Side two:
“Harry Worth” — Okay, I’m officially on the bus with this album. There’s a vague ’50s noir soundtrack feel here, a la Touch of Evil, but rather than directly try to emulate or recreate that sound (as he would have on other records), the arrangement does nothing more than suggest it through a slinky beat and an old-fashioned organ part.
“Drum and Bone” — First song so far that doesn’t really move me, but it’s inoffensive.
“Flutter and Wow” — Fairly basic soft rock ballad in the ’70s Asylum Records mold. If Linda Ronstadt was still covering Elvis Costello songs, she’d for sure do this one. The liners say David Hidalgo of Los Lobos is playing the guitar, and he’s doing a really weird Eno-esque thing with the guitar part, which I suspect is basically nothing but some sot of effect pedal with the direct signal mixed out. A shout of “To the bridge!” that doesn’t sound like an affectation — I think he really was directing the band there. If this was one one LP like it should be, that would be a fine side-closer.
(A brief break to kiss my wife goodnight and play with the cats, who are all sprawled over my side of the bed, directly in front of the window fan.)
The lure of the Costello/gatefold/vinyl fetish combo is driving me mad with desire. I may have to go out and buy this thing today. Thanks for sharing, Great One.
I heard “Turpentine” on the way into work on WXPN. The drums reminded me of an older EC song but couldn’t place it…wasn’t digging it too much. The song didn’t seem to go anywhere really… I can’t stand the album title and I haven’t even read that restaurant profile yet…
He did seem to be in fine voice though. (But didn’t I hear he was doing some music for some silly dance piece recently? WTF?)
My (Jaded) 2cents.