The Cure - The Top

 

After the gloom and depression of "Pornography", the release of the radio friendly singles "Let's Go To Bed", "The Walk" and "The Love Cats", the latter two achieving The Cure's best chart placings in the UK up to that point, at 12 and 8 respectively, I was eagerly looking forward to the release of the next album from the "The Cure". The early release of  the slightly eccentric "The Caterpillar" as the single from the album also boded well. As you can see from the picture, I paid £4.49 for the LP !

Frankly though, I was a little disappointed with "The Top" when it came out, being obviously experimental, and inconsistent in quality. Amongst a couple of gems eg Shake Dog Shake and Bird Mad Girl, there were several mundane, uninteresting tracks, and I rarely played the LP after the initial curiosity had waned. 

With the departure of Simon Gallup leaving just Robert Smith and Lol Tolhurst as the official band members, the album lacked the trademark dominant bass lines, and instead headed off in a number of different directions, with a hint of psychedelica, heavy metal as well as oriental/middle-eastern and Spanish influences. Smith's time as the guitarist in the Siouxsie and the Banshees is also evident on the album.

Looking now at the track listing, there are 5 songs I have no recollection of so it will be interesting to see what I think of them now !

If you can imaging The Cure playing a Siouxsie and The Banshees song in the style of heavy metal then you will probably have something like "Shake Dog Shake", which although slightly plodding is quite compelling, and the "Shake Dog Shake" chant stays in the mind.

"Bird Mad Girl" is possibly the best song on the LP being the closest to a traditional pop song and with a rich melody. There is a hint of Spanish guitar but I have no idea what is meant by "I could be a polar bear" !

"Wailing Wall" has an oriental vibe and does conjure up images of being in an Arabian souk, but it is a far cry from "Fire In Cairo" or "Killing An Arab". Smith sings "walking to the promised land", and whilst the song is pleasant enough, he doesn't get there via this road !

"Give Me It" is mess, with shouty vocals, screeching psychedelic guitar, and I still find it to be unlistenable. I hated it then, and I hate it now ! 

In contrast the next song, "Dressing Up", is the complete opposite, with a much slower tempo, a pretty tune and what sounds like a recorder being played along the chiming keyboards. I had forgotten how nice this song was.

Side Two opens with "The Caterpillar", the single from the album. Despite, the erratic, off-key keyboards and violin in the intro, it leads into a gorgeous melody. It's hard not to sing along to "You flicker and you're beautiful, you glow inside my head" and "I'll dust my lemon lies with powder, pink and sweet. The day I stop is the day you change and fly away, away from me"

"Piggy In The Middle" was a pleasant surprise to hear again as I had completely forgotten this one. It's another track with Spanish style guitar and another strong tune.  "Jump with me, for that old forgotten dance, the midnight sun will burn you up".

"The Empty World" was another track I couldn't remember beforehand but I immediately recalled it once it started with its military style drumming, and a jaunty army whistling like keyboard line. Indeed the song includes the line "She talked about the armies that marched inside her head

The LP goes downhill with the final two songs. "Bananafishbones" sounds like XTC on a bad day, whilst even by their standards "The Top" is a slow, tuneless dirge.

In summary, listening to the album again reminded me of several good tracks that had been erased from my memory banks. However, it still comes across as uneven, with three numbers being candidates for any Cure "Worst Ever...." compilation.

Track Listing :

Side One :

1. Shake Dog Shake
2. Bird Mad Girl
3. Wailing Wall
4. Give Me It
5. Dressing Up

Side Two :

1. The Caterpillar
2. Piggy In The Mirror
3. The Empty World
4. Bananafishbones
5. The Top

Released : 1984
UK Chart Position : 10

Singles :

The Caterpillar ( No 14 - 1984 )

The Cure - Pornography

 

If "Faith", the preceding album, was my favourite all-time Cure album, then "Pornography" was by some distance my least favourite, finding much of it to be totally unlistenable. Whereas the gloom and sadness of Faith was clothed with majestic keyboards, melodic bass and mesmerizing rhythms, much of Pornography was just noise. Only "A Strange Day" was anything remotely accessible, and over time I had found "A Hanging Garden" bearable, as it was included in the "Standing On A Beach" singles compilation. I could just about tolerate "A Hundred Years" and "A Short Term Effect" but I couldn't stand the rest, and now had no idea how they sounded. Nevertheless, it was The Cure's best selling album up to that point, and reached number 8 in the UK album charts. 

