Brutal Youth

Never listened to Elvis Costello before. Unsure if this was the best candidate for a first timer

Well yes, this is an Elvis Costello album, with songs that sound very much like Elvis Costello, because everything Elvis Costello does sounds vaguely alike to me because I was just never into Elvis Costello. (I laughed when a song called “This is Hell” popped up. Come on, it isn’t quite *hell* to have to listen to this, Elvis Costello is a good songwriter.)

It’s a perfectly fine album, just another one of those instances where I’d prefer to hear the songs interwoven in a radio set with other stuff instead of having to sit through an indigestible brick of Elvis Costello.

Love when artists say the album title in the lyrics of a song that isn’t a title track like on Favourite Hour. Another quality album by Elvis Costello with biting lyrics like you would expect. His vocals and melodies are also still high quality here. Cant really call this revolutionary as it’s mostly a relatively safe “more of the same” album. Favorites were This Is Hell, 20% Amnesia, London’s Brilliant Parade, and Just About Glad.

This is not brutal youth, it's just brutal. I just hate Elvis Costello. I hate the amount of Elvis Costello on this list. I just can't stand it.

This album was not really what I was expecting. I figured 'Elvis Costello isn't one of my favorites but at least it'll be fun to listen to.' I was wrong about that. It was a chore. This is an odd choice for the list for sure. I mean most Elvis Costello is not fantastic but is at least tolerable. This is not that. Would not listen to this again, and it kind of put me off him a little. 2/5

About 30 mins into this I was thinking this was a classic 3 star. I was enjoying it fine. Even if like many albums on this list it certainly wouldn’t qualify as a “must listen” but then realised I was only half way through the album.

No reason for this to be an hour long. No reason for this to be on the list, but i like to reserve the 1 stars for the real irredeemable stuff.

Day 271 and I’m feeling jaded with this.

You don’t need to hear 6 Elvis Costello albums before you die. You should probably listen to 1 or 2 tops.

1 star for being a pointless inclusion on the list.

Meneer Costello brengt ons ditmaal een definitie van de vergeetbare 3. Het album zakt vrij snel naar de achtergrond. Echt vermaken met of lekker ergeren aan kan ik niet. Het grote aantal andere Costello's in deze lijst is dus niet eens het hoofdargument om dit album niet in de lijst op te nemen.

I'm not sure why there needs to be SIX Elvis Costello albums on this list. SIX!

There is definitely artistic merit here, but not enough for me to forgive SIX albums. SIX!

I really liked You Tripped at Every Step

Still Too Soon to Know physically made my teeth hurt somehow. I guess that's a new feeling music has evoked in me. Obviously, not a very desirable one.

20% Amnesia sounds like a collaboration with Danny Elfman for a Tim Burton stop motion movie about a skateboarder who hates his father.

Also 3/4 of these tracks have different names but are the same song. That's such a boring quality for an album

⭐⭐.49

Rhyming 'perimeter fence' w/ 'senseless' & 'regiment,' 'bruise' w/ 'leather shoes' & 'bad mood music,' 'trophies' w/ 'hope is' or 'sofa' w/ 'oaf' proves that Costello is still at the peak of his powers in '94 & that it's essentially a given that you'll get at least some lyrical mastery from the bloke. Mastery doesn't make a great record tho. Great songs do. Brutal Youth has several tracks that are almost great, including 'This is Hell,' 'Still Too Soon to Know,' 'Rocking Horse Road,' & 'All the Rage,' but nothing as instantly great as something off This Year's Model. It's a record of virtuosity w/ pockets of poignancy, not an album that makes you feel all that much in the end, tho I wouldn't call it cold exactly. There's just nothing blazingly immediate here.

something about this reminds me of the Ghost of Tom Joad album.

Just not very good. Don't particularly like this voice here.

It sounds like an Elvis Costello album. There are several in this list and nothing about this one is distinct enough from the others to justify its inclusion. It’s not his best, it’s not his first and it’s not a drastic departure. Another artist could have been included to be discovered. This album is interesting- Elvis is talented and never boring- but feels superfluous.

This is the fifth album Costello album I’ve gotten on this project. The best thing I can say about tablet it is that I only have one more to slog through before I’m done with this fraud forever.

3rd Elvis Costello album, and the weakest so far. 2.5/5. Raising to 3.

I accidentally deleted the review I wrote for this, so I'll just say that this list has far too much Elvis Costello. And, I still can't discern any particular arc for Costello's career, so the fact that this feels so similar to everything else doesn't have me optimistic here. But, honestly this is my favorite from him so far. A lot of these songs are pretty enjoyable, many rock pretty hard too. And I still like his lyrics. But the aesthetic still isn't for me, and the whole album is like a 3. But, that's higher than I expected. Maybe I'm learning to love Elvis Costello. But maybe this is just exceptional. Maybe we'll learn in time.

2/5. My second Elvis Costello album within 3 days and outside of a few highlights I just didn’t jive with this one very much. I especially disliked the vocals on this record which is odd because I didn’t mind the vocals on the previous Costello album I got. I’ll also give it credit that there’s a decent amount of variety across the track-list. But it just doesn’t amount to an album I’d ever revisit.

This is now the fifth album by this musician, who I think is totally overrated. If I'm not mistaken, I still have two more to go. Actually, it didn't annoy me as much as I thought it would. However, I lost patience with him, so I didn't listen to the whole thing. 2/5

Brutally boring, and the vocals are just not for me. This is the third Elvis Costello album I've had so far, and absolutely nothing about any of them appeals to me in the slightest. I might just default to giving the other 74 albums he has in the 1001 two stars each, as I really cannot be arsed to put myself through any more of his music.

Within the context of having 6?! Elvis Costello albums in this list (insert the long rant of Patrick Bateman about Huey Lewis & the News having a better humor than Costello), this is their least popular record on the site and deservedly so.

6/10 [DROP]