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2004 - The Delivery Man http://www.elviscostello.info/wiki/images/c/cb/Tdm.jpg Rating: 8.5/10 Sampler link 2006 - The River In Reverse http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0...V51507505_.jpg Rating: 9/10 Sampler link 2008 - Momofuku http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/roc...8/05/elvis.jpg Rating: 6/10 Sampler link 2009 - Secret, Profane and Sugarcane http://showclix.com/blog/wp-content/...-sugarcane.jpg Rating: 7.5/10 Sampler link *Glossary of ratings* 1-3/10 = Not worth the jewel case it comes in. 4-5/10 = Strictly for completists only. 6-7/10 = Solid, but not truly brilliant. 8/10 = Very good. 9/10 = Fantastic. 10/10 = Essential. |
Odds and Sods http://stereogum.com/img/elvis_coste...xplanation.jpg What it says on the tin really. I'm thinking of whichever threads I've got going on here and how I don't really feel like contributing to them at the minute so, looking back at this, I've realised that there's a whole chunk of Elvis Costello's back-catalogue that I haven't even glanced over with this thread. Those are, of course, the bits that don't really fit in with the official studio album discography. So, in a nutshell, in this section I'll take you through the best of the man's DVDs, live albums, one-off collaborations and so on that don't fit in with the rest of the guy's discography. I'll be adding to this with whatever I feel like whenever I feel like it so, no, they aren't in any order! Starting with... Elvis Costello & Bill Frisell Deep Dead Blue 1995, Warner Bros Records, recorded live @ the Royal Festival Hall, London http://pds.exblog.jp/pds/1/200901/04...9_21162064.jpg 1. Weird Nightmare [Mingus] 2. Love Field [Costello] 3. Shamed Into Love [Costello] 4. Gigi [Lerner/Loewe] 5. Poor Napoleon [Costello] 6. Baby Plays Around [O'Riordan/Costello] 7. Deep Dead Blue [Costello/Frisell] Nowadays it's fairly much common practice for a non-classical musician to curate epic annual Meltdown Festival on the south bank of the Thames but, when Elvis Costello was approached the festival's organiser's for the job, 'til then it'd been purely an event in which to celebrate classical music. Since then of course we've had people such as Morrissey, David Bowie, Nick Cave, Scott Walker and Jarvis Cocker, even Massive Attack and John Peel doing the job, but it was hardly the norm back then. For those of you reading this and wondering what the hell I'm on about, as curator of the Meltdown Festival, it's one's job to select a fairly large and diverse mix of music, art, performance and film to take place over the course of the week. Not only did this give Costello a chance to call on performers like Jeff Buckley the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Jazz Passenger, friends like Steve Nieve and Marc Ribot among so many others to play sets (much of the time with Costello himself), but it also gave him the chance to show off his growing passion for classical music with a few compositions of his own. More relevantly though, Costello had himself quite the hands-on approach as curator, not only personally attending each and every performance but also singing a ridiculous songs over the course of the festival (I forget the exact figures), and seven of those were with prolific jazz guitarist Bill Frisell. Those seven songs are, it goes without saying, the same seven that make up this limited-release live album. To give you some sense of perspective as to how much else Costello did during the festival, another official release spawned from it (which I may get round to sometime) was a six-disc recording of his sets with his long-time collaborator and friend Steve Nieve. Anyway, the night of June 25th Costello and Frisell, armed only with the latter's electric guitar, took to the stage and went their way about the above, fairly modest setlist, comprised of a bunch of oldies from Costello's repertoire, a couple of covers and a couple of new songs. The result is much better than I expected upon getting this album for myself, as there's a very unqiue sound to Frisell's guitar and, set alongside Costello's signature vocal, it sets up a fairly ghostly, cold and downbeat vibe. The opening rendition of Charles Mingus' Weird Nightmare illustrates this perfectly, what with all that talk of 'weird nightmare, why must you torment me' and