his trademark for the past 25 years. It's a welcome addition to his catalogue, and it's a real fun album to listen to. It's also a welcome relief from the collaborative projects that have occupied his time over the last few years.
Elvis is at his best on a number of tunes on this disc. "Tear Your Own Head Off" has some blistering guitar work, and is the best song from the late seventies to be recorded in years. "Soul For Hire" has some deep, ominous sonic textures at work, much like "Watching The Detectives" (allthough it is not reggae-based). There is great use of horns on a number of tracks, particularly "Episode of Blonde". And "When I Was Cruel NO. 2" sounds like a Portishead tune, particularly with its eerie samples and tape loops. It's not something you'd expect from Elvis, but then again, his introduction of the unexpected has generally made for the best tunes on his many projects (the 50's style organ on "The Beat" comes to mind).
This album ranks right up there with "My Aim Is True", and more importantly "This Year's Model" in terms of wrenching tunefulness. Fortunately it is a breakthrough, as opposed to a revival. It's nice to hear an artist who knows what sounds work best for him, and take that to a new level. I hope Joe Jackson listens to this record and tries a similar path.

Costello ended the 20th century with PAINTED FROM MEMORY and his cover of "She," and many people thought he had lost his edge. It was yet another unpredictable turn from a man who had long ago proved that he was not going to be pigeonholed as just another "punk rocker." And while the work with Bachrach was in many ways another artistic triumph, one couldn't help but fear that the days of Blood & Chocolate were long gone.

Last year, he as much as confirmed this with his gentle and nuanced album with Swedish mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie Von Otter. Surely, this was the end of the thrash and noise of youth-- it was time to settle down and write symphonies and such...

Cut to 2002. WHEN I WAS CRUEL is Costello's return to the world of "rowdy" music, and yet it isn't a return at all. Some of it may feel like Blood & Chocolate's next door neighbor, but the sound is all brand new. This album is darker and funnier, playful and apocalyptic, like a mix of Dylan's last two albums thrown in a stew with a car full of clowns and some Ethiopian pop songs. Lazy critics will say he's "back and he's angry", but there aren't any songs of spiteful lovers here-- the concerns are more worldly and viewed with a spiky wit that gurgles just below the sonic soup.

WHEN I WAS CRUEL is the kind of album that is so good you can't help but hunger for what he's going to do next, be it pop, country, soul, or classical. But until that next one comes along, there is so much to enjoy here. Turn off the lights, turn up the volume, and howl at the moon...

SOUR MILK COW

There's nothing worse than being a pop dinosaur like, say, Robert Plant. Once you've managed to outgrow the style that made your career, in so many sound-bytes, where in the world do you go with the gains? Like Paul Simon, Joe Jackson, Pete Townshend, John Waters, Stevie Winwood, Paul McCartney and dozens of other performers who have discovered that the visitation of middle age upon their careers is often fatal, Elvis Costello entered a period of intensive experimentation in the early 1990s. This isn't anything particularly new, nor is it all that unusual. When his career began to enter the underworld of rarefied taste, and his growth as a musician and songwriter demanded that he free himself from the relative constraints that in the early 1980s gained him one of the most loyal fan bases of any pop performer since the 1960s, Costello collaborated with string quartets, even co-wrote with Burt Bacharach, trying hard to glean from his obvious talent something more enduring and personally satisfying than musically hanging out with teenagers amd teeny-boppers for the rest of his life. Of course, growing up alongside your original audience is more difficult than it might seem, and though Costello's ambitious experiments were critically well-received, and sometimes even lauded for their expansiveness and beauty, "When I Was Cruel"--a conscious return to the roots of a seminal career--reveals there is still vitriol in the rocker with the shady voice. And that's a good thing.

