"Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink" by Elvis Costello

Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink by Elvis Costello
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Elvis Costello is one of my few personal heroes, in terms of creativity at least. I'm not sure I'd want to meet him in person; this masterful autobiography is the perfect alternative.

"I've absorbed almost everything I know from listening to records; the rest came from trial and error." This quote comes near the end of a lengthy, detailed account of a life dominated by an obsession with music. Flitting with apparent randomness back and forth through time, the man christened Declan MacManus writes with clarity and directness, although idiosyncratic turns of phrase abound ("I tried to find the corridor between the bedchamber and the war room").

His late father, singer/musician Ross MacManus is a dominant presence; he left the family to go adventuring with music and women, an example which Elvis seems to have followed. The heart of the book is Costello's account of his relatively brief period of pop stardom in the late '70s and early '80s; his many infidelities, and other indiscretions, are discreetly confessed.

We learn much about his upbringing, and his first and third marriages; the nature of his long relationship with Cait O'Riordan is only hinted at. The love for his musical collaborators and those of his heroes (e.g. Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan, Burt Bacharach, Allen Toussaint) with whom he has managed to connect is plain; the musicality of Attractions bass-player Bruce Thomas is extravagantly praised, but there are no titbits about their broken friendship.

For the true fan, the most fascinating element is his description of his songwriting process; the collage-style construction of lyrics, and the "borrowing" of the music which surrounds them. I possess the vast majority of the albums he's made, but there were many references which will elude all but the most obsessive completist.

There is little here for the casual reader; but for devotees, this is pure gold.


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"I Still Have That Other Girl" (Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach)

"I Still Have That Other Girl" - by Elvis Costello and Burt Bacharach from OTHNIEL SMITH on Vimeo.

Elvis Costello & The Imposters @ St David's Hall

Compared to many in attendance at the Elvis Costello and the Imposters show at St David’s Hall on Saturday, I must appear something of a part-time fan, only having seen him play five times before. They were all memorable occasions, though – twice at the old Cardiff Top Rank in the ‘80s, twice before at the Hall, and at the Feile Festival in Ireland in 1992, when he was going through his Jerry Garcia phase (also a fond memory of a rare holiday with my late brother.) The latest show, however, was especially magical.

The stage set-up is inventive, with its old-time entertainment theme – a fairground “test-your-strength” machine, a burlesque-costumed woman dancing in a cage, a lounge area with “solid gold” chairs; and, of course, the return of the Spinning Songbook – a wheel which members of the audience (marshalled by the Mysterious Josephine) are invited up on stage to spin in order to make song selections – although, in truth, it’s configured in such a way as to give Elvis something of a free hand. And Elvis himself acts the genial host, Napoleon Dynamite, with great assurance and good humour.

As for the songs themselves, the selection focussed, understandably, on his commercial peak period of the ‘80s – he kicked off a with a high-powered mini-set commencing with “I Can’t Stand Up For Falling Down” and “High Fidelity”; the lyrical coda to “Alison” contained a nod to Jimi Hendrix; album tracks “London’s Brilliant Parade” and “Home Is Anywhere You Hang Your Head” received a rare outing; the recent “National Ransom” album was represented by  “A Slow Drag With Josephine” and “Jimmie Standing In The Rain”; during an extended “Watching The Detectives” he prowled the stalls (sadly I was way up in the cheaper seats); and the main set concluded with his Thatcher ode “Tramp The Dirt Down”, complete with impassioned spoken introduction. Highlights from the mercifully lengthy encore segment included a rendition of “I Still Have That Other Girl” from the legendary Costello-Bacharach album “Painted From Memory” and a climactic “What’s So Funny ‘Bout Peace, Love and Understanding”.

The voice was as cutting as ever; the mood in the house (inexplicably not a sell-out) was jubilant. Two and a half hours of peerless entertainment from the pre-eminent singer-songwriter of his generation.