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Kill Happy
Okay, so I finally saw Kill Bill Vol. 1 tonight, and of course it's great. There's just not a moment that isn't exciting and cool and perfectly designed and edited and choreographed. It's not a deep film, but to bring this back to comics, Jack Kirby wasn't a deep creator, either. He had good ideas at times, but his stuff sings because he's able to transmit his excitement and enthusiasm and everything he's learned right onto the page, and Tarantino does it onto film. Not much else to say about it. I've always been a big fan of his work--the reason I didn't see these in the theater was was going through a lot at the time and was probably trying to be at home holding things together, or I couldn't get friends to go and didn't want to attend alone and know that things weren't together, ya know?
For some reason my right cheek hurts like someone punched me...don't know what that's from.
Finished MINISTRY OF SPACE. I enjoyed it quite a bit, because, as Ellis rightly says, Chris Weston here joins the ranks of the great comics artists (I might be paraphrasing a little), and Ellis gives him lots of great spaceships and other things to draw. I see a lot of Dave Gibbons in his work, but probably some other British artists as well whom I wouldn't know. But I do agree with ADD that another draft of the script could've made the ending more powerful. As it is it feels a little grafted on or unearned. I also would've liked to know the lead character Sir John Dashwood better, and to have seen more of how a world under British dominance in 2001 was different. And I guess the point Ellis seems to be making, how despite these advances, we're all still pitiful, scrabbling monsters underneath, or that it takes monsters to make progress, really didn't hit me as all that interesting. It's a decent story, but with so much emphasis on this revelation, it needed to be bigger, deeper, more surprising. It's worth the $12.95, though, I thought, especially with the bonus art material, and Ellis' essay is really helpful to understand the origins of the project, some of it quite personal.
GET HAPPY! is the fourth Elvis Costello album, third with The Attractions, and to this day it ranks as one of Costello's most focused, consistent records. It came out in 1980, and some said the music, which is clearly influenced by Motown, down to the album cover, was an attempt to appease those offended by some drunken, apparently racist remarks Costello made somewhere while touring America the year before. Whatever the origins, the love and appreciation for the music is clear. Now, there are 20 songs before we even get to the bonus tracks, so I can't possibly cover them all in depth. Let's run through it. "Love for Tender" is the opener, a blast of romantic discord with lyrics equating love with financial transactions. Costello was never really a punk rocker, but he does understand that you don't need the most brilliant lyrics if you can put them to a really catchy hook for two minutes, so that's what he does, here and throughout. "Opportunity" is one of my favorites but I couldn't tell you what it's about. It's a midtempo number and has nice organ work from Steve Nieve. He plays organ and electric piano more than piano on the album, and there's no synths or any other sounds you couldn't find on a Motown record from 1965. "Secondary Modern" is even better and even more confusing. Most of the tunes on the record are only half a dozen notes or so, so they can be played enough to stick in the head even in just two minutes. The bass carries this melody. "The Imposter" is about a phony Elvis wants the girl to come to her senses and leave. He again uses the word "souvenirs" as something shoddy, a poor substitute for real gifts or keepsakes. "King Horse"--again, no idea, but catchy. Heavy piano here. Actually, it's about another type of imposter, a guy on the make who's going to use and abuse as many women as he can, while EC observes and stays clean. There's probably a majority of Costello songs that blast others than ones that blast Costello. A bit of violence against women is hinted at here, and will come up again in "B Movie": "You can't stand it when I throw punchlines/You can feel". I should note that there's an echo effect on the word "feel" and some dubby guitar notes at the end of the song that are very cool but out of place as a strict Motown pastiche. But then, this isn't a slavish tribute. "Possession" finds another Costello love affair going sour, or about to. He's getting out "before the violence/Or the tears/Or the silence" but he gets in some shots that she "lacks lust/You're so lackluster/Is that all the strength/You can muster?" first. "New Amsterdam" is a change of pace musically; it's a waltz, and more an occasion for some Dutch-related and car-related wordplay. "Men Called Uncle" finds Costello competing for the affections of a girl who also has many sugar daddies. "Clowntime Is Over" actually refrains from lots of clown-related lyrics but is pretty hard to figure out regardless. Hmm, that's a lot of songs I don't get and I've been listening to this for 20 years--maybe I'm just an idiot? But really, what do you make of, "Everybody is hiding under covers/Who's making Lover's Lane/Safe again for lovers?