Elvis Costello & The Attractions
Goodbye Cruel World

THE REVIEW

Musician among the most interesting of the late seventies & early eighties, between new-wave and some leftover punk-rock scratches, good old Elvis is not at his best here. GOODBYE CRUEL WORLD is a 1984 album that gives us a dozen tracks with an eye on the “synthetic” pop of those years without actually managing to be truly “commercial”, while the somewhat overloaded production of Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley (with Madness under their belt) certainly does not shine for originality.

Anyway - despite the synthesizers – I would put among the best things «Room With No Number»; «The Comedians»; «Sour Milk-Cow Blues» and the concluding «Peace In Our Time» that have a certain personality. I also find «The Only Flame In Town» quite nice – but nothing more – which was one of the two singles released, while the other - «I Wanna Be Loved» - the only piece not written by him, has a decent saxophone solo (Gary Barnacle, already with the Clash), but otherwise seems rather bland to me.

The other songs really don't convince me and in general the lyrics – for once that they are present – prove to be complicated and inconclusive, while in the music there is never a truly significant “hook.” Enigmatic - but it can pass - the cover image; the graphics on the back are rather messy, making the technical information difficult to read.

In conclusion: an album that has done its time and that today I struggle to revisit. For those who want to discover the young Elvis Costello (here he is just thirty and has already released eight albums) there is much better material in the previous albums, while other good things will come with time. This one, though not to be thrown away, is best left to the collectors!