The mainstream press may be all excited in its typically shallow fashion over Costello's return to hard rocking music, calling it his first "loud" recording since "Mighty Like A Rose," but even a cursory listen to "When I Was Cruel" also shows that Costello isn't through with experimentation. Instead of trying to extend the breadth of his songwriting, something he successfully attempted with "Spike," or fiddling with arrangement, "When I Was Cruel" is a foray into effect, dissonance and coloration. The songs are, of course, typically Costello in form. But listen closer: the industrial grunge of his guitar is stretched almost surreally; his take on Latino pop is practically snide; the picture he draws is etched on black rubber. Only one song, "Blue Window," even remotely resembles to old Elvis Costello. The rest is indeed something entirely new. In fact, it's almost archetypical in its scope and range. Younger groups that are only now encountering what Costello began to react to over ten years ago could do well to listen to how one of the finest songwriters of the last twenty years has negotiated his early fame and his inevitable maturity as a musician.

A few notes into the opening track, my wife turned to me and said, "Elvis rocks!" Yes, this is being ballyhooed as Elvis' first rocker since All This Useless Beauty, his last album with the Attractions. Others have called it his best since Blood and Chocolate.

I dunno. I really liked Painted From Memory, and Elvis' live performances in the past few years have been wonderful, so I wasn't looking for any return to form...as far as I'm concerned, the last time Elvis really lost it was Spike and Mighty Like A Rose, and even those sound pretty good these days.

But this new one, well...Yes! This is what I really want Elvis to be doing, rocking, spewing bile, reflecting, singing in the classic Elvis voice, getting Steve Nieve to kick the Farfisa in but also adorn the songs with his incredible arrangements, tetting Pete Thomas to bash in the least and most subtle fashion, and here bring a new bass player, ex-Cracker Davey Faragher, into the fold. Elvis' singing is great, the songs are fascinating and rock hard, the arrangements are cool, and the lyrics...well it'll take a few dozen more listens but I'm sure I'll get 'em.

I was a big fan of Costello since I first heard his work in the mid 80's, buying up all his older albums and savoring them one by one. However, his forays into other types of music seem to have sapped his rock sensibilities. While this album is certainly an improvement on his last several art-pop products, I find that it is more jarring than grooving, has more good sounding phrases than any that actually make much sense, and that though it has two or three good tracks, it fails where his older efforts succeeded. How so? It just isn't easy to listen to as a whole. You find yourself skipping tracks to get to the ones that you're interested in.

Music is very subjective, and some love his newer style. I also caution fans of the music to seperate the man from the music. I think his conflicts with Bruce Thomas are a great example that this guy just can't take or make good use of criticism or admit that much of his early sucess came from the contributions and influence of his backing musicians, who I suspect had a very inhibiting effect on his wayward ways and kept him more focused on making songs that sound great instead of ones that merely touch the heart or merely interest the singer himself. If you think this guy takes outside input well, just go to his own website and see how testy he becomes when fans suggest that he collaborate with someone else in the rock world. Muzak composers like Bacharach, string quartets, and unknowns, sure, but no way will this guy's ego stand up to the type of blunt criticism that comes from working with equals. They might actually tell him he's being a flake at times, and I don't think he wants to hear that. I think this may be why his post-attractions stuff is so uneven. He can turn a phrase better than anybody, but he can't seem to consistently put it all together in a song that is anywhere near as satisfying as "Oliver's Army" or "Sulky Girl" or even "lesser" efforts from the past like "let them all talk". To me, his new stuff, with a few exceptions, just isn't fun to listen to. Edgy, yes. Poigniant, at times. Pretty, even. But fun? Nope. And unless you pour over the lyric sheets and attempt to interpret them like poems, many of his songs don't even seem to make sense to anyone but their writer. There's Britney Spears, and there's classical music. Somewhere in between the two lies truely satisfying music. He needs to scoot over a couple of spaces back towards the fun stuff.

All right, I have to admit that WHEN I WAS CRUEL is the first EC album I have bought since BLOOD AND CHOCOLATE. Its not that I didnt like Elvis anymore, I was just getting into other things. Well, Im pleased to report that WHEN I WAS CRUEL has been a very happy purchase for me, and has even got me going back and listening to (in some cases looking for) the music of my youth: English Beat, The Specials, Squeeze, The Clash, Flash and the Pan, just to name a very few.