/Clowntime is over/Time to take over/While others just talk and talk/Somebody's watching/Where the others won't walk"? It doesn't really mean anything, right? Anyway, "High Fidelity" is about infidelity (a couple years before REO Speedwagon would have their biggest album, High Infidelity) and clear communications. "(I Can't Stand Up for) Falling Down" is a cover of I believe an old Four Tops song, and was one of the singles from the album and on the first Best Of album as well. Still, it's not that great. "Black and White World" is one of many songs where EC seems to really just be horny, but his ambitions and guilt work their way in and he goes into wordplay tangents and makes the sex act seem very ugly and a prelude to destruction ("starts with her face and ends up a fixation"). "5ive Gears in Reverse" has a great, slinky riff. It doesn't matter what it's about, you'll be tapping your feet or fingers. "Motel Matches" is one of EC's better lyrics, mixing up smoking and infidelity and disposable romance. "Giving you away like motel matches" is a wonderful line, because it can mean HE's giving her away, or that he can tell she's been unfaithful as easily as if he'd discovered a book of motel matches in her purse. Plus, "motel matches" can be trysts, and "struck Lucky" can be lighting a cigarette or getting laid, and...lots of good stuff going on here. "Human Touch" is more of a throwback to the EC style of stitching lines together and making a Frankenstein song, plus the tune is almost a polka. It's not bad, but definitely a filler song. "Almost Beaten to the Punch" is a blistering rocker more like early Beatles than Motown. It's clear what it's about, a foolish man trying to get laid and when he does he thinks it's love, and Costello is berating him the whole time. Of course, Costello was married and divorced very young, too, before he was famous. "Temptation" is about being trapped in a relationship--maybe the guy from the previous song. It's got too much echo on the vocals and works better slowed down on the Costello & Nieve live set. "I Stand Accused" might be a Gerry & the Pacemakers song rather than Motown but the arrangement makes it hard to tell. It's easy to see why Costello picks this cover, as the lyrics are right up his alley--a love song using crime and legal words. "Riot Act" is the last song, and maybe my favorite, a slow burner of shattered love. The first verse is great because it doesn't try to be clever; it's simple and stunned like one would be when one's mate dumps them: "Forever/Doesn't mean forever anymore/I said forever/But it doesn't look like I'm gonna be around much anymore". It does get more clever and juicy, though: "When the heat gets/So tropical/And the talk gets/So topical/Riot Act/You can read me the Riot Act/You can make me a matter of fact/Or a villain in a million/Slip of the tongue's/Gonna keep me civilian/Why do you talk such stupid nonsense/When my mind could rest much easier?/Instead of all this stone dumb insolence/I would be happier with amnesia" Costello really screams this one, too. It's the best choice for album closer.
I think I said on the ARMED FORCES review that "Talking in the Dark" might be a Dave Edmunds song. It's "Girls Talk" which is on here, a smooth little piano-driven pop song that sounds closer to something one of Costello's peers like Joe Jackson or Graham Parker would have done. "Clowntime Is Over 2" sounds more like #0; i.e. it's a demo version. I think Costello prefers this version for the vocal. There are also demos of "Love for Tender", "Riot Act" and "Black and White World". "Getting Mighty Crowded" might be another cover--it's too straightforward lyrically. Good rocker. "So Young" is a Bacharach/David cover with a really funky syncopated beat to it and a nice vocals and harmonies by Costello. "Just a Memory" is a good piano ballad about lost love, the words sounding cruel "Losing you/is just a memory/Memories/don't mean that much to me" but the vocals make clear how much he's hurting. Also done very well on that live set I've mentioned. "Hoover Factory" is a bit of an oddity with its weird arrangement of blurping synths and harmonica and offkilter harmonies, but it's a nice vignette about a failed business. "Ghost Train" is another little story song about some traveling entertainers living hand to mouth, but when it gets them on the "ghost train" it's a mystery what's going on. It seems to take some of its imagery from being on tour and trying to get along with the band despite the struggle. "Dr. Luther's Assistant" is again a creepy sex song, but the lyrics are evocative: "Dr. Luther's Assistant/He'll close in when he seems so distant/"Dr. Luther's Assistant/Get on top of you and you'll lower your resistance".
