I've spent the better part of the last 40 years thinking I hated "Goodbye Cruel World," an album that even Elvis Costello has said was "the worst record of the best songs I've written." But listening to it for the first time in god knows how long, wasn't the hardship I had planned for myself. My friend Joe said, "As a follow up to 'Punch the Clock,' it doesn't dazzle as much." That may be true, maybe. My friend Dave said, "I’ve come to enjoy that album, and actually love more than a handful of the songs. I’d say I hated it for a good 30 years, but think some of that vitriol was prompted by Elvis himself." And yes, I believe that may be true, too.
But now, especially after E.C. has successfully genre-hopped all the years since, "Goodbye Cruel World" is hardly the mess we've come to believe. I actually found it far more accessible than a number of other, more critically acclaimed records like "Secret, Profane & Sugarcane" and "National Ransom." Songs like“Worthless Thing,” “Room Without A Number,” “Peace In Our Time” and “Joe Porterhouse," a terrific melody that was a reworked version of "When You Sleep," a song that was given to Tracie Young and recorded for a 1984 Paul Weller produced single, are all solid. "The Comedians" might have worked better when Roy Orbison cut it for his comeback album "Mystery Girl," but it's certainly no throwaway here. The Daryl Hall duet is pop candy. And while the songs that put me off back then, "Love Field," "Home Truth" and "Inch By Inch" still leave me cold, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts and I think if you've resisted since 1984, it might be time to reevaluate "Goodbye Cruel World," an album that is not nearly as bad as its reputation.
13 comments:
I haven't listened to it for decades either.
Even so, it's way more accessible than the Sugarcanes records!
I saw the full band tour promoting it - not one of my fave EC shows, though we had rubbish seats and I regret missing the support - The Pogues! A few weeks later I saw him, at the same Edinburgh venue, - with much better seats! - on his first solo tour. He played a lot of GCW and you could tell these songs were much better than the production and band performances revealed (even songs like Inch By Inch and Love Field). Though the support act (T Bone Burnett) might not have been popular here. Greeat show - 36 songs! I have an audience recording of it somewhere.
The extent of this really hit me 2 years later when I saw him in the same venue on the first spinning song wheel tour with the Attractions. He played a solo set at the start and played the other version of The Deportees Club, far, far better and it had an emotional punch the band version got nowhere near. Even then he was apologising for the album calling it the worst record of the best songs he wrote. That version of Deportee gives that take credibility. I wonder if somewhere there's a demo recording of that album's songs which is EC's Nebraska!
Anyway, a long winded way of saying this has put me in mind to dig out then record and give it a spin.
Odd hearing Tracie (she was promoted her by the first name only as Weller's protege) again. Very Proustian...
A great reappraisal, Sal. I think my main problem with Goodbye Cruel World is the production. It's certainly Costello's most 80s-sounding record. But, as you say, there are good songs on it. And Inch By Inch is one of my favorites!
@Honest Ed, in the States Nick Lowe and his Cowboy Outfit was the opening act on the tour. I remember enjoying the show, and I especially liked Costello and the Attractions playing "So You Want To Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star." The night we saw them was Elvis' birthday, and Nick dedicated the title track of his new album to Elvis, "our own Rose of England."
Bill
Re: Inch By Inch
Between 1980-1989, I think I saw Elvis live more than any other artist, except maybe Todd Rundgren, including all five nights on Broadway in 1986. I can't vouch for this part of my memory, but like "God's Comic," a decent enough studio cut which became interminable in concert, "Inch By Inch" always felt three times longer than it needed to be live. Again, this is 40 years ago, and maybe it just felt that way to me. But that's my memory. I don't really hate the song.
@Sal, I used to feel the same way about "Kid About It"--a really decent song that would get stretched into forever with all the "say you wouldn't...say you wouldn't...say you wouldn't..." repetition.
Bill
I’m not buying it but if you say so I’ll give it another listen. I’ve been surprised before by albums that I’ve dismissed and then enjoyed decades later. We’ll see.
@Honest Ed: The 2013 "Compilation" reissue of GCW contains a bunch of demos as well as all the bonus tracks you're likely to need!
Good songs recorded badly. My take:
https://everybodysdummy.blogspot.com/2008/07/elvis-costello-10-goodbye-cruel-world.html
Hi Bombshelter...
To answer my own question, I just dug out that reissue and listened to the demos. Some good tunes but, no, not his Nebraska, sadly.
It also seems to be a break up album and he was covering a lot of Richard Thompson songs at the time, which possibly tells us where his head was at.
On a side note - another memory I have of the release is that I vaguely knew a fella on a Scottish island who attempted suicide. Having survived, his mates, knowing he was a big Costello fan decided to get him the newly released Costello album. Not being fans, they didn't know till he opened it that it was called Goodbye Cruel World...
Fortunately the last I heard, decades later, is that the album didn't tip him over the edge and he was still alive and kicking.
I've always loved "The Only Flame in Town", "I Wanna Be Loved" and "Peace In Our Time". They are top shelf EC recordings. Of all the other tunes on the album, the only ones I added to my library are "Room With No Number" and "Love Field" which are good but not great. The rest of the album does nothing for me even after e-listening today. I just think the songs themselves are sub-par.I know a lot of people blame the production. Maybe there's something to that as I love Roy Orbison's version of "The Comedians" but really dislike Elvis' version.
I have NEVER listened to Goodbye Cruel World. Why? Well Elvis badmouthed it and I always had a dozen or so OTHER Costello albums to check out and why spend $15 on a CD he says is bad? Now with streaming, no worries. When I get off my jazz kick (Cannonball Adderley's Somethin' Else? Awesome!:) why I'll give it a listen.
@Michael Glitz... because artists are not always the best judges of their own material, they often hear what they wanted it to be rather than what it is? The liner notes on the Graham Parker reissues are hilarious, he badmouths some of his best records.
I bought the LP back in the day and sold it after a couple listens. Too slick for my ears then. (Wasn't initially a fan of Punch the Clock either.) Rediscovered it ten or so years ago and agree it's actually pretty great. Is it the worst of EC and the Attractions initial run of albums? Yes. But it's still vintage EC and the Attractions! Maybe no home run songs, but still a pretty high level of writing. Some unfortunate 80s production, but it's no Empire Burlesque. If it was a "lost" album that was released now for the first time, people would be hailing it as a near masterpiece. They would be wrong, but they would be more right than those who think of it as an abomination.
Bruce H
"If it was a "lost" album that was released now for the first time, people would be hailing it as a near masterpiece. They would be wrong, but they would be more right than those who think of it as an abomination."
Bravo, Bruce H.
Post a Comment