Christmas will come early for Stephen Colbert fans this year (before Thanksgiving, even). The funnyman will host A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All, a one-hour music special to air Nov. 23 on Comedy Central. And he's accumulated an impressive array of musicians, like John Legend, Elvis Costello, Feist, Toby Keith and Willie Nelson, to help him belt his Yuletide tunes.
It takes little more than a (rare) fogless fall day to make a trip to San Francisco's Golden Gate Park worth quite a trek, but the long list of artists gracing its green fields during the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival might help considerably if travel plans were somehow still in question. Oh, and the shows are free.
If you thought that Charlie Louvin's 2007 self-titled disc—which featured guest performances from Louvin-influenced artists like Elvis Costello, Jeff Tweedy (Wilco), Will Oldham (Bonnie 'Prince' Billy) and Eef Barzelay (Clem Snide)—was a career-concluding passing of the torch to new alt.country names, think again.
Just when you thought this year's summer festival lineup couldn't possibly have anything left up it's jam-packed sleeve, British Canadian resort town Whistler jumped in the game with a handful of festival veterans ready to prove you wrong at the Whistler Music Festival.
Elvis Costello’s previously announced vinyl/digital-only release of his next studio album now has a CD release date. Following its April 22 vinyl release, Momofuku will hit shelves in CD format on May 6.
Related links:.
News: Elton John and Elvis Costello team up for television show
Feature: Costello and Toussaint: American without tears
LostHighwayRecords.com
Got news tips for Paste? E-mail news@pastemagazine.com.
Elvis Costello has signed on for a 13-week television series on the BBC 4 entitled Spectacle: Elvis Costello with…, which Elton John is to executive produce. The program (or should we say programme) will feature interviews with artists and others with spectacular insight into the recording industry.
“I’m not interested in extracting some dark secret,” Costello told Billboard.com. “I’d rather hear about a bright secret, a deep love or a curiosity that might be otherwise obscured by fame. This is a wonderful opportunity to talk in complete thoughts about music, movies, art or even vaudeville, then frame it with unique and illustrative performances.”
The Sundance Channel has already secured rights for the series in the United States. This, despite whispers of a possible change of hands with the ownership of the station. CTV has snagged distribution for Canada, and Fremantle will handle everything in between.
Premiering in December, a portion of the proceeds that the one-hour episodes garner will be donated to AIDS relief work in Africa.
Costello’s creativity abounds as of late, between the television project and the announcement of his forthcoming vinyl/digital-only album, Momofuku. Apparently Costello was craving noodles when he christened that one.
If the television set is not up-close and personal enough, Costello and the Imposters will be touring with the Police starting May 1.
Momofuku—don’t leave home without it:
1. No Hiding Place
2. American Gangster Time
3. Turpentine
4. Harry Worth
5. Drum and Bone
6. Flutter and Wow
7. Stella Hurt
8. Mr. Feathers
9. My Three Sons
10. Song With Rose
11. Pardon Me Madam, My Name Is Eve
12. Go Away
Related links:
ElvisCostello.com
EltonJohn.com
Paste: Elvis Costello and Allen Toussaint: American Without Tears
Got news tips for Paste? E-mail news@pastemagazine.com.
Elvis Costello, longtime utilizer of easily-deluxified compact discs for his expanded re-issues and re-issued expanded re-issues thereof, announced this week that his forthcoming album, Momofuku, will only play via the grooves of a vinyl platter and the miniature orchestras inside every computer. The vinyl/digital-format-only release will be available April 22 on Lost Highway, with the tried-and-true trick of including a download code with the vinyl to sway people toward having physical evidence of their love for the bespectacled icon.
As for that alternating consonant-vowel title, Rolling Stone reported that it may be named after David Chang’s restaurants in New York: Momofuku Noodle Bar, Momofuki Ssam Bar and Momofuku Ko. "We've heard he's a fan of the restaurant,” Chang told RS, “but I doubt he'd name his album after us … There’s just no way! He's Elvis Costello, for Christ's sake!" Doesn’t sound too hard to believe, really. Ruby Tuesday restaurants are named after a Rolling Stones song, and it’s about time the reverse happened. Product placement in top 40 songs can’t be far behind, and personally, we're ready to get down to the “Del Taco Shuffle.”
