Somewhere between the cutting edge and history’s dustbin, rock’s ever-increasing pile of “legends” continues to rage against the dying of the light. Their results are a wildly mixed bag, with some artists (Dylan, Waits) continually impressing; others (Bowie, Iggy Pop) combing often near-embarrassing depths, and still others (Tom Petty, Pretenders, Stones, myriad others) treading water, releasing sorta-great albums with nothing to expand their legacies nor destroy their loyalists’ fond memories.
While the fate of many of these artists has been sealed, the jury is still out on Elvis Costello and Neil Young — two artists who have made far more than enough great music to cement their statuses as important creators. They have both recently released new records, both of which, in their own ways, at once reassure a trembling fan base and call attention to the lack of artistic urgency inherent in so many “living legend” releases.
On When I Was Cruel, Elvis Costello has finally figured out something that most of his fans figured out long ago: The angry young man of the snarling rock songs worked far better than the aging, hat-and-glasses sophisticate whose sonic experiments — while admirable and occasionally interesting — have led this great songwriter away from the undeniable power of “Alison,” “Radio Radio,” or later classics like “Complicated Shadows,” and down roads that were probably best left unexplored.
When I Was Cruel lacks neither the lyrical ambiguities (that can prove frustrating regardless of the instrumentation they’re backed by), nor the genre-hopping that Costello has exhibited for the past decade. What this record has that the others don’t, however, is great songs and fierce energy. Costello has rarely rocked as hard as he does on “Tear Off Your Own Head” or “Daddy, Can I Turn This?” and his trademark spitting pathos is on full blast on “Tart” and “Episode of Blonde.” The treats often come in strange places — the record’s best song, “15 Petals,” is absolutely made by its dissonant, funky horns. When I Was Cruel is a tremendous record, easily Costello’s best in a decade, but there’s really nothing here to suggest that anything more than another laudatory sentence will have to be added to Costello’s biography.
If Neil Young’s career has taught us anything, it’s that all bets are off. Just when it seems he’s finally run out of steam, another classic record sends him storming back out again. Are You Passionate? had the potential to be just that record, particularly when the band (Crazy Horse’s Frank Sampedro and three-fourths of Booker T. and the MGs) is as promising as any he’s ever had. But if Neil has taught us something else, it’s that sometimes the probable classic turns into a washout.
Now, this record ain’t bad by any reasonable standard, but it’s far from being as memorable as even Silver and Gold, Neil’s last just-good-enough album. The songs, while tightly played and well sang, are simply not memorable — only once, on “Two Old Friends,” does Neil’s genius shine through. It’s a great track, filled with the earnestness and heartache that has marked much of his best material. On the other hand, the (in)famous “Let’s Roll” continues to sound hackneyed and almost naíve in its platitude (Neil actually sings: “We’re goin’ after Satan on the wings of a dove”) and guitar chunk.
Sure, there are plenty of decent songs on this album, and Neil’s voice and guitar have rarely sounded better but it represents absolutely nothing new, nor do any of the songs on it (with the possible exception of “Two Old Friends”) seem destined to be part of everyone’s Neil Young mix. For Neil, far more than Elvis, the jury remains undecided.
