Elvis Costello and Spoon have released new songs over the past couple of days, and both boast a throwback rock energy.
The new Elvis Costello and the Imposters song, "Magnificent Hurt," previews his upcoming album The Boy Named If, due out Jan. 14. Steve Nieve has dusted off his This Year's Model-vintage Vox organ while bassist Davey Faragher and drummer Pete Thomas push along a "Peter Gunn"-style beat while Costello gets his fiery growl on.
Costello and band have been playing five Boy Named If songs on their current tour, which hits the Chicago Theatre on Wednesday night (here's last night's setlist from Providence), and if fan-shot YouTube clips are any indication, this promises to be Costello's hardest rocking album since 2008's Momofuku--and that was a good one.
Spoon unveiled "The Hardest Cut"--and its creepy video--yesterday, and it's a straight-ahead blast of guitar rock after the keyboards-heavy grooves of 2017's Hot Thoughts. As always is the case with Britt Daniel's work, it makes you want to move.
Daniel told NME that he wanted the song to capture the vibe of the Who's "Run Run Run."
And, yes, the album, Lucifer on the Sofa (due Feb. 11), is a conscious back-to-basics, live-energy effort recorded in the band's original hometown of Austin, Tex. The Spoon frontman says he'd been listening to a lot of ZZ Top and calls the album "the sound of classic rock as written by a guy who never did get Eric Clapton."
Lucifer on the Sofa is available in numerous configurations, including multi-colored vinyl, on the band's website. You also can pre-order Costello's The Boy Named If here.
I'm ready for them now.
(While you're here, you should listen to the Caropop interview with Elvis Costello and the Attractions bassist Bruce Thomas.)
I guess I'm the designated negative voice. I didn't care for the Spoon song--it doesn't actually have the R&B swing of "Run Run Run" and I'm frankly offended by the video--but the Costello song was fine. Sorry...xo