Beginning in April, Costello and his Imposters will embark on a lengthy U.S. tour, largely with The Police, that breaks in June for a a special performance with the Scottish National Orchestra, and conclude in August. His official website also has some dubious, April 1-marked news about a record that will be released on a state-by-state basis, one copy per state, in alphabetical order. Riiiiight.
Here are some dates you can count on:
April
22 - Memphis, Tenn. @ New Daisy Theatre
23 - Nashville, Tenn. @ Ryman Auditorium
25 - Bossier City, La. @ Riverdome at Harrah's Horseshoe
27 - New Orleans, La. @ New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival
28 - Atlanta, Ga. @ Tabernacle
May
1 - Ottawa, Ontario @ Scotiabank Place *
0
3 - Buffalo, N.Y. @ HSBC Arena *
4 - Columbus, Ohio @ Nationwide Arena *
6 - Knoxville, Tenn. @ The Tennessee Theater
7 - Louisville, Ky. @ Palace Theater
10 - Chicago, Ill. @ Allstate Arena *
13 - Kansas City, Mo. @ Sprint Center *
14 - Omaha, Neb. @ Qwest Center *
16 - Orlando, Fla. @ Amway Center *
17 - West Palm Beach, Fla. @ Cruzan Amphitheatre *
20 - Houston, Texas @ Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion *
21 - Dallas, Texas @ Superpages.com Center *
23 - Las Vegas, Nev. @ MGM Grand *
24 - Phoenix, Ariz. @ Cricket Wireless Pavilion *
26 - San Diego, Calif. @ Coors Amphitheatre *
27 - Hollywood, Calif. @ The Hollywood Bowl *
July
11 - Ridgefield, Wash. @ Amphitheater at Clark County *
12 - George, Wash. @ The Gorge *
14 - San Francisco, Calif. @ Shoreline Amphitheatre *
16 - Concord, Calif. @ Sleep Train Pavilion *
17 - Sacramento, Calif. @ Sleep Train Amphitheatre *
19 - Salt Lake City, Utah @ USANA Amphitheatre *
21 - Denver, Colo. @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre *
25 - Milwaukee, Wis. @ Marcus Amphitheater *
26 - Detroit, Mich. @ DTE Energy Music Theater *
28 - Pittsburgh, Pa. @ Post Gazette Pavilion *
29 - Philadelphia, Pa. @ Wachovia Center *
31 - Boston, Mass. @ Tweeter Center *
Augusts
1 - Saratoga, N.Y. @ Saratoga Performing Arts Center *
3 - Holmdel, N.J. @ PNC Bank Arts Center *
4 - Wantagh, N.Y. @ Nikon at Jones Beach Theater *
* w/ the Police
Related links:
ElvisCostello.com
Elvis Costello on MySpace
Lost Highway Records
Got news tips for Paste? E-mail news@pastemagazine.com.
Elvis Costello once released an album called King of America. These days, he could more appropriately be called King of Reissues. This is the third time his early masterpiece, This Year’s Model, has received the reissue treatment, and if the previously unreleased tracks and B-sides didn’t tempt you on Rykodisc’s or Rhino’s repackages, Hip-O/UMe is here to up the ante.
The original album has now been tricked out to a two-disc Deluxe Edition set, and the 11 lean original tracks have been bulked up to include an additional 11 B-sides and 17 live tracks. That’s a bounty of vintage Costello, and at slightly more than two and a half hours, it offers as complete a view of the Angry Young Man, circa 1978, as you could possibly want.
The original This Year’s Model, included here on the first half of Disc 1, is brilliant, a snarky and raging slab of intemperate rock 'n' roll, and it sounds as fresh and vital today as it did 30 years ago. Nobody had delivered caustic one-liners like this since Dylan, and, with the debut of The Attractions, Costello had found the manic band to propel his claustrophobic, paranoid screeds. “I don’t want to kiss you/ I don’t want to touch,” he almost whispers at the start of the album, and when The Attractions detonate in all their ragged glory behind him we’re already miles removed from the polite country rock of Clover, Costello’s backing band on his 1977 debut My Aim Is True.
