CostelloNews.com

The Bright Blue Times posts the first complete review of Elvis Costello's new CD North.

Posted by Post Master at 01:17 PM | Permalink

The Sunday Times (published in the UK) today contains an interactive CD-rom called "The Month". This contains extracts from 6 tracks from = "North" - Fallen (40seconds); Let me tell you about her (29 secs); = someone took the words (43 secs); still (38 secs) when did I stop = dreaming (37 secs) and when it sings (42 secs).

It also includes a short review of the whole album by Mark Edwards and two photos of EC.

(submitted by Nick Ratcliffe)

Posted by Post Master at 09:17 AM | Permalink

Posted by Post Master at 12:38 PM | Permalink

The Guardian UK with an article on EC and North.
(Submitted by John Foyle)

The blissed out curmudgeon

Elvis Costello once admitted, drunkenly, that his main motivations were guilt and revenge. But now that angry young man has grown up, is in love and has made a work of beauty. So what's up, asks Simon Hattenstone

Simon Hattenstone
Saturday August 30, 2003
The Guardian

When Elvis Costello emerged in the late 1970s, he was
truly shocking - a seething, bitter, sarcastic,
sneering, verbose (he would have used just as many
adjectives) post-punk poet who spat two-minute tirades
of sexual jealousy and betrayal into his mic, slashed
with his guitar and gave great chorus.

Over the years, Costello has shocked us again and
again - when he went country, when he went soul, when
he went French balladeer, when he went classical. But
this. Well this takes the biscuit. Costello has just
made a whole album of melt-your-heart love songs.

It's not the love that is shocking. Of all the
"new-wavers" in the late 1970s and 1980s, he probably
did love better than any. But from the start, and for
all the tenderness of Alison, when he whisper-wailed,
"I heard you let that little friend of mine take off
your party dress," his love was cheated and disgusted.

A decade or so later, he wrote another classic love
song, I Want You. It begins as a honeyed statement of
desire, but becomes something tormented and
tormenting, as the gentle words are repeated till they
become a screaming sneer. For Costello, love has never
been far removed from hate.

But not on the new record, North. Costello himself
admits that North isn't easy to describe. It's
certainly not one of those overstuffed hotchpotch
albums he's produced in recent years: sagging with
tunes and words and seemingly interminable, for all
the good bits.

On North, there are 11 songs, all written at the
piano, most of them two or three minutes long. They
tell the story of love lost and love found. The early
songs are low, melancholic and regretful. The later
songs are ecstatic. The album works as a song cycle, a
lieder for the 21st century.

Elvis and I go back a long way. Elvis helped me
through adolescence. I listened to him in my bedroom -
he sang about all sorts of things, but the ones I
remember best are the tales of woe about those
beautiful girls who would go off with David Watts,
oblivious to Elvis's sincerity and burning soul. Elvis
was made for misunderstood young love-hearts - to some
extent literally, because he was a construct.

It was his manager, Jake Riviera, who suggested Declan
Patrick Aloysius McManus change his name to Elvis
Costello for the sake of his art and his bank balance.
The name was soaked in attitude. No one in real life
dared call themselves Elvis, let alone this computer
programmer with the disproportionately big head.

The real Elvis splayed his legs and wiggled his hips,
and was the personification of sex, while this Elvis
was stiff, sexless and ludicrous. With his skinny
drainpipe legs bent at 10 to three, and those massive
specs, he played up his dweebishness. He looked like
an Etch-A-Sketch cartoon.

Before he knew it, he was on Top Of The Pops, feted
for being so uncool he was cool. He had been playing
music for six or seven years to little acclaim, and
here he was finally hailed an overnight success at 23.
Costello thought it was funny. He'd always had a thing
for irony.

He orders tea for us - English tea in a hotel suite.
He's in his late 40s, and ever so grown up these days.
Brown suit, brown cod-crocodile shoes, striking pink
silk tie, elegantly receding brown hair. He is
certainly not as skinny as he was in the 1970s, nor is
he as rounded and shaggy as he became a few years ago.
He looks healthy and strangely content.

