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As for Brutal Youth, it's definitely a very good album, but I think it gets dragged down a little by one or two weak points, like Clown Strike for example. |
I pretty much agree here. I haven't heard everything thou.. yet.
I adore Spike, its top 10 albums in my book! |
I said Brutal Youth instead of When I Was Cruel. Although Brutal Youth is excellent, I was refering to Costello's 2000+ releases. At least Momofuku and Secret, Profane & Sugarcane were quality. I would have had to check out if there were another North released. It's what I expect the soundtrack of C-Span to be.
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North just never really impresses me as an album. There are a couple of very good songs to be found, but otherwise it just bores me to death everytime. The elusive title track is a really pretty ballad though.
I'm listening to Taking Liberties now by the way, so barring any sudden, catastrophic natural disasters striking this quant little corner of the UK, I'll probably get something typed up on it a bit later. In other news, new studio album by the name of American Ransom due out this October on Hear Music. Apparently, true to form, it was recorded in about a week in March right under the noses of the music press with both the Sugarcanes and the Imposters (aka two thirds of the Attractions). One new song's already been debuted on radio by the name of Jimmie Standing In the Rain, which sounds pretty damn cool. So, in other words, :tramp: |
Well, this didn't take long did it :p: Sorry for the lateness of this one - I've been cut off from the internet for the last week or so...
Taking Liberties Columbia Records, 1980 http://www.vinylonthe.net/blah/wp-co..._liberties.JPG 1. Clean Money 2. Girls Talk 3. Talking In the Dark 4. Radio Sweetheart 5. Black and White World [demo] 6. Big Tears 7. Just a Memory 8. Night Rally 9. Stranger In the House 10. Clowntime Is Over 2 11. Getting Mighty Crowded 12. Hoover Factory 13. Tiny Steps 14. (I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea 15. Dr. Luther's Assistant 16. Sunday's Best 17. Crawling To the USA 18. Wednesday Week 19. My Funny Valentine 20. Ghost Train As someone who admittedly maybe listens to a bit too much of the guy's music over so many other rich and deep back-catalogues available at his fingertips thanks to the wonders of teh interwebz (just have a look at my lastfm profile for proof), recommending one Elvis Costello album and one only to a newbie who, credit to him/her/it, is cool enough to want to check the guy out, always makes for quite an annoyingly difficult task. I've said before however many times I might have done (even in this thread alone) that there's so much more to the man than the bespectacled face on Oliver's Army, or the one that croons at you over the credit sequence for that godawful Notting Hill flick or whatever (I'm sure any fanboys would say the same about their respective artists of choice, but hey). Usually, I find it's the earlier stuff that makes for the best starting point, but the trouble with that is that, more often than not, it'll lead to someone picking up a copy of My Aim Is True, listening to it about 50 times in 48 hours and not really wanting to go any further than that, thinking that that's as good as it gets with Costello. As you may have noticed from my feeling the need to start this thread in the first place, that attitude irks me a little. It irks me to the point that I'd gladly tell anyone not to get My Aim Is True to start out, but instead seek out a copy of this compilation. Taking Liberties is, of course, not some slap-dash best of released very early in a prolific artist's career (Costello had only been a professional musician for some 3 or 4 years when Columbia released this), but is instead a fascinating and very, very worthwhile compilation of the classic sounds of the earlier, new wave Elvis Costello that you have to look a it harder for than, say, Watching the Detectives, Pump It Up, Peace Love and Understanding or whatever. Every song on this compilation makes for what I'd call a good song at the very least myself as well. It's a superb collection of B-sides, one-offs, demo versions, region-specific releases and other rarities which provides the perfect snapshot of Elvis Costello at the start of what's turned out (and is continuing) to be a very prolific career. Thanks to the frankly marvellous reissue campaign than Costello and Rhino Music have taken on over the last 10-15 years, and all the enthusiastic digging through the vaults required, all these songs aren't so hard to find as they once were, which is just fine really as, like I said, this compilation can easily stand on its own two feet as a very fine album. As I've also already said, this album encapsulates the best known new wave