Tag Archives: Elvis Costello

Watching the Detectives

Recently, I’ve been spending a lot of my time watching the detectives. Only on the telly, of course. I’ve always been a fan of detective stories, from Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes tales on the page to the many British and American crime-solvers that have appeared on the small screen over the years. In particular, I quite enjoyed a number of American sleuths who possessed such exotic names as Kojak, Mannix, Cannon and Colombo. My favourite of these shows, however, was The Rockford Files, which starred James Garner as the eponymous sleuth. Over the last few years, I watched a good few episodes of that show as well as Colombo and it wasn’t difficult to see why I liked them. The stories weren’t bad, but the performances of Peter Falk as Columbo and Garner as Rockford were the real selling points for me

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Albums for the New Depression

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I must admit that I’d been feeling pretty daunted about choosing ten of my favourite albums from 2010. However, it wasn’t such a bad year for music after all and it actually took me a while to narrow it down to twenty. In no particular order, here are numbers 11-20, with the Top Ten coming tomorrow. Two of my favourite Scottish bands added to that country’s fine melodic tradition with their most recent efforts. Write About Love by Belle & Sebastian and Shadows by Teenage Fanclub were two of last year’s more uplifting albums. Lowering the Tone by The Brad Pitt Light Orchestra is the first of two Irish debuts in my Top 20. The band is largely composed of the Blake siblings from Limerick and their well-crafted Brechtian songs are equally well-performed on their first full-length record. The total running time of these first three records is just over two hours, which is only slighter longer than Have One on Me by Joanna Newsom. It’s probably going to take me a few more years to really get to know the album as only three of its eighteen tracks are shorter than six minutes. In contrast, each of the next three albums are only slightly longer than 30 minutes in length. Contra is the title of Vampire Weekend‘s follow-up to their eponymous debut album and it suffers from the difficult second album syndrome as I feel it’s not as good as its predecessor. Loudon Wainwright III brings his customary wit and way with words to bear on his collection of 10 Songs for the New Depression. He compares the current economic downturn to the one from the 1930s and includes two songs written back then along with eight of his own originals

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Beautiful Noise

This week’s episode of Later with Jools Holland features a couple of lesser-known acts along with three pretty well-known singer-songwriters. Sir Paul McCartney will be promoting the re-release of Band on the Run, originally released in 1973 when he was with Wings. His version of I’m Partial to Your Abracadabra appears on the Brand New Boots & Panties tribute to Ian Dury. McCartney has written and recorded with Elvis Costello in the past and maybe they’ll collaborate again on this week’s show. Costello has just released his follow-up to Secret, Profane & Sugarcane. National Ransom was recorded in Nashville and Los Angeles with The Sugarcanes and was produced by T Bone Burnett. I must admit that I always fast forward the moment that Neil Diamond takes the stage during The Band’s Last Waltz concert. Nevertheless, he has written some great songs over the years and the best of these have been performed by other artists. I’m a Believer by The Monkees, Girl, You’ll Be a Woman Soon by Urge Overkill and Solitary Man by Johnny Cash are three of the better ones. Solitary Man was his first hit as a performer in 1966. Aloe Blacc is the stage name of Egbert Nathaniel Dawkins III. Miss Fortune is taken from the American rapper’s Good Things album. The Black Keys are a duo from Akron, Ohio, and Brothers is the title of their current album. Their version of a song co-written by that McCartney fella and is taken from The Big Come Up. There are three episodes remaining in the current series of Later

I’m Partial to Your Abracadabra (Ian Dury cover) – Paul McCartney & the Blockheads

I Threw It All Away (Bob Dylan cover) – Elvis Costello

Solitary Man – Neil Diamond

Miss Fortune – Aloe Blacc

She Said, She Said (Beatles cover) – The Black Keys

Indoor Fireworks

Now that the World Cup is winding down (or is it up?) I’ve managed to find some time to devote to my first love, music. In the last week, I’ve seen a couple of my favourite songwriters each put on a fantastic show in two Irish cities. I’ll tell you about the second gig at a later date, but now I’m going to fill you in on one of the best musical events I’ve attended in a while: Elvis Costello at Vicar Street. I’ve been a fan of Mr Costello’s music for more than twenty years, but I’d only ever seen him in concert once before. That was at the Hammersmith Apollo in London in September 2002 on the When I Was Cruel tour. He was backed by The Imposters that day, essentially The Attractions without Pete Thomas and with Davey Faragher as his replacement. My recollections of the finer points of that gig have been lost in the mists of time, but I do recall that Chris Difford gave a good showing as the opening act. Also, Elvis and his band bounded on stage and tore into the opening half dozen songs without a single word of greeting from the main man. I don’t think he was in the best of form that night and he may have had a go at a member of the crowd who interrupted him with a request for a song while he was addressing the audience. I wouldn’t have expected anything less