I ask him if he's surprised to have made North. "Yeah,
well everything came as a shock to me." He doesn't
specify what the everything is, but I assume he's
referring to the subject of the album - the break-up
of his 16-year marriage to songwriter and former
Pogues member Cait O'Riordan, his subsequent
desolation, and his new relationship with glamorous
jazz chanteuse Diana Krall. He swiftly moves on to the
album's genesis. "I was on the road last September,
and the songs just came to me one after another.
Sometimes you're not even thinking this is a group of
songs, whereas I knew right away these were. They were immediately a different language, a different register, different emotion, different lyrics." For the first time, he says, he wrote the songs on the album in sequence. The album was recorded in New York, where he spends much of his time these days.

Yes, I say, it does all seem so different, not least
the openness. As soon as I agree with him, he politely disagrees. "I don't think it's that different, actually," he says. "King Of America and Blood & Chocolate, for example, are both different in tone from this, but there's a lot of similarity."

I'm not sure if Costello is arguing with me or with
himself, but it's good to see a trace of the
traditional bristle. Perhaps, I say, open is the wrong
word, it's more that these songs are irony-free. In
the past, Costello often used irony as an emotional
safety net - on one level, he exposed himself but on
another he didn't because so much of what he sang was double-edged (Hope You're Happy Now when he doesn't hope you are, I'm Not Angry when he is).

"Yes, there is no irony," he says. The trouble is, he
says, you get known for one thing, and then the media
leaves the young you frozen in aspic. "For instance, I
don't think there's been a single pun on any of my
records for 10 years and yet I'm known for that
because of the first few albums. And the same with
irony - it's an overplayed hand and it's also a
juvenile hand. The deliberate seeking of darkness and
the sardonic, and the denial of feeling and the denial
of trust and belief, it's something that you do when
you're younger and it's something that is right - part
of it's genuine and part of it is insecurity. I'm not
saying that was all wrong. I love a lot of the songs I
wrote then, I still sing them, but there's room in the
world for lots of different points of view, lots of
different types of expression, even inside the
repertoire of one songwriter and singer."

In the early days, the songs he covered by other
writers couldn't have been more different from his own
- Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood, (What's So Funny
'Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding and My Funny
Valentine were straight from the heart and totally
unambiguous. In their openness, they seemed to be an acknowledgment of his own limitations.

I tell him that I love so many of his songs, even
though I don't have a clue what they are about. Fair
enough, he says, neither did he. "I don't see any
reason why you should have to understand them. I would
always defend the right to create a vague picture, or
a blurred picture with words that adds up differently
to different people because I've done it countless
times. It's like the chance Polaroid that is better
than the sharp-focus, well-taken photograph.There's a
song on the last record, Tart, that doesn't make any
sense at all."

He comes to a stop, but not for long. "In the case of
North I don't think people will have that problem
because it is pretty damn clear what's going on,
y'know. I can tell you how I did it, when I did it,
but I can't tell you more about what it is, because
everything is in there. I'm not saying I won't answer
any more questions, but... " It seems like a
pre-emptive strike. Costello hates talking about his
private life.

The first songs are incredibly painful. The album
starts with a track called You Left Me In The Dark.
Before I ask the question, he answers. "I think people
will assume that it is about romantic loss, but it is
actually about bereavement. It is about someone
contemplating the last loving thing said by someone
who has gone. Y'know, people always assume that love
happens detached from other realities. But other
realities happen concurrently with changes in the
heart. Whether or not these songs happened exactly as
they appeared to happen to me doesn't matter in my
opinion. It doesn't make it better to listen to, it
doesn't make it more authentic." He's still not
mentioned any names, so I take the plunge. In the
first half of the album there is the sense that you
can't understand how your relationship with Cait has
ended, I say. Silence.

"I've got to say, Simon, and I want to really stress,
it's entirely at your discretion to mention her name,
but I very much want to be respectful of her
independence as a person. And one of the things you
have to say when you part with somebody is that they
have the right not to be drawn into the consideration
of your life. It's really important that I don't say
anything that puts her in the public focus. It's not
fair, she didn't ask for it. [Pause.] Then there is
the other side of that equation, which is I write,
that's what I do, I draw on personal experience.
[Pause.] But as I keep saying, the importance to me is
that people see themselves in the songs rather than
pore over them as voyeurs would. I think that would be
a fairly dissatisfying listen, frankly."