This was going to potentially be a tough listen 39 years later.............

Looking at the cover, I can see that I bought the album for £4.39 from Aquarius Records in Cardiff.

The opening line of "One Hundred Years " perhaps sets the tone for the whole album. Robert Smith sings "It doesn't matter if we all die" over pounding drums and a screeching guitar. Nevertheless, the song sounds much better now although it could do with being a couple of minutes shorter. 

The beat on "A Short Term Effect" is almost toe-tapping but this is offset by the guitar playing, which seems to be deliberately off-key and is basically just a nightmarish noise. There is potentially a good songs in there somewhere.

The more I hear "A Hanging Garden" the more I like it but in the beginning I wasn't impressed. The military style drumming gives the song its impetus

Listening to "Siamese Twins" was a total surprise. I had totally forgotten how this sounded. Much slower with the bass much more to the fore than the other songs on the side, and together with the drums and the sporadic chiming guitars it wouldn't be out of place on "Faith".

"The Figurehead" also has a strong bass riff and powerful guitar. More than any other song here, it is probably the most deserving of the tag "Gothic". I could lose myself in Chinese Art and American girls", "I will never be clean again"

"A Strange Day" is the song that "A Short Term Effect" could have been, with a similar bass line but the instrumentation is clear, there is a strong chorus and a great guitar solo. The song also has the strongest melody so it is a little surprising it wasn't chosen as the single from the album.

"Cold" is another slower song and actually includes some keyboards. It was another song I had completely erased from my memory but hearing it now I quite liked it, sounding in parts like a crossover between "The Funeral Party" and "The Holy Hour" from "Faith"

The title track "Pornography" though is just awful, a six and half minute assault on the ears. A mash of noise, the shouted vocal, which only comes in after over three minutes, low in the mix, and a complete absence of tune or melody. 

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by listening to this album again, and it deserves a huge reappraisal. Apart from the dreadful title track, it's actually quite good !

Track Listing :

Side One :

1. One Hundred Years
2. A Short Term Effect
3. The Hanging Garden
4. Siamese Twins

Side Two :

1. The Figurehead
2. A Strange Day
3. Cold
4. Pornography

Released : 1982

UK Chart Position : 8

Single : The Hanging Garden ( No 32 - 1982 )

The Cure - Faith

 

Faith remains my favourite Cure album of all time, and much to the annoyance of my flat mates at University, it was constantly played on my record player after its release in 1981. Whereas they found it gloomy and depressing,  on the other hand, I found joy and cheerfulness from the majestic, beautiful melodies and hypnotic rhythms of the 8 tracks on the LP. The fact that the album cover is grey, with a blurred image of a church is apt, and a strong indication of what you will find on the record. At times it could also be a sound track to a horror movie.

Apart from perhaps "Plainsong" from the Disintegration LP, "The Holy Hour" and "The Funeral Party" are, in my opinion, arguably the finest songs ever recorded by the band whilst "The Drowning Man" is mesmerizing. "Primary" is memorable for the two basses playing the riff instead of a guitar. It is one of the few albums were I can recall all of the songs.

"The Holy Hour" commences with just the bass riff before being joined by the drums and a synthesizer low in the mix. The guitar enters after just over a minute building to a crescendo from which the wailing vocal comes in after over a minute and a half into the song. The track ends with two gongs of a bell just to emphasize the dark, unsettling mood built up by this epic piece of music.

The single "Primary" follows, with the manic two basses generating a totally different pace to the rest of the album, apart from "Doubt",

"Other Voices" returns to the general feel of the LP. Again the bass line dominates over the drums, with the jangly guitar in the background. Smith's sparse vocal conjures up the feeling of desperation and there is a nice ending, with just the drums until an abrupt stop,

In "All Cats Are Grey" the keyboard slowly plays the melody although the bass and drums remain distinctive with a slightly creepy feel to it. The track ends with just a solemn piano playing the main motif. "In the caves all cats are grey, in the caves the texture coats my skin. In a death cell the single note rings on and on and on".