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Hello, I’m Johnny Cash

Johnny Cash was born 78 years ago today in Arkansas and, like most popular musicians following their deaths, his records are still being released and his music is as popular as ever. The sixth and, presumably, final release in the Rick Rubin-produced American Recordings series came out this week. American VI: Ain’t No Grave was put together from songs left over from the sessions for the previous instalment. Like most of the albums in the series, the songs deal with death and mortality. To aid my research I’ve been reading a graphic novel about Cash that I’ve borrowed from my friend John via our mutual acquaintance Dave. Johnny Cash: I See a Darkness was originally written in German by Reinhard Kleist and it chronicles the major moments in Cash’s life. His story is quite familiar to fans of music following his two autobiographies, a couple of BBC documentaries and the film Walk the Line. Despite this familiarity, Kleist’s graphic novel is a welcome addition to the Cash story. It’s a quick read, which may be explained by the author’s drawing style but also by the areas of Cash’s life that he focuses upon. The story is narrated by an inmate at Folsom Prison and mainly deals with Cash’s life as a young boy up to the concert at that prison in 1968. These narrative elements move along quickly and give the reader little time for more introspective moments. However, the story is broken up at certain points by visual inserts of some of his more popular songs. Like John, I felt that the novel’s weakest aspect was the dialogue although this is often a problem in graphic novels as it needs to fill in some of the story background. Now it’s time for some musical background. I’ve put together some songs written about Mr Cash, a selection of covers by others plus a number of originals and interpretations by the Man in Black

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Happy Birthday, Bruce!

BruceSpringsteenTheOregonian

One of my favourite musicians, Bruce Springsteen, celebrates his 60th birthday today. I’ve been a big fan of his music ever since I bought Born in the USA on tape sometime in the late 1980s. I played it quite a lot (it didn’t have much competition back then) and it’s still one of my favourites of his. Soon after, I bought the rest of his albums on cassette, including the Live ’75-’85 box set. I’ve been to see him live in concert on two occasions and he was brilliant both times. You haven’t lived unless you’ve seen Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band in action. They’re on stage a lot longer than most bands and they play with a lot of fun, energy, and skill. Not only is he an amazing performer, but he’s also a wonderful songwriter. However, he’s been criticised for singing lots of songs about cars and girls, but that’s only half the story. I love songs like Born to Run and Thunder Road in which he creates scenes and characters that could come straight out of a movie. I also like his story songs such as The River and Highway Patrolman and other songs on the Nebraska album. Nebraska along with Darkness on the Edge of Town are my favourite Springsteen albums, even though they don’t necessarily contain his best songs. I think that he released his best work in the first half of his career and that his albums from the last twenty years, even though they contain great songs, are not among his best work

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Every Picture Tells A Story

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On Saturday, I put on my shorts and sandals and made my way to the final year degree show at the Limerick School of Art and Design on Clare St. The show is the culmination of four year’s work by the art students who attend the college and features a wide range of disciplines including painting, printmaking, graphic design, ceramics, sculpture and fashion. I arrived in the afternoon, so I didn’t get to see everything. In fact, I was taken aback by the quantity of work on offer, but also pleasantly delighted by the quality of work. I went to the painting department first where I met my friend, Gerry Davis, who gave myself and a mutual friend, Keith, a personal tour of his work. I first came across his art when he did the album cover for Limerick band, Vesta Varro, and then another local band, Seneca. I really like the humour, absurdity and inventiveness of his art. I was delighted to be present later when he won an award to have his paintings displayed at one of Limerick’s art galleries. It was a good day for him as he also sold some of his paintings. Nice one, Gerry

