Elvis Costello and The Attractions
Get Happy!!

THE REVIEW

Only that pretentious guy Elvis Costello, with that nerdy rock 'n' roll quiff, those glasses of a top student of modern songwriting, that face that says: "I'll show you how to write an immortal song," could name an album "Get Happy!!". Yet, twenty-seven years after its purchase, if there's one album that still makes me happy, amused, carefree every time I listen to it, it's this one.

It's the summer of 1979, Costello is touring the States and has already recorded three albums that have outlined all his coordinates as an almost perfect pop author. The last one, "Armed Forces" has reached second place in the UK charts and is the well-known gem. He begins writing songs for the new album, between a hangover and a concert. Whenever there's a free moment, he records them. Despite being in one of those golden periods where every three chords become a rough diamond, he's not convinced, the songs are too similar to what he has previously released. So, what to do? He's always loved a certain Stax-Motown '60s sound, but has never paid it due respect. He starts going to flea markets and buys all the 45s he can find from those labels, with one condition: they must not have been printed after 1967. At the end of the tour, he takes them home to London and listens to them repeatedly. He even forces his band, the Attractions, to spend their days with him wearing out the record player. The drinking, of course, continues. Our guys decide to move to Holland, theoretically for some peace and quiet.

In under a month, October 1979, the album is recorded and finished. It will be released in January 1980. There's enough material for a double album, but the punk-new wave ethic forbids it (the Clash will eventually overturn it). Elvis simply decides to pack as many songs as possible, ten on one side, ten on the other. Ironically, he says there's only enough space left for the hole in the center of the long-playing record. Those left out at the time, and they're not few, can be heard, along with some alternate takes, in the 2002 Rhino reissue. The twenty chosen for the original edition, are all one better than the other. The album seems like a collection of singles, twenty side A's of twenty forty-five records. Verses that enchant and choruses that bind. The initial soul blueprint (the rhythm section, undoubtedly indebted to Phil Spector's productions, like Steve Nieve's organ à la Booker T. Jones) is reworked with Costello's immense writing ability, whose most apparent greatness seems to me to be its simplicity. Whether the rhythm is fast-paced, or we're presented with some poignant ballads. Blue-eyed soul, it's commonly defined, soul sung by whites. For me, it's simply a wonderful pop album. In this case, I feel like saying: enjoy!