sound of Costello, and was released just before the man started to experiment with jazz, torch music, classical and so on. Frankly, this album should be on your to-do list if only for three of the songs which easily stand among Costello's finest. Two of these are outtakes from the wonderful Get Happy album, the gorgeous ballad Just a Memory and the uplifting Getting Mighty Crowded. Crawling To the USA, recorded for the soundtrack of the 1979 Americathon movie, is another one of Costello's very best, being a great, jovial slice of surf pop. Other highlights include the demo of Black and White World (which, incidentally, is much better than the version recorded for Get Happy), all of the outtakes from Armed Forces (especially the ambitious Wednesday Week and the pumping Clean Money), the jazz standard My Funny Valentine, the lively This Year's Model outtake Big Tears, among others. Basically, if you're looking for a good starting point for Costello, or even a few of the slightly rarer songs or just an encapsulation of the man's early sound, get this album - it'll do you a world of good. It should prepare you nicely for all the wonderful music the man would record over the following 10 years. 8/10 A quick word about something else that's been on my mind and is vaguely relevant to this thread as well... ^ How cool is that cover? I just love it myself - a terrific work of photography if ever I saw one. Alright, I'm not exactly an anorak when it comes to photography myself, but the grim, downbeat kinda sense I get everytime I look at that picture is always there for me. If I was in a particularly pretentious mood, I'd call it a picture that radiates a very gentle, mellow atmosphere. It's something about the black and white setting, the puddles on the sidewalk, the glistening of the rainfall onto the cobbled road in the old-fashioned looking, suburban setting which is almost inspirational to me. Shame the album beneath it's so boring. Not bad exactly, just...y'know, boring. I've already been through all this earlier in the thread, but I'm just listening to this again now. Don't take my word for it though - what I find boring is probably fantastic to some. As a matter of fact, it is. I remember when I used to hang around the closest thing Elvis Costello's got to an official message board, and this album would get quite a bit of praise over there. I've seen a few glowing reviews on amazon as well. Anyway, the reason I'm listening to it again as I type this is that I've finally got a hold of an audio rip of this lovely song... ...which I think is something that really should've made the album named after it rather than being left in relative obscurity as a bonus track on the Japanese issue of this album. Also, talking of not taking my word for gospel, I played that song to a mate of mine a few years back and he totally hated it, so there ya go. The other two outtakes, the jazzy Too Blue and the lively Impatience, are easily a couple more of the best songs from the North sessions. Anyway, I've gone on quite long enough here. I just needed to get all that off my chest :p: |
On Taking Liberties my can't miss songs are Talking in the Dark (possibly my favorite intro on a Costello song, plus love the synth), Clean Money (so driving, so fun), Radio Sweetheart (Mix of early Costello with Almost Blue country Costello. It works well)
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^ Three great songs there, especially Radio Sweetheart, which I'd have mentioned if I hadn't heard the odd live version here and there which outdoes the studio rendition in my books. I just noticed that I forgot to mention Hoover Factory among the highlights too - very cute, nostalgic little song, even if there's an acoustic demo from the Trust sessions which is a little bit more effective than the version on Taking Liberties.
As for this thread, I doubt it'll be long before I can think of something else semi-interesting to post in it... |
Don't forget to add Taking Liberties to the index at the beginning.
I'd like to see live reviews too. I've been eyeing Live at Hollywood High, but have been holding back. |
Live At Hollywood High's pretty good stuff. If I remember correctly, the version of Accidents Will Happen is spectacular. If I can find my copy of it again, I'll flag it here. Maybe a bootleg review or two's in order as well.
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RE Live @ Hollywood High, it turns out that I've only got the 1979, 3-track EP version of it, and not the full-length LP that was released not so long ago. Might be a while longer before that review comes about then.
In the mean time, a self-assembled bootleg that might be of interest to any of the more tuned-in among us is uploading as I type this. I'll get round to posting the link here a bit later... |
As promised a few hours ago...
The Bootleg Corner #11 http://www.letunic.com/rw_common/the...ges/cdi400.jpg ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hidden Shames - Outtakes & Rarities http://www.intraffik.com/blog/wp-con...s_costello.jpg 1. A Town Called Big Nothing (Really Big Nothing) 2. Long Journey Home 3. My Mood Swings 4. Impatience 5. Egypt 6. Weird Nightmare 7. Don't Throw Your Love Away 8. Too Blue 9. North 10. Real Emotional Girl 11. Dirty Rotten Shame 12. Party Party 13. Do You Know What I'm Saying? 14. A Penny For Your Thoughts 15. Ship Of Fools/It Must Have Been the Roses 16. Many River To Cross 17. All This Useless Beauty 18. He's Got You 19. A Town Called Big Nothing (the Long March) And here we have my collection of various worthwhile rarities from Elvis Costello's back-catalogue. Although a lot of enthusiastic digging through the vaults for the double-disc Rhino reissues of most of his albums has unearthed a lot of great and rare material, there are still many, many rare recordings which remain officially unreleased. Many more than the above in fact. These are a few of the ones I've managed to find for myself over the years. Some of these sound like nothing you'd expect Costello to record, and as such are among my favourites of his. For starters, both versions of a Town Called Big Nothing (the Really Big Nothing version of which was officially released on the now out of print Rykodisc reissue of Blood and Chocolate) are nice, playful numbers that sound like something off of some spaghetti western soundtrack. Long Journey Home, featuring Paddy Maloney of the Chieftans, is a pretty spectacular, Celtic-afflicted song, initially used on the soundtrack of a documentary about Irish-American history (I forget the exact title of it). Two more of Costello's best songs, My Mood Swings (one the Big Lebowski fans among us may recognise) and Real Emotional Girl, are given orchestral revamps by his one-time writing partners the Brodsky Quartet. Weird Nightmare, taken from a Charles Mingus tribute album, sounds a few million miles away from My Aim Is True as well. Besides the live tracks which make up tracks 15-18 (yes, that is a Jimmy Cliff song you see among them), the rest of the above is made from various outtakes, such as a pretty neat Dirty Rotten Shame from Secret, Profane and Sugarcane. The North outtakes, including the elusive title track, the jazzy Too Blue and Impatience, are basically better than 90% of the album they were left off and well worth hearing too. Do You Know What I'm Saying came from the Brutal Youth sessions, and it's an alright song I guess. Nothing spectacular though. There's the jovial, brassy Party Party from just before the Punch the Clock sessions (and easily the best drinking song Costello would ever write), and the passable Don't Throw Your Love Away (the origin of which I can't remember). Egypt is a neat, though again unspectacular cover of a Nick Lowe song, while a Penny For Your Thoughts is a home demo from 2007, and may well have been considered for inclusion of Momofuku at some point. So, as you may have noticed by now, it's a hotch-potch of rarities, and probably a good idea to download it if you've got a bunch of his albums already, and not so much if you're a beginner when it comes to Elvis Costello. A few of these are, I think, some of his best songs as well, so well worth having in that case. |
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In the mean time, here's a video of Elvis Costello guest-hosting Late Night With David Letterman - enjoy! |
Costello is quite the rancontuer especially when it comes to the topic of music. I don't know if you get Spectacle, his music/talk show in the UK. We get in America on the Sundance cable channel. His musical knowledge is encyclopedic and he did the best interview with Smokey Robinson I've ever seen. I was stunned that he knew so much about R&B and Motown music history. I've also seen him exhibit a similar scholarly knowledge of jazz, delta blues, Appalachian music and opera.
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Unfortunately we don't get Spectacle over here, which is a shame as, judging by his performance as host on the above Late Night Show, he's quite a level-headed interviewer. As you say, he's talked to a variety of pretty interesting people as well. Unfortunately all I've ever seen of the show are little snippets online.
You're right about his musical mind as well, and I know from what I've read that he was a huge fan of jazz, Motown and delta blues in particular when he was growing up - certainly much more so than you'd assume listening to his earliest records anyway. Classical music's something he started to get into later, and his orchestral composition album Il Sogno's definitely worth hearing at least. Might review it at some point. And talking of potential reviews, I've now got hold of the Hollywood High album, as well as having dug out my copy of My Flame Turns Blue, so watch this space if you're interested eh. |
Long time no bump. Not sure if I've actually posted it in ths thread, but Mr Costello's new album's due this coming October 25th and, as you can no doubt see, the cover art's been unleashed on the unsuspecting public;
^ With a cover like that, how can it not be immense :p: Certainly sounds like it'll be too, judging from what I've heard about both the Sugarcanes (the backing band for Secret Profane and Sugarcane) and the Imposters (aka the drummer and keyboardist of the Attractions) being on it, what the album sounds like etc. In a sentence, this'll either be an unfocused mess or one of the albums of the year. Needless to say, I can hardly wait to find out. The tracklisting's been announced too, and here's a decent clip of one of the songs on it; So, that's only 64 more days for me to wait then :D |
Good to see you up & about, Bulldog. Nice teaser for the new EC album. There's a whole slew of anticipated fall releases. Blonde Redhead has an October release and I'm purchased tickets to see them here in St. Louis in November. They've never done much touring in the states so I'm looking forward to that one.