For some reason my right cheek hurts like someone punched me...don't know what that's from.
Finished MINISTRY OF SPACE. I enjoyed it quite a bit, because, as Ellis rightly says, Chris Weston here joins the ranks of the great comics artists (I might be paraphrasing a little), and Ellis gives him lots of great spaceships and other things to draw. I see a lot of Dave Gibbons in his work, but probably some other British artists as well whom I wouldn't know. But I do agree with ADD that another draft of the script could've made the ending more powerful. As it is it feels a little grafted on or unearned. I also would've liked to know the lead character Sir John Dashwood better, and to have seen more of how a world under British dominance in 2001 was different. And I guess the point Ellis seems to be making, how despite these advances, we're all still pitiful, scrabbling monsters underneath, or that it takes monsters to make progress, really didn't hit me as all that interesting. It's a decent story, but with so much emphasis on this revelation, it needed to be bigger, deeper, more surprising. It's worth the $12.95, though, I thought, especially with the bonus art material, and Ellis' essay is really helpful to understand the origins of the project, some of it quite personal.
GET HAPPY! is the fourth Elvis Costello album, third with The Attractions, and to this day it ranks as one of Costello's most focused, consistent records. It came out in 1980, and some said the music, which is clearly influenced by Motown, down to the album cover, was an attempt to appease those offended by some drunken, apparently racist remarks Costello made somewhere while touring America the year before. Whatever the origins, the love and appreciation for the music is clear. Now, there are 20 songs before we even get to the bonus tracks, so I can't possibly cover them all in depth. Let's run through it. "Love for Tender" is the opener, a blast of romantic discord with lyrics equating love with financial transactions. Costello was never really a punk rocker, but he does understand that you don't need the most brilliant lyrics if you can put them to a really catchy hook for two minutes, so that's what he does, here and throughout. "Opportunity" is one of my favorites but I couldn't tell you what it's about. It's a midtempo number and has nice organ work from Steve Nieve. He plays organ and electric piano more than piano on the album, and there's no synths or any other sounds you couldn't find on a Motown record from 1965. "Secondary Modern" is even better and even more confusing. Most of the tunes on the record are only half a dozen notes or so, so they can be played enough to stick in the head even in just two minutes. The bass carries this melody. "The Imposter" is about a phony Elvis wants the girl to come to her senses and leave. He again uses the word "souvenirs" as something shoddy, a poor substitute for real gifts or keepsakes. "King Horse"--again, no idea, but catchy. Heavy piano here. Actually, it's about another type of imposter, a guy on the make who's going to use and abuse as many women as he can, while EC observes and stays clean. There's probably a majority of Costello songs that blast others than ones that blast Costello. A bit of violence against women is hinted at here, and will come up again in "B Movie": "You can't stand it when I throw punchlines/You can feel". I should note that there's an echo effect on the word "feel" and some dubby guitar notes at the end of the song that are very cool but out of place as a strict Motown pastiche. But then, this isn't a slavish tribute. "Possession" finds another Costello love affair going sour, or about to. He's getting out "before the violence/Or the tears/Or the silence" but he gets in some shots that she "lacks lust/You're so lackluster/Is that all the strength/You can muster?" first. "New Amsterdam" is a change of pace musically; it's a waltz, and more an occasion for some Dutch-related and car-related wordplay. "Men Called Uncle" finds Costello competing for the affections of a girl who also has many sugar daddies. "Clowntime Is Over" actually refrains from lots of clown-related lyrics but is pretty hard to figure out regardless. Hmm, that's a lot of songs I don't get and I've been listening to this for 20 years--maybe I'm just an idiot? But really, what do you make of, "Everybody is hiding under covers/Who's making Lover's Lane/Safe again for lovers?