I Could Not Refuse

Although I’ve been listening to Elvis Costello so long that I LITERALLY used to be disgusted and now try to be amused, not everyone has devoted so much of their ear space to this brilliant artist. He’s one of my favorites, but why should you care? 

That’s what I’ll attempt to answer in this three-part series. You may know who Elvis Costello, when Elvis Costello, or where Elvis Costello…but I want to tell you…

Why Elvis Costello? 

I would like to crack open the door to Elvisland and invite you to join me there. Or if that makes you uncomfortable, I hope you’ll at least read, listen and enjoy. Whatever toasts your bread. 

1. The Voice

I think it’s no coincidence that each of Elvis Costello's first three albums opens with his voice. Before a note of music is played, you hear him sing.

Just like Elvis the First, Costello is first and foremost a voice. For the King, it was a vocal swagger that would never fully die, even when the man was squeezed into sparkly jumpsuits a few sizes too small and lazily trotting through his past glories on a Vegas stage. 

For Costello, that "voice" means so much more. It's the scissors that jab into your gut every time he opens his mouth, and it's the words that collide together in ways that I'm not even sure Costello himself could explain. It's a white-hot artistic totality. And it’s the company he chooses to keep, too; whether the Attractions or the Imposters, Burt Bacharach or Questlove, EC has always had a gift for attracting like-minded performers and marrying his own gifts to the abilities of those he admires.

Today’s lineup of the Imposters, which includes original Attractions Steve Nieve (piano) and Pete Thomas (drums), along with Davey Faragher on bass, is as nimble and fierce as any band on the planet. They’re sympathetic players, but without sacrificing any of their own individual style as instrumentalists; I’ve often thought that the Imposters don’t so much play together as they play complementary parts that happen to fit together, sprinting alongside one another in service of EC’s songs.  

You can draw a line from My Aim is True to The Boy Named If, EC’s most recent album, and find the same themes groping each other within his songs. Every album he's ever released has touched me in some way, whether it inspires me to jump around like an ass in my room or moves me to bittersweet sympathy with his broken characters. And every time he puts out a record, I'm there the day it comes out, because he's uncompromising and he's almost never failed me.

But then, what did I expect? He's Elvis Costello.