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Here in the US we have to wait until November 2.:(
The guest list is stellar Vince Gill, Jerry Douglas, Marc Ribot, Buddy Miller and Leon Russell |
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As you say, hopefully this'll be just one more of a load of great albums that have come out this year so far, nevermind ones that are still in the pipeline. From what I've heard, 2010's been a great year for new music, and with National Ransom, Grinderman 2 and the new Swans album yet to come, hopefully it's only gonna get better. Really looking forward to that Blonde Redhead album myself too, and the new Ryan Bingham one should be pretty interesting when it's out. Quote:
As for the new songs apparently most, if not all of them have been unveiled on tour already. In fact, of the 15 tracks I've already heard 4 or 5 of them on bootlegs, seen live clips of them on youtube or whatever. There are a lot more newer songs I've come across that aren't on that tracklisting as well, nevermind the last two albums - the man's been insanely prolific this last 2 or 3 years, which is just fine by me really. |
Vince Gill is a Country artist, great singer and guitar player and Buddy Miller is a folky who is also involved with upcoming Robert Plant album which I am also looking forward to.
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Last post in here from yours truly for a while guys...
The Bootleg Corner #12 http://www.letunic.com/rw_common/the...ges/cdi400.jpg ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The Flip City Demos - 1975 http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bryanburnett/elvis.jpg 1. Third Rate Romance 2. Radio Soul 3. Pay It Back 4. Imagination Is a Powerful Deceiver 5. Knockin' On Heaven's Door 6. I'm Packing Up 7. Exiles Road 8. Radio Soul (take 2) That's right, it's time I finally posted some dodgy bootleg from Elvis Costello's pre-fame years. I won't lie, this isn't really something I'd recommend to anyone who hasn't got a few albums already, as it's basically definitive 'fans-only' material. True, it's also not the complete collection of every demo Costello's old pub-rock band made (there are two more larger such bootlegs I don't actually have), but if you're wondering for some reason what kinda music Elvis Costello was writing and singing way back when he was the unsigned, plain old Declan MacManus, look no further than the above link ;) Enjoy! |
FOUR tracks missing from your Costello/Bacharach "Sessions at West 54th" upload
A one year + one month later reply, but...I was thrilled to find your audio recording of this classic VHS-only "Sessions at West 54th." In 2000 after hearing that there would be no CD release of this Bacharach/Costello once-in-a-lifetime performance I had my 1998 Mercury Records video release professionally transferred to CD at great expense (digital track $$$eparation...Yikes!). After making copies for all my friends I thought it would be a good idea to make a back-up copy for myself in the event that the original CD were to be damaged down the line. The bad news is that I was too late! The good news is that the mysterious scratch (gouge) I found only wiped out two tracks ("This House Is Empty Now" & "Such Unlikely Lovers") - and now because of your generous forum I have the complete performance again!
That said, your audio upload is missing 4 songs from the original 1998 Mercury Records VHS release (which I've owned since the first day of it's USA release - perhaps yours is a version I'm unaware of?). The first 2 missing tracks ("Just A Memory" & "My Little Red Book") are performed in between "Accidents Will Happen" & "My Thief." The other 2 missing tracks from your upload are performed at the end of "Sessions...." Costello closes the audio/visual portion of the VHS with the most brilliant, heartbreaking rendition of "Anyone Who Had A Heart" EVER recorded. The screen goes dark as the applause fades, and as the credits role Costello is heard (off-camera) giving another classic performance of another classic Bacharach/David song, "Make It Easy On Yourself." Curiously you add a song ("God Give Me Strength") that (to my disappointment) was not recorded for this "Sessions" VHS...or was not on the version I bought. In any case, as a fellow Costello fanatic you absolutely MUST track down Costello's "Sessions at West 54th" rendering of "Anyone Who Had A Heart"! - the London 10/29/98 version is average in comparison. If I could upload or email it somewhere/somehow I'd be more than happy to do so. PS - I can't thank you enough sharing the 1998 London concert which closes with "God Give Me Strength," THE Costello/Bacharach masterpiece. |
I can't imagine how much of a pain in the arse it must have been having to get that bootleg in circulation through digital track seperation. More often than not some kind soul's already done all that work for you already and uploaded to a random blog somewhere - one of a few reasons why the internet's as awesome as it can be.
