'Sparkling Day' by Elvis

[the_platypus]

Geez, Elvis Costello fans are dramatic.

It's a nice song. Seems perfect for the movie.

[docinwestchester]

Featuring , yet again, Docs link - 15,585 views so far!

Not exactly viral, but I'm happy with that number. Better than the record company's promotion...oh wait, there is none...

[Poor Deportee]

Thanks for posting the song, but let's be honest.

Elvis can do a lot better. This is worse than Sad About Girls.

I don't get it. The lyrics are shallow, and the voice performance is awful. The only kind of wonderful thing about it is some of the orchestral quirks.

How much did he get paid for this? He must be laughing all the way to the bank.

It doesn't make sense. How can this be such a bad piece just after his virtuoso vocal performace on National Ransom? He does so many great things with his voice on that recording...but in this recording he seems to be straining at every word.

Okay, I only listened once. Tell me it gets better.

I don't know about calling it outright 'bad,' but I'm glad I'm not the only one who finds the vocal pretty regrettable. It's yet another case of the straining and oversinging that has plagued his last 15 years. And I agree with you that NR seemed to show him moving past that phase, exploring his lower registers and returning to more relaxed tones, such that this is a puzzling setback to habits best abandoned. Indeed, I agree with every point you make here: indifferent, rather precious lyrics, leaving the orchestration as the main point of interest. That and some nice melodic ideas.

Oh well. It's not like this is a major moment in his output. I prefer "Party Party" myself...at least that's fun

[sulky lad]

Poor Deportee writes

I don't know about calling it outright 'bad,' but I'm glad I'm not the only one who finds the vocal pretty regrettable. It's yet another case of the straining and oversinging that has plagued his last 15 years.

I think it's plagued him since The Juliet Letters and PFM certainly had elements of this "oversinging " to my ears. That's way STS and NR seemed such a blessed relief continuing the path started with TRIR and TDM where the songs were masters and the voice the slave rather than vice versa. This oversinging is one reason I felt My Flame Burns Blue a shocking disc, the garbled singing on Hora Decubitis sets the tone of the whole record for me and makes it extremely hard listening.

[Neil.]

Rope Leash, I agree that the vocals sound strained, but give it a few more listens - it really is a grower! Still not an Elvis classic, I know, but it does grow on you. It did on me, anyway.

[pophead2k]

Has everyone forgotten about "Seven Day Weekend"? (from "Club Paradise") with EC and The Attractions and Jimmy Cliff!

Plus all the instrumentals EC did for "Straight to Hell"? And "The Courier"?

Thanks for the reminder on Seven Day Weekend. There's some pretty heavy guitar sounds on that recording that were pretty uncharacteristic of EC in those days!

[the_platypus]

Are we all listening to the same artist?

Elvis has been "oversinging" for years. I was listening to live recordings from the Imperial Bedroom promotional tour the other day and realized that nasal vibrato has been with him for a lot longer than people seem to realize. It's just part of how he sings. I much prefer it to the hamfisted sneer-singing of those early Attractions concerts.

[John]

I agree with Neil, definitely a grower and one of the "poppier" numbers he has done for some time. If anyone has not forked out their $0.99 or whatever it may be the longer version of the song can be heard in better quality on Spotify.

Has anyone seen the film yet?

[cwr]

I like the song.

However... as far as the "oversinging" goes, I think-- and I've said this before, more than once-- that it all starts with PFM, primarily because that's the album where he really abandoned a technique that is really key to his vocal sound on almost all of his records from MAIT to ATUB... self-harmonies.

In the early days, it was a trick he used to perhaps add some punch to what might have been considered a less-than-ideal singing voice. It certainly adds a lot of power and color to the vocals on TYM and AF, that's for sure. Would a song like "New Lace Sleeves" have worked as well as it did on Trust if you got rid of those great harmonies on the chorus? It would have been fine, but they sure do add an extra kick to it.

His big leap in vocal prowess seems to have come when he worked with The Brodskies-- that's where we first get Elvis really power-belting in a way that feels different than before. But when he made Brutal Youth, he combined that strong, confident singing with tons of great little self-harmonies.

ATUB has fewer of them, and then we get the female backing singers on PFM. I still think almost all of the songs on that album would have really benefited from a lot more Elvises singing along.

Since that album, he's done a bit of self-harmonizing here and there, but more often than not he seems to want to showcase his voice without resorting to multi-tracking his voice. I think he's proud of the belt, and possibly feels like he doesn't "need" the training wheels of those earlier records.

