Complicated Shadows: The Life and Music of Elvis Costello - Softcover

Thomson, Graeme

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1841957968 ISBN 13: 9781841957968

Publisher: Canongate U.S., 2006

Synopsis

Elvis Costello is undoubtedly one of the most important and challenging musicians of the last thirty years. Complicated Shadows paints a detailed portrait of an intensely private, complex, and creatively restless individual. It draws on a wealth of new research, including exclusive interviews with people from all stages of Costello's life and career: classmates, friends, members of his early bands, former lovers, members of the Attractions, producers, and various collaborators. Complicated Shadows unearths many previously unknown details about Costello's childhood in London and Liverpool and his early years as a struggling musician, as well as his turbulent personal life. It also reveals the circumstances surrounding his marriages to ex-Pogues bassist Cait O'Riordan and jazz singer Diana Krall, and the bitter breakup of his longtime backing band, the Attractions. Complicated Shadows contains a full examination and analysis of the entirety of Costello's vast and varied musical output, both in the studio and on the stage.

About this title

About the Author:

Graeme Thomson is a freelance writer who contributes regularly to several publications, including MOJO, the Herald, the Observer Sports Monthly, Four Four Two and Maxim. His work also features in the books The MOJO Collection and Ten: The Best of The OSM's Tens.

From Publishers Weekly:

The progeny of a trumpet player grandfather and a big band vocalist father, Costello was destined to be a star musician by osmosis, if not genetics. Born Declan Patrick MacManus in 1954, the future Buddy Holly clone was raised by a West London family understandably supportive of his early rock leanings. Though "gawky and comically knock-kneed," the young Brit was performing in Liverpool clubs by 18, honing his anti-establishment persona by 22 and on the verge of conquering America by 25-a lightning fast rise deftly recorded by freelance journalist Thomson. A knowledgeable critic, Thomson skillfully interweaves articulate criticism of Costello's musical evolution into his biographical narrative, and unsentimentally details the thrice-married lyricist's dips into infidelity, drug use and egomania (including the artist's infamous song switcheroo on Saturday Night Live in 1977 and his unceremonious firing of his back-up band, the Attractions, in 1987). And while Thomson assumes that readers will have a certain familiarity with the composer's oeuvre and influences, he also writes clearly enough for Costello novices. And he's not without a sense of humor; while discussing the heyday of glam rock, he explains that Elvis wasn't a believer because he had "neither the physique nor the eyelashes for that." In all, this is an engrossing and lively account of an equally animated personality.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Canongate U.S.
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 1841957968
• ISBN 13: 9781841957968
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 448