Side two opens with "The Funeral Party" which has a glorious keyboard intro over slow, rhythmic drumming, and like "The Holy Hour", gradually builds into the introduction of the vocal. Again, its eerie but totally suited to the sad atmosphere, It manages to be bleak but uplifting at the same time. The title of the song is very appropriate. "I heard a song and turned away as piece by piece you performed your story. Noiselessly across the floor, dancing at the funeral party".

"Doubt" changes the mood, being the second up-tempo number. Similar to "Primary" but with a guitar instead of the second bass, the anger and hatred clearly come across. "Tear at flesh and rip at skin, and smash at doubt I have to break you. Fury drives my vicious blows, I see you fall but still I strike you".

"The Drowning Man" is another suitably titled song, with the swirling rhythm of the guitar and hypnotic drums painting the picture of struggling to keep one's head above water in the maelstrom of life. "The words all left me lifeless, hoping, breathing like the drowning man".

The final track "Faith" again has the bass as the dominant instrument with the pace and feel of the song being not to dis-similar to "All Cats Are Grey". The intro is over 2 minutes before Smith's sad vocal joins the fray.

Forty years after its release. "Faith" remains a masterpiece and a rarity in that there is not a bad track on the album.

Track Listing :

Side One :

1. The Holy Hour
2. Primary
3. Other Voices
4. All Cats Are Grey

Side Two :

1. The Funeral Party
2. Doubt
3. The Drowning Man
4. Faith

Released : 1981

UK Chart Position : 14

Singles : Primary ( No 43 - 1981 )

The Cure - Seventeen Seconds

 

The second album from The Cure represented a marked transformation from the sounds of "Three Imaginary Boys". With the addition of Matthieu Hartley on keyboards and Simon Gallup replacing Michael Dempsey on bass, the band moved away from post-punk to a more ethereal sound, which some critics stated was already the birth of "goth rock", the genre that The Cure was subsequently to be labelled with. However, the album was much more complex that these generalities, with songs such as "Play For Today" and "M" clearly fitting with the style of "Three Imaginary Boys", whilst the "A Forest" and "Seventeen Seconds" were clearly evidence of a different direction. I have to admit that I couldn't remember how the other tracks went though....

The album starts with " A Reflection", a bleak, sombre instrumental dominated by piano and guitar. It wouldn't have appeared out of place on David Bowie's "Low" or perhaps even a horror film !

The pace picks up with "Play For Today" which has an urgent bass line and simple keyboard motif. It's still one of the highlights and could have been a second single from the album.

"Secrets" has a melodic bass riff and an echoey vocal, with the piano repeating the riff in the outro.

"In Your House" is hypnotic, with again the bass and piano playing the same melody, and a soothing organ overlaid towards the end.

"Three" is another instrumental but is a little monotonous.

Side Two opens with "The Final Sound, a very short piano instrumental before leading into "A Forest " the album's epic track. Starting with a slow guitar riff, the bass takes over before more guitar and the drums come in. There is another eerie vocal down in the mix adding to the ghostly atmosphere but with a rare sense of urgency, augmented by the guitar solo, before the dramatic ending with just the bass playing the final note. It was The Cure's first top forty hit single in the UK, having been edited down from nearly 6 minutes to a more radio friendly 4 minutes.

"M" chugs along quite nicely and has an almost sing-a-long chorus "You'll fall in love with someone else again tonight". There is a pleasant organ and another driving guitar solo. It's probably my favourite song on the LP.

"At Night" is much slower and the strummed guitar is typical of the style of playing on "Faith", the follow-up album.

"Seventeen Seconds" ends with the title track. Beginning with a gently strummed guitar, the bass joins in as the tempo slowly builds. The vocal eventually starts after just over 1 minute 30 and the song is another of the highpoints of the album.

Listening now I found it to be a remarkably mature album, although I had forgotten there were three instrumentals.