It's a shame, because he has a real gift for harmony and I think almost every record from PFM to NR would have been better if he'd harmonized with himself more often.

[Jeremy Dylan]

Couldn't disagree more. I hate self-harmonizing and think it should be avoided at all costs - I'm not talking about EC in particular, but the technique in general. The texture of a harmony vocalist greatly enhances a record, and Costello has blended beautifully with Davey Faragher, Jenny Lewis, Jim Lauderdale, Vince Gill and others on recent records to great effect. If there was any criticism I have of the arrangements on NR, it's that he self-harmonised on some tracks where a harmony vocalist would've given the tracks a more dynamic sound.

[jardine]

I agree re: self-harmonizing. even those times where it is really well done, some part of me realizes that it isn't ACTUALLY two people singing together in harmony, but an overdub after the fact (i realize that having others harmonize can just as easily be actually overdubbed later, but they don't sound as if they MUST be overdubbed). I guess this is partly my own pleasure in (rarely now) singing harmonies with others, and that feel of...what did someone call it?. . ."our friend arriving?" Was this Mama Cass? that thing that Brian Wilson even talked about re: blends of instruments, that a third thing happens between two instruments

However, i really do love the term "power-belting"

[Jeremy Dylan]

I agree re: self-harmonizing. even those times where it is really well done, some part of me realizes that it isn't ACTUALLY two people singing together in harmony, but an overdub after the fact (i realize that having others harmonize can just as easily be actually overdubbed later, but they don't sound as if they MUST be overdubbed).

Yeah, that's the root of my problem with it too. Someone can record sixteen guitar parts and main brain just reads that as sixteen guitar parts being played. But someone records two vocal parts and my brain goes 'Hang on, that's impossible'.

[pophead2k]

Couldn't disagree more. I hate self-harmonizing and think it should be avoided at all costs - I'm not talking about EC in particular, but the technique in general. The texture of a harmony vocalist greatly enhances a record, and Costello has blended beautifully with Davey Faragher, Jenny Lewis, Jim Lauderdale, Vince Gill and others on recent records to great effect. If there was any criticism I have of the arrangements on NR, it's that he self-harmonised on some tracks where a harmony vocalist would've given the tracks a more dynamic sound.

I'll have to part ways with you here JD. While in some cases, having separate voices create the harmonies was an essential part of an artist's sound (Simon and Garfunkel, Beach Boys, Beatles, Stones, etc.) EC's self harmonies to me were always an integral and important part of HIS sound. I think many of the older titles that CWR references would have been diminished by having another singer. The reason is because EC's stacked harmonies are so tight and close in regards to intervals that many times it creates a new whole as opposed to a bunch of separate EC's. I'm thinking of New Lace Sleeves as well, but dozens of others as well (Crawling to the USA, Oliver's Army come to mind). I do hear what you're saying when the lines are not unison lines but 'back up' lines (i.e. lines that are staggered from the main melody like in God's Comic). In addition, I think EC's particular style of melody (lots of syllables, sometimes odd inflection and emphasis) don't lend themselves to a separate voice. I've never warmed to Jim Lauderdale's close harmony singing on SP&S and it's not because Jim's not a terrific singer. And let's be honest, as evident from watching all the episodes of Spectacle, EC's voice overpowers and and all but obliterates most other singer's voices anyway. Chrissie Hynde's harmony on Satellite is mixed so low as to be almost inconsequential. EC's self harmonies have always been one of my favorite parts of his overall sound and style.

[Poor Deportee]

Well, cwr's original point was that the decline of self-harmonizing and the rise of 'power-belting' occur at about the same point in EC's development. It's an interesting thought that the latter may be a (subconscious?) form of compensating for the loss of vocal power created by dropping the former. Myself, I'm inclined to think that EC no longer felt he needed to track himself once he had adopted the overblown, quasi-operatic style. What he overlooked, unfortunately, was that that style was much tackier than its predecessor(s).

It's true that Elvis has always been a vocal stylist - a somewhat mannered singer. It's also true that the vibrato was always in his repetoire (e.g., the pre-chorus of Lipstick Vogue, the trailing notes of 'Alison-n-n' in the chorus), albeit in a much more subdued way. Nonetheless, the slight lisping and sneering of his early records was of a piece with the uniquely unsettling persona incarnated in those songs. Also, and importantly, he knew when to turn it off and tastefully deliver a ballad: 'Almost Blue' and 'Shipbuilding' being stellar cases in point. I find it funny that he criticized his own vocal on 'All Grown Up' as being as unpleasant as possible (a verdict many fans somehow endorse), when in fact that performance now sounds tasetfully restrained compared to so much of what followed it.