Gerry Davis' painting, Light, and me

Gerry Davis' painting, Light, and me

Then, another final year student, Gavin Smith, took me on a quick tour that took in his own work and ended at the sculpture department. I nearly lost him a few times, but always found him without too much difficulty. He was wearing an amazing technicolour jacket. Art students! I got to see some excellent paintings and was rarely bored, and often intrigued, by the work on offer. I wandered around on my own for a while and came across one of the more unusual pieces that I saw on the day. It was entitled “54″ and this number refers to the house number of an elderly neighbour and friend of the artist. It was set up in a small room with a welcome mat and a pot of flowers outside the door. When you entered, you appeared in a facsimile of someone’s sitting room, complete with chairs, a dresser, and a television set and dvd player. I came in and sat down and watched a three-minute film that played in a continuous loop. This film featured a single shot of what looked like the actual sitting room which had been copied in this room in which I now sat. The short film continued with a young girl (the artist’s daughter) dancing to a piece of popular music. There was an elderly lady (the friend and neighbour of the artist) sitting on an armchair in the corner. This very same lady was also sitting in the corner of the room in which I now sat! At first I thought it was a live recording, but the dancing girl was not present. The film on tv continued with the elderly lady dancing to the same tune. I remained there for a few minutes as many perplexed people entered and exited the room. It was a strange but fascinating experience

I ended up at the graphic design department. It was late in the evening at this stage and I was able to wander around to my heart’s content. I was quite impressed by the quality and diversity of the pieces on offer here. It included book cover designs, music videos and advertising campaigns. As in other parts of the show, there were a lot of thought-provoking pieces on display as well as ones that combined some humour. At this point I got a call from Gerry and I joined him and his friends at The Locke Bar for a few beverages. Over the next few hours, I made several attempts to go home to change out of my shorts and sandals, but I found myself in the Trinity Rooms nightclub at one in the morning. I was still in my shorts and sandals and had somehow managed to gain admittance in my unconventional attire. Fortunately, I didn’t stand out too much as Gavin was still wearing his technicolour jacket

The relationship between art school and popular music is a long one and it really took off in England in the seventies when many groups met in art school and went on to form bands. Many left the art world behind them and had successful musical careers instead. Nevertheless, these bands utilised a lot of what they had learned from the art world in the style and content of their music as well as in their band’s look and their music videos. This has continued up to the present day. Here are some songs by musical artists about art, artists and the art world


Artists Only – Talking Heads

Debaser – Pixies

Art School (live) – The Jam

(My Baby Does) Good Sculptures – The Rezillos

The Model – Belle & Sebastian

Painting By Chagall – The Weepies

Art Groupie – Grace Jones

Graffiti Limbo – Michelle Shocked

Peter the Painter – Ian Dury

Picture in a Frame – Tom Waits

Pictures of Lily (The Who cover) – David Bowie

Pictures Of You – The Cure

Rene And Georgette Magritte With Their Dog After The War – Paul Simon

When I Paint My Masterpiece (Bob Dylan cover) – The Band

Story Of An Artist (Daniel Johnston cover) – M Ward

In The Gallery – Dire Straits

Painted from Memory – Elvis Costello

An Architect’s Dream – Kate Bush

A Case Of You – Joni Mitchell

Vincent (Don MacLean cover) – Susan Werner

Matchstalk Men & Matchstalk Cats & Dogs – Brian and Michael

1000 Songs Everyone Must Hear

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The Guardian has just begun a series that runs from March 14-20, 2009. It’s called 1000 Songs Everyone Must Hear and is divided into seven daily parts, beginning with songs about Love. Most of the usual suspects are present and, while I had heard most of the songs, there were about two dozen that I had to track down and listen to. I’ve included five of those below.

The Chi-Lites hailed from Chicago and are best known for their hit song, Have You Seen Her? The use of the word ‘stoned’ in song titles from the late 60s and early 70s was not uncommon. Two of the more famous examples are The Supremes’ Stoned Love and Van Morrison’s And It Stoned Me

Stoned Out of My Mind – The Chi-Lites

Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland has opened many times for Van the Man. The two recorded a duet of Morrison’s song, Tupelo Honey

I’ll Take Care of You – Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland

I had only known It Must Be Love from Madness’ hit version, which seems like one of their own songs. The Guardian’s list includes the brilliant original by Labi Siffre

It Must Be Love – Labi Siffre

Elvis Costello has so many songs and albums that it’s hard to keep track of them all. I’m in the Mood Again comes from his 2003 album, North

I’m in the Mood Again – Elvis Costello

Twinkle was a 16-year-old female singer whose song Terry was banned in 1964 by the BBC. It belongs to a tradition of songs where the singer’s boyfriend has just died in a car accident, such as another hit from 1964, Leader of the Pack by The Shangri-Las. Twinkle’s song was a favourite of Morrissey’s and it’s not too difficult to see its influence on The Smiths’  There is a Light That Never Goes Out

Terry – Twinkle

1000 songs everyone must hear

Love: part one of 1000 songs everyone must hear

The 13 songs that I haven’t heard from the Guardian.co.uk list of 139

1000 songs everyone must hear

Love: part one of 1000 songs everyone must hear