Track Listing :

Side One :

1. A Reflection
2. Play For Today
3. Secrets
4. In Your House
5. Three

Side Two :

1. The Final Sound
2. A Forest
3. M
4. At Night
5. Seventeen Seconds

Released : 1980
UK Chart Position : 20

Singles : A Forest ( No 31 - 1980 )

The Cure - Boys Don't Cry

Boys Don't Cry was the US release of the first album of The Cure, and comprised of most of Three Imaginary Boys, plus the first three singles - "Killing An Arab", Boys Don't Cry" and "Jumping Someone Else's Train". With the inclusion of three outstanding non-album singles, and the exclusion of some of the lessor songs on "Three Imaginary Boys", "Boy's Don't Cry" is obviously a much better album to listen to.

The songs from TIB that were replaced were understandably "Foxy Lady", "Meathook", "So What", "The Weedy Burton" and perhaps more surprisingly "It's Not You" which was in the opinion of this writer, one of the better "post-punk" songs on TIB.

"Jumping Someone Else's Train" was a real shock when it was released as the "tinny" sound from "Three Imaginary Boys" had been replaced with a totally different mix with the guitar much more to the fore. "Boys Don't Cry " is possibly the best "pop" song the Cure have ever released so obviously it's inclusion would add to any Cure album.

Actually listing the song titles, as opposed to the obscure hieroglyphics on TIB, is also a huge positive for this LP ! 

I can't remember where I purchased the US import from but the sticker on the album cover shows I paid £3.99 from Our Price Records....

Track Listing :

Side One :

1. Boys Don't Cry
2. Plastic Passion
3. 10:15 Saturday Night
4. Accuracy
5. Object
6. Jumping Someone Else's Train
7. Subway Song

Side Two :

1. Killing An Arab
2. Fire In Cairo
3. Another Day
4. Grinding Halt
5. World War
6. Three Imaginary Boys

Released : 1980
UK Chart Position : N/A

Singles :

Killing An Arab ( - 1978 )
Boys Don't Cry ( 22 - 1978/1986 )
Jumping Someone Else's Train ( - 1979 )

The Cure - Three Imaginary Boys

 

The list of famous people to come from Crawley, my home town, is not a particularly long one. Growing up, there was boxer Alan Minter, who won the World Middleweight title and an Olympic Bronze medal, and twice Olympic decathlon champion Daley Thompson. Nowadays there is England football coach Gareth Southgate, and perhaps comedian Romesh Ranganathan, and maybe TV presenter Dan Walker. Below this we are really scraping the barrel. However, to me, Robert Smith ( and some of the other members of The Cure ) are the ones to be most proud of, and the easy winners of the "Most Famous To Come From Crawley" award.

I was in the Sixth Form at Thomas Bennett Comprehensive when Three Imaginary Boys came out. Robert Smith, Lol Tolhurst and Michael Dempsey had attended St Wilfried's Roman Catholic School but were two school years higher, so I wouldn't have played any schools sports against them, even if they played any sport ! 

There was a lot of excitement when it was reported that The Cure would be playing at Northgate Community Centre, one of the neighbourhoods of Crawley, just after the release of "Three Imaginary Boys". The internet records this concert as being on April 29, 1979. Myself and some friends made the walk over to Northgate, but got nowhere near to the Community Centre due to the vast number of people who had turned up in the hope of getting into the tiny venue, so we turned away and went to the pub instead.

I had to wait until I was at Cardiff University until I finally saw The Cure in concert. My memory was that this was in 1981 on the "Faith" tour, where the film of "Carnage Visors" was the opening act, and I was pretty sure that "Primary" was one of the songs played. However, there is no trace of this concert listed anywhere I can find on the internet, although there is one from November 1980, where "Primary" is not on the set-list, and it was before "Carnage Visors" was released. Perhaps I am I going senile.............

Three Imaginary Boys was notable for its cover, with the record label deciding that The Cure should be anti-image, and so the three band members were represented by household appliances, namely a lamp, a fridge and a vacuum cleaner. More annoyingly the song titles were not listed and instead were represented by a symbol or a drawing. It was only when I purchased Boys Don't Cry, the repackaged US version, that I knew the titles for sure !