all that. This one would've been good for the night-driving comp now that I think of it. Oh well. By the time Love Field comes around, we see what a partnership these guys were, as what was once a rather rubbish song from Costello's very own dated 80s fluff-fest (Goodbye Cruel World) goes through a real transformation for the better here, really doing so much to bring out the desperation and sorrow in the lyric than its studio treatment did all those years earlier. Shamed Into Love was a newly-penned song written for a fella called Ruben Blades (no, I don't have a clue either!), and is another slow, sorrowful number that fits the vibe suggested by the album's title like a glove. Like the cover of Gigi after it, it keeps that ghostly, eerie kind of vibe going, wherein once again Frisell's strange ability to make his guitar sound like a synthesizer in places does the song a whole world of good. In that sense, yet more very good work is made of Blood and Chocolate's Poor Napoleon, although this version of course lacks Steve Nieve's distinctive organ lines, and therefore isn't quite as good as its original version. Originally written with his missus for the fantastic Spike, Baby Plays Around is the one Costello original here that sounds a lot like its studio original, and once more Frisell's guitar and the way it plays off Costello's vocal performance works so well. Deep Dead Blue, another new song unveiled here and a co-write between the pair is more or less every strength of the album rolled into one brooding, haunting package and was, like Shamed Into Love, never released in any other format than this one. It's a wonderful set and really is quite an extraordinary album, especially as I actually didn't expect to be that amazed by it when I first got my grimy paws on it. A lot of the things I mention in this part of the trhead are gonna be more in the interests of hardcore Costello fans, but this one truly isn't. As a body of work it really is a very dark, brooding effort, and Bill Frisell's work on the guitar is really quite something. Basically, so long as you can stand Costello's voice, I'd recommend this to anyone. There aren't any videos on youtube of the pair in action except for this one. It's a lot more up-tempo and not really as interesting as what you'll find on the album, but should give you a vague idea of what these guys are about anyway... |
I'd love to hear the full content of the Costello/Frisell set. To my knowledge the EP has never been released in the USA. Frisell is an awesome guitar player. In the late 80s and early 90s Frisell was associated with the avant garde downtown jazz movement in New York and recorded a couple of albums with John Zorn. Frisell's distinctive playing can also be heard as Costello's session guitarist on the Juliet Letters (1993) and The Sweetest Punch: The Songs of Costello and Bacharach (1999). Frisell's playing is unique because the timbre of his Fender guitar swells and breathes like saxaphone and often has the lush tonality of a pedal steel guitar.
This is a bit off topic but has a marginal relevance to an overview of Costello's music. I recently heard Elvis Costello mention on his syndicated show Spectacle that his father a jazz and big band vocalist of some noteriety. Elvis went so far as to say his father was (and still is) a better vocalist than he is. Costello's claim got me curious and I found out his father's name was Ross McManus and I came across this amazing YouTube video of Ross McManus playing conga and singing Patsy Girl with the Joe Loss Band at the 1964 New Musical Express Big Beat Show. The song was a minor bluebeat/ska hit in England. The physical resembalance of Elvis Costello to his father is striking. McManus really does have a fantastic voice and Costello's vocal phrasing is very similar to his father's. I'm guessing that many Brits are already familiar with Ross McManus' musical career and his paternal relationship to Elvis Costello but McManus is virtually unknown in America. |
There definitely is quite a resemblance. I mean, blimey, they even wear the same kinda glasses! I've read about Ross McManus aka Elvis Costello's Dad's music career before, but hadn't heard anything of his work before now, so thanks for that post. He has, of course, got a much deeper voice than his son, but I can hear a resemblance between the pair of them there as well.
Speaking of Ross and Declan (aka Costello), I don't know how many of you have seen this old R White's ad before, but it was filmed in '73 and not only features Ross' singing, but that bloke with the glasses there is, you guessed it, a pre-fame Elvis Costello... ^ It is, of course, hideous, like just about every other TV ad out there, but an interesting little curio. I'm a bit clueless about Frisell's career when he hasn't played with Costello, but as I said earlier, he really does have this very authentic, unique sound to his guitar which enhances that setlist so much. I'm not sure how you feel about downloading stuff, but if you want a link to the album, PM me and I wouldn't mind sending a link your way. |
used to listen to "I want you" in repeat mode whenever a big breakup occurred :-P
Elvis Costello is one of the best 'makes you wanna laugh/cry/any other emotion' artist of our time |
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^ Crap album, great song (that 80s production style actually enhances it for me. Also, providing I can find the thing, I'll be going over one of the man's DVDs here fairly soon(ish)... |
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My dad was actually seeing Elvis Costello once, at an acoustic set, and he was in the middle of I Want You, at an almost heart-breakingly emotional moment, when some ******* in the audience just screamed out "BUDWEISER!" Bulldog- Do it! I don't have any dvds by him:yikes: |
I've only got enough to count on one hand, so I'm not doing much better than yourself! There are only a couple of them that are really worth having anyway, at least with the official releases anyway. And, yeah, I was gonna have this review done and dusted by now, but I've been quite a sick guy lately (still not quite 100%), and when I haven't been I've been working, so haven't really had the time. I'll update this thread with something more worthwhile than yet another 'I'll update this thread soon' post, don't you worry ;)
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Well, this thread made me want to check out Elvis Costello.
And i've got to say, I've been listening to Trust today, and I have no regrets. I'll have to give it a lot more listens, but i liked the dancing beat in Clublands and the Lover's Walk. I also enjoyed You'll Never Be A Man, Shot With His Own Gun (sounds very "poet like" to me for some reason), Fish 'N' Chips Paper, Gloomy Sunday (great song, great lyrics) and Boy With A Problem. I can't believe i missed this great artist/lyricist. Looking forward to check out more of his work, although i want to find more gems in this one...i mentioned few highlights. I can't believe the only thing i knew from him was a version of She... |
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On another note, good man for picking up Trust. Such a fantastic album, and definitely one more people need to know about. It was actually the first album of his that convinced me that there's so much more to the guy than his first three albums. It's just packed full of wonderful songs - White Knuckles and New Lace Sleeves are a couple of my favourite ever songs, never mind on that album. The Sad About Girls outtake is sheer bliss too. Either way, great to hear you're digging the guy - I love it when this thread actually fulfills its purpose :D By the way, the DVD review I promised is coming up soon. I survived about six hours of pub golf last night, so consequently I'm in no state to type up reviews and all that stuff. |
So then, I think it's about time I updated this again. Needless to say, this bit's kinda established-fans-only territory...
The Right Spectacle: the Very Best Of Elvis Costello (2005) http://208.131.143.232/i/1/7/6/3/4.jpg That's right, we're talking DVDs now! It probably goes without saying that at least most of my favourite singer/songwriters have an essential DVD of their collected promo videos to hunt down (usually without too much trouble if you live anywhere near an HMV or whatever) as a bare necessity alongside the full of extent of their discography. For example, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds have the Videos, David Bowie has the easter egg-laden Best Of David Bowie, or whatever. This is basically the DVD you should look for as an Elvis Costello fan. There are, of course, a few good reasons for this, but first let's look at the whole package. The material covered as far as music videos go is everything Costello released with the Attractions up to and including Brutal Youth and all that came in between; it covers 1978-94 then. That's basically 25-30 videos, many of which those harsh bastards who go by the name of WMG have had taken down from youtube over the years. On the flipside of that particular coin, each video comes with the option of a commentary from the man himself about the various stories behind each video. Besides all those little goodies, as a bonus a selection of about 15 (I keep using the word 'about' as I don't actually have the DVD itself to refer to at the minute...it's early on this side of the Atlantic too:p:) live TV performances. A pretty tasty little package then and, given how hard a good 90% of the contents are to find online, definitely one that's worth your time. Regarding the promos themselves, like the vast majority of promos by the vast majority of artists, a lot of them are just nice to have at hand as a fan and are otherwise fairly forgettable. The exceptions are the oddball Don Letts-directed clip for Everyday I Write the Book and the superb, song-enhancingly-good videos for Veronica and the otherwise pretty lame I Wanna Be Loved. A lot of the TV performances that make up the extras make for good viewing too (the one embedded below being one of the highlights), but the main thing that makes this DVD a winner are the video commentaries, which actually brings me on to something I've admired about Costello from day one; the very hands-on approach he always takes to the re-releasing of his material. With the commentaries on each video, not to mention all re-releases of his earlier albums coming with a similar kind of self-penned essay about them and a wealth of bonus material, it all makes for a bit more of an experience, or at least so for me. So, yeah, if you're a fan of the guy and haven't already got it., you should make a priority out of this. If you already have, I like your style :thumb: |
May not mean much to any of the less-obsessive followers, but I finally found this merry little ditty today;
Kinda weird, as it's a song I've been looking for since around about the dawn of time and it's been on youtube for over a year. I must be getting old! Lovely little song all the same though. I'm gonna up a fairly large new bootleg in the very near future. It was recorded with the Attractions, has an official release level of sound quality and is quite possibly my favourite Costello bootleg - definitely among my 5 favourite bootleg recordings ever. In other words, watch this space... |
The Bootleg Corner #7 http://www.letunic.com/rw_common/the...ges/cdi400.jpg Elvis Costello & the Attractions - Royalty Theatre, London, 23/11/86 http://www.slicingupeyeballs.com/wp-...iscostello.jpg So I decided to do a bit more semi-enthusiastic digging through the vaults for something I could bump this thread with again, just like old times! This here is one of the finest performances from the Attractions as the band itself neared the end of its life-cycle (having already been ditched by bandleader Costello for the excellent King Of America album, not to mention a solo tour or two). The show itself is part of the promotional tour for what would turn out to be Costello's last album with the Attractions for some eight years (the uber-cool Blood and Chocolate). As a neat little gimmick for their stint at the Royalty Theatre in London, Costello proposed a five night-long gig, switching between different bands (with his own anti-Attraction, more country-fied backing band; the Confederates) and solo sets between nights, ending with one last performance with the Attractions. This gig is (I believe - I'd have to look it up again to be absolutely certain) the first of those gigs. Definitely the best bootleg recording of Elvis Costello and the Attractions - it's fiery, punchy performances like this (which actually improve a lot of the songs through live performance) that make you wonder why so little of their live work is officially available. Here are the discs anyway. The tagging's gonna be a bit dodgy, but nothing too drastic... Disc 1 link 1. Accidents Will Happen 2. The Beat 3. Tokyo Storm Warning 4. Watching the Detectives 5. Battered Old Bird 6. Honey, Are You Straight Or Are You Blind? 7. Temptation 8. New Lace Sleeves 9. Blue Chair 10. Jack Of All Parades 11. Uncomplicated 12. Lipstick Vogue 13. Beyond Belief 14. Clubland Disc 2 link 1. I Want You 2. I Hope You're Happy Now 3. Home Is Anywhere You Hang Your Head 4. Lovable 5. Leave My Kitten Alone 6. Oliver's Army 7. (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding? 8. I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down 9. Pump It Up 10. Poor Napoleon |
This thread hath been a godsend to my ploughing through his vast discography.I've started giving his albums to anyone who I think'll listen to them at all, and I have Bulldog to thank/blame.
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^ Good to know I've been getting through. Posts like that make doing threads like this worthwhile - thanks for that. After all, if this thing was solely for my benefit, I could just talk to my mirror for a few hours a day for half the fuss ;) Any favourites making themselves known to you by the way?
