Fifty years of music is an extraordinary achievement for any artist. Longevity is the aim of the game, after all. But what comes after longevity is legendary. Few will hit that point. You have your Paul McCartney’s, your Mick Jagger’s, and your Bob Dylan’s, sure, but there are few quite like Elvis Costello. His performance at the Royal Albert Hall shows he and The Imposters, accompanied here by veteran guitarist Charlie Sexton, are an example of how that punk energy and alternative frequency are still dialled up. He and the band are still up for a fight against the powers that be. The energy Costello and the crew have for putting the world to rights is as inspired as it was all those years ago. Radio Soul: The Early Songs of Elvis Costello may seem, on paper, like a nostalgic trip through the years, but it is far from it. Costello and the band has modernised and manipulated these best of hits into a cool two-hour set.
Rewriting and rewiring a few of these hit songs is par for the course for Costello. He’s joined by longstanding bandmates Steve Nieve and Pete Thomas, whose work is still extremely solid. Sexton is the magnificent addition which brings an Americana thrill to the tracks at hand. He seems keen to stay out of the spotlight, never quite joining in on the backing vocals. No need, either. His work is best when it’s wailing away in the background in support of another, as was the case for his work on Dylan’s Time Out of Mind. The veteran songwriter even gets a nod with Costello performing a few lyrics of Subterranean Homesick Blues during an electrifying Pump it Up. But that all comes towards the end of the show, a memorable blowout featuring Shipbuilding, Clubland, and (What’s So Funny About) Peace, Love, and Understanding. That last song remains an unfortunately potent and brilliant song.
It, along with a rewritten Oliver’s Army, both carries with it an outrage against war and a feeling of disgust for the hopelessness of ongoing conflicts. The Armed Forces hit still holds firm with its nod to Palestine and its mention of pallbearers and the freedom of one being another man’s terror is nothing short of perfect. Costello is keen to note he wants his audience to listen to the new lyrics, and those who do so will find a song that has evolved since its release in 1977, and it sounds far stronger here than it does on the album. Shipbuilding is yet another staggering moment. Costello has a voice that carries across the room, and he hasn’t missed a beat, either. His vocal strength is a miraculous achievement, and tight instrumental work backs that on the Royal Albert Hall’s stage.
Costello may not strike as a man ever wanting or needing to head down memory lane. But what he has done here is not so much revisit his songs as much as he has revived them. He rebuilds them with the context of the times we now live in, and the works at hand, from Alison to A Good Year for the Roses, still sound fantastic. On previous occasions, Costello has perhaps struggled a tad in keeping up with the tempo of the songs, unchanged as they are and yet his voice a touch slower. Here, it feels far more comfortable in that built-up, brutal style he has always offered. A staggering compilation of his best works which benefit not just from Sexton and the capable musicians backing him, but Costello’s desire to chop and change even the most desirable parts of his work. He’s not a man out of time; he’s a musician willing to do what only the best can do – adapt with it.
Discover more from Cult Following
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
