The British Elvis and his rattled drums

It's been more than 30 years since rock music was still important and had great relevance. Artists were not pop bunnies who sang with computer voices, but stars with guitars, poets, explainers of the world.

We look back in a series. Today we hear again Elvis Costellos album "Brutal Youth" (hear: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCjLGgbfOxrwEwwF9wZtAxXQb8-XwoDkM)

The Brit Elvis Costello returns to his roots. There he was again. The hippie beard is gone, the lint curls have fallen. Elvis Costello alias Declan MacManus looks like himself again - and he sounds like him too: returned from his excursions into pop music, also returned from the experimental "Juliet Letters", which featured the strings of the Brodsky Quartet had set to music.

For his fifteenth album "Brutal Youth" the master reunited with his old band The Attractions. "They are simply the best," he explains the step back forward. "Brutal Youth" is the best proof: the drums rattle brittlely, the guitars oscillate between acoustic excursions and rude electric attacks, and finally the bass is used in half of the tracks from old Costello pal Nick Lowe, grumbles angrily.

Elvis himself, who played the piano and guitar, whines his bitter descriptions of contemporary England with his usual non-voice between the chords. Operation “Back to the Roots” lasts just under an hour and a full fifteen songs. Beautiful ballads like "This Is Hell" and "You Tripped At Every Step" alternate with pieces reminiscent of Tom Waits like "20% Amnesia" and a few upbeat guitar tracks.

Why Costello, who was obviously wrongly attributed to punk at the end of the 1970s, becomes clear at the latest in the central piece "London's Brilliant Parade": Elvis wrings the humor and madness of the world from the simple description of everyday scenes that could take place in anyone's neighborhood. A classic.

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