Here's another one straight from the top-drawer as well... Upon breaking up the Attractions, the prospect of some well-earned time off loomed large for Costello. A quick solo tour was on the cards first though, as this terrific bootleg will testify. So then, not only does the following setlist (don't be alarmed by the file's size or the lengthy tracklisting - it's actually a pretty reasonable length of air-time) show us Costello on his own (for the most part) as a performer, thus presenting us with a very friendly, acoustic solo-set vibe, but following the introduction of the man's old chum Nick Lowe, things take on a more extraordinary edge as the Spectacular Spinning Songbook is introduced to the crowd. Basically, Costello would leave the stage while the roadies got the thing ready, come back as his alter-ego Napoleon Dynamite (no, really!) and, with the help of his mate Xavier Valentine (aka Nick Lowe in this case, although this would change from gig to gig - the Chicago Bears, Penn & Teller, even Tom Petty and Tom Waits on seperate occasions) would invite audience members on stage to spin to songbook - a giant roulette wheel with song titles written on it. From there they'd be invited to get jiggy in the go-go cage, relax in 'the society lounge' (an area of the stage with free cocktails and cable TV in abundance) or even to occupy the vacant drum-kit and provide Costello with a bit of rhythm. This kind of approach would, naturally, throw up a mix of obscure oldies and bizarre cover versions (including Prince's Pop Life and Abba's Knowing Me, Knowing You - sadly neither of those are on this bootleg) and serve up a gloriously random evening out. It all makes for an absolutely wonderful bootleg with a great atmosphere about it, and another one of my absolute favourites for sure. All that aside, some of the solo acoustic renditions here are absolutely wonderful, with a bizarre rendition of Pump It Up to top it all off (which unfortunately fades out about half-way through). One for both the casual listener and more than enough obscurities to keep the veteran fan happy. Enjoy... Elvis Costello & the Spectacular Spinning Songbook San Diego, 18/4/87 http://www.thebangles.com/bio/Bio_ar...o_songbook.jpg 1. Sally Blue Brown 2. (The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes 3. [banter] 4. Green Shirt 5. [banter] 6. Heathen Town 7. Uncomplicated 8. Inch By Inch 9. New Amsterdam/You've Got To Hide Your Love Away 10. American Without Tears 11. American Without Tears no: 2 (Twilight Version) 12. Radio Sweetheart/Jackie Wilson Said 13. I Want You 14. [Nick Lowe intro] 15. (What's So Funny 'bout) Peace Love and Understanding? 16. [Napoleon Dynamite intro] 17. [spinning songbook 1] 18. Honey, Are You Straight Or Are You Blind? 19. Everyday I Write the Book 20. Alison 21. [spinning songbook 2] 22. Watching the Detectives 23. Taxi 24. Just a Memory 25. Girls Talk 26. Pump It Up ^ Pic's the link. |
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Best of luck hunting down the discography anyhow. If you have any trouble, just ask and I'll upload any albums you want - as far as I know, a few of them are pretty difficult to find, at least online. |
The avalanche of bootlegs continues! I think I'll only put one more up after this next one. I'm sure that's something I've said in this thread before though. Anyway, without further ado...
Another one from after the first breakup of the Attractions, this one stems from a time when, for once, Elvis Costello was neither touring nor recording. A lifelong Beatles fan, it can't have taken much thinking about it when Costello accepted Paul McCartney's invitation to write a few songs together. This bootleg (for the most part) consists of most of the results of those demo sessions. Each song that the pair co-wrote would appear in a variety of places, including Costello's coming albums Spike and Mighty Like a Rose, not to mention McCartney's albums-to-be Flowers In the Dirt and Off the Ground. In the eyes of most Costello and McCartney fans, this is one of the most valued bootlegs out there and it's easy to see why, let alone wonder why on earth this thing's never seen an official release. The songs that'd make future albums by either songwriter are presented here in an intimate and very raw form, and one that improves on a lot of the officially-released studio renditions that'd pop up in future (particularly the ones that'd end up on McCartney's albums, seeing as the songs he re-recorded himself would end up being a tad overproduced). Half of these songs are live (I have absolutely no idea where and when they were played - presumably just before and/or after the demo sessions), half are nice grainy, lo-fi demoes featuring both songwriters. The songs Tommy's Coming Home and 25 Fingers would never see an official release. Definitely worth having for curiosity's sake, and the versions of My Brave Face, So Like Candy, Veronica and Step Inside Love are absolutly glorious too. Anyway, enough waffling - here's the link... Paul McCartney & Elvis Costello - The McCartney/MacManus Collaborative Demoes (1988) http://images.radcity.net/5680/3236957.jpghttp://images.eonline.com/eol_images...aul.042408.jpg Linky! 1. Back On My Feet 2. Don't Be Careless Love 3. The Lovers That Never Were 4. Mistress and Maid 5. My Brave Face 6. My Brave Face [alt. take] 7. One After 909 8. Pads, Paws and Claws 9. Playboy To a Man 10. Shallow Grave 11. So Like Candy 12. Step Inside Love 13. That Day Is Done 14. Tommy's Coming Home 15. 25 Fingers 16. Veronica 17. You've Got To Hide Your Love Away 18. You Want Her Too 19. You Want Her Too [alt. take] |
Looks amazing Bulldog! I loved Flowers in the Dirt, so I'll be sure to download this.
