02.19.2020
ELVIS COSTELLO & THE ATTRACTIONS ‘GET HAPPY’ TURNS 40. AN APPRECIATION
Louder Than War: February 14th 2020.
On 15th February, Get Happy by Elvis Costello & The Attractions celebrates its 40th birthday. Gordon Rutherford tells Louder Than War why it is worth revisiting.
It’s hard to believe that Get Happy, that iconic slice of vinyl by Elvis Costello & The Attractions, celebrates its fortieth birthday this Saturday. It’s an album that is so special to me for a number of reasons. I remember the day I bought it with my own hard-earned cash, accumulated from delivering newspapers seven days a week. Whilst I no longer deliver papers, I do still listen to Get Happy, not for nostalgic reasons but simply by virtue of its utter brilliance.
It’s fair to say that it’s not Costello’s most technically accomplished work. That epithet probably belongs to King of America. Nor is it his finest collection of songs. That would be Imperial Bedroom or Trust. But it is his most joyous, energetic, frantic, idiosyncratic, completely impossible body of work.I saw Costello & the Attractions live for the first time shortly after Get Happy’s release. The thing I remember most was the absence of any breaks in between songs. They played for a frenetic two hours, lurching from one song to the next without missing a beat. By the end of the show, everyone, artists and audience alike, was exhausted. Of all Costello albums, Get Happy is the one that most emulates that experience.