/Clowntime is over/Time to take over/While others just talk and talk/Somebody's watching/Where the others won't walk"? It doesn't really mean anything, right? Anyway, "High Fidelity" is about infidelity (a couple years before REO Speedwagon would have their biggest album, High Infidelity) and clear communications. "(I Can't Stand Up for) Falling Down" is a cover of I believe an old Four Tops song, and was one of the singles from the album and on the first Best Of album as well. Still, it's not that great. "Black and White World" is one of many songs where EC seems to really just be horny, but his ambitions and guilt work their way in and he goes into wordplay tangents and makes the sex act seem very ugly and a prelude to destruction ("starts with her face and ends up a fixation"). "5ive Gears in Reverse" has a great, slinky riff. It doesn't matter what it's about, you'll be tapping your feet or fingers. "Motel Matches" is one of EC's better lyrics, mixing up smoking and infidelity and disposable romance. "Giving you away like motel matches" is a wonderful line, because it can mean HE's giving her away, or that he can tell she's been unfaithful as easily as if he'd discovered a book of motel matches in her purse. Plus, "motel matches" can be trysts, and "struck Lucky" can be lighting a cigarette or getting laid, and...lots of good stuff going on here. "Human Touch" is more of a throwback to the EC style of stitching lines together and making a Frankenstein song, plus the tune is almost a polka. It's not bad, but definitely a filler song. "Almost Beaten to the Punch" is a blistering rocker more like early Beatles than Motown. It's clear what it's about, a foolish man trying to get laid and when he does he thinks it's love, and Costello is berating him the whole time. Of course, Costello was married and divorced very young, too, before he was famous. "Temptation" is about being trapped in a relationship--maybe the guy from the previous song. It's got too much echo on the vocals and works better slowed down on the Costello & Nieve live set. "I Stand Accused" might be a Gerry & the Pacemakers song rather than Motown but the arrangement makes it hard to tell. It's easy to see why Costello picks this cover, as the lyrics are right up his alley--a love song using crime and legal words. "Riot Act" is the last song, and maybe my favorite, a slow burner of shattered love. The first verse is great because it doesn't try to be clever; it's simple and stunned like one would be when one's mate dumps them: "Forever/Doesn't mean forever anymore/I said forever/But it doesn't look like I'm gonna be around much anymore". It does get more clever and juicy, though: "When the heat gets/So tropical/And the talk gets/So topical/Riot Act/You can read me the Riot Act/You can make me a matter of fact/Or a villain in a million/Slip of the tongue's/Gonna keep me civilian/Why do you talk such stupid nonsense/When my mind could rest much easier?/Instead of all this stone dumb insolence/I would be happier with amnesia" Costello really screams this one, too. It's the best choice for album closer.
I think I said on the ARMED FORCES review that "Talking in the Dark" might be a Dave Edmunds song. It's "Girls Talk" which is on here, a smooth little piano-driven pop song that sounds closer to something one of Costello's peers like Joe Jackson or Graham Parker would have done. "Clowntime Is Over 2" sounds more like #0; i.e. it's a demo version. I think Costello prefers this version for the vocal. There are also demos of "Love for Tender", "Riot Act" and "Black and White World". "Getting Mighty Crowded" might be another cover--it's too straightforward lyrically. Good rocker. "So Young" is a Bacharach/David cover with a really funky syncopated beat to it and a nice vocals and harmonies by Costello. "Just a Memory" is a good piano ballad about lost love, the words sounding cruel "Losing you/is just a memory/Memories/don't mean that much to me" but the vocals make clear how much he's hurting. Also done very well on that live set I've mentioned. "Hoover Factory" is a bit of an oddity with its weird arrangement of blurping synths and harmonica and offkilter harmonies, but it's a nice vignette about a failed business. "Ghost Train" is another little story song about some traveling entertainers living hand to mouth, but when it gets them on the "ghost train" it's a mystery what's going on. It seems to take some of its imagery from being on tour and trying to get along with the band despite the struggle. "Dr. Luther's Assistant" is again a creepy sex song, but the lyrics are evocative: "Dr. Luther's Assistant/He'll close in when he seems so distant/"Dr. Luther's Assistant/Get on top of you and you'll lower your resistance".
Posted by ChristopherAllen at 1:11 PM [Link to this post]
1 Comments:
Just for information the phrase 'Secondary Modern' refers to the streamed education system used in UK in the mid 20th century. Kids took an exam (the 11-plus) at the end of primary school and based on the results were either admitted to a grammar school (if you passed) or a secondary modern (if you failed). [Apologies if this is inaccurate in some way, but I think it is close enough]
Hence: "This must be the place/Second place in the human race". So in the song I think Elvis uses this as an allusion to a power/status inequality in a relationship (or more likely a pre-relationship flirtation).
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