I bought the album more out of loyalty to the local boys made good, and without having heard any of the songs, although I had heard and liked the single "Killing An Arab", which isn't included on the album. I was pleasantly surprised how good some of the songs were, particularly liking the first three songs and also tracks 4, 5 & 6 on side two. I thought there were a couple of duds though.  I couldn't see the point of the Jimi Hendrix cover "Foxy Lady", which didn't seem to fit in with the rest of the album, and I thought "Meat Hook" was dreary, and "Subway Song" an awful filler.

The sound was minimalist and stark, dominated by the bass lines and vocals, with the guitar and drums sounding very "tinny", and it very much fitted into the "post-punk" label that was applied to it at the time. Unlike later Cure albums, where keyboards feature heavily, this is very much a three-piece band of guitar, bass and drums.

"10:15 Saturday Night" is probably the song which is best remembered from the album, usually being the track taken to represent the LP in any compilation set, and is included on the "Staring At The Sea" singles collection, having apparently been released as a single in France ! With the line "And the tap drips, drips, drips, drips, drips....." featuring regularly the guitar replicates the sound of a dripping tap. The song is quite hypnotic, and the structure of the song is quite mature for a young band's first album.

"Accuracy" is quite funky and catchy, driven along by the bass line. "Practice all day for accuracy" could suggest they were signing about playing darts, but probably isn't.

"Grinding Halt" could be a Buzzcocks song, with a sharp, jerky rhythm and the bass line repeating the melody. As the title suggests, the song ends with a halt.

"Another Day" is a slower number which wouldn't have been out of place on the subsequent "Seventeen Seconds" or "Faith" albums if it had a different arrangement. It also points in the direction of "Faith" lyrically with "Winter in watercolours, shades of grey"

"Object" is another Buzzcocks "post-punk" style song "But don't try to fool me 'cause I can see through your disguise, you're just an object in my eyes" whereas "Subway Song" is mainly jazz style bass and a spoken vocal, with finger clicking and harmonica in the fade-out. Personally, I think it is spoilt by the scream to finish but actually, it wasn't as bad as I remembered.

There are probably a lot of better Jimi Hendrix songs than "Foxy Lady" that could have been covered and this sounds very much like it was recorded in one take or as a demo. It's not even sung by Smith, with Michael Dempsey singing instead.

"Meat Hook" has an echo added to some of the vocal and features another jazzy bass-line,. It also sounded better 40 years later. 

The urgent pace returns with "So What" and it is probably about as angry as The Cure have ever sounded. "And if you knew that nothing could replace you. If you were sane your heart wouldn't ache, but so what ?"

"Fire In Cairo" retraces the Arabian vibes of "Killing An Arab", with the chorus having each letter of the title sung rapidly. It's probably the most easily accessible "pop" song on the album.

"It's Not You" is another "post-punk" track with a great guitar riff, bordering into pop territory. "You wear your smile like it's going out of fashion, dress to inflame but douse any idea of passion". "I would murder you if I had the alibi here in my hand, but you just laugh cause you don't understand"

"Three Imaginary Boys" also hints at the direction of both the song "Seventeen Seconds" and the album itself with a slower tempo but still manages to be a toe-tapper. There's quite a catchy chorus and it has one of the few guitar solos on the album. "Close my mind and hold so tight, scared of what the morning brings. Waiting for tomorrow never comes".

"The Weedy Burton" wasn't credited on the album sleeve or the label of the record and is a short jazz flavoured instrumental outro. It's best to think of it as a bonus filler.

In summary, "Three Imaginary Boys" sounded ever better now that what I remember from 40 years ago. However, anyone who first discovered The Cure at the time of the "Disintegration" album will probably be disappointed by that this is nothing like the atmospheric, but gloomy Gothic reputation the band subsequently acquired. 

Track Listing :

Side One :

1. 10.15 Saturday Night
2. Accuracy
3. Grinding Halt
4. Another Day
5. Object 
6. Subway Song

Side Two :

1. Foxy Lady
2. Meathook
3. So What
4. Fire In Cairo
5. It's Not You
6. Three Imaginary Boys
7. The Weedy Burton

Released : 1979
UK Chart Position : 44

Singles : None

Elvis Costello - Taking Liberties

 

"Taking Liberties" was only released in the USA and Canada and consisted of B-sides and other Elvis Costello tracks not previously released in North America. I have no idea how I came across a copy, but I suspect I may have found it in a record shop in Cardiff whilst at University there. Wherever it was, the ticket on the cover informs it was reduced from £7.98 to £4.99.