Too many of EC's later vocals make a fetish of sheer power, thereby bludgeoning the song. On ballads, this has led to such grotesqueries as 'Still Too Soon to Know,' as well as some of the vocals on TJL and PFM, where the listener has to somehow hear past the vocals to fully enjoy the song; and on other songs to such hamming as 'Church Underground' or 'Alibi,' where he becomes a vocal caricature of his old self. I don't understand this at all, because the usual progression for pop singers is to evolve away from mannered, strained vocals toward more relaxed, confident, natural delivery. In EC's case it appears to be a pigheaded refusal to accept his own limiations as a singer, the distorted mirror image of his refusal to accept limitations as a composer. It may also be an attempt to compensate for what he knows on some level to be second-rate material (as 'Sparkling Day' certainly is).

In any case, what we need is more of the relaxed, impeccable Elvis of 'Jimmie Standing in the Rain' and less of this. The first step may be to accept that his voice now works better in lower registers. Stop straining, stop trying to prove anything. Get out of the song's way. In fairness, many of the albums from 'North' onward show him moving strongly in this direction, so his work this century has been much more gratifying in this respect.

[cwr]

So Jeremy and jardine: I'm assuming that you must actively dislike almost ALL of the vocals on most of the albums EC made between 1977 and 1996, yes?

I mean, because it's inescapable-- he does it all over the place, it's a defining characteristic of the way he sings on all those records. Even on an album like Punch The Clock, where he has backing singers, he still groups his vocals into multiple self-harmonies on a lot of the tracks...

When I think of a song like-- just to pick one at random-- "Crimes Of Paris" on B&C, for instance, I think the song would be a lot less fun if it was just Davey singing a single harmony vocal. Those groups of Elvises in the background really give that song some added punch. And it still feels raw and not overly labored in terms of the sound and the production.

[Jack of All Parades]

Well, cwr's original point was that the decline of self-harmonizing and the rise of 'power-belting' occur at about the same point in EC's development. It's an interesting thought that the latter may be a (subconscious?) form of compensating for the loss of vocal power created by dropping the former. Myself, I'm inclined to think that EC no longer felt he needed to track himself once he had adopted the overblown, quasi-operatic style. What he overlooked, unfortunately, was that that style was much tackier than its predecessor(s).

It's true that Elvis has always been a vocal stylist - a somewhat mannered singer. It's also true that the vibrato was always in his repetoire (e.g., the pre-chorus of Lipstick Vogue, the trailing notes of 'Alison-n-n' in the chorus), albeit in a much more subdued way. Nonetheless, the slight lisping and sneering of his early records was of a piece with the uniquely unsettling persona incarnated in those songs. Also, and importantly, he knew when to turn it off and tastefully deliver a ballad: 'Almost Blue' and 'Shipbuilding' being stellar cases in point. I find it funny that he criticized his own vocal on 'All Grown Up' as being as unpleasant as possible (a verdict many fans somehow endorse), when in fact that performance now sounds tasetfully restrained compared to so much of what followed it.

Too many of EC's later vocals make a fetish of sheer power, thereby bludgeoning the song. On ballads, this has led to such grotesqueries as 'Still Too Soon to Know,' as well as some of the vocals on TJL and PFM, where the listener has to somehow hear past the vocals to fully enjoy the song; and on other songs to such hamming as 'Church Underground' or 'Alibi,' where he becomes a vocal caricature of his old self. I don't understand this at all, because the usual progression for pop singers is to evolve away from mannered, strained vocals toward more relaxed, confident, natural delivery. In EC's case it appears to be a pigheaded refusal to accept his own limiations as a singer, the distorted mirror image of his refusal to accept limitations as a composer. It may also be an attempt to compensate for what he knows on some level to be second-rate material (as 'Sparkling Day' certainly is).

In any case, what we need is more of the relaxed, impeccable Elvis of 'Jimmie Standing in the Rain' and less of this. The first step may be to accept that his voice now works better in lower registers. Stop straining, stop trying to prove anything. Get out of the song's way. In fairness, many of the albums from 'North' onward show him moving strongly in this direction, so his work this century has been much more gratifying in this respect.

