The basic idea of this blog was to record what I had
listened to in the course of a year.
This morning it occurred to me that I should also keep track of the
quantity consumed. Thus, starting today,
the end of each posting will contain a running total of the number of releases
in their entirety. When February kicks
in I’ll also add the number of days elapsed in the year.
Today’s morning activities allowed me the opportunity to
listen to only one album but it’s a beauty.
(36) Elvis Costello & The Attractions – Armed Forces
Sorry to lapse into cliché but not only am I going to do it
but the one I’m going to use one that is especially lazy. In discussing this album one is practically
forced to state that Elvis Costello is the Woody Allen of rock and this has
nothing to do with the choice Costello’s spectacles at the time. Armed Forces is one of the early Costello
“Angry Young Man” albums which some listeners keep hoping he’ll return to in
much the same way as Allen’s “Early Funny Films”. I’ve never understood why people would want
an artist to remain stagnant – it’s the shortest route to becoming
irrelevant. Once the audience thinks
they know what a prolific artist will produce with the next release, they’ll eventually
stop listening. If the artist is unwilling
to change their approach, the only way to keep the audience on side will be to
deliberately reduce output and release new albums sparingly. (This, I think, is the secret to AC/DC’s
success among others.) For a prolific
artist like Costello this strategy would have amounted to an artistic death
and, again much like Allen’s development into a tremendous director of dramas
and mysteries in addition to comedies prevented his musical
diversification.
Primarily I still love and play the early Costello albums because
these are great rock and roll records.
It is a mark of the strength of this part of his career that I would
rank Armed Forces behind its illustrious predecessors My Aim Is True and This
Year’s Model and behind its immediate successor Get Happy! Yet this is an album that contains such
standouts as Accidents Will Happen, Olivers Army and Green Shirt. But I also love these records because these
in turn started the process that’s also led to King Of America, Imperial
Bedroom, North, the country albums and the collaborations with Burt Bacharach
and Allen Toussaint among others. And
with his recent albums with The Imposters, a case could be made for suggesting
that he has returned, in part and certainly in spirit, to the early days.
Later in the day, before going on to some commitments with
close friends I allow the afternoon sun to shine on me as I take in:
(37) The Roots – Come Alive
There is a sticker on the jewel box of this album saying “By
Popular Demand Live Music From The Roots”.
This baffles me because The Roots have allowed live performances to be
downloaded from their website for quite a while now. At least I’m not baffled by their music; a magnificent
mix of hip hop and soul with hints of jazz, reggae and rock. They have a reputation as a legendary live
act and this does nothing to dispel that.
How I rue the day when I didn’t see them as a festival at the National
Tennis Centre about a decade ago. (Mind
you, it was a choice between them and The White Stripes.) Having said that, there are shows that I’m
heard off their website that are better, but there’s nothing wrong with this
one. 
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