Like "Get Happy !", twenty songs are on the album but at the time I was disappointed, but after all most of the tracks are B-Sides or not previously released for a reason. I do remember the versions of "Girl's Talk", "Getting Mighty Crowded" and "Crawling To The USA" whilst "( I Don't Want To Go To ) Chelsea" was a big hit single and the quaint "Sunday's Best" was omitted from the US version of "Armed Forces" as it was considered to be "too English". "Night Rally" was on the UK release of "This Year's Model".

A session version of  "Hoover Factory" had received some late night airplay on Capital Radio as had "My Funny Valentine". Stranger In The House" was part of a limited released single with the first album "My Aim Is True" but the other tracks had been wiped from my memory.

The punkish "Clean Money" was previously unreleased and probably shouldn't have been. Dave Edmunds covered "Girl's Talk" in 1978 and his much faster, guitar orientated version is miles better than Elvis' own. "Talking In The Dark" is instantly forgettable.

The Country and Western "Radio Sweetheart" is quite catchy though and there is a hint of "Pay It Back" from "My Aim Is True". "Black And White World" was one of the worst songs on "Get Happy !" and whilst this slower demo version is very different, it is no better. "Big Tears" was the B-Side to "Pump It Up" and sounds like a poorer version of "Less Than Zero".

"Just A Memory", a slow piano based ballad is OK but nothing special, whilst "Stranger In The House" is another Country and Western song which was excluded from "My Aim Is True" as it didn't fit with the angry, new wave sound of the rest of the album. Together with "Radio Sweetheart" it gave a clue to the direction that led to the 1981 album "Almost Blue", in which Elvis recorded covers of Country and Western songs.

The version here of "Clowntime is Over" is really slow and I much prefer the hectic beat of the performance of it included on "Get Happy !"

"Getting Mighty Crowded" was written by Van McCoy and was the B-Side of High Fidelity. With it's lively dance beat it would fitted perfectly on "Get Happy !"

Listening now to "Hoover Factory" was disappointing as I had thought it was a good song, but now it sounds dreary, and it's now understandable why it wasn't previously released

"Tiny Steps" sounded very familiar and had me thinking it must have been on "Armed Forces", but having checked I confirmed it wasn't ! It was the B-Side of "Radio, Radio", which is where I must have remembered it from, but going through my collection of singles I don't have "Radio, Radio"..........

"Dr Luther's Assistant" has an almost sing-along chorus and the R&B flavoured "Crawling To The USA" was not nearly as good as I thought it was. The frantic "Wednesday Week" is just noise until an odd slower, melodic ending.

Elvis' cover of Rodgers and Hart's "My Funny Valentine", written in 1937 and recorded by hundreds of artists, is tenderly performed, but I think you have to be in the right mood for it !

"Ghost Train" is pretty mediocre, being a jumble of different ideas that somehow don't fit together.

The album would have been better if songs not included on UK album releases so as "Radio Radio", "Watching The Detectives" and the outstanding "(What's So Funny 'Bout ) Peace, Love and Understanding had been added. The other observation is that "Taking Liberties" is generally lacking in the inventive and clever lyrics that are a noticeable feature of the main studio albums.

Track Listing :

Side One :

1. Clean Money
2. Girl's Talk
3. Talking In The Dark
4. Radio Sweetheart
5. Black And White World
6. Big Tears
7. Just A Memory
8. Night Rally
9. Stranger In The House
10. Clowntime Is Over

Side Two :

1. Getting Mighty Crowded
2. Hoover Factory
3. Tiny Steps
4. ( I Don't Want To Go To ) Chelsea
5. Dr Luther's Assistant
6. Sunday's Best
7. Crawling To The USA
8. Wednesday Week
9. My Funny Valentine
10. Ghost Train

Released 1980
UK Chart Position : N/A ( No 28 in the USA )

Elvis Costello And The Attractions - Get Happy !

