I suppose I don't talk about music all that often here, but I'll make an exception for Elvis. I don't think I posted this picture here before (though it was part of my 365 on flickr) -- Rob and I saw Elvis Costello perform at the Taste of Minnesota on the 4th of July, and as you can tell by the photo, we had pretty good seats. (I probably DID mention this before, but I wound up standing right behind the barrier at the stage for almost the entire concert -- not bad!)
Elvis was one of those musicians I knew about peripherally for a long time, and I quite suspected I would like him, but I wasn't sure where to start. I don't hold with 'best of' collections -- it's studio albums all the way, for me. But some artists are best appreciated when one starts at the beginning of their discography, while others definitely take a few albums to find their sound. I didn't want to risk it.
Luckily, S came along and got me hooked on My Aim Is True and Get Happy!!, so that's where I started. From there, I got the other two 'early' albums, This Year's Model and Armed Forces and listened to them ad nauseam. I've always done this with music -- part of a slightly obsessive personality, I guess. Interestingly, though, as I've gotten older, being a fan of a musician has become much more about being a fan of the music, not the maker.
I keep picking up used Elvis Costello CDs when I come across them, and I'm trying to savour the discovery of each new album that really 'clicks' with me -- after all, I can never go back and hear the Beatles' Revolver for the first time, but there's still so much left to discover here. I picked up All This Useless Beauty this past Saturday and have looked forward to getting in the car every day since then, so I can listen to it some more. When I hear songs that are as gorgeous as 'Poor Fractured Atlas', say, it seems criminal that I paid only $4.95 for the disc.
My favourite albums so far are the first four (which seem like a set to me, although I suppose This Year's Model and Armed Forces are my MOST favourite of those), Trust, All This Useless Beauty, and North. The last is much more recent, full of croon-y ballads -- a completely different Elvis from his younger days.
Obviously, I'm not planning to make a living out of writing music reviews -- I think gardening and food are probably areas closer to my expertise (and I'm certainly not making a living writing about those) -- but every time I listen lately, I feel like I can't NOT say something. I have lots of little musical crushes, but something big like this comes along only every so often. So that's all, really -- just a bit of swoony gushing.
I sometimes can't believe how much amazing music has been made; there can't possibly be enough time to listen to it all! Who have you really fallen head over heels for, musically speaking?
