Elvis Costello

Certain Songs #417: Elvis Costello – “When I Was Cruel No. 2”

January 10, 2016 by Jim Connelly

Album: When I Was Cruel
Year: 2002

In 2002, Elvis brought Pete Thomas and Steve Nieve back into the fold, added Cracker’s Davey Faragher on bass, and christened the result “The Imposters.”

It was a savvy move, allowing him to play with two of the guys who helped give him a lifetime pass without having the bear the full weight of the name “Elvis Costello & The Attractions.”

Certain Songs #416: Elvis Costello – “Kinder Murder”

January 9, 2016 by Jim Connelly

Album: Brutal Youth
Year: 1994

After Bruce Thomas’s book and Elvis’s response, you probably figured that Elvis would never record with The Attractions again, but instead, they regrouped and recorded two last albums: 1994’s Brutal Youth and 1996’s All This Useless Beauty.

At the time, I remember enjoying the former and not enjoying the latter. In fact, I don’t remember a single thing about All This Useless Beauty, which I think goes to the problem I ultimately had with both records.

Certain Songs #415: Elvis Costello – “How To Be Dumb”

January 8, 2016 by Jim Connelly

Album: Mighty Like a Rose
Year: 1991

Rule #1 about pissing off a great songwriter: don’t. I mean, they’re just going to write a nasty song about you, so why even bother?

And given that he’d probably seen it happen countless times, Bruce Thomas knew that he was playing with fire when he wrote a bunch of unflattering things about Elvis in his 1990 memoir, The Big Wheel.

Certain Songs #414: Elvis Costello – “Deep Dark Truthful Mirror”

January 7, 2016 by Jim Connelly

Album: Spike
Year: 1989

After releasing 11 studio albums in 9 years — not to mention various singles, compilation tracks, non-album b-sides, live EPs and gods knows what else — Elvis Costello did something that was unthinkable: he took three years between albums.

Even at the time, it was clear that the early, funny phase of his career was over, as both the time off, the new label and the actual sound of Spike were dead giveaways that Elvis Costello wanted to continue to expand his music.

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.

Certain Songs #411: The Costello Show – “Suit of Lights”

January 4, 2016 by Jim Connelly

Album: King of America
Year: 1986

King of America was supposed to be half recorded with The Attractions and half recorded with The Confederates, the crack backing band that T-Bone Burnett rustled up for him early in 1985.

But things weren’t working out with The Attractions, as too many years too close together were finally taking their toll musically and emotionally.

That is, except for “Suit of Lights,” the folk-rock masterpiece that is the one recording with The Attractions that actually made it on King of America.

Certain Songs #410: The Costello Show – “Brilliant Mistake”

January 3, 2016 by Jim Connelly

Album: King of America
Year: 1986

After the insanely prolific first five years of Elvis Costello’s recording career, eventually something had to give, and it turned out that something was quality control, as he followed up Imperial Bedroom with a pair of relative duds, signified by the titles he gave them.

1983’s Punch The Clock was shrill and full of uninteresting horns, though it gave him his first ever U.S. Top 40 hit with the cloying “Everyday I Write The Book,” and is probably worth me revisiting at some point. And Goodbye Cruel World was just dull.

So Elvis did two things: he took a year off, and he started recording again without The Attractions. The result was the stunning King of America, the first of two records that made 1986 arguably the best year of his career.

Certain Songs #409: Elvis Costello & The Attractions – “Man Out of Time”

January 2, 2016 by Jim Connelly

Album: Imperial Bedroom
Year: 1982

Welcome to my favorite Elvis Costello song.

From the crazy, tacked-on screamo intro & outro to the ridiculously gorgeous folk-rock middle, “Man Out Of Time” is an absolute master class in making a haunting, lyrical, utterly major song.

And not surprisingly, it’s Elvis Costello & The Attractions aiming for that Blonde on Blonde thin wild mercury sound, and totally nailing it. “Man Out Of Time” could go toe-to-toe with “Just Like Tom Thumbs Blues” or “(One of Us Know) Sooner Or Later” and land a fair amount of punches.

Certain Songs #408: Elvis Costello & The Attractions – “Beyond Belief”

December 31, 2015 by Jim Connelly

Album: Imperial Bedroom
Year: 1982

“Masterpiece?” adverted Columbia Records marketing department when Imperial Bedroom appeared, a provocation along the same lines as Epic Records declaring The Clash “The Only Band That Matters” way back in 1980.

My gut reaction then as now was “no.” Imperial Bedroom is the sound of Elvis Costello overthinking things, which — given how fucking smart he is — is kind of a surprise that it didn’t happen more often.