 

Get Happy ! was the fourth studio album from Elvis Costello, and marked a distinct change in sound. The angry, new wave sound of the previous efforts was mostly gone, and replaced with an attempt at music to dance to, and it sounded like Northern Soul at times. It was also unusual in that 20 songs were featured on the album, with a total runtime of just over 48 minutes, but with only three of them lasting over three minutes. There was still the hallmark plethora of great rhymes and witty puns though. The sticker on the front of the album cover informs me than I bought it for £1.99 from Woolworths but I have no idea why it was so cheap !

"I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down" was the big hit from the album, and typified the tone of the songs here. In my student days, this was a track that was guaranteed to get just about everyone onto the dance floor, with usually someone drunkenly living up to to the title. It was only years later that I discovered Elvis didn't write the song, and it was a cover from the 1960s. Sam and Dave's version was a lot slower, and, in my opinion, the much faster tempo given to it by Elvis and The Attractions makes it much better.

At the time I thought Side 2 to be significantly stronger than Side 1, with all the best songs ( apart from "I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down" ) coming towards the end of the album. I can still remember "Possession", "King Horse", "Clown Time Is Over", "New Amsterdam" and "High Fidelity", whereas I had no recollection of the other songs on Side 1. 

Listening again to Get Happy ! that impression was re-enforced, with Side 2 being perhaps his most outstanding set of songs up this stage of his career whereas Side 1 was eminently forgettable. There is not a bad song on side 2, in fact they are all outstanding. However, a better album might have been released had some songs on Side 1 been omitted and the run-time reduced.

Focusing on the positives, side 2 opens with "Love For Tender" which has a dance beat with nice hook followed by the smooth, slower "Opportunity" with a soft guitar, organ and the yearning refrain "Whatever you do, don't turn around". Elvis complains "I'm in a foxhole, I'm down in the trench. I'd be a hero but I can't stand the stench". 

"The Imposter" continues at a frantic pace after which comes "Secondary Modern", a slow dance pop number with a gentle vocal and with some stand out drumming

The glorious tunes keep arriving with "King Horse" and "Possession" the latter with the lines "You lack lust, you're so lacklustre, is that all the strength you can muster ?"

"Men Called Uncle" is another highlight, and "Clown Time Is Over" is much faster than the version on the compilation "Taking Liberties". "Who's making lover's lane safe again for lovers ?" Elvis enquires....

"New Amsterdam" is another great song and chock-a-block with more clever lyrics. "Till I step on the brake to get out of her clutches, till I speak double Dutch to a real double duchess"

The album closes with "High Fidelity", the second single and perhaps the blandest song on the side, but swings along nicely.

In comparison, Side 1 falls off a cliff after the outstanding "I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down", and in truth it was hard work to sit through to the end of each song. I'm struggling to think of any other album where there is such a disparity between the quality of the two sides !

Track Listing :

Side One :

1. I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down
2. Black And White World
3. 5ive Gears In Reverse
4. B Movie
5. Motel Matches
6. Human Touch
7. Beaten To The Punch
8. Temptation
9. I Stand Accused
10. Riot Act

Side Two :

1. Love For Tender
2. Opportunity
3. The Imposter
4. Secondary Modern
5. King Horse
6. Possession
7. Men Called Uncle
8. Clown Time Is Over
9. New Amsterdam
10. High Fidelity

Released 1980
UK Chart Position : 2

Singles :

I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down ( No 2 - 1980 )
High Fidelity ( No 30 - 1980 )
New Amsterdam ( No 36 - 1980 )

Elvis Costello - Armed Forces

 

 

Armed Forces was the third Elvis Costello album and although it achieved more sales and charted higher than both of the earlier releases, personally I thought it to be inferior, and looking at the track listing now, there are very few songs I can remember. Those I do are mostly for the wrong reasons ! 

Early buyers of the LP like myself also received a free bonus EP, which contained live performances of "Accidents Will Happen", "Alison" and "Watching The Detectives", the most notable being the much slower, piano version of "Accidents Will Happen", which is completely different to the track on the album.

