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Okay, Elvis has failed to come up with the goods from time to time (witness Trust) because he's continually looking for a hit in America. When you get down to it, this search for the Top 40 success is the major conflict in this guy's life. He makes album after album that the critics love, but the public buys in only modest amounts. His decision to chuck his buddy Nick Lowe as producer resulted in his best album in years (Imperial Bedroom). But we've seen him shift from Stax-Volt reincarnate to country crooner without making much more of a dent in the American market than previous albums. The guy looks like a twerp, is stuck with a handle worthy of a novelty act, has a chip on his shoulder that gets both his audiences and record company peeved with him, refuses to tour regularly, and he expects to connect with R.E.O. Speedwagon-country? Surely he jests.
So, for this album, he's recruited Dexys Midnight Runners producers (Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley), a bunch of horn players, and came up with a mess. Many of the songs sound as if they were finished only so that he wouldn't have to deal with them anymore. The few that have any kind of bite to them — "Pills and Soap," "Shipbuilding," and "Everyday I Write the Book" — are hampered by the production or lack of it. The usually steady beat of Pete Thomas falters from time to time. bassist Bruce Thomas seems to be fighting his way out from behind the brass section, and Steve Nieve (who absolutely shone on the last LP) is just going through the motions. Elvis only succeeds when his introversion, self-pity, and contempt for the human race can focus into some meaningful statement about his own life; here he's just out to impress. These 13 songs are as empty and unmemorable as any of the dinosaurs he's trying to replace.
Is Elvis still New Music, or is he bound for the same extinction that the crop of singer/songwriters he sought to displace have now found? It seems Deke MacManus is completely out of touch with himself, the contemporary music reality, and the five or six great albums he has created. Fortunately, lapses like this are to be expected from those who don't wait for the muse in order to be prolific. Hopefully, by the next album Elvis will come to his senses, chuck it all away, and come up with something completely different. Because Punch the Clock bites.
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