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As for Flowers In the Dirt, I haven't listened to it in its entirety for years. I remember getting a very mixed bag kinda vibe from it when I did, as in I'd keep listening and coming back to songs like My Brave Face, You Want Her Too and Distractions rather than the whole album. As I say, it's been years since I last gave it a proper go, so it could yet show its face in the second chance saloon. |
Another fabulous bootleg from the Painted From Memory tour of '98. As such, seeing as it was touring the album-length collaboration between both songwriters, the setlist is comprised of originals from that album and a few oldies from Costello and the Burt Bacharach/Hal David back catalogues. Basically, if you think Costello can't sing, check out this bootleg. Here's a quick teaser - probably my favourite rendition of a song made particularly famous by Arthur Lee's Love... Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach - Royal Festival Hall, London - 29/10/98 http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_QBcXPxIhF1...ivalhallFr.jpg 1. Toledo 2. Such Unlikely Lovers 3. Tears At the Birthday Party 4. Make It Easy On Yourself 5. Painted From Memory 6. What's Her Name Today? 7. Accidents Will Happen 8. Just a Memory 9. Alison 10. In the Darkest Place 11. I Still Have That Other Girl 12. The Sweetest Punch 13. My Little Red Book 14. Anyone Who Had a Heart 15. God Give Me Strength ^ Pic's the link. Enjoy! Might be one or two more of these coming over the next week or so too. |
While I'm in the process of thinking of another sweet bootleg for anyone interested to wrap their laughing gear around, I'm gonna add to the whole odds and sods bit of this thread which I haven't added to in quite a long time.
Before I get to that, let's just get a little bit of context going. Basically, in a fairly large discography with quite a few albums that get my stamp of biased recommendation, there are four albums I'll always have down as the wall-to-wall, 10/10 classics that I think more people really should know about. These are 1980's Get Happy, 1981's Trust, 1982's Imperial Bedroom and 1989's Spike. If, say, I fed my pet mogwais after midnight and could only save one of those from their path of post-metamorphosis, gremlin-oriented destruction, it'd be either of the latter two (back when I was thinking about top album lists, it was pretty hard to pick between them). I won't go into detail as I can't really be bothered to but, cutting a slightly longer story short, Spike is a hell of an album. Difficult, sure, and fairly hard to truly love, what with its being the kind of album it is. Just flick to the front of this thread if you like and you'll find the review hotlinked there. What's important here, though, is that the below bunch of videos make for a very interesting watch if you've either already got the album, are a bit on the curious side about it or just want a distant kinda glimpse of how a professional solo songwriter writes songs. Below is a promotional set of interviews about Spike and some pretty cool, solo acoustic performances of about half of the album. Definitely worth a watch if you have even the slightest interest in the guy and have about 50 minutes to spare. If not (I won't sugarcoat it), you may as well go and watch some paint dry or something. Either way, here it is - Everything About Spike. One or two more bootlegs are on the way as well before I leave this thread alone for a few more months... YouTube - Elvis Costello - Everything About Spike Part 2 of 6 YouTube - Elvis Costello - Everything About Spike Part 3 of 6 YouTube - Elvis Costello - Everything About Spike Part 4 of 6 YouTube - Elvis Costello - Everything About Spike Part 5 of 6 YouTube - Elvis Costello - Everything About Spike Part 6 of 6 |
How about a Taking Liberties review?
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I'll have the review up within the week. |
Taking Liberties is definitly quality. It's the classic New Wave sound that I love.