Ive been an EC fan since the late seventies. No, this album is not a return to THIS YEARS MODEL. This is an album that stands proudly on its own. Even if I had never heard of Elvis Costello I would be blown away by this record. What a great selection of songs! Starting with the bouncy 45 then sliding in to the appropriately creepy Spooky Girlfriend, then crash bang into Tear Off Your Own Head. The real stand-out tracks on this album for me are "When I Was Cruel No.2, Petals, Tart, Dissolve and the in-your-face-like-it-or-not indictment Alibi. (I love the James Brown reference and play on words: Papas . . . got a brand new . . . alibi. Alibi)

Trying to pick a favorite track is almost impossible. Its much easier to point out the one song that I havent grown too fond of as of yet: My Blue Window. And thats not a bad song. For me it just doesnt seem to fit. So far, though, I havent skipped this track on any listening, and thats pretty good when my least favorite song on an album is still an enjoyable tune. Of course, its Elvis. And I see that at least one other reviewer picked this song out as one of their favorites, so there you are.

I dont know the exact demographics of those who might buy this album (though I suspect its mostly people in their 30s and 40s) but I hope some younger listeners will pick this record up. I listen to the local alternative rock station from time to time, and while there is still some good music being put out here and there, so much of it seems the same. Every group wants to be some combination of Greenday, STP, Pearl Jam and Nirvana, as if thats possible. 90% of the music seems to be driven by guitars going chugga chug, chugga chug and the singer whining about how hes an outcast. Elvis never whines about being an outcast, he spits venom but never whines. Instead he churns up the disgust we all feel about how people treat each other sometimes, and whips it into an emotional frenzy. Its cathartic, cleansing. EC is probably the only person that can actually make you feel good at the same time he reminds you what a jerk, he, you and the rest of the people in the world can be. Alibi.

For those of you who might have been longing for a return to MY AIM IS TRUE, THIS YEARS MODEL or ARMED FORCES . . . forget it. Anyone whos been an EC fan for some time knows that Mr. McManus is a moving target, virtually impossible to pin down to one style. And who would want it any other way? WHEN I WAS CRUEL certainly contains a lot of Elvis that will be recognizable to long-time fans (not the least of which is the clever word play for which hes famous), but like the very best of ECs albums, this one has many fresh angles. If Elvis is back to anything, hes back to the same old thing: that is, taking chances. Or should I say Taking Liberties?

Just remember: Every Elvis has his army. My advice: Join up!

In this wasteland of silcon-injected pop blow-up dolls and computer generated boy bands, the unrivalled brilliance of Elvis Costello once again gives me hope for humanity. He is to music what David Lynch is to film. It's amazing but rewarding to see how well this CD has done on Amazon, and my jaw nearly dropped off when I saw it in the top CD spots at my local supermarket. I even heard the track "45" over the speakers at a local chain restaurant! Once in a while, the world wakes up and smells the espresso instead of the Sanka. Another gem in the crown of the King!

I've been a fan of Elvis Costello for over 5 years now, and I really get tired of people complaining that he's no longer the "angry young man" he was on such classics as My Aim Is True (1977) and This Years Model (1978). Now, I love those albums as much as anybody else does, but if he has gotten any wiser, mellower, or more mature over the years, it's great to see his music reflect that. That's what I like so much about his latest disc, When I Was Cruel. After such lovely classical-pop projects as 1998's Painted From Memory (with Burt Bacharach) and 2001's For the Stars (with Swedish opera singer Anne Sofie Von Otter), Elvis returns, reinvigorated yet reflective, to hooky pop-rock for the first time since 1996's All This Useless Beauty (the album that attracted me to E.C. in the first place).