There is something of the schoolmaster about Costello.
But he has a point. The record works beautifully
because it tells a universal story. There are no names
named on the album, no tales told, no scores settled.
The lyrics of North are incredibly personal, but the
details could apply to any of us who has been in love
(the coat he wraps around her shoulders, the way he
can't stop telling friends about her and becomes the
ultimate love bore). Has Cait heard North?

"I don't know. I'm not being evasive... but I have
very consciously not written an album about any
unhappiness I lived through, or any bitter feeling I
have." Instead, he says, he wants to express the hope
that there is for anybody. "You've reached an impasse
and something else can happen." He often takes the
most circuitous route to answer a question, but he
does answer. Actually, by his standards he is being a
right old gossip. He says there are wonderful records
that document relationships, but they only mean
anything to us because they transcend biography.

"Take Blood On The Tracks [Bob Dylan] or Blue [Joni
Mitchell], they are two albums that appear to be
rooted in very, very painful personal experience, yet
they have humour in them, some sense of joy as well as desolation. And at least one of those albums has a tremendous amount of anger that my record doesn't have." He smiles, amazed at what he's just said.

"That's the biggest shock - that it doesn't have any
anger in it. That's useless to me, to have anger or recrimination in my songs because I have spent such a long time talking about matters of anger."

In recent years, Costello has reissued old albums with
detailed essays about the history of the songs. "If
you look at the sleeve notes of the reissue of Blood & Chocolate, I said, very honestly, when I wrote that record I felt I had put aside fucking up my life, which is what the first seven years of my career were about, so I could write songs about it." (That's when he started doing the pop star thing - drinking himself silly, being loud and abusive, leaving his first wife for a model.)

Later, the songs were less immediate, more reflective.
It felt a natural evolution - he was married to Cait,
in a stable relationship, and he wanted to explore
anger rather than live it. But, of course, it's never
as simple as that. "Then you have to start questioning
whether you are doing that to avoid emotional truths,
and whether you're all wearing disguises for a good or
bad reason."

And, even as he talks, the great contrarian seems to
be arguing it out in his head. I ask him if all the
bile of the early days was heartfelt. "Well, I don't
actually agree with that..." No, no, I burble, there
was tenderness there as well. "Yeah, that's the thing.
I'm not complaining about it retrospectively, I think
it's understandable that it makes good copy and I play
along with it and up to it sometimes, so I can't
complain that the lasting impression of those first
few years focuses more on the anger than the
tenderness. There have been outbursts of much more
profound anger since. Y'know, Tramp The Dirt Down, the
whole of Mighty Like A Rose are much angrier than the
first three albums put together. And specific and
focused anger. And honed. And, y'know, watered and
fertilised anger."

The lyrics to Tramp The Dirt Down, dedicated to
Margaret Thatcher, are possibly the most bilious he
has written.

... there's one thing, I know, I'd like to live
Long enough to savour
That's when they finally put you in the ground
I'll stand on your grave and tramp the dirt down.

He's still thinking about his reputation. "You know,"
he says out of the blue, "the thing that I never, ever
got was misogyny and that was attached to me a lot
early on. A lot. And I could never get that. A lot of
the songs early on were more disappointed that anybody
would fall for the cliché of romance or fashion or a
cheap version of love. And that's a consistent
theme... "

Not a misogynist, I say, but you did come out with
some right bollocks. "Oh, absolutely. Tons of
bollocks." He grins. He once said his driving forces
were guilt and revenge. "Shall I tell you something?
That much-repeated quote was said after 14 Pernods, in
one of those kind of fits of beautiful drunken bravado
when you didn't throw up and you didn't fall down and
you suddenly had a moment of clarity that you thought
was like the most original thought."

I remind him of another time when he was drunk, this
time in America in 1979, and he described Ray Charles
as "an ignorant, blind nigger". He doesn't need
reminding. In the past, he has called that the low
point of his career.

"Read the sleeve notes to Get Happy!! I'll get it sent
to you, and that's what I'm going to say about that."

A few days later the album arrives in the post. In the
sleeve notes, Costello describes how, after the
success of the album Armed Forces, he was embraced by
the corporate pop machine and he was spoiling for a
fight.

