(2021) Elvis Costello - Spanish Model [Deluxe]
Review:
On the face of it, Spanish Model seems destined to be a curiosity: it features the original Attractions backing tracks from Elvis Costello’s classic 1978 album This Year’s Model with new vocal overdubs by contemporary Latin artists. Costello came up with the idea after revisiting the original session tapes for This Year’s Model in 2018 — he and his co-producer Sebastian Krys were turning “This Year’s Girl” into a duet featuring Natalie Bergman — and finding the band sounded powerful in their own right with his lead vocals stripped away. He soon came up with the idea of recording a Spanish-language version of the album, recruiting Spanish musicians from around the globe — including Juanes, Nina Diaz, Jesse & Joy, Luis Fonsi, Fito Paez, and La Marisoul — to help translate and shape the original material into something fresh. Far from being an intellectual exercise, the resulting Spanish Model retains the vigor of the Attractions yet sounds brighter and open-hearted in the hands of Latin singers. Some of the change in tenor is certainly due to the absence of a vitriolic young Costello. Back in 1978, he sang in a furious rush, spitting out insults and paranoia. The singers here take their time with the melody and the words, a shift that helps pull the compositions into sharp relief; they sound more pop and less punk in this incarnation. Even if the melodies feel more pronounced on Spanish Model, the barbed humor and spiky politics remain–“Night Rally,” performed here by Jorge Drexler, sounds prescient about 21st Century fascism–and the decision to widen the net to include such non-LP songs as “Big Tears,” “Radio, Radio,” “Crawling to the USA” and “Running Out of Angels” (all included as bonus cuts on subsequent reissues; “Radio Radio” was on the original US version of the LP) helps broaden the musical and emotional palette of the album. The end result winds up not as a curiosity but rather a small wonder, revealing new dimensions of the original recording while opening up these songs for new audiences.
Track Listing:
1. No Action (feat. Nina Diaz) (02:12)
2. (Yo No Quiero Ir A Chelsea) (I Don’t Want to Go To Chelsea) (03:39)
3. Yo Te Vi (The Beat) (feat. Draco Rosa) (03:47)
4. Pump It Up (feat. Juanes) (03:28)
5. Detonantes (Little Triggers) (feat. La Marisoul) (02:42)
6. Tu Eres Para Mi (You Belong to Me) (feat. Luis Fonsi) (02:50)
7. Hand in Hand (feat. Francisca Valenzuela & Luis Humberto Navejas) (02:34)
8. La Chica De Hoy (This Year’s Girl) (feat. Cami) (03:29)
9. Mentira (Lip Service) (feat. Pablo López) (02:38)
10. Viviendo En El Paraiso (Living In Paradise) (feat. Jesse & Joy) (03:59)
11. Lipstick Vogue (feat. Morat) (03:32)
12. La Turba (Night Rally) (feat. Jorge Drexler) (02:42)
13. Llorar (Big Tears) (feat. Sebastian Yatra) (03:10)
14. Radio, Radio (feat. Fito Páez) (03:09)
15. Crawling to the U.S.A. (feat. Gian Marco & Nicole Zignago) (02:47)
16. Se Esta Perdiendo La Inocencia (Running Out Of Angels) (feat. Vega) (02:08)
Bonus tracks
17. (I Don’t Want to Go To Chelsea) (Dub Remix) (feat. Raquel Sofía & Fuego) (03:33)
18. Pump It Up (Duet Remix) (feat. Juanes) (03:14)
19. Pump It Up (Brutal Remix) (03:22)
Media Report:
Genre: rock
Country: UK
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec, 16-bit PCM
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits