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and the narrowmindness of those who promoted an ordinary life-style. And
that man, whose name was G.B.Marino, born in Naples in 1569 and died in 1625, saying this,
has shown his love for G. Murtola, a famous poet and nothing less than
the Duke of Naples himself. More
than 500 years later, Declan Patrick McManus, a young Londoner with Irish origins, has been inspired
so much by that singular sentence that he decided to build one of the most unusual and sensational shows of the Modern Music show-business.
 All
started in 1986, when McManus began to call himself Elvis Costello- partly to honour the
King Priesley and partly to honour his grand-ma's family name- and gradually became a
well-known rock star.
His success was due to the wonderful songs he had been writing for almost a decade, and
because of his "Fifties-style": a Buddy Holly look, flashy clothes, a
backwards-worn forelock.
But he lacked that particular touch half the way between the creative rigorour, and the
foolish madness that characterize the talented genius.
And here it is, then, his long time waited "coup de foudre": a three night
performances tour per town , the so-called "Costello Show", overlooked by a huge
"Wheel of fortune" set in the middle of the stage, joined by his historical band
"the Attractions".
It was a simple wheel, almost identical to the one used in the tv-show, cut in 50
sections. Instead of showing a prize or kitchen-tool names, those slices showed the titles
of his songs, from the most famous to the unknown ones. A spectator was asked to come over
the stage and spin the wheel, and the band would have been ready to play anywhich songs it
had come out.
Giving birth to songs able to move everyone.
The most sceptic will say that's pretty stupid and self-celebrating. And in a sense , it
probably is. But nobody till then, had risked so much: neither the great Frank Zappa, who
was the only one who played live with no songlist, making every gig a two hours
"unicum".
Costello did it. And he put to silence all the gossip that had blamed him to be kitsch
since he started: from his very beginning, when the Capital Radio dj Charlie Gilley played
some of his demos, to the LPs produced by the Stiff Records, one of the first indipendent
labels in the UK.
It's werid to see how he let his albums follow one after the another because they are so
diferent: there's the country of "Almost Blue" and the bright pop of
"Imperial bedroom", the stars and stripes fundamentalism of "King of
America" and the New Age scum of "This year's model". But this is exactly
the point : his unrestrained eclecticism, supported by a bitter-sweet voice that has no
rivals. And if you add a writing capability voted by many to be the one and only heir of
Lennon-McCartney, you'll have an explosing mix, which tend to cause great astonishment.
And again, how can we call the 1993 experiment "Juliet letters"joined by the
Brodsky Quartet if not eclecticism? He said that it was inspired by the fact that, in
Verona, some academical is in charge to answer all the letters addressed to Juliet; so he
tried himself to re-write the drama of "Romeo and Juliet".
But we think that was not the only reason to do such an experiment. This operation shows
his need to range in every music genre and to not settle upon one. He wanted to show
himself that he was as prolific as he were in his first years. Most of all, he needed to
surprise the world.
After this high and witty Shakespearian parenthesis of the 20 letters, there's his dive
into the past, or if you prefer into the future. He started his New Era with the
kaleidoscopean "Kojak variety", dated 1995, which was a bright remake of some
evergreen authors like Bob Dylan, Randy Newman, Kinks and Burt Bacharach. Then again with
the experimental "Deep dead Blue" (1995) he was joined by Bill Frisell. After
all this, he started to work to "All this useless beauty"(1996), where he
remakes his own songs with his beloved band "The Acctractions".
In the end, with
his last "Painted from memory" which gained the Tenco Prize in 1998, he takes up
the thread of the speech about his never-forgotten friend Burt Bacharach, to achieve the
fearless coroner image.
Do we really want condamn this man - a 43 years old man who in his short existence
experimented all the possible sounds, demolishing them and building them up again in a
variety of extremely original shades- to the capital death, which is generally destined to
those who are not able to raise interest? Please, let's not be silly. Let's give those who
don't appreciate this kind of art that condamnation.
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