Unfortunately, as you say, four tracks are missing. For some reasons a lot of Costello bootlegs I've come across aren't full versions either. I'm pretty sure that even the other Costello/Bacharach bootleg I uploaded he Royal Festival Hall one) isn't complete either. You can get each of the missing pieces from the latter though, which gives you some idea of what they must sound like, and's why I uploaded it. It's hardly ideal, but it's the closest I can get to the real thing ;) As for God Give Me Strength, I wasn't shifty enough to add it myself - it came with the CD of the recordings I found. Great song as you say, although not quite my favourite Costello/Bacharach tune - that'd be In the Darkest Place or the Sweetest Punch. I've been listening to a lot of Painted From Memory and the Royal Festival Hall bootleg lately as well. They were a fantastic partnership...at least when they got things dead on anyway (which to me was a lot of the time). And talking of bootleggy things, when I've got enough time to stick around a bit more, I'll be updating the bootleg section a few more times, so watch this space! |
Just curious if any boots have shown up for the two shows that EC did at Amoeba in San Francisco and L.A.
I was at the SF show and EC was terrific (although during the autograph session he wasn't all that talkative I imagine he hates those). |
Not to my knowledge, no. Although I'll confess I haven't really had my ear to ground for such things - been a wee bit busy this last week.
Talking of bootlegs of Costello performances and record stores though, I'll tell you what I actually have got and that's his performance with practically an army of collaborators in Sweetwater, Mill Valley CA in celebration of Village Music's 21st anniversay...it's kinda relevant :p: Been a while since I last upped a bootleg, so I might do just that sometime soonish. I'll keep an eye peeled for the Amoeba shows for ya at the same time ;) |
So, turns out I've got a bit too much on for a few days to get any album reviews that need doing done (next week's the best bet for those), so here's that bootleg I promised a whole post ago...
The Bootleg Corner #13 http://www.letunic.com/rw_common/the...ges/cdi400.jpg Live @ the Sweetwater, Mill Valley, CA, 29/4/89 http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YQBsfGwVEe...I/s400/el1.jpg 1. Accidents Will Happen [Elvis Costello] 2. Brilliant Mistake [Elvis Costello] 3. Deep Dark Truthful Mirror [Elvis Costello] 4. Mystery Dance [Elvis Costello] 5. Poisoned Rose [Elvis Costello & the Confederates] 6. God's Comic [Elvis Costello] 7. (The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes [Elvis Costello] 8. New Lace Sleeves [Elvis Costello] 9. Pads, Paws And Claws [Elvis Costello] 10. Radio Sweetheart / Jackie Wilson Said [Elvis Costello] 11. (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding? [Elvis Costello & Nick Lowe] 12. The Big Light [Elvis Costello & the Confederates] 13. Pouring Water On A Drowning Man [Elvis Costello & the Confederates] 14. The Only Daddy That'll Walk The Line [Elvis Costello & the Confederates] 15. Leave My Kitten Alone [Elvis Costello & the Confederates] 16. I Stepped In Quicksand [Charles Brown] 17. Drifting Blues [Charles Brown] 18. I Wanna Be With You [Charles Brown] 19. One's Too Many (And A Hundred Ain't Enough) [Kim Wilson & Nick Lowe] 20. Real Gone Lover [Kim Wilson] 21. You Win Again [Elvis Costello & Jerry Garcia] 22. Tonight The Bottle Let Me Down [Elvis Costello & Jerry Garcia] 23. Why Don't You Love Me (Like You Used To Do)? [Elvis Costello & Jerry Garcia] 24. Riot In Cell Block #9 [Commander Cody with Elvis Costello & Jerry Garcia] 25. Going Down [Sammy Hagar with Elvis Costello & Jerry Garcia] 26. C.C. Rider [Bob Weir with Elvis Costello & Jerry Garcia] 27. Turn On Your Lovelight [Bob Weir with Elvis Costello & Jerry Garcia] 28. Let The Good Times Roll [Elvis Costello & Jerry Garcia] 29. Lovable [Elvis Costello & the Confederates] And here it is! In celebration of the 21st anniversary of the Village Music record store's birth, none other than our lad Elvis Costello was chosen to provide the main set in the nearby Sweetwater rock club. To start with, we're served a juicy dish of solo acoustic readings of a few selections from Costello's back-catalogue, which make for a very good listen in itself, what with the lad being pretty chatty and fairly funny throughout that portion of the set (his running commentary on God's Comic being a personal highlight). Following that is a very nice duet between him and his old chum Nick Lowe, before his then-backing band the Confederates (or at least a slightly modified version of them) come onstage to get through themore band-suited numbers. After that things get even more interesting when several other musicians who'd been invited to the Village Music party take to the stage to sing a few songs, play a few notes and so on. It really adds to what's already a very good bootleg, as a constantly-changing band makes its way through several blues classics and, at Costello's behest, a few Hank Williams tunes. Basically the thing, the final 13 tracks especially, are just pure, red raw music, and it all gives off the wonderful sound of a bunch of veteran singers, songwriters and musicians just really enjoying themselves. Oh, and the sound quality's right out of the top drawer too. So, click the picture for the download link...what are you waiting for :p: |
Aloha!