It’s the moment when New Wave found its frontman. And it lurches along that way for 35 minutes, barely in control, the irresistible propulsion of Steve Nieve’s careening keyboards matched by Costello’s acerbic wit. If the Angry Young Man isn’t angry about everything, his vision is still broad enough to draw within his crosshairs the advertising industry, “It” girls, fascism, George Orwell, radio narrowcasting and his own withering self. “Sometimes I almost feel just like a human being,” he snarls, and alienation never sounded so bracing. It’s a wonderful record.
The B-sides have been released in various configurations over the years, but there isn’t much of a drop off in quality between “(I Don’t Want To Go To) Chelsea” and “Big Tears” and the official album tracks. In 1978, Costello was writing great songs at a furious pace, and the brilliance is marred only by a couple of unnecessary demos that would appear as finished songs on Costello’s next album, Armed Forces. The live disc, taken from a Feb. 1978 show at Washington D.C.’s Warner Theater, is good, but not as good as the widely available El Macombo show from the same period.
And therein lies the dilemma. Longtime Costello fans, the target audience for these reissue projects, probably already own most of this music. But curious newcomers, who typically won’t shell out for a 2-disc set, could hardly do better. Elvis Costello has produced a lot of great music over a lot of different years, but the 1978 model was a particularly spectacular one.
It was bound to happen eventually. Elvis Costello, after all, took his stage name from two American icons. He wrote a song called "Crawling to the U.S.A.," and proclaimed himself King of America over two hundred years after we cast off the yoke of monarchical rule. Mr. Costello has been making eyes at our nation for years, and we never even realized it.
Earlier this week, the veteran songwriter announced his breakup with his former mistress, England. Referring to a 2005 Glastonbury Festival set that he termed "fucking dreadful," Costello told Mojo Magazine that he's done with the motherland.
"I don't care if I ever play in England again," he said. "That gig made up my mind that I wouldn't come back. I don't get along with it. We lost touch. It's 25 years since I lived there. I don't dig it, they don't dig me."
Now he's all ours. As if to confirm his solidarity with the Stars and Stripes, Costello showed up at a fund raising birthday bash for presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and then proceeded to go all Marilyn Monroe on her. The video evidence is below:
Wow. How long before he applies for citizenship?
Related links:
ElvisCostello.com
Paste: The Life and Music of Elvis Costello
Terence Blacker: Elvis Costello is right about England
San Francisco Chronicle: Costello, band regroup for good cause
Got news tips for Paste? Email news@pastemagazine.com.
The road could get lonely out there for Elvis Costello, as he heads out this fall for his first solo gigs in 12 years (according to LiveDaily). So, its no wonder the famously bespectacled artist is buddying up with Steve Nieve, entire symphony orchestras and, for 13 dates, Bob Dylan. With respective retrospectives on the way, it makes sense for Dylan and Costello to enter prime touring season hand-in-hand. A deluxe edition of the latters My Aim is True premiers on Sept. 11, while Columbia Records gets ready to release Dylan, a 51-track, three-disc career-spanning compilation.
September
22 - Duluth, Ga. @ Gwinnett Center
23 - Clemson, S.C. @ Littlejohn Coliseum
25 - Norfolk, Va. @ Convocation Center
27 - Charlottesville, Va. @ John Paul Jones Arena
28 - Columbia, Md. @ Merriweather Post Pavilion
29 - Kingston, R.I. @ Ryan Center
30 - Bridgeport, Conn. @ Arena at Harbor Yard
October
2 - Worcester, Mass. @ DCU Center
4 - Portland, Maine @ Cumberland County Civic Center
5 - Manchester, N.H. @ Verizon Wireless Arena
6 - Albany, N.Y. @ Times Union Center
8 - Syracuse, N.Y. @ War Memorial
9 - Rochester, N.Y. @ Gordon Field House
Related links:
ElvisCostello.com
BobDylan.com
Paste: New My Aim is True features '77 concert
Got news tips for Paste? Email news@pastemagazine.com.
