You're No One in This Town: The Ballad of Alan and Declan

With the recent announcement of the Before Watchmen prequel series, Alan Moore has had plenty to say about the project....including that if people purchase the prequel series from DC, they should quit reading his other works immediately.

Of course, this is a gross simplification - after all, Moore is attempting to make a serious stand for creator's rights, and in all honesty, he did make a bad deal. (Yes, it is tempting to scold him for being "naive" back then, but who's to blame - Moore, for his naivete, or DC/Warner for exploiting that?). But there's something a little bit more pernicious at work, and quite honestly, it reminded me of a similar situation which, if the memory isn't cheating, happened about the same time....

(Actually, the memory was cheating - according to Google, the following happened in November/December 2011).

When Universal Music was about to release a mega-volume live/DVD set of his Sensational Spinning Songbook, Elvis Costello took the radical view that people shouldn't buy it, but purchase a Louis Armstrong boxed set instead.

Via wilbyington on Flickr

Why am I mentioning these two gentlemen, you may ask? I do so because behind their seemingly fight-the-power stance, there's an incredible amount of hypocrisy and - dare I say it - ego behind it.

Costello has been committing the more egregious errors of the two - after all, his back catalogue has been rereleased on CD multiple times for multiple companies (starting with the vanilla Columbia releases, followed by Rykodisc, then Rhino Records, and now Universal). Although his stunt seems cute, it does beg the question - does a man who continually rehashes his past catalogue, often adding "bonus tracks" (sometimes different across releases), really want people to acquire his work "by any other means"? Or is it more of a case of shrewdly creating a negotiating point for a later transaction.

With Moore, his heart seems in the right place, but his manner suggests that although he may believe he is fighting for overall creator rights, he is acting out of a sense of personal hurt. Given his frosty relationship with many of his co-collaborators, his more erratic recent work (League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century - 1968 seemed less like a story and more a game of spot-the-reference), and his assumption that adaptation into other medium somehow changes the very nature of his books make his arguments less valid.

(And my position, for the record - Before Watchmen may be a good business decision for DC, it is an incredibly poor creative move. No one cares about these characters before Moore's novel - there's no need to discuss a sane Rorschach, or a slim Nite-Owl. Exploring the world of the Minutemen may be interesting, but this is more of a desperation move on DC's part than anything else).

Ultimately, in either case, the person who truly lacks the benefit is the fan - the person stuck in the middle, often having to choose between enjoying an artist's work despite the artist's wishes or avoiding something that may prove to be an exemplary experience.

Costello once wrote that "You're nobody 'til everybody in this town/Thinks you're a bastard". And both Costello and Moore seem to be moving in that direction.

December's Record You Should Own

You know, you can never go wrong with any of Elvis Costello's first seven albums (with Punch the Clock and Goodbye Cruel World showing that EC can be mediocre, if he wants to be). December's Record You Should Own is, in this humble blogger's opinion, one of his most underrated - Trust.

Although this and Armed Forces often clash in my CD player, this is the one that seems to get slightly more airplay. It shows Costello beginning to branch out from the "angry young man" label and beginning stylistic detours that would take him into country, beautiful Beatle-esque pop, and lay out the blueprint for the rest of his career. This is where Costello's lyrical ability matches wits with the Attractions' musical chops, creating a collection of tunes that could just as easily be played during a cocktail party as in a loud and rowdy party.

You could almost hear the curtains part during the opening notes of "Clubland", a slightly noir-ish take on night life (Sample lyric: "The long arm of the law slides up the outskirts of town/Meanwhile in Clubland, they are ready to pull them down"). A Bo-Diddley-esque beat meets Latin piano in "Lovers Walk"; just feel the Elvis-meets-Jerry-Lee-Lewis vibe of "Luxembourg" or the slight paranoia of "Watch Your Step." You name the genre, it's covered, whether it's jazz ("New Lace Sleeves"), guitar rawk ("Whisper to a Scream") to country ("Different Finger") - this is the sound of an artist coming into his own.

So, if you're looking to listen to an underappreciated album; seeking a little sophisticated music for your New Year's Eve party; or just like solid tunes - Trust is well worth a listen.