Look Now

by Elvis Costello, Elvis Costello & the Imposters

Overview

Elvis Costello had already taken a few steps from the "angry young man" persona that dominated his first two albums by the time he began work on 1982's Imperial Bedroom, but that was the disc where his evolution from brash upsetter to gifted pop craftsman began in earnest. In 2017, Costello staged a concert tour in which he re-imagined the songs from that LP, and while that may or may not have put those tunes and their style back into his mind, 2018's Look Now certainly is an extension of the mature and literate pop songwriting that he first fully embraced in that material. Look Now often feels like a cross between Imperial Bedroom and Painted from Memory, Costello's 1998 collaboration with Burt Bacharach, and not just because Bacharach co-wrote three tracks with Costello. (Another pop tunesmith in the classic tradition, Carole King, also helped compose one of the tunes, "Burnt Sugar Is So Bitter.") Look Now isn't rock & roll so much as it's pop that blends the craft of classic Brill Building tunes of the '60s with the narrative maturity of classic Broadway musicals and the sort of ballads that were once the purview of classic jazz vocalists. If you're the sort of Costello fan who lives in hope that he's going to make another This Year's Model or Blood & Chocolate someday, Look Now will not be your cup of tea. But if you're in the mood for a set of world-class songs dealing with grown-up themes and performed with nuance and a master's touch, you could hardly do better. As a vocalist, Costello's phrasing and ability to inhabit a character has rarely been more assured, so much so that he sings a few songs from the point of view of a female protagonist and makes them work (including "He's Given Me Things" and "Unwanted Number," the latter written for the film Grace of My Heart). The arrangements are artful and evocative, with subtle applications of strings and backing vocalists and pianist Steve Nieve once again reminding us why he's been one of Costello's most valued musical partners since the late '70s. And while there are just enough sharp angles in "Under Lime" and "Mr. & Mrs. Hush" to remind us this is indeed Elvis Costello, Look Now is the work of a man with enough talent to take his muse in any direction he pleases and give us something memorable. In 1978, the Arrogant Young Mr. Costello famously said, "I'm not going to be around to witness my artistic decline," and 40 years on, Look Now proves he's still living up to that claim. ~ Mark Deming

Product Details

Release Date:	10/12/2018
Label:	Concord
UPC:	0888072062672

Tracks

1. Under Lime
2. Don't Look Now
3. Burnt Sugar Is So Bitter
4. Stripping Paper
5. Unwanted Number
6. I Let the Sun Go Down
7. Mr. & Mrs. Hush
8. Photographs Can Lie
9. Dishonor the Stars
10. Suspect My Tears
11. Why Won't Heaven Help Me?
12. He's Given Me Things

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Elvis Costello   Primary Artist,Horn,Organ,Piano,Guitar,Vocals,Celeste,Conductor,Mini Moog,Wurlitzer,Vibraphone,Glockenspiel,Slide Guitar,Plucked Piano,Spanish Guitar,Wah Wah Guitar,Piano (Electric),Guitar (Acoustic),Guitar (Electric),Vocals (Background),Guitar (12 String Acoustic)
Elvis Costello & the Imposters   Primary Artist
The Imposters   Primary Artist
Burt Bacharach   Primary Artist,Piano
Steven Bernstein   Trumpet,Flugelhorn,Piccolo Trumpet
Robert Chausow   Violin
Steve Nieve   Organ,Piano,Keyboards,Mellotron,Wurlitzer,Fender Rhodes,Piano (Grand),Piano (Upright),Vox Continental,Piano (Electric),Yamaha Keyboards
Doug Emery   Chart
Erik Friedlander   Viloncello
Juliet Haffner   Viola
Finn Manniche   Cello
Sebastian Krys   Percussion
Neil Larsen   Piano
Tommy Faragher   Vocals (Background)
Davey Faragher   Bass,Vocals (Background)
Christopher Cardona   Viola
Lawrence Feldman   Sax (Alto)
Brad Turner   Flugelhorn
Cameron Wilson   Violin
Clark Gayton   Trombone,Trombone (Bass)
Michael Rabinowitz   Bassoon
Antoine Silverman   Violin
Doug Wieselman   Sax (Alto),Sax (Tenor),Tenor (Vocal),Sax (Baritone),Clarinet (Bass)
Pete Thomas   Drums,Percussion,Tambourine
A.K. Coope   Clarinet (Bass)
Tim Mech   Guitar
Mark Ferris   Violin
Claire Chan   Viola,Violin
Sheryl Henze   Flute,Piccolo,Flute (Alto)
Isabelle Roland   Viola
Henry Lee   Viola
Louise Owen   Violin
Domagoj Ivanovic   Violin
Cyrus Beroukhim   Violin
Markus Takizawa   Viola
Katarzyna Bryla   Viola
Kitten Kuroi   Vocals (Background)
Briana Lee   Vocals (Background)
Mark McGregor   Flute (Alto)
Les Kasprzak   Double Bass
Olivia Blander   Cello
Rick Dorfer   Violin
Ken Lin   Violin
Yun Jung   Violin
Christopher Komer   French Horn

Technical Credits

Seth Presant   Second Engineer
Scott Moore   Second Engineer
Paul Silveira   Mixing,Engineer
Elvis Costello   Arranger,Composer,Producer,Orchestration,Horn Arrangements,Piano Accompanist,Vocal Arrangement,Wind Arrangements,Woodwind Arrangement
Bob Ludwig   Mastering
Doug Emery   Pre-Production
Carole King   Composer
Juliet Haffner   String Contractor
David Kalish   Engineer
Sebastian Krys   Mixing,Engineer,Producer
Davey Faragher   Vocal Arrangement
Burt Bacharach   Composer
Tim Sonnefeld   Engineer
John Paterno   Engineer
Ron Taylor   Engineer
Ivy Skoff   Production Coordination
Tim Mech   Technician
Jeremy Levy   Transcription
Eamonn Singer   Illustrations
Guillaume Lejault   Engineer
Spencer Bleasdale   Assistant Engineer
Gosha Usov   Second Engineer
Chaz Sexton   Second Engineer
Duarte Figueira   Production Assistant
Joel Hodson   Assistant Engineer
Kerry Pompeo   Engineer