PS, I've used your guide as my purchasing guide for Costello. I'm up to 14 albums (13 vinyl, 1 CD) and loving it. Thanks! |
Yeah, a couple of the songs off it are among my favourite Costello songs, namely Crawling To the USA and Getting Mighty Crowded. Most of the rest of the tracklisting's pretty great too by the look of it - looking forward to getting an hour or two to myself and getting this one done.
Great to know the thread's doing you good as well -as I've said before, when I do thread's like this it's not for my benefit. If you have any particular favourites, feel free to stick a guest review in this thread if you like (goes for anyone else too). |
Would LOVE to have the complete EC/Bacharach Sessions at West 54th!:)
Since it was never released on CD (only God knows why...), I once spent $100 to have the VHS of EC/Bacharach Sessions At West 54th transferred to CD. One day last year I was burning yet another copy for a friend, and 3 songs (in the middle somewhere) wouldn't burn...and subsequently wouldn't play on my stereo either.
I've been searching for another complete copy ever since with no luck, and couldn't help but notice that 3 Bacharach/David songs (My Little Red Book, Anyone Who Had A Heart [the BEST recorded version EVER!], Breaking Up Is Hard To Do) and the finale (a reprise of Painted From Memory) are missing from your EC/Bacharach Sessions At West 54th VHS audio upload.:confused: Just thought I'd put a pitch in for the complete gig. LOVE The Bulldog!:bowdown: :) |
Yeah, I did a bit more research on it after I first got hold of the bootleg (there's a really good site that has a catalogue of Costello's entire bootleg library library - the name of it escapes me at the minute), and there are a few names missing from the copy I ended up getting. It's basically the reason I decided to hunt down the other Bacharach/Costello bootleg I linked a few posts above this one. No sign of breaking up is hard to do on that though. If I can find the missing tracks (I've got a mate who might know where I can), I'll re-upload the bootleg.
Also, in coming back to this thread, I just remembered that I posted this... Quote:
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FYI Bulldog, this is all your fault. My wife holds you responsible :) Twitpic - Share photos on Twitter
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I only have My Aim Is True, This Years Model and Armed Forces so i'm using this thread to navigate my next download. Thanks!
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I'm still pretty snowed-under with various uni rubbish at the moment, and while I've got a bit of it done today, I'm still nowhere near out of the woods with it yet, so I'm gonna say I'll get Taking Liberties (and one more, non-album review) up anytime from Monday to Wednesday. |
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So, while the schedule's cleared up a bit, I still haven't had enough free time to get any album reviews done, and won't do for a while so, as per my promise, I'm gonna chuck a quick book review in here in the mean time...
I won't go on too long, as I can't really be bothered to, but I'll just say that this is far and away the best unofficial biography of the man you'll find, and an absolute essential for fellow nutjobs like myself. Very thorough and really well-researched book, featuring interviews with the likes of Bruce Thomas (Costello's bassist in the Attractions), producer Clive Langer, a few of Costello's buddies in the media and so many others. While it's not quite up there with the brutally honest No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs by John Lydon for example, it's certainly among the best rock biographies I've read. Pivotally, it's not just a collection of statistics and albums reviews like a lot of lesser books I've read of this ilk, but instead goes out of its way to tell a pretty interesting story. Also, what makes this as interesting a read as it is, is that it doesn't fall into the trap of being too opinionated or, indeed, painting the picture of some kind of angel who did absolutely no wrong to anyone in his life. Elvis Costello, of course, was a very flawed person, at least back when he was a compulsive alcoholic and drug addict, and parts of this book do paint the picture of quite a nasty, angry guy. He's clearly mellowed out with maturity, but back in the day this was the case, all of which makes for a great read. So, yeah, highly recommended stuff. Something that both the hardcore fans and more casual ones can appreciate. |
I've read that book! It was great!
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It's good stuff eh. There are definitely some very interesting stories behind a lot of the man's work. Also, it's a great indicator as to how bafflingly prolific he's been down the years too.
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His later releases are pretty boring. I miss the high energy of his early material. Although, Brutal Youth stands out with high marks from his recent LPs.
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