Bright-eyed children in footie pajamas making Christmas lists in August will have to be very, very specific when asking for Elvis Costello & The Attractions’ 30th anniversary release of My Aim is True, subtitled Deluxe Edition (available September 11 on Hip-O). The little boy or girl eagerly imagining Santa’s elves crafting the record with their very small hammers must take his or her crayon, draw a parentheses (with dad’s help!), and write “ft. legendary 1977 Nashvile Rooms concert plus soundcheck!!!” Otherwise, mom- er, I mean Saint Nick might become confused when ordering online, since Rhino released a completely different My Aim is True: Deluxe Edition six years ago, featuring assorted demos and rarities.
The upcoming Hip-O release will contain 35 tracks of bonus material; My Aim is True itself, the above-mentioned concert, and seven demos that didn’t make the first cut. And oh, that sound check! Now, if you pick up a Costello-loving friend in your car, and he hops in after the intro chords to “Alison” and says “Dude, start this jam over!” You can say, “Oh hey, you didn’t miss anything, it’s just the sound check.”
Exciting, I guess. It seems like anyone who cares probably owns two or three My Aim is Trues already. Maybe this version is a good two-for-one gift opportunity.
Children: it is also advisable to accompany your request for this item with a crudely drawn star or kitten, to indicate its priority. Here are the contents:
Elvis Costello - My Aim is True Deluxe Edition
Disc One:
My Aim is True
1. Welcome To The Working Week
2. Miracle Man
3. No Dancing
4. Blame It On Cain
5. Alison
6. Sneaky Feelings
7. (The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes
8. Less Than Zero
9. Mystery Dance
10. Pay It Back
11. I'm Not Angry
12. Waiting For The End Of The World
13. Watching The Detectives
My Aim is True out-takes:
14. No Action
15. Living In Paradise
16. Radio Sweetheart
17. Stranger In The House
My Aim is True Pathway Studios demos
18. Welcome To The Working Week
19. Blue Minute
20. Miracle Man
21. Waiting For The End Of The World
22. Call On Me
23. (The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes
24. I Don’t Want To Go Home
25. I Hear A Melody
Disc Two:
Live at The Nashville Rooms, August 7, 1977
1. Introduction by Dave Robinson
2. Welcome To The Working Week
3. Blame It On Cain
4. No Dancing
5. Waiting For The End Of The World
6. Night Rally
7. Hoover Factory
8. No Action
9. (I Don’t Want To Go To) Chelsea
10. Miracle Man
11. The Beat
12. Less Than Zero
13. (The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes
14. Lipstick Vogue
15. Watching The Detectives
16. Lip Service
17. Mystery Dance
18. Alison
Live at The Nashville Rooms – Soundcheck, August 7, 1977
19. Pay It Back
20. Radio Sweetheart
21. Sneaky Feelings
22. Crawling In The USA
23.Alison
Related links:
ElvisCostello.com
Elvis Costello on MySpace
Hip-O.com
Got news tips for Paste? Email news@pastemagazine.com.
Even at the ripe age of 52, Declan Patrick MacManus (a.k.a. Elvis Costello) is a very busy man. May 1 will see the release of a career-spanning retrospective as well as the digital premiere of his first 11 albums. These early recordings will be on sale exclusively via iTunes for 30 days before being made available to other online music vendors.
The two-disc Best of Elvis Costello compilation will occupy two discs, one titled The First Ten Years and the other Rock and Roll Music. Both 22-song collections were compiled by Costello himself and signal the start of his work with Hip-O/Universal Music Enterprises.
The First Ten Years tracklist:
1. (The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes
2. Alison
3. Watching The Detectives
4. (I Don’t Want To Go To) Chelsea
5. Pump It Up
6. Radio, Radio
7. Accidents Will Happen
8. Oliver’s Army
9. Soul Kitchen
10. (What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love & Understanding
11. I Can’t Stand Up For Falling Down
12. High Fidelity
13. Clubland
14. New Lace Sleeves
15. Good Year For The Roses
16. Beyond Belief
17. Man Out Of Time
18. Almost Blue
19. Everyday I Write The Book
20. Shipbuilding
21. Brilliant Mistake
22. Indoor Fireworks
Rock And Roll Music tracklist:
1. Lipstick Vogue
2. No Action
3. Big Tears
4. (I Don’t Want To Go To) Chelsea
5. This Year’s Girl
6. Miracle Man
7. Pump It Up
8. Clean Money
9. Tiny Steps
10. Wednesday Week
11. Mystery Dance (live)
12. You Belong To Me (live)
13. (What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love & Understanding
14. Girls Talk
15. King Horse
16. Lover’s Walk
17. Uncomplicated
18. Honey, Are You Straight Or Are You Blind? (alternate version)
19. Baby’s Got A Brand New Hairdo
20. I Hope You’re Happy Now
21. Tokyo Storm Warning
22. Welcome To The Working Week (demo version)
Related links:
Elvis Costello’s homepage
Elvis Costello on MySpace
On April 13, country royalty and British pub rock will collide in the unlikeliest of places, the Western world’s premier museum of Himalayan art.