Having replayed the LP, its tempting to say "I just don't know where to begin" as per the opening line of "Accidents Will Happen", but actually I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed listening to Armed Forces. I hadn't previously been aware of, or maybe had forgotten, the numerous military references in the lyrics on the album but perhaps it isn't too surprising given the title of Armed Forces ! It also surpasses the previous two albums in terms of clever lyrics and rhymes, which is some achievement.

The album version of "Accidents Will Happen" is with the full band and up-tempo, and over time is considered to one of Elvis Costello's most popular songs, despite its modest success as a single. It contains a number of great lines, "though he says he'll wait for ever, its now or never, but she keeps him hanging on".

"Senior Service" is the shortest song on Armed Forces, coming in at just over two minutes, and features a funky chorus, the beat of which is something like Sylvester the Cat sneaking up on Tweetie-Pie, whilst the verse could be out of a soul hit, and the song moves nicely between the two. Senior Service is a cigarette brand and the lyrics play both on this and the military themes "Senior service, junior dissatisfaction, its a breath you took too late, its a death that's worse than fate".

Next comes the huge hit "Oliver's Army", the happy, bouncy tune and jaunty keyboards disguises the angry lyrics of imperialism and mercenaries. "Called careers information, have you got yourself an occupation ?", "There was a checkpoint Charlie, he didn't crack a smile, but its no laughing party when you've been on the murder mile".

"Big Boys" is a hybrid of several different components, starting slowly, moving into almost something from 1960's Motown before quite a delightful "She'll be the one" coda. There are also hints of "No Action" and "Hand in Hand" from This Year's Model in the middle ! It all just about works.

"Green Shirt" is a slow song with a computerized beat, some heavy drumming, an usually tender vocal and synthesized fade-out. "Cause somewhere in the Quisling clinic there's a shorthand typist taking seconds over minutes".

"Party Girl" is the Alison style romantic ballad on the album "they say you're nothing but a party girl, just like a million more all over the world"

Side 2 opens with the bombastic "Goon Squad", a song I hated when I first heard it, but it sounds terrific now. There's a desperate urgency to it, "I got my sentence, I got my command, they said they'd make me major if I met all their demands. I could be a Corporal into corporal punishment, or the general manager of a large establishment"

"Busy Bodies" doesn't really fit in with the feel of the rest of Armed Forces, and would be more at home on This Year's Model, both lyrically and the style of music, although there is also a hint of "Accident's Will Happen".

"Sunday's Best" is an interesting song, played in a faux-waltz style. "Times are tough for English babies, send the Army and the Navy. Beat up strangers who talk funny, take their greasy foreign money". It was considered "too British" by the record label and excluded from the US release of Armed Forces. They replaced it with Elvis' excellent version of Nick Lowe's "(What so Funny 'Bout) Truth, Love and Understanding" and it is a shame that that song was not included in the UK release, even though it still sounds more like Nick Lowe than Elvis Costello !  

"Moods For Moderns" was another song I didn't like at the time. There's a funky beat and a disco type chant to start with as if Elvis is trying to be Chic or Earth, Wind and Fire. The line of the chorus "and what if none of these dreams come true" is quite catchy, but overall its my least favourite track on the LP.

"Chemistry Class" has possibly the most gorgeous tune of all the songs here, which hides the fact the song is about the experimentations of the Nazis. "You've got a chemistry class, I want a piece of your mind, you don't know what you started when you mixed it up with mine. Are you ready for the final solution ? Oh, Oh." 

The Nazi imagery continues with "Two Little Hitlers" where again a delicious melody masks some sinister lyrics. "Two little Hitlers will fight it out until one little Hitler does the other one's will". "She's so calculating she's got a calculator. She's my soft touch typewriter, and I'm the great dictator"

Listing :

Side 1 

1. Accidents Will Happen
2. Senior Service
3. Oliver's Army
4. Big Boys
5. Green Shirt
6. Party Girl

Side 2
1. Goon Squad
2. Busy Bodies
3. Sunday's Best
4. Moods For Moderns
5. Chemisty Class
6. Two Little Hitlers

Released 1979
UK Chart Position : 2

Singles :

Oliver's Army ( No 2 - 1979 )
Accidents Will Happen ( No 28 - 1979 )