Blood And Chocolate

Certain Songs #413: Elvis Costello & The Attractions – “I Want You”

January 6, 2016 by Jim Connelly

Album: Blood & Chocolate
Year: 1986

Because it starts with a quiet “Elvis snuck into the studio in the middle of the night and recorded a drunken verse before falling asleep” and ends in a whisper cum death rattle, it’s easy to forget that “I Want You” has more going on than Elvis Costello repeating “I want you” 600,000 times.

OK, that’s really not true: it’s pretty much all Elvis Costello repeating “I want you” 600,000 times.

Certain Songs #412: Elvis Costello & The Attractions – “Tokyo Storm Warning”

January 5, 2016 by Jim Connelly

Album: Blood & Chocolate
Year: 1986

After the relative low-key King of America, Elvis reunited with The Attractions, stuck Nick Lowe in the producer’s seat and finally made the musical sequel to This Year’s Model that nobody was really looking for anymore.

Well, kinda. Whereas This Years Model was tight and focused, the best songs on Blood and Chocolate were loose and sprawling, full of fucked up guitar sounds, crazy vocal interjections and surprises around every corner.