For one night and one night only, Roseanne Cash and Elvis Costello will join forces for an unamplified acoustic performance at New York City’s Rubin Museum of Art. The two will play songs from their own storied careers as well as selections from others that have inspired them.
Tickets cost $65 and go on sale February 27 at 11 a.m. through the museum’s box office. Call (212) 620-5000 ext. 344 to get yours.
Related Links:
The Rubin’s homepage
Roseanne Cash’s homepage
Elvis Costello’s homepage
Elvis Costello and Rosanne Cash will band together this Friday, Nov. 10, to perform the folk ballad "Butcher Boy" on The Late Show with David Letterman alongside such notable bluegrass musicians as guitarist John Leventhal, fiddler Larry Campbell, bassist Todd Phillips and mandolin player Mike Compton.
Costello initially performed "The Butcher's Boy" on the album The Harry Smith Project (Anthology of American Folk Music Revisited), a tribute to the Anthology of American Folk Music which Smith first edited and released in 1953.
Merlefest, the annual bluegrass/Americana music festival honoring finger-picking prodigy Eddie Merle Watson, has announced a 2007 lineup including Elvis Costello, Donna The Buffalo, The Duhks, Bela Fleck and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band among many others. In addition, Merle’s father and acclaimed folk/country musician Doc Watson will play with his grandson Richard. The event, which is now in its 20th year, will take place at Wilkes Community College in Wilkesboro, NC on April 26-29, 2007.
Named the best finger-picking guitarist in folk, blues or country music in 1985 by Frets magazine, Merle Watson is remembered for his monumental talent and the touring and recording he accomplished with his father during the 70s and 80s. A tragic tractor accident ended the life of the lauded guitarist and father of two that same year, with the festival set up two years later. In its existence, Merlefest has generated $7.28 million to Wilkes Community College.
To order tickets and see the full artist lineup, visit the official website at merlfest.org/ or call 1-800-343-7857 (US only) or 336-838-6267 (non-US) weekdays.
At a concert for the VH1 Classics show Decades Rock Live in Atlantic City this past Friday, May 19, Elvis Costello and his band, The Imposters, were joined onstage by Death Cab for Cutie, Fiona Apple, and Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong.
Death Cab joined Costello for "Accidents Will Happen" and "Kinder Murder." Apple lent her talents to "Shabby Doll" and "I Want You." And Armstrong energized "Radio Radio" and played an unscripted, unrehearsed acoustic version of "Allison."
Costello also offered renditions of some of his guests' songs—an acoustic duet of "I Will Follow You Into the Darkness" with Death Cab's Ben Gibbard; a solo take on Apple's beautiful ballad "I Know"; and a rousing performance of Green Day's hit "Wake Me Up When September Ends" with Armstrong and The Imposters.
Costello also performed the title track from his new album The River in Reverse, due June 6 on Verve Forecast.
For more information, including the full set list from this show, visit his website.
When Elvis sightings skyrocket in 2006, Mr. Costello’s prolific recording and touring schedule will be to blame. Costello will be releasing not one, but two new albums this year. The first, set to hit the streets Feb. 28, is concert album My Flame Burns Blue. This Deutsche Grammophon release will include a bonus 45-minute suite from Costello’s first orchestral work. The second album, The River in Reverse, is a Verve Forecast collaboration with Allen Toussaint, fruit of the first major sessions to take place in hurricane-ravaged New Orleans.
