William Dart celebrates the story-telling genius of the late, great John Prine and the endlessly inventive Elvis Costello in his new album Hey Clockface.
Elvis Costello, Hey Clockface cover image Photo: Concord Records
William recalls John Prine's concert in Auckland in February 2019: experiencing Prine in concert, you realised that you were in the presence of a supreme teller of tales. An art not necessarily dependent on the spoken commentary between the songs: it was embedded in what he actually sang. Verse by verse, we're drawn into his stories, running into various vividly drawn characters along the way.
And John Prine knew just how to deliver an incisive character sketch, a talent that went back to his very first album in 1971 with its harrowing portrait of the drug-burdened veteran, Sam Stone. Listening to it again, one is reminded of an interview that Prine made some years ago, expressing his intense admiration for the songwriting of Chuck Berry, particularly for Berry’s directness and his ability to tell a story in less than three minutes — all this, as well as doing so with a syllable for every note, as opposed to those who stretch the words like a mask to fit the melody.
And there are certainly quite a few memorable characters to mingle with on Elvis Costello’s new album, Hey Clockface.
But then, Costello’s songs have enjoyed such encounters for decades, right from his very first album, in which a young Alison is dissected with a psychological scalpel by a male outsider whose aim, although true, may not be so honourable.
Hey Clockface was recorded in just two days. Costello sang all its songs live from the studio floor, directing his musicians from his vocal booth, we’re told. Their task was simply to respond, in the here and now, to what he was singing ... or in the case of two tracks, speaking.
Such an approach could sound worryingly casual but what’s to worry about when his bandmates included keyboard mainstay Steve Nieve and guitarist Bill Frisell.
Music Details
'Song title' (Composer) – Performers
Album title
(Label)
'Fish And Whistle' (Prine) – John Prine
John Prine Live
(Oh Boy)
'When I Get to Heaven' (Prine) – John Prine
The Tree of Forgiveness
(Oh Boy)
'Sam Stone' (Prine) – John Prine
Prime Prine: The Best Of John Prine
(Atlantic)
'Alison' (Costello) – Elvis Costello
My Aim Is True
(Rhino)
'Poor Fractured Atlas' (Costello) – Elvis Costello & The Attractions
All This Useless Beauty
(Rhino)
'Revolution' (49' (Costello) – Elvis Costello
Hey Clockface
(Concord)
'Hetty O'Hara Confidential' (Costello) – Elvis Costello
Hey Clockface
(Concord)
'The Last Confession Of Vivian Whip' (Costello) – Elvis Costello
Hey Clockface
(Concord)
'No Flag' (Costello) – Elvis Costello
Hey Clockface
(Concord)
'Hey Clockface / How Can You Face Me' (Costello, Waller) – Elvis Costello
Hey Clockface
(Concord)
'Radio Is Everything' (Costello) – Elvis Costello
Hey Clockface
(Concord)
