Goodbye Cruel World (Elvis Costello Album)

''Goodbye Cruel World'' is the ninth studio album by English singer-songwriter Elvis Costello, and his eighth with the Attractions—keyboardist Steve Nieve, bassist Bruce Thomas and drummer Pete Thomas (no relation). It was released on 18 June 1984 through F-Beat Records in the United Kingdom and Columbia Records in the United States. It was produced by Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley, who returned from 1983's '' Punch the Clock''. Recorded at London's Sarm West Studios in March 1984 during a period of turmoil for the artist, the problematic sessions included disagreements between Costello and the producers over the album's direction and high tensions amongst the Attractions.

The album features a commercial, mainstream pop sound in line with music trends of the time. The mostly downbeat lyrics reflect Costello's personal upheavals at the time, including his failing marriage. Daryl Hall and Green Gartside contributed guest vocals to the singles " The Only Flame in Town" and "I Wanna Be Loved", respectively. The cover artwork features Costello and the band on a cliffside against a blue sky, while the title, taken from an obscure 1960s single, was intended as black humour.

Costello supported ''Goodbye Cruel World'' through music videos and tours, both solo and with the Attractions. Upon release, the album sold poorly, reaching number 10 in the UK and number 35 in the US. Critically, it received mixed reviews and retrospective reviews consider it one of Costello's weakest releases, most criticising its production as dated. Costello himself expressed disappointment with the record. The album's 2004 reissue, which included stripped-down demo versions, critics felt redeemed many of the tracks.

Background

Elvis Costello released his eighth studio album '' Punch the Clock'' in August 1983. With a mainstream pop-soul sound fashioned by one of England's top production duos at the time, Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley, the record rebounded from the commercial disappointment of 1982's ''Imperial Bedroom'', reaching number three in the UK and number 24 in the US. To support the album, Costello and his backing band the Attractions—keyboardist Steve Nieve, bassist Bruce Thomas and drummer Pete Thomas (no relation)—toured for the rest of the year. However, the additions of horns and backing singers, who played on ''Punch the Clock'', to the shows added tensions between Costello and the band, who felt sidelined. Costello was also suffering personal crises at the time, having resumed his affair with model Bebe Buell, leading to the breakdown of his marriage.

Believing the songs on ''Punch the Clock'' lacked refinement, which he partly attributed to the production, Costello spent December 1983 and January 1984 writing songs in an unused F-Beat Records office above a hair salon in Acton, London. Equipped with an electric piano, guitar and canvas to paint on when he ran out of ideas, he applied "more craft and focus", recording demos of "The Great Unknown", "Worthless Thing" and "Peace in Our Time" at London's Eden Studios. According to author Graeme Thomson, there was a "a reflective, narrative thread to the new songs". In mid-February 1984, Costello and the Attractions road-tested nine of the new record's 13 songs on a short six-date tour in France. Tensions between them continued and by the time recording for the new album started, the artist had privately decided it would be his last album with the Attractions.

Recording

Recording for the album took place over two weeks in March 1984 at Trevor Horn's Sarm West Studios in London. Although Costello had initially thought of Richard Thompson to produce, Langer and Winstanley ultimately returned following ''Punch the Clock'' commercial performance. From the start, the artist and producers disagreed on the album's direction. The former envisioned a "ragged, folk rock sound", while the latter wanted their signature style. Langer later stated:

After two weeks of struggling with live takes of the tracks, Costello stated that he and the producers "called a truce": Langer and Winstanley were allowed to give their commercial touch on " The Only Flame in Town" and a cover of an obscure Teacher's Edition B-side, "I Wanna Be Loved", while the remaining tracks went untouched. Costello recalled having a miserable time during recording, saying in 2004 that the record turned into "a battle to sustain some pace against my desire to make everything slow and mournful."

Several outside musicians guested on the album: Daryl Hall of Hall & Oates sang harmony vocals on "The Only Flame in Town", Green Gartside of Scritti Politti sang backing vocals on "I Wanna Be Loved", trombonist Big Jim Paterson returned from ''Punch the Clock'' and Gary Barnacle added saxophone to a few tracks; Barnacle's parts reflected the style of the times. The extra players did little to liven the spirits of the Attractions, who remained resentful throughout. Bruce Thomas later remarked: "They were just there to inject an extra element that meant we weren't stuck with each other all the time. The same four guys who were probably not on a creative high at the time." The album was completed in early April 1984.

