When I first heard that Elvis Costello and The Roots were
going to collaborate together and record an album of new material I was a
number of things. Surprised, curious, sceptical just to name a few, but for one
sure thing I was very intrigued to find out how these two completely different
artists would sound together and what they would ultimately come up with on
record. The result was Wise Up Ghost,
which has just been released in the past week or so.
I would describe the sound of Wise Up Ghost as being a mixture of styles. It seems to have a bit
of everything from funk to R&B, dub to straight out pop, and even jazz
influences. Some of the more Roots-influenced tracks on the album also have a
similar groove based feel to them to the 1970s experimental funk of Parliament/Funkadelic
and Sly and the Family Stone. That’s just what I think, Costello himself
however is more descriptive in describing the sound of the album stating that
it is a “cauldron full of powders and potions, frogs and fingers, and that’s
what I call rock and roll”. With this unusual description I kind of guess where
he is coming from in that he is basically saying that it is everything and
anything, and doesn’t necessarily need to be labelled in anyway. The songs
themselves were written from scratch in the studio and started as skeletons
before gradually being built up into actual compositions. Considering that the
album was initially made with no record label, or indeed deadline attached,
there was no pressure on them during the recording process letting them focus
entirely on the music and experimenting with sounds.
The Roots themselves as a standalone act are a huge standout
on this album and contribute significantly to the overall feel of the album.
Just their presence alone transforms Costello’s sound completely, taking it
into the realm of funk and R&B to the point where it’s unrecognisable for
Costello. Listening to this album you become even more amazed at the musical
talents and abilities of The Roots as a band and as musicians, and just how revolutionary
they were as a predominantly hip-hop act that played their own instruments.
Their ability to adapt their style of playing to suit different artists and
styles is simply incredible, and it shows on here as they fit so well with
Costello. This might have been a surprise to me at first, but then you realise
that a lot of Costello’s early 80s work with the Attractions was influenced by
R&B and soul, therefore the fact they work so well together on this release
should probably not be entirely surprising in the end.
I’ve talked a bit about the actual collaboration between the
two artists, but what about the songs themselves, what actually stands out?
Well the songs are an eclectic mix overall, but do not stray too far from the
R&B/funk area. “Walk Us Uptown” is a groovy R&B styled track complete
with horns and a funky rhythm section, while “Refused to Be Saved” and “Wake Me
Up” are both funk influenced with some nice Herbie Hancock like keyboard
playing. “Trip Wire”, one of the standout tracks on the album is a beautifully
sweet pop ballad and offers a nice counter to the more groove based tracks, while
“Cinco Minutos Con Vos” has a slow trip hop feel to it. In fact if Costello
wasn’t singing you could be forgiven for thinking this song was a lost Massive
Attack track. Finally, album closer “If I Could Believe” is a track which is
reminiscent of the work Costello did in the late 90s with Burt Bacharach, and
has a sort of slow piano based pop-jazz sound to it. This track is one the
standouts on the album and is also a nice tender way to close the album when
you consider the albums overall complexity and the immense detail of some of
the tracks.
So far Wise Up Ghost
has had a positive response from music critics and has been well received for
its imaginative nature and detail, while Costello’s chameleon knack of going
from style to style across releases has also gotten a favourable mention. Some
criticisms I would have of the album would be that there are a couple of lesser
tracks which didn’t really appeal to me, most notably “She Might Be a Grenade”
and title track “Wise Up Ghost”, but these are the exception rather than the
rule. Some of the tracks are also a bit labour-intensive to listen to and tend
to go on too long without doing much of interest to the listener. Such
criticisms however do not take away from the overall feel of the album and the
depth of quality on display. In conclusion I would say this collaboration was a
success, and I applaud both The Roots and Elvis Costello for attempting something
that initially to me seemed quite radical. This album took quite an effort to
listen to at first as the material is quite complex in places and at times can
tend to waver a bit from any particular formula or song structure, but it does
get better with each listen and with this comes even greater appreciation. So
overall an interesting and probably worthwhile collaborative experiment by
these two artists and in the end all I can say is that if you give this album a
fair go it is definitely a grower.
A-
- Sam
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