album #23

my aim is true (elvis costello)

“Welcome to the Working Week”- I like this track. Fun, vintage sound, I love the “ooo”s.
"Miracle Man"- the strut, the melodic rull of the guitar, instantly wins me over. His music is about frustration- sexual, romantic, career. It’s the music for cool losers. As if I needed more evidence that this is for nerds- “No Dancing” features a reading metaphor for sex- “used to glance at the paperback jackets, now he’s ready every one.” Vintage ‘50s blues/rock sound.
“Alison”- the classic. And only more heatbreaking. Devastating, actually. Beautiful. Rather than raging, it’s the sweet, plaintive approach. God damn, I could cry.
“Sneaky Feelings”- Good, classic sound, classic shape, a good one even if it feels like formula. Nice melody. On the other hand, any track that touches on reggae I inherently dislike. White Reggae Sucks. The Police in the early years- the Only exception. Not much of this album surprises me, it just sounds like a nice take on its genre, and its not a genre I enjoy enough to listen carefully and learn the subtleties, the surprises.
Ah, I Really like “Mystery Dance”- classic sound, sublimely raunchy/frustrated lyrics. Cool Loser classic.
I don’t particularly love the album, but a lot of the tracks have grown on me in a real way, a lot of winners here. As I get older and reexamine a lot of my longer tenured albums- and some fade from esteem and others grow- I think about an old Time magazine line about music, about how some acts age like wine, others like milk. I think Elvis Costello might end up aging a little bit more like wine, in my canon.