Bravo to this and to CWR's comments- have always had trouble with that latent tendecy to 'power-belting' in the latter portion of his career. Totally unnecessary given his warm sounding natural singing voice as PD notes. By all means bring on the 'warmer' vocals I found on my favorite songs from the last album. He is not my favorite singer by far but he becomes less listenable as he strains in that mannered way. I greatly appreciate the discussion of this schizophrenic approach to singing. When I think of all the double tracking that John Lennon had done because he so doubted the strength of his natural voice. Sad!

[johnfoyle]

More brief words of wisdom from Elvis -

http://www.facebook.com/groups/37464130 ... 4&comments

http://www.facebook.com/groups/37464130 ... 4&comments

http://www.facebook.com/groups/37464130 ... 4&comments

Elvis mentions working before with Rachel Portman ; he's probably referring to Life Shrinks , a song written for but not used in the film The War Of The Buttons, scored by Rachel

http://www.elviscostello.info/wiki/inde ... fe_Shrinks


I'm seeing this film this evening so I'll tell all later.

[Jack of All Parades]

From another recent thread a link which speaks directly to this 'power-vocal' problem- note upon which side EC places himself and then note the example chosen to exemplify his answer:

http://jazzonline.com/podcasts/jazz-bac ... tello.html

Most telling and it succinctly answers for me where he works best as a vocalist- PD once again you are right!

[johnfoyle]

A light, fluffy film. It's about - mostly - vacuous, insubstantial people so it's hard to care about them. Being very much the Dexter story (like the book) it's reassuring to see that the Emma role is underplayed like it is, not that the casual viewer would know, given the hype that Hathaway's involvement has been getting. 'Rachel Getting Married' has shown she can act so it's interesting to see her willingness adopt this approach. Outstanding support roles by Rafe Spall and Ken Stott occasionally give depth. The flashes of viciousness in the book are barely hinted at but maybe they would only really work there. Rachel Portman's score is syrup in the extreme which makes it a perfect fit.

Sparkling Day made it's a end-credit appearance as the audience left. It's 'pop' sensibilities are a perfect encapsulation of the film. Tear Off My Own Head features in a kitchen scene set in July '02 so it's accurately used in a chronological sense. It can barely be heard ( shades of the dentist scene in the Big Lebowski's use of Mood Swings) , probably meant to be on a radio in the corner .

The One Day soundtrack cd was on sale in the HMV near the cinema, for €11.99. The credits for 'Day credits Elvis , along with ' Strings arranged by Rachel Portman . Orchestrated by Adam Langston.'

[Neil.]

This thread has turned into something really special - a proper fan feeding frenzy!

To add my tuppence worth, I think the whole Elvis Costello vocal style is something that is his curse and his crowning glory.

The songs - melodies and lyrics - were always wonderful. The playing and arrangements were always unimpeachable and regularly thrilling. For me, his voice is a wonderful, expressive, dramatic, idiosyncratic intstrument - which at first I found hard to bear for a whole album - but which I grew to love as one of the great rock and pop voices.

Elvis's voice is so unusual, and what he chooses to do with it makes such a unique sound, that it can put people off. If you can get past the first 'not syrupy beautiful' objections, you realise that what he does with what he's got is amazing.

He puts a ballad across so heart-breakingly, I do think he's up there with the greats. His versions of standards like Love For Sale and Sweet Dreams are, I think, the versions to beat.

His rock singing is unique, powerful and thrilling in its variety. This Year's Model is a serious work of art in the rock pantheon not just for all the other reasons, but because of the vocals. Really hard to hear where he got that from - he cites Rick Danko - and hard to tell whether Bob Geldof stole that nasal, sarcastic style - or was Elvis tapping into it? Their glory years were both 1978/79!

I love his double-tracking - I can't help thinking he did it so much in the first half of his career not mainly because it was cheaper, but because the harmonies are so unusual and unconventional that he couldn't be bothered to teach some 'formal' backing singers how to break free of their trained preconceptions. I love five Elvises throwing surprising aural shapes behind the main melody, like a throng of dancers stood behind the main dancer, occasionally throwing out 'jazz hands' behind him (Shit analogy, but you know what I mean.) This is Hell, Love For Tender, Hand In Hand, The Beat, agh.... too many examples to quote, really, and I'm drunk.

I do have a problem with the 'strained' style he sometimes adopts in that it might put people off. I know he's a genius, and I can forgive him a lot, but I worry about 'first listen' people hearing (for example) Sparkling Day, and thinking 'shit, this is strained - no way I'm buying this.'