I write a silly personal music blog. My conceit is that I've been trying to write about every song in my iTunes library. For slightly over a year now, I've been writing about Costello and I just finished today. Really, the entries aren't frequently much deeper than a Chris Farley-esque "you know that song? That was awesome." I wanted to thank you, Bulldog, for this wonderful resource. I've referred to it and linked it and quoted you (always giving credit and linking back to here) innumerable times. I've occasionally agreed with you whole heartedly and disagreed with you vehemently, but your attention to detail and (frankly) scholarship has been an inspiration during the whole process. Anyhow, as I said, just wanted to drop a note to thank you, so thank you! Joey Michaels [link removed by moderator] (I can't post links, since I'm a new user, but you can find the index of all of the Elvis Costello entries by clicking on the 'Master Index' tab and then on 'Elvis Costello.' He's the only artist I've written about thus far with enough entries to justify his own index.) |
I corrected my Typos, dear Mod!
I've been meaning to comment for several weeks on Bulldog's excellent old thread! I hope he comes back to MB and finishes it.
One reason I first looked at this thread is that up until around 2 months ago, I thought Elvis Costello was some crooner from the 40s who had died decades ago. :p: Then I noticed someone on MusicBanter listening to him, and read up a bit and learned...he's ALIVE!! So far I don't care much for his songs that I've heard, although he has a nice crooner voice...maybe *too* pretty, warbly, and old-fashioned sounding for my tastes. Still, I've been listening to his newest album, National Ransom, to try to decide what I think. I don't like any song on it--too folksy, not rough enough, and lacking punch--except for one that appeals to me a bit because of the playful, light, bouncy melody: |
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Nice blog as well by the way, and not half a bad idea now that I think about it. Dunno how you find the time to work on such a project, but the best of luck to you as it keeps going anyhow :) Quote:
I actually thought something similar when I first heard him on My Aim Is True as well. It's a very archaic-sounding record that one - like a bundle of tuneage from one of those obscure corners of 50s rockabilly you can only really find by accident! Quote:
Good choice flagging up Slow Drag With Josephine there - it's one of my favourites off the album too, along with Church Underground, Dr Watson I Presume and Stations Of the Cross. |
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I tried listening to the three other National Ransom songs you like and still prefer Slow Drag. I'll listen and read more songs in your thread before I pass verdict on Elvis #2. It is always fascinating to learn about a famous musician I never knew existed until a short while ago. |
Just thought I'd say this;
That's right, it's getting to the time that I should really be pressing on with this thread. So, here's a quick video and a heads-up to say that I'll be updating this thread over the next week with belated reviews of National Ransom and the National Ransack EP. Watch this space! |
So, this one's been a while in coming. I doubt it took the man himself this long to record tha bloody album :p: Anyway, without further ado...
National Ransom 2010, Hear Music, Sound Emporium, Nashville TN http://soundsofthecar.com/wp-content...nal-Ransom.gif 1. National Ransom 2. Jimmie Standing In the Rain 3. Stations Of the Cross 4. A Slow Drag With Josephine 5. Five Small Words 6. Church Underground 7. You Hung the Moon 8. Bullets For the New-Born King 9. I Lost You [Costello/Lauderdale] 10. Dr. Watson, I Presume 11. One Bell Ringing 12. The Spell That You Cast 13. That's Not the Part Of Him You're Leaving 14. My Lovely Jezebel [Costello/Burnett/Russel] 15. All These Strangers [Costello/Burnett] 16. A Voice In the Dark 17. I Hope [iTunes bonus track] It's good to know that Elvis Costello's continuing to be so prolific even at his relatively old age. He has, after all, been a professional musician for 34 years, and a performer for even longer than that, and here he is releasing one album practically every year as of the last decade. It's all a very exciting time to be a fan of his, unlike certain other songwriters I'm a huge fan of *coughdavidbowiecough* So here we have his seventh album in the space of nine years. The fact that he continues to tour just as often as he appears on TV as well as recording gives me hope that one day soon I'll be able to actually see him live. The fact that I haven't already, despite having plenty of opportunities to do so, is one of those mysteries of life - like how black pudding's so tasty despite what's in it, or how two of the worst authors alive today are also two of the most successful of the last ten years (yes Steph Meyer and Dan Brown, I'm looking at you), and so on. Anyway, when it came to recording this album, more or less the same strategies that saw 2009's Secret, Profane and Sugarcane pop out of the ether. Costello's long-time collaborator T-Bone Burnett was called back into the studio as producer. On top of this, Costello's touring band of the last couple of years was called back into the studio. That band was, of course, the Sugarcanes - consisting of Jim Lauderdale on guitar, Jerry Douglas on the dobro, mandolinist Mike Compton, violinist Stuart Duncan, Dennis Crouch playing the double