1977, great year
I fell in love with Elvis Costello by the first track of My Aim Is True. For my money, “Welcome to the Working Week” may be the greatest album opener of all-time, from arguably the greatest debut of all-time. In just a minute and a half, it showcases the hallmarks of Costello’s music: sharp lyrics, sharp musicianship to match, and a penchant for melody. Those qualities never let up for the remainder of the record and by the end, I was a certified fan.
Whenever I take a liking to a new artist, I prefer to progress through their discography in intervals. I’ll listen to an album, love it, then wait weeks, sometimes months before moving onto the artist’s next entry. On one level, I enjoy having time to sit with an album and really have it stick, but I also enjoy having something to look forward to. The joy and discovery of listening to a great album for the first time only happens once, so I’m going to ration them out as much as I can. When I first listened to Almost Blue, I was indifferent. There were a couple songs that I liked, but as a whole, it didn’t make a lasting impression. I thought some of the arrangements were questionable and the Attractions’s style did not always mesh well with the country sound. I swiftly moved on and with the subsequent Imperial Bedroom becoming my favorite Costello album (and very recently, my favorite album of all-time), Almost Blue faded into insignificance.
my most convoluted script to date
I think I was still under the “everything but country” mantra when I got to Almost Blue. I gave Elvis the benefit of the doubt because of my love of his music, but I was genuinely skeptical (and possibly skewed) going into it. Where did this bias come from? I can’t even pinpoint a window of time when I could have developed this view. And it’s not just me, it’s seemingly a common notion among certain music enthusiasts. I think I had this bias before even listening to any country music! I would love for someone to explain this to me, but I have some theories. Bias against country music may be correlated with bias against the Southern U.S. at large. For example, there is a definite stereotype that people with a Southern accent are unsophisticated and uneducated. The perception of country music may tap into that same thread, that most people who listen to country music are from the South and thus the genre as a whole is similarly unrefined. Someone could distinguish that they only think modern country sucks, but similar arguments could be lobbed at other genres. “Modern” rock doesn’t hold a candle to the rock gods of the ‘60s and ‘70s; hip-hop today is in a degenerative state compared to the golden age of the ‘80s. While people have made these observations, it doesn’t hold the same distaste and sting as the prejudice against country music. It’s deep-rooted. There are definitely social and political forces at play here, but again, I’m just a guy on his couch speculating in his boxers.
Regardless, Elvis was able to surmount his own bias against country music and travel to Nashville to record a whole album of it. There’s an entire documentary on the making of this album and it served as my primary resource in the making of D&A 9. It’s an incredible artifact that any music lover should check out. It is hilariously surreal to see an Englishman and his mates sharing a few pints in a Tennessee dive bar. For that alone, it’s worth the watch. Check it out below.
Making of Almost Blue (South Bank Show Documentary)