I do think he has great range as a singer, but when he employs the top register for long passages, his voice can sound strained. I don't think he should shy away from showing his range - and a lot of the thrill of some of his recordings is waiting with crossed fingers to see if he can cut it - e.g. the last repeat of "around from time to ti-i-ime - let him dang-gu-hull!" (not his best song ever by any stretch, but the first that sprang to mind.) He thrills in this way many, many times in his career, but perhaps it's when he lets rip for a brief moment, rather than a whole verse, that it works best.

If he sings within his comfort zone, then breaks out of it once or twice within a song, the thrill is more enrapturing - he stretches himself thrillingly, then withdraws, not overstaying his welcome.

Shit, I love Elvis, so as far as I'm concerned he can do whatever he likes and I'll give it a good listen.

P.S. I love his unnatural-sounding vibrato a lot of the time - it's one of his signatures - but I do think sometimes he falls back on it without trying to see what effect an unbroken note might have.

P.S. Cheers, John, for the review of One Day - the trailer seemed to promise what you said it delivered - i.e. a bit of a damp squib.

[Lester Burnham]

A light, fluffy film. It's about - mostly - vacuous, insubstantial people so it's hard to care about them. Being very much the Dexter story (like the book) it's reassuring to see that the Emma role is underplayed like it is, not that the casual viewer would know, given the hype that Hathaway's involvement has been getting. 'Rachel Getting Married' has shown she can act so it's interesting to see her willingness adopt this approach. Outstanding support roles by Rafe Spall and Ken Stott occasionally give depth. The flashes of viciousness in the book are barely hinted at but maybe they would only really work there. Rachel Portman's score is syrup in the extreme which makes it a perfect fit.

Sparkling Day made it's a end-credit appearance as the audience left. It's 'pop' sensibilities are a perfect encapsulation of the film. Tear Off My Own Head features in a kitchen scene set in July '02 so it's accurately used in a chronological sense. It can barely be heard ( shades of the dentist scene in the Big Lebowski's use of Mood Swings) , probably meant to be on a radio in the corner .

The One Day soundtrack cd was on sale in the HMV near the cinema, for €11.99. The credits for 'Day credits Elvis , along with ' Strings arranged by Rachel Portman . Orchestrated by Adam Langston.'

I saw it tonight, and was surprised that it jumped from July '01 to July '03. Perhaps the '02 section was cut from the American broadcast?

[the_platypus]

Great post, Neil. I too am drunk, and I too share an appreciation for the many facets of Elvis' unusual voice and singing styles. I agree that the lower, rich tones of "North" and "Jimmie" are wonderful to listen to, but gosh darnit, I like the power-belting. I was listening to "It's Time" earlier tonight and I couldn't help thinking of this thread.

I don't think it's necessarily one or the other. PD-- I would submit that he is giving each individual song exactly what he feels they need (and he would know, being the songwriter). This is why he doesn't belt through "You Hung the Moon", but he does on "Either Side of the Same Town"-- different approaches for different songs, and I think more often than not, it works.

I also object to your comment about having to listen past the voice to appreciate the songs in TJL and PFM. I quite like both records as they are.

I'm going to go to bed and have another go at this posting business in the morning, from the comfort of my office, when I am sobered up and hating myself.

Cheers.

[the_platypus]

I don't understand this at all, because the usual progression for pop singers is to evolve away from mannered, strained vocals toward more relaxed, confident, natural delivery.

Yeah...

[MOJO]

I don't understand this at all, because the usual progression for pop singers is to evolve away from mannered, strained vocals toward more relaxed, confident, natural delivery.

Yeah...

Platypus... Nice one. I like your style.

[Poor Deportee]

Tom Waits is a vocal genius, pure and simple. EC's not. The imbalance between the two is so extreme - the one uses his voice as his single greatest asset, the other, at times, as an instrument of self-sabotage - it's not even funny. Sorry.

A better analogy would be Bob Dylan in the early-to-mid 80s, where, in response to a thinning voice, he kept straining and straining, singing in keys way too high for himself. The results were grotesque. (OK, EC's not that bad, and his voice isn't thinning - if anything it's gotten richer-sounding. But like Dylan in that period, EC in the 1990s opted for pointless straining and intensified mannerisms instead of maturely settling into his vocal instrument).

Thanks for that clip, Chris. I'd highlight his vocals there as exemplifying what EC can do precisely when he doesn't force it. Borderline superb, that.