Look for Elvis at a gas station near you as his national tour kicks off on March 27 in San Francisco. Local symphonies will accompany him for each show. For your own piece of Elvis, catch him on his tour:
Monday, March 27 | San Francisco | Davies Symphony Hall
Friday, March 31 | Honolulu | Neal S. Blaisdell Center
Saturday, April 1 | Honolulu | Neal S. Blaisdell Center
Sunday April 2 | Maui | Maui Arts & Cultural Center
Tuesday, April 11 | Austin, Texas | Bass Concert Hall
Thursday, April 13 | Houston, Texas | Jesse H. Jones Hall
Tuesday, April 18 | Chicago, Ill. | Orchestra Hall
Thursday, April 20 | Baltimore, Md. | The Music Center at Strathmore
Friday, April 21 | Baltimore, Md. | Meyerhoff Symphony Hall
Saturday, April 22 | Baltimore, Md. | Meyerhoff Symphony Hall
Wednesday, May 10 | Boston, Mass. | Symphony Hall
Friday, May 12 | Brooklyn, N.Y. | Brooklyn Academy Of Music
Saturday, May 13 | Atlanta, Ga. | Fox Theatre
Not the first to attempt an Elvis Costello biography and unlikely to be the last, British music writer Graeme Thomson sticks to a chronological telling of singer/songwriter Elvis Costello’s life and career. Never strictly a punk, but benefiting from the shifting ground rules for rock stardom brought about by punk rock, Costello shot to fame in the late ’70s alongside other misfits like The Stranglers and The Police.
Complicated Shadows follows Costello’s journey from unknown pub-rocker to popstar, his early musical beginnings and his later left-turns into classical composition and jazz, briefly touching on his romantic and family life— with a few druggy, alcoholic tales of “life on the road” thrown in for good measure.
Claiming to have uncovered new details on Costello’s formative years and later recording sessions, Thompson lays out a mass of minor facts and figures in the hope that by pasting all these snippets of information together, the fully formed Elvis will magically appear. Unfortunately, the more-revealing quotes are culled from existing interviews and without the cooperation of Costello or his inner circle.
Costello floats through the book like a ghost in his own house. His prickly, reclusive nature makes it hard to know if there really is anything more behind the curtain than a talented workaholic, but Thomson’s flat, journalistic style and his timeline-styled approach to the musician’s life fail to enliven the story.
Costello’s excursion through Americana gets the royal treatment
Considered the ugly duckling of his catalog in 1986, the roots-inflected King of America is now thought to be among the brightest jewels in Costello’s crown. Depth of storytelling and ace performances on material like “Indoor Fireworks” and “Our Little Angel” overcompensate for a lack of hit singles. Songs, including the rambling “Glitter Gulch,” feature guitarist James Burton, who gained notoriety playing for that other Elvis. Rhino’s remaster gives notable improvement to full-band arrangements when compared to Rykodisc’s 1995 version, though spare numbers like “Little Palaces” seem to lose their sparkle.
The real treat here is the ample bonus disc. The Coward Brothers (Costello and producer T-Bone Burnett) appear on “The People’s Limousine.” “I’ll Wear it Proudly” is illuminated via acoustic demo. A set from New York’s Broadway Theater includes covers of Buddy Holly’s “True Love Ways” and Mose Allison’s “Your Mind is on Vacation.” The live band features Burton alongside Jerry Scheff, his bandmate in Elvis Presley’s TCB Band.
In the first two-and-a-half years of his recording career, Elvis Costello released three of the best pop-rock records of the New Wave era, culminating with the grand flourish of Armed Forces. Some three decades later he shows no sign of slowing, recently releasing three discs in a similar timeframe that showcase his varied interests, inspirations and aspirations. While the Sondheim-esque romance of North and the classical ambition of Il Sogno were not greeted as unqualified successes, The Delivery Man proved Costello still has some of his best music ahead of him. His relentless, committed performance at Chicago's Auditorium Theater proved he's still quite the crowd pleaser, nicely sampling from his career while wisely focusing on his strongest, most confident work.
Costello strolled in with a straw cowboy hat and smart dark suit and launched into an urgent rendition of the first song from his first album, “Welcome To The Working Week.” Without pause he fast-forwarded to the ragged fury of “Uncomplicated” from Blood and Chocolate, then back to “Radio Radio” from This Year’s Model. The eclectic selections continued throughout the two-and-a-half hour set, with Costello rarely pausing for a breath before beginning his next song, as if he had too much ground to cover in too little time.