bass and Jeff Taylor squeezing his accordion. In a new twist though, Costello's faithful backing band from his earlier days, the Imposters (the Attractions of the 21st century if you will) were also called in to give many of the songs a harder edge. Well, most of the Imposters anyway. The only place you'll hear bassist Davey Farragher at all is on Five Small Words. Otherwise, keyboardist Steve Nieve and drummer Pete Thomas are used more or less across the whole album. Whatever the ins and outs of the whole thing, a studio fitted and prepared, work began on the album last February, carrying on through to March. The sound of National Ransom is pretty hard to pin down in a sentence, as saying there's a lot going on here stylistically would be a hell of an understatement. Such is one reason why this album may seem very hard to approach on the first, second or even third listens. I'll confess, I was no different when I first got hold of this. You've got hard hard rockers (My Lovely Jezebel), torch music (You Hung the Moon), bluegrass (Dr. Watson, I Presume), acoustic ballads (One Bell Ringing), swingers (a Voice In the Dark), vaudevillian-type tunes (Jimmie Standing In the Rain), and that's only half the story really. Basically, if you've got enough of this guy's music to picture every kind of music Costello's peddled over the last decade (well, except for blue-eyed soul or jazz which you won't find anywhere here, or the electronica of When I Was Cruel for that matter), picture the kind of album mashing them all together would create. That's what National Ransom is. If there is a dominant sound in spite of this album's eclectic nature, it's probably the Americana-tinged flavour of Secret, Profane and Sugarcane, although this time given to us via the backing of the traditional rock band that banged out Momofuku way back when in 2008 (the Imposters, of course). How does it hold up then? I'll first say that when I first heard this album, I wasn't really blown away by it. In fact, you need only look back a couple of posts in this thread to see what I used to think of it. I said something like how I thought that National Ransom was impressive enough, but I didn't really like it as much as Secret, Profane and Sugarcane. I think my opinion of both has gone in opposite directions since then. These days, I only really listen to the same four or five tracks from the latter, whereas this one's really gone up in my estimations of late. I am, as you'll see from looking back over this thread, a huge fan of Costello's more eclectic and ambitious albums, such as Mighty Like a Rose. Costello's other unflinchingly eclectic masterpiece Spike just happens to be one of my favourite albums of all time. Basically, as with both of those albums, I put off forming a real opinion on it for a long time as even when I wasn't so impressed by it, I knew that just writing it off as nothing all that interesting would be doing a real injustice to its better songs. Momofuku was an album I knew was just adequate and nothing more from the first play-through. There's something golden below the surface of this one though, to the point that I agree with the man himself when he says that this is his best album in years. I wouldn't say it's better than the Delivery Man or the River In Reverse, but with those exceptions it's definitely his finest album since 1996's All This Useless Beauty. In short, while a few duds like Five Small Words, the god-awful title track and All These Strangers weigh the album down a bit, songs like Church Underground, Bullets For the New-Born King, a Voice In the Dark and a Slow Drag With Josephine are already some of my favourite Costello songs ever. Given the kind of album this is, I'm sure more will emerge over time. All in all though, this is certainly among the better Costello albums you'll hear, and I can't wait to see what he's got up his sleeve for us next. 8/10 ------------------------------------------------------- National Ransack EP 2010, Hear Music, Nashville TN http://www.recordstoreday.com/photo/418454224622:300 1. Poor Borrowed Dress [Costello/Lauderdale] 2. Condemned Man 3. Big Boys Cry [Raven] 4. I Don't Want To Go Home And then there's this - a free digital EP given away with orders of copies of National Ransom via the album's official website, which saw a release on vinyl just in time for Christmas Day. It's quite the stocking filler as well as it's really, really impressive for what it is, ie an assortment of National Ransom outtakes bundled together in the interests of fan service. Overall, with the exception of the cover of Eddy Raven's (I've checked him him out - he's crap, although this cover's nice enough:p:) Big Boys Cry the EP concentrates on Costello's new-found love for writing and playing bluegrass music, as I'm sure the below video will specify. In essence, I implore you to get this EP for the following four reasons: 1. If National Ransom's length and eclectic nature make it seem like you'd be biting off more than you can chew, if you get this you can say you have a 2010 Elvis Costello release like all the other cool kids. 2. This EP is a wonderful introduction to bluegrass music if you've never dipped your toes into it before. 3. The level of quality on this is far more consistent than on National Ransom. 4. I Don't Want To Go Home is now one of my five favourite Elvis Costello songs of all time. Questions? Comments? Requests? I'll be happy to oblige :D |
I've felt his first album is his best, though he did other good songs.
