Saturday, February 20, 2010

#98: This Year’s Model- Elvis Costello

Listened to: MP3

To imagine this coming out in 1998 is easy. To picture this coming out in 1978 is near impossible. This album’s sound is massively ahead of it’s time. “No Action” is an anthem worthy of the 90’s punk revival (Yes, Green Day, I do want you to cover this song). “This Year’s Girl” is Buddy Holly meets The Pixies, and to be honest, outrocks them both at times. Just listen to that bass line. That’s a tasty-ass bassline. Yes, I just used the words tasty-ass. Cut me some slack, I just finished writing a depressing as shit screenplay for the 6th time. I’m being upbeat. This is Elvis’ first album with The Attractions, and it truly shows how much of an asset they were to him.

“The Beat” is traditional Elvis Costello awesome. 50’s pop construction with a slightly punk/psychedlic vibe, mixed with Elvis’ Mozart-tinged vocal melodies. I know, you wouldn’t thing, but some of the vocal lines he sings on this song have a real Mozart vibe.

Now, you wanna talk about a great appreciation for the importance of bass, look no further than “Pump It Up”. With a shout along chorus, a sound that belongs on a strokes album, and lyrics that speak to every man’s youth, “Pump It Up” is a masterful rock classic. Does it sound familiar? That’s because you’ve already heard it in part. It was used in “Egg Man” on the Beastie Boys magnum opus “Paul’s Boutique”.

Now, Nick’s had me listening to a lot of Tom Waits lately (Nick Young: Tom Waits as Mike Natale: Glen Hansard or Leonard Cohen), so that when I heard the piano part of “Little Triggers”, I thought we were going into a grumbly ballad. Instead, we get Elvis rocking and wailing in a slow-dance track with one of my favorite drum parts of any song thus far. This brings us to the far-far-far ahead of it’s time “You Belong To Me”. No wonder Pitchfork.com gave this a 10.0. This sounds like an indie track by some obscure band guys who think their cool for listening to indie music listen to.

Switching over to side two (which I would do if I had Nick’s copy on vinyl on me. Alas, I won’t be with it for another hour) we get “Hand In Hand”. With an intro worthy of Pink Floyd, Elvis moves into a melody which makes me so glad he sounds the way he does (despite Elvis reportedly hating his voice). This sweet ballad is followed by what might be my favorite track on the album, the Clash-esque “Chelsea (I Don’t Want To Go)”. I said Clash-esque, but it’s almost like Elvis mixed The Clash with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, before RHCP even existed. The track is so awesome, so bouncy, so well done, that this track alone ought to win you over.

“Lip Service” is a fun little number where you can almost see Elvis grappling the mic like James Brown as he tries to stop himself from dancing to his own awesome track. Plus, the guitars sound like Johnny Marr, and that’s always a good thing. The harmonies on “Living In Paradise” are delicious, and that organ part is my favorite thus far. This is kind of like a sincere Weezer song.
Now, remember when I said “Little Triggers” had my favorite drum part thus far? The thus far was because we hadn’t gotten to “Lipstick Vogue” yet. This is a great, frenetic track, with an awesome bass part, and a drum track to die for. Come on, this is a killer track, just admit it. You gotta.

The album ends on the military march-esque “Night Rally”, which recalls to mind, probably just form the title, the drag race scene from “Rebel Without A Cause”. Remind me later to add this song as the soundtrack to that scene.

So, all in all, This Year’s Model is a fun album deserving a place on this list. All the tracks had to be even more mind-blowing in the days before indie rock and weezer, who clearly jacked the shit outta this album. It may be called This Year’s Model, but it’s actually a model of something 20 years to come (from 1978 that is).

-Mike

Tomorrow will be #316: Rock Steady by No Doubt.

No comments:

Post a Comment