If this weren't enough to set a retrospective tone for the show, Costello's band (now cheekily dubbed The Imposters) featured two-thirds of The Attractions, with keyboardist Steve Nieve and drummer Pete Thomas joined by Davey Faragher on bass. Their shared experience added detail to the songs, with Nieve’s rococo flourishes offsetting Costello’s blunt guitar lines.
While the band played all the essential tunes, like “Alison” and Nick Lowe’s “(What’s So Funny About) Peace, Love and Understanding”, two of the evening’s true highlights came from overlooked catalog entries. “Rocking Horse Road” (from Brutal Youth) enjoyed one of the more nuanced performances of the evening, rising from bittersweet romance to punchy rancor. Similarly, “When I Was Cruel” went from cynicism to melancholy, segueing perfectly into the noir skank of “Watching The Detectives”. By the end of the evening, after such a committed consideration of a remarkable body of work, there were no complaints when the band skipped the formality of an encore.
Elvis Costello & The Imposters will take time out from the Monkey Speaks His Mind tour to play three dates billed as "Elvis Costello and the Pick-Ups," featuring Pete Thomas, Dave Faragher and special guest Los Lobos’ Dave Hidalgo.
Hildalgo first collaborated with Costello, as a harmony vocalist, on the 1986 album, King of America. On April 26, Rhino Records will release a two-CD version of the album, containing many unreleased outtakes and alternate versions plus excerpts from a live performance.
Tour Dates:
4/24 - Annapolis,Md. - Rams Head Live
4/26 - Norfolk, Va. - The Norva
4/27 - Athens, Ga. - Classic Center
Unfold your beat-up road atlas, draw a line from Elvis Presley’s birthplace in Tupelo, Miss., to his grave in Memphis, Tenn., and you’ll find that the hamlet of Oxford—located in the heart of the North Mississippi hill country—provides the vertex necessary to complete an isosceles triangle. Elvis Costello might’ve done his geometry homework before he traveled to Oxford’s Sweet Tea recording studio, nestled between two points of Presleyana—but, evidently, the English songsmith had more than the Pythagorean Theorem on his mind when he headed south to cut The Delivery Man.
When Declan McManus christened himself Elvis Costello, there was nothing arbitrary about how he settled on the name. From that day on, the Elvis myths—Costello and Presley—have remained hopelessly intertwined. EP left the building for good in mid-1977, just as EC was enjoying the success of his first album, My Aim Is True. Never mind that a few generations separate them: each man is an icon—and an iconoclast—who reinvented himself for the stage, sparking a cultural rebellion in the process.
And, in Costello’s case, changed his musical persona again and again. Over the last 27 years, he’s been a New Waver, a rocker, a classicist, a Tin Pan Alley songwriter and a purveyor of soul, pop and country music. On his last three releases—capping off a catalog now 21 records strong—he’s sampled Broadway (with Burt Bacharach on Painted From Memory), returned to art rock (for the pretentiously acerbic When I Was Cruel) and delved into torch-song territory (last year’s North, a song cycle dedicated to paramour Diana Krall). It’s enough to cause a person with Multiple Personality Disorder to break into a sweat—but The Delivery Man marks yet another departure, as Costello impulsively dives back into rock ’n’ roll.
“Don’t wanna talk about the government / Don’t wanna talk about some incident,” Costello elucidates on “Button My Lip,” the album’s jazzy, disjointed opener. His point here—and throughout the album—is perfectly clear: This is a vacation, and I’m gonna do what I damn well please. Listening to the track, it’s easy to imagine a recalcitrant Costello sitting before a panel of record executives as they try to decipher the cacophony. His sheer obstinance appears to have won out.