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I feel that a mere 6/10 for Armed Forces however is reprehensible. You seem to have a particular vendetta against that album that I don't feel fairly reflects its merits. Sure thing, I agree wholeheartedly that of EC's first five "proper" albums AF is certainly the weakest. But I can see no justification for saying it is anything less than "very good". AF should have been an 8. And This Year's Model, while a no-brainer 10/10 in my books, should at least have been a 9 in yours. Shame! To shame! |
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So then, let's get to the meat of this eh ;) Quote:
I know plenty of people love that album and that I'm in a minority with my take on it, but to me it suffers from the same key pitfall that a lot of other out-and-out stabs at a high chart position does, that being that the singles are fantastic but surrounded (mostly in this case) by more mediocre numbers. Busy Bodies, Chemistry Class, Green Shirt, Moods For Moderns - a few album-only cuts that I think drag the album down. True, that review's going to be three years old come November, but I stand by giving it a 6 to this day. Quote:
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Out of interest, on topic of AF, what's your view of Big Boys and Party Girl? I really think both of those songs are brilliant. I agree that Green Shirt turned out to be a weak song on the album. I think that was unfortunate, as would you not agree that the acoustic demo version on the TYM extras is good stuff? |
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And, yeah, Green Shirt's acoustic demo sounds much better than the version that made it onto Armed Forces. The latter version kinda stutters through its runtime, like the song's not really sure how it wants to deliver itself if you know what I mean. You can hear that there's a good song under the surface, but it really does sound very overproduced to me. Another thing that bothers me about that album as a whole is that in Tiny Steps, Clean Money and Wednesday Week, there are some great songs that got left off it as well. |
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I happen to think Busy Bodies has a great melody to it, though can understand your criticisms of the song. As for Clean Money, I like that song a lot. Thankfully Elvis recycled its best lyrics for use on the brilliant Love For Tender. Similar to how he recycled Cheap Reward's lyrics on Lip Service. OUT OF INTEREST, I'm having a lot of difficulty finding the full bonus track versions of Get Happy and Trust. As in, I could probably download them, but want the CDs. I have ONE of the bonus versions of Get Happy!, but want the HUGE one with the 50 tracks. That looks awesome. Have you heard it? I'm really curious about the demo versions of songs like Opportunity (such a great song). What is the Trust bonus disc like? Every time I listen to Elvis I'll notice some brilliant lyric I never really noticed before. New Amsterdam: "Til I step on the breaks to get out of her clutches". What a f$cking clever piece of phrasemaking with the double meaning of clutch. Eh. A bit of a schizophrenic message, but I just love Elvis so I say whatever pops into my head. |
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And that's not even taking all the demos and outtakes into account either. The Get Happy one's just great. To be honest I never really listen to the demos that much, but I can tell you that the demo for Black and White World is much better than the album version - one of the very few weak points on Get Happy. Two of the outtakes, namely Getting Mighty Crowded, Just a Memory and an absolutely gorgeous, slow-burning version of I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down are some of my favourite Costello songs ever. Trust had some fantastic songs left off it, so you should definitely look out for that reissue too. There's a song on it called Sad About Girls which is my joint-favourite song that Costello's ever sung (along with Six-Fingered Man on the River In Reverse). Seriously, as a Costello fan, you just have to find a way of listening to it. I'd offer to upload them for you, but for some reason I only uploaded the actual outtakes from the sessions to my computer and didn't bother with the demos, and my hard copies are on the other side of the country! Nevertheless, if you want the bits of the package I've got on me at the moment, just let me know and I'll be happy to oblige. You should definitely look into both those reissues those, as they're well worth it. The packages even make Costello's weaker albums like Goodbye Cruel World, Punch the Clock and Kojak Variety worth the fuss too, as I find myself listening to all the bonus material supplied waaaaaay more than the albums themselves. Quote:
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Oh, another song I loved: Wave A White Flag off of My Aim Is True outtakes. Is it just me or does it sound like one of those 50s musichall ditties... A really odd one in the Costello oeuvre. Great lyrics. |
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