Music and lyrics

In his book ''The Words and Music of Elvis Costello'', author James E. Perone states that the music on ''Goodbye Cruel World'' offers a "commercial, conventional pop sound" tied to the "prevailing trends of the time". In his review of the album for ''The New York Times'', Stephen Holden wrote that it contains "a freewheeling dictionary of pop and rock references that run from Memphis soul to slinky pop-jazz, from Fats Domino to Burt Bacharach to the Beatles." He dubbed the sound "trebly, carnival pop". Costello himself said in the 1995 liner notes the record has a "lack of rock 'n' roll". Author Mick St. Michael found the music more melancholy than ''Punch the Clock''.

The album's lyrics reflect Costello's personal upheavals at the time and are mostly downbeat. Tracks such as "Worthless Thing", "The Deportees Club", "Joe Porterhouse", "The Comedians" and "The Great Unknown" all hint at his "unhappiness" and "self-disgust"; disillusionment also runs throughout several, including "The Deportees Club" and "The Great Unknown". According to ''Rolling Stone'' Don Shewey, side one mostly concerns relationships and side two is pervaded by political commentary. Costello said that the stories are "dense and obscure" but "can't disguise the fears, doubts and desires". Holden stated they portray a "corrupt world where lovers are the dupes of their illusions and the urges to love and power are inextricable". In his book ''God's Comic'', biographer David Gouldstone found various repeated lyrical themes and subjects from previous records.

Side one

Album opener " The Only Flame in Town" is an R&B-influenced song that ''Circus'' magazine's John Swenson compared to the "contemporary blue-eyed soul sound" of Hall & Oates, which he felt offered a good circumstance for Hall's guest appearance. With a prevalent saxophone sound, the narrator unsuccessfully attempts to convince himself he is unconcerned of his former lover's new boyfriend. Gouldstone finds similar lyrical retreads dating back to 1977's "I'm Not Angry". "Home Truth" is a ballad that extends "themes of emotional realism" from ''Imperial Bedroom''. With depressing lyrics dealing with marital breakdown, Perone finds it partly autobiographical, appearing to relate to Costello's own failing marriage.

"Room with No Number" is about a dishonest love affair-turned-violent taking place at a motel. Gouldstone writes its main theme as "guilty suppression and confusion". A revision of an ''Imperial Bedroom'' outtake, "Inch By Inch" was described by Kristine McKenna of the ''Los Angeles Times'' as "a tale of love decaying into bitterness". With "sinister" organ, "smoky" saxophone, and a bass riff that mirrors the Beatles' "I'm Only Sleeping" (1966), some reviewers on release compared it to 1977's " Watching the Detectives". Perone likens both "Room with No Number" and "Inch By Inch" 1980s pop sound to Culture Club.

"Worthless Thing" is an attack on the media, particularly the perils of fame, celebrities and celebrity adornment. Swenson felt the song harkened back to the artist's angry persona of his early works. Costello himself described it as "self-loathing". Musically, Perone calls it one of the album's few "true rock" songs. "Love Field" is an atmospheric ballad that views love, in Swenson's words, as "a kind of suspended animation". Perone says it resembles a dreamscape. Costello felt it was one of the only songs not to have dated production.

Side two

Costello's cover of "I Wanna Be Loved" uses synthesisers that Perone believes takes away from the "soulful spirit" of the original. Swenson likened the sound to calypso music. "The Comedians" takes its title from a Graham Greene novel of the same name, although the song itself has little to do with the book. With a 5/4-time signature, the song revisits older themes to create a tale about the "emptiness of modern society". "Joe Porterhouse" is about "the funeral of a family strong man". The music and some of the lyrics came from "I Love You When You Sleep", a song Costello had written for Respond Records artist Tracie. Perone likens the 1960s pop rock sound to Ray Davies of the Kinks.

