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Bulldog · 12-10-2009, 10:42 AM

Elvis Costello & the Attractions
Almost Blue
1981

1. Why Don't You Love Me (Like You Used To Do)? [Williams]
2. Sweet Dreams [Gibson]
3. Success [Mullins]
4. I'm Your Toy [Parsons/Ethridge]
5. Tonight the Bottle Let Me Down [Haggard]
6. Brown To Blue [Jones/Franks]
7. A Good Year For the Roses [Chesnut]
8. Sittin' and Thinkin' [Rich]
9. Colour Of the Blues [L. Williams/Jones]
10. Too Far Gone [Sherril]
11. Honey Hush [Turner]
12. How Much I Lied [Parsons/Rifkin]

So then, I've already taken the opportunity to introduce to one gateway album for the delights of country music in the shape of Ringo Starr's Beaucoups Of Blues - not a classic by any means, but a massively important album in my music collection when it comes to the direction my musical journey's taken on. Even though Ringo's album certainly gave me the push I needed to start to fully explore a very rich and totally new area of music to me, it wasn't my first brush with classic country and western music in the form of an album.

That's where Elvis Costello, another Englishman with a real love for country music, comes in with a covers album of his own. Again, the actual album itself is very good but no classic, but more importantly than that, in buying this is some HMV store however many years ago it was, Almost Blue here was officially the first country album I ever owned. Even if it's no classic then, it's certainly one of the most influential albums on my musical taste. On top of all that, I've been listening to Elvis Costello's albums virtually all day, and my opinions of this album have changed quite a bit since I posted the review of it in the guy's discography thread, so it's time for another bite of the cherry!

Anyway, on with the actual review! By 1981, Elvis Costello and his backing band the Attractions had made a bit of a name for themselves on either side of the Atlantic as a result of, upon emerging from the British pub rock scene, a virtually seamless run of six album releases (five studio projects, one live album) in the space of about four and a half years. As great as a lot of that work turned out though, Costello himself hadn't been able to find an outlet to express his love for country music outside of the odd B-side or album track. After the release of his brilliant Trust album earlier that year (which featured a nicely country-flavoured original called Different Finger), upon meeting up with his old buddy and professional steel guitarist John McPhee, it dawned on Costello that it wouldn't be such a bad idea to go to Nashville Tennessee and record his own renditions of some of his favourite country songs with McPhee and the Attractions in tow. Legendary producer Billy Sherril was in the producer's chair for the sessions.

A total of about thirty songs (all covers and only one original) were recorded in the space of just six days. Overall, the result is a much more faithful reading of classic country standards than you'd imagine. The exception is the furiously-paced, rollicking, punked-up cover of Hank Williams' Why Don't You Love Me (Like You Used To Do)?, give us an intriguing kind of hybrid of punk and country rock.

From there though, things follow a much more traditional path, as the slow, syrupy version of the Don Gibson ballad Sweet Dreams should make obvious. Not exactly one of my favourite songs that Costello's ever sung (I'm not a huge fan of those string arrangements and backing vocals), but again, interesting when you think who exactly's singing it. Probably the weak point of the album when all's said and done, which is ok as it's followed up by the brilliant, piano-led rendition of Success (pianist Steve Nieve actually gives one of the best piano performances I've ever heard here as well). Following that is a slightly slower version of I'm Your Toy, aka the Flying Burrito Brothers' Hot Burrito 1. Good enough, but nowhere near as good as the Gram Parsons-led original. Next comes the Merle Haggard number, Tonight the Bottle Let Me Down, bringing the overall quality back up a few notches as it speeds proceedings up before the slower, slightly meandering version of Brown To Blue.

It's an album which has a few less interesting moments, but those are easily made up for by the highlights, like the following, anthemic and absolutely beautiful A Good Year For the Roses (a surprise top 10 hit in the UK, incidentally), and the gorgeously twangy, alcoholic ramble of Charlie Rich's Sittin' and Thinkin'. To follow on from those though are a couple more not necessarily bad but merely not-so-great covers, those being George Jones' Colour Of the Blues and Billy Sherril's own Too Far Gone (the latter of which is done a bit better by one Emmylou Harris). Honey Hush (also covered by Paul McCartney of all people) picks up the pace again and has a neat melody, while How Much I Lied is possibly the best cover Costello's ever performed, seeing as I think it beats Gram Parsons' original (and considering that I love all things Parsons, that's quite a thing to say).

All in all, a very interesting album for how faithful all these renditions are to their respective originals, and considering they were recorded by a band that made their name in new wave, that's quite something. Those twelve tracks are only the thin end of the wedge too, as there are plenty of great outtakes from these sessions (my personal favourite being the rendition of Hank Cochran's He's Got You, which you'll find in the bottom video here). More importantly than all that contextual stuff, although it took me a while to truly appreciate it (seeing as country and western was so alien to me when I bought this), this album got me started on the broader-than-you'd-think area of country music. Therefore, like the Ringo Starr album I reviewed a few posts back, it's no classic, but anyone wondering where to start with country should definitely turn to this album. Plus that sleeve art kicks arse, so what more reason do you need?!

That turned out a lot longer than I thought...

