Tuesday, April 1, 1986
Daily Nebraskan
Page 5
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Arit
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Costello's
ng'
ainful
By Chris McCubbin
Staff Reporter
The Costello Show (featuring Elvis
Costello) "King Of America" Col
umbia i
Record Review
Elvis Costello's new album, "King
Of America" is a painful experience
for those who've followed Costello's
career for any length of time.
The painful part is watching Cos
tello pour out the feelings of futility
and purposelessness that are really
all he feels he has any business to
claim for himself in Declan MacMa
nus' 10 years as Elvis Costello.
The Elvis Costello of 1986 has
taken on the world, and not only did
he not win, he was completely
ignored. '7 was a fine idea at
the time, "he sings on the album's
first cut, "Brilliant Mistake" 'Wow
Vma brilliant mistake. "
Costello's battle for his own sense
of purpose is the recurring theme in
"King Of America" In "I'll Wear It
Proudly" he sings, "If they had a
king of fools then I could wear
that crownand you can all
die laughing 'cause Til wear it
proudly. "
In "Jack of All Parades," he sings
''And I was everybody's boy,
but soon that thrill just
fades. . . "
Costello's conclusion to his inner
debate is frightening. In "Suit of
(
' " '
Lights" he says:
And I thought I heard the
working man 's bluesI went to
work last night and wasted
my breathOutside they're
painting tar on somebodyIt 's
the closest to a work of art that
they will ever getAnd they
pulled him out of the cold cold,
groundAnd put him in a suit
of lights.
Interspaced with Costello's con
fessional songs are several dealing
with his more familiar themes of
breaking hearts and social unrest,
as well as a couple of surprises.
An excruciatingly slow, almost
prayer-like cover of the Animals'
"Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood"
provides what is probably the album's
most beautiful moment.
Courtesy of CBS Records
Costello uses a wide variety of
musical styles on "King Of Amer
ica," concentrating on traditional
American forms like country, blues
and western swing.
"The Costello Show" consists of
Costello's own band, the Attrac
tions, and a amazing assortment of
session men called the Confeder
ates. The Confederates include T
bone Burnett, who co-produced the
album with Costello. David Hidalgo
of Los Lobos, James Burton, Elvis
Presley's guitarist, famous session
drummer Jim Keltner and others.
The performances on this album are
uniformly tight and beautiful.
This is far from being Costello's
best album, but it definitely stands
up to comparison to his early classics.
The Cucumbers rise
above Jersey junkyards
By Charles Lieurance
Senior Reporter
Amidst Hoboken, New Jersey's ram
pant real estate speculation, i refab
"luxury" condominiums, junkyaris full
of bullet-ridden, twisted automobiles
and industrial garbage, grew The
Cucumbers, a danceable pop outfit
with a cheery spirit that defies their
place of origin.
Concert Preview
The Cucumbers write songs about
love, boys and girls together and boys
and girls apart. The music is a sharply
produced amalgam of Motown and
alternative dance music. The Cucum
ber's cover of the Presley classic, "All
Shook Up" won them critical approval,
if not accolades, from The Village Voice
and other East Coast dictators of musi
cal taste.
Lead singer and guitarist, Deena
Shoshken chirps out pop ditties in a
Jane Wiedlin-esque voice that compen
sates for its apparent lack of range with
overwhelming cheerfulness. Enough
cheerfulness to send the Bat Cave set
shrieking up their stalactites.
There's nothing incessantly moody,
psychedelic or politically dogmatic on
either The Cucumber's EP, "All Shook
Up" or their debut LP "He Who
Betrays. . ." Shoshken made no apolo
gies for this in a phone interview.
"Love songs are the most political of
all songs," Shoshken argued when I
asked her if love songs weren't a bit
passe.
"It's something everybody experien
ces," Shoshken said. "We do straight
forward, unglossy, to-the-heart songs,
not drip and dross."
Shoshken says most alternative in
dependent bands stay away from love
songs because most songs in that tradi
tion reinforce the unrealistic side of
that emotion.
"Our songs are realistic," Shoshken
said.
"Our message is that you shouldn't
let society determine what you're doing
or feeling."
Because The Cucumbers haven't
scored big with a record company yet,
John Williams, the group's bass player,
has retained his job as a typewriter
repairman. Jon Fried works as a proof
reader in a publishing house as well as
handling vocal duties and guitar for
The Cukes. Yuergen Renner, the group's
drummer, has a desk job.
All the members of The Cucumbers
want to devote their time entirely to
music, but the club scene in Hoboken
and nearby New York are not as lucra
tive as the recent glut of new New
Jersey bands and New York's reputa
tion would suggest.
"There really aren't any places for a
new band to play in New York," says
Shoshkens. "Most bands that want to
make it there have come out to Hoboken
so they can afford real apartments. . ."
Hoboken currently boasts a music
scene to rival the great American
music mecca, Athens, Ga. The compila
tion "Luxury Condominiums Coming
Soon to a Neighborhood Near You"
featuring Syd Straw, The Kilkenny Cats,
Gut Bank and the Tryfles showed
Hoboken is housing some mighty talent
behind the waste dumps and plastic
lawn flamingos.
The Cucumbers will open for The
Replacements in the Nebraska Union
Centennial Room tonight. Both groups
are currently on the same record label
but this is the first time they have
shared a billing.
Gallery Selections
by Greg Walgren
v
r v :
1
, deer!
This photo by Journalism major We welcome all black and white
Greg Walgren captured our imagina- photos from UNL students and staff,
tion and is this week's Gallery selec- No prizes are awarded, but the pho-
tion. The NRA would probably love it. tographer is identified.
0
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