On “Country Darkness,” a pedal-steel-driven ballad harkening back to his 1981 effort, Almost Blue, Costello fares better, combining artistic integrity with a polished Nashville sound. He revisits “The Judgment,” a song he penned for R&B singer Solomon Burke, then joins Emmylou Harris for a faux Gram Parsons tune called “Heart Shaped Bruise” and an Appalachian-style tune called “The Scarlet Tide.” Staggered between full-on rockers like “Needle Time,” “There’s A Story In Your Voice” (featuring Lucinda Williams on accompanying vocals), and “Bedlam,” the softer material sounds excessively genteel—especially when keyboardist Steve Nieve and drummer Pete Thomas drop out of the mix.
Halfway through the album, listeners hit pay dirt with the boozy, bluesy title track. Costello sounds fittingly raw on the song, which unwinds like a southern gothic nightmare, complete with smoking guns and kudzu vines. “In a certain light, he looked like Elvis / In a certain way, he seemed like Jesus,” Costello muses over Thomas’ stattaco drumbeat, mesmerizing himself with the quandary. The Delivery Man is a worthwhile endeavor, for that stolen moment alone.
Elvis Costello is completing work on two new albums for simultaneous release this fall.
He's now recording an album with The Imposters in Oxford, Miss., and Memphis, Tenn., for Lost Highway Records.
The other forthcoming recording, Il Sogno, was composed solely by Costello and is his first full-length orchestral work. It was recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Michael Tilson-Thomas and will be released on Deutsche Grammophon. A bonus live disc from Costello's performance at the this summer's North Sea Jazz Festival in the Netherlands will also be included.
In addition to his recording duties, Costello is currently preparing for a three-concert series during this summer's prestigious Lincoln Center Festival 2004 in New York. The program (July 13, 15 and 17) will preview and premiere Costello's work this year in jazz, classical and pop music.
Costello is also involved in writing liner notes and selecting bonus material for the latest installment of Rhino Record's ongoing re-release of his catalog. Planned for August release are Almost Blue (1981), Goodbye Cruel World (1984) and Kojak Variety (1995). Each will come with an additional CD of unreleased material.
And finally, Costello recently signed a two-book deal with Simon & Schuster, with one book taking its cue from the styles, themes and characters found in a number of his lyrics, and the other a work of comic philosophy entitled How to Play the Guitar, Sing Loudly and Impress Girls... or Boys. The books will see release sometime next year.
The latest rebound in a career that’s been defined by its action/reaction dichotomy, North further cements Elvis Costello’s standing as one of his generation’s most profoundly exploratory songwriters. Proving he wasn’t finished working through his Burt Bacharach fixation, Costello goes full-blown piano balladeer on the new record, the final product falling somewhere between sophisticated pop classicism and a timeless show-tune song cycle. The avid fan will be quick to see evidence of Costello’s romance with jazz-pop princess Diana Krall in both the carefully sculpted arrangements and the hopefully romantic bent of the songwriting. But Costello’s gift for measured idealism, artful description and skillful narrative restraint is present here as always. Although it could be said that Costello doesn’t always play to the most prominent of his strengths, tracks like the gorgeously swaying “You Turned to Me” and the delicate, string-laden “Fallen” aspire to such lofty hallmarks of pop songcraft that the indulgence is more than justified. It’s no surprise that Costello continues to challenge himself in such ways.
Elvis Costello refuses to stay in one place too long. He could have made a career of recycling the classic pop melodies and arrangements of My Aim Is True, but instead he chose to continually redefine his music with increasingly radical departures. Sometimes the result is glorious (all of the early Attractions albums, King of America, Painted From Memory); sometimes abysmal (Mighty Like a Rose, Kojak Variety). This time out, he follows last year’s disappointing When I Was Cruel by crooning and bellowing his way through ballads wrapped in jazz and classical arrangements. Collaborating with Mingus Big Band, Jazz Passengers, and the mesmeric Lee Konitz on sax and Steve Nieve on piano, Costello led all of the arrangements and also brought back the Brodsky Quartet for one song and Marc Ribot for the scant 12 bars that contain electric guitar. Lyrically, North forms a complete song cycle, beginning with “You Left Me In the Dark” and progressing to “I’m In the Mood Again.” The songs are surprisingly heartfelt and straightforward for someone who has built a reputation as one of the best songwriters this side of Dylan based on extreme density, opacity, cynicism and anger. North is a quiet album that demands patience of its listeners, but those who make the journey are amply rewarded. It is, quite simply, sublime.