12-10-2009, 10:42 AM	#57 (permalink)
Bulldog why bother? Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: UK Posts: 4,840	Elvis Costello & the Attractions Almost Blue 1981 1. Why Don't You Love Me (Like You Used To Do)? [Williams] 2. Sweet Dreams [Gibson] 3. Success [Mullins] 4. I'm Your Toy [Parsons/Ethridge] 5. Tonight the Bottle Let Me Down [Haggard] 6. Brown To Blue [Jones/Franks] 7. A Good Year For the Roses [Chesnut] 8. Sittin' and Thinkin' [Rich] 9. Colour Of the Blues [L. Williams/Jones] 10. Too Far Gone [Sherril] 11. Honey Hush [Turner] 12. How Much I Lied [Parsons/Rifkin] So then, I've already taken the opportunity to introduce to one gateway album for the delights of country music in the shape of Ringo Starr's Beaucoups Of Blues - not a classic by any means, but a massively important album in my music collection when it comes to the direction my musical journey's taken on. Even though Ringo's album certainly gave me the push I needed to start to fully explore a very rich and totally new area of music to me, it wasn't my first brush with classic country and western music in the form of an album. That's where Elvis Costello, another Englishman with a real love for country music, comes in with a covers album of his own. Again, the actual album itself is very good but no classic, but more importantly than that, in buying this is some HMV store however many years ago it was, Almost Blue here was officially the first country album I ever owned. Even if it's no classic then, it's certainly one of the most influential albums on my musical taste. On top of all that, I've been listening to Elvis Costello's albums virtually all day, and my opinions of this album have changed quite a bit since I posted the review of it in the guy's discography thread, so it's time for another bite of the cherry! Anyway, on with the actual review! By 1981, Elvis Costello and his backing band the Attractions had made a bit of a name for themselves on either side of the Atlantic as a result of, upon emerging from the British pub rock scene, a virtually seamless run of six album releases (five studio projects, one live album) in the space of about four and a half years. As great as a lot of that work turned out though, Costello himself hadn't been able to find an outlet to express his love for country music outside of the odd B-side or album track. After the release of his brilliant Trust album earlier that year (which featured a nicely country-flavoured original called Different Finger), upon meeting up with his old buddy and professional steel guitarist John McPhee, it dawned on Costello that it wouldn't be such a bad idea to go to Nashville Tennessee and record his own renditions of some of his favourite country songs with McPhee and the Attractions in tow. Legendary producer Billy Sherril was in the producer's chair for the sessions. A total of about thirty songs (all covers and only one original) were recorded in the space of just six days. Overall, the result is a much more faithful reading of classic country standards than you'd imagine. The exception is the furiously-paced, rollicking, punked-up cover of Hank Williams' *Why Don't You Love Me (Like You Used To Do)?, give us an intriguing kind of hybrid of punk and country rock. From there though, things follow a much more traditional path, as the slow, syrupy version of the Don Gibson ballad Sweet Dreams* should make obvious. Not exactly one of my favourite songs that Costello's ever sung (I'm not a huge fan of those string arrangements and backing vocals), but again, interesting when you think who exactly's singing it. Probably the weak point of the album when all's said and done, which is ok as it's followed up by the brilliant, piano-led rendition of *Success* (pianist Steve Nieve actually gives one of the best piano performances I've ever heard here as well). Following that is a slightly slower version of *I'm Your Toy, aka the Flying Burrito Brothers' Hot Burrito 1. Good enough, but nowhere near as good as the Gram Parsons-led original. Next comes the Merle Haggard number, Tonight the Bottle Let Me Down, bringing the overall quality back up a few notches as it speeds proceedings up before the slower, slightly meandering version of Brown To Blue. It's an album which has a few less interesting moments, but those are easily made up for by the highlights, like the following, anthemic and absolutely beautiful A Good Year For the Roses* (a surprise top 10 hit in the UK, incidentally), and the gorgeously twangy, alcoholic ramble of Charlie Rich's *Sittin' and Thinkin'. To follow on from those though are a couple more not necessarily bad but merely not-so-great covers, those being George Jones' Colour Of the Blues* and Billy Sherril's own *Too Far Gone* (the latter of which is done a bit better by one Emmylou Harris). *Honey Hush* (also covered by Paul McCartney of all people) picks up the pace again and has a neat melody, while How Much I Lied is possibly the best cover Costello's ever performed, seeing as I think it beats Gram Parsons' original (and considering that I love all things Parsons, that's quite a thing to say). All in all, a very interesting album for how faithful all these renditions are to their respective originals, and considering they were recorded by a band that made their name in new wave, that's quite something. Those twelve tracks are only the thin end of the wedge too, as there are plenty of great outtakes from these sessions (my personal favourite being the rendition of Hank Cochran's He's Got You, which you'll find in the bottom video here). More importantly than all that contextual stuff, although it took me a while to truly appreciate it (seeing as country and western was so alien to me when I bought this), this album got me started on the broader-than-you'd-think area of country music. Therefore, like the Ringo Starr album I reviewed a few posts back, it's no classic, but anyone wondering where to start with country should definitely turn to this album. Plus that sleeve art kicks arse, so what more reason do you need?! That turned out a lot longer than I thought...