#154
June 18 1984
Elvis Costello
Goodbye Cruel World
2.5 out of 5
Highlights:
The Only Flame in Town
Peace in Our Time
I hated this record when I listened to it during my first Elvis retrospective. I’m 9 years removed from that. Let’s see if I still hate it.
It opens ok, with “The Only Flame in Town”, which sounds like a leftover from Punch the Clock. A catchy single that reallllly doesn’t know that it’s over. When it’s way past over. And that just keeps happening.
It’s weird. Just about every tune starts out strong. The Attractions are in full swing. And then Costello comes in half baked and uninterested and everything falls apart.
So much of this sounds like reworked Elvis tunes. “Love Field” is lovely but sounds too much like “Shipbuilding” that I can’t get past it. “I wanna be loved” is too 70s disco that I don’t even think it would’ve made Get Happy. Even the Lennon-esque “Sour Milk Cow Blues” is 3rd rate.
This record isn’t bad. It’s terminally dull.
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