"Sour Milk Cow Blues" is another of the album's few rock songs. Its hard to decipher lyrics tell of a narrator who weeps over his lover's abandonment of him. Gouldstone says the track continues the album's overall theme of "disjointed identity". "The Great Unknown" was intended for Robert Wyatt, who turned it down. It marked Costello's second songwriting collaboration with Langer following "Shipbuilding" the previous year. Discussing the song, Costello said in it, "infamous characters from celebrated songs have spiteful things done to them". Its unrelated verses all deal with forms of death, including gangsters, a Samson a Delilah story and the horrors of murder in the World Wars. Perone opines its "arrangement and rhythmic feel" hint at British music hall, starkly contrasting with the lyrics.

Costello similarly regarded "The Deportees Club" as "the wrong music for the right words". Perone compares its music to 1978's "You Belong to Me", further likening it to a mainstream rock song out of the 1965 British music scene. Like 1981's "Clubland", the setting is in a nightclub, presenting a view of a fantasy world and life inside the club. The final track, "Peace in Our Time", is a waltz ballad that presents political commentary, in part a reaction against Thatcherism and Reaganomics. On release, Holden found references to "German disco, nuclear testing, the Falklands War, space exploration and Ronald Reagan". Perone states that it offers a feeling of "importance and topical commentary" lacking throughout the album, during a "politically interesting" time. Paterson's trombone solo was based on an unreleased Costello tune titled "World Without End".

Packaging

The album's title was taken from an obscure 1960s single written by James Darlin. According to Costello, it was intended as black humour. The photos for the album sleeve were shot by Brian Griffin, who took the inner shots for ''Armed Forces'', in Montpellier before the recording sessions began. The cover artwork is adorned by two trees on top of a cliffside, where Costello and the band—two in white and two in black—reside against a bright blue sky. Hinton says that Nieve looks like a fencer while Costello appears ready for a fist fight. Analysing the slightly oft-centred photograph, Hinton believes it has "an unsettling background of pure sky, as if the whole hillock is ascending to heaven. Perhaps all four are dead, and on their way to the afterworld." Gouldstone calls the sleeve "playfully enigmatic", encouraging listeners to explore the music inside.

On the back cover, the musicians melt into the background: Pete Thomas appears in a "spectral form"; Bruce Thomas is seen from the back covered by a grid of red and blue lines; Costello lacks his glasses; Nieve is represented by a fencer's visor against a flowery backdrop. On the inner sleeve, Costello's self-portrait fragments into jigsaw pieces, half of which have flown away.

Release and promotion

Shortly following the recording sessions, Costello booked a solo tour for the US and Europe in April 1984; it was the first time he performed solo since the sessions for ''My Aim Is True'' (1977). He later said: "I was having a miserable time. I basically ran away to sea." Supported by T Bone Burnett, Costello played stripped-down versions of ''Goodbye Cruel World'' tracks, his back catalogue and several covers he had yet to record. The tour was acclaimed for Costello's enthusiastic playing, above average vocal performances and as a lyrical showcase.

"Peace in Our Time" was released as a single under the pseudonym the Imposter through Costello's own IMP record label on 15 April 1984. It was his second release under the guise and label following "Pills and Soap" a year prior. However, unlike the politically-led release of that single, Elvis said that for the release of "Peace in Our Time": "It's just a song I wanted out right now for reasons I think will be obvious when you hear it." Backed by a rendition of Richard and Linda Thompson's 1973 folk song "Withered and Died", the single reached number 48 in the UK. '' Melody Maker'' named it their single of the week, and Costello performed it on NBC's ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' in the US, although the performance was belittled by the studio audience.

Following his solo tour, Costello reunited with the Attractions for dates in New Zealand, Australia and Japan. By early June 1984, both his marriage and affair with Buell fell apart. The same month, "I Wanna Be Loved" was released as the first single, backed by "Turning the Town Red". It was supported by a music video shot in Australia during May. Featuring Costello alone, slumped in a photo booth whispering the song's lyrics as several men and women enter the shot to kiss him, Costello believed it was one of the only instances where a song of his was improved by the video. During a performance of the single on BBC
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