Costello's lyrics, with their clever wordplay and wry social commentary, are still a lot more interesting than what you'll find on your average pop album. "45" is a rock 'n' roll song about *history* (the year marking the end of World War Two and the beginning of Elvis' generation), *music* (the 45 rpm single records he bought as a child), and *middle-age* (he turned 45 in 1999). "Spooky Girlfriend" is an R&B-style number about a creepy music-industry guy lusting after a pop starlet. My favorite track, the rollicking "Tear Off Your Own Head (It's a Doll Revolution)," encourages girls to not let themselves be used as guys' playthings ("You can bat your lashes, you can cut your strings"). The bluesy "Soul For Hire" is about a lawyer who can't escape his conscience, while the gorgeous closer, "Radio Silence," is about a talk-radio host in a hostage situation. Costello even addresses his wife, former Pogues bassist Cait O'Riordan, in a pair of interesting love songs: "15 Petals" refers to their 15-plus years of marital bliss ("I love you twisted and I love you straight"), and "My Little Blue Window" is apparently about how she keeps him grounded ("If I avert your gaze, and I should become a shrinking flower, just punch me on the arm").

Though heavy on the ballads ("When I Was Cruel," "Tart," "Alibi"), Cruel includes a number of high-energy rockers ("Dissolve," "Daddy Can I Turn This?", the half-sung/half-shouted "Episode of Blonde") that fortunately don't try to re-create Elvis' early new-wave sound. In fact, although Cruel is indeed a return to (rock) form for Costello, very few of these songs sound like anything he has ever done before. Of course, if there's anything consistent about Elvis Costello's wide-ranging body of work -- including When I Was Cruel -- it's that he knows what great music should sound like.

Old Elvis Costello fans might have thought that Elvis was out of his element the past few years with albums with Burt Bacharach and Anne Sofie Von Otter (both were great) and performances with the Mingus Big Band and Lucinda Williams, well you will be really thrilled with 'When I Was Cruel'. This album is a great rhythm rock album! My favorite songs are 45, Spooky Girlfriend, Tear Off Your Own Head (it's a doll revolution), When I Was Cruel No. 2, 15 Petals, Tart, Dust 2..., Alibi, ...Dust, and Episode of Blonde. I love lyrics like, "So you jumped back with alarm, Every Elvis has his Army, Every rattlesnake its charm, Can You still hear me?, Am I coming through just fine?, Your memory was buried in simple box of pine". 'When I Was Cruel' is right up there with 'This Year's Model' and 'Brutal Youth'!!

The past few weeks I've seen Elvis perform on the Bravo's Musician's Series, CBS Early Show, Letterman, and an in-store performance at Tower Records. He rocks, the band is so tight, and the album is awesome.

If you haven't purchased an E.C. album in awhile this is definitely one to pick up now! The man is absolute genius. From punk, pop, country, rock, jazz, and classical there is nothing he can't master. Pretty soon there will be two Elvis' in the Rock & Roll hall of Fame!!

First off, let me confess that I haven't thoroughly explored EC's recent collaborations with Bacharach and Sofie von Otter. The whole idea of rock's angry little man going lounge was off-putting. The last four albums that I had purchased by him were The Juliet Letters, Brutal Youth, Spike and Mighty Like A Rose--all of which had some good songs mixed in with some terrible ones.

When I Was Cruel is Costello's most consistent effort since Blood & Chocolate. I'm still getting familiar with some of the tunes but others like "Tear Off Your Own Head" are instantly hummable classics. Although the album is being touted as a return to his "Attractions" roots, it is much more than that. The sly spy-in-Brazil feel of "When I Was Cruel #2" and the droning Middle-Eastern vocals on "15 Petals" indicate that the man has been listening to more than just new wave hits of the early 80s. Good for him.

Some of the best songs come late in the album, so do yourself a favor and mix up the order on your CD player. "Alibi," "Episode of Blonde" and "Radio Silence" are among my favorites.

Once again Mr. Costello has created an album that radio will absolutely refuse to touch. So if you like it, put it on at your next party and see how many heads turn.