"This would come to an end in April 1979 at Columbus,
Ohio, where a ridiculous drunken argument would
culminate in me speaking the exact opposite of my true
beliefs in an attempt to provoke a fight that
inevitably arrived. That I was speaking in some
absurd, exaggerated, supposedly ironic humour, in
which everything is expressed in the reverse of that
which one knows to be true, is no excuse. There was
nothing sparkling or glorious about the wordplay, just
the seed of madness. It was the product of crazed
indulgence."

Afterwards, Costello received more than 100 death
threats, his records were pulled from US playlists and
his shows were picketed by the very anti-racist
organisation for which he had appeared six months
earlier. "The humour of outrage never did sit that
well with people and is particularly useless if the
intent is garbled drunkenly," he explains.

Get Happy!! was released the following year, and was
his tribute to the soul music that had been such an
inspiration for him. It was something of an apology.
But he never said as much. Pride got the better of
him. Costello says that the only time he has ever
really been in fashion was in 1979, and he was
determined, wittingly or unwittingly, to screw it up.

"I hated just about everything in my world, reserving
the greatest disdain for myself," he writes on Get
Happy!! After writing all those songs about being a
loser, about not being able to get the girl, what was
it like when he realised that he could get her? "Well,
I hated that. You start to feel wretched about it. For
a short period of time I think it brings about a
certain self-satisfaction and greed, and then you
start to hate yourself pretty quickly." For what? "For
being everything you said you didn't like."

I ask him if he feels more secure with age. "Well, you
can become more insecure because you've got more to
lose. History teaches us that people become more
conservative with a small c, more pragmatic or
cautious, or timid, whichever word you want to use for
not taking chances, and I sort of feel the opposite."

Security, for Costello, is the willingness to flirt
with insecurity. Music is in his bones. He talks about
growing up in Liverpool and London with his mum
Lillian and his dad Ross McManus, the singer and
trumpet player. (The only recorded song they ever sang
together was I'm A Secret Lemonade Drinker for the R
White's advert when he was 17.)

His grandfather had been an army musician who became a
ship's musician. "He went to America in the 20s,
Kyoto, India. The only ambition I ever had was to see
the world, and I've done that." He has apartments in
New York and Dublin, but he says he doesn't really
feel as if he lives in any one particular place these
days. Costello has a grown-up son from his first
marriage. What does he do? "He writes..." And he stops
himself. His son is another person whose privacy he
doesn't want to invade.

What he really loves talking about is music. He tells
me how Burt Bacharach, with whom he recorded Painted
>From Memory, taught him the importance of paring down
words ("Three or four years ago I was telling anybody
who would listen that my ambition was to not write any
words at all"); how he recently heard a wonderful
album by the lost soul star Howard Tate; how he and
the Attractions were inducted into the Rock And Roll
Hall Of Fame along with the Clash and the Police ("The
Police were so bad, so appallingly bad, really bad,"
he says with relish. "It was so funny. It was all the weaknesses of the band amplified by time. Sting just looked like he'd rather be anywhere else. Actually, the unthinkable happened - I felt sorry for him"); how he learnt the importance of phrasing through listening to Sinatra. Then he's on to the intolerant political climate in America and how the Dixie Chicks were lambasted for saying that they were ashamed of coming from Texas, the same state as George Bush.

"The media is so contrived and hysterical. It's
terrible. The political debate is so belligerent, all
shouting, just like a cartoon, it's all about logos
and slogans." As for British politics, he says, they
are also just glorified ad men."In the old days there
was an establishment against which people railed. Even
up to the Margaret Thatcher days there was an
establishment. Although it was a new establishment, it
was still an establishment. Now there isn't."

Typical Costello - detests the establishment, and
complains when it disappears. "Obviously there is a
big and bad world happening out there, and maybe there
is another time to sing of those things, but I cannot
think of anything better to do than to sing of love
right now." Has he ever written about love in such a
way before? "No, either because it didn't occur to me
or because it just didn't happen."

I ask him if he ever steps back and asks how the young
nerd who lost Alison could end up with Diana Krall.
"Well, people will always say that, won't they?" And
he decides to answer a different question - one that
he seems to have asked himself. "Well, we just all
want to find some peace. You can entertain dark
thoughts, you can retain your sense of indignation,
disgust with things that deserve those responses and
still have some sense of peace..."

He asks me if I think people will listen to the record
for what it is, rather than as a piece of potted
biography. Well, I say, it's inevitable that people
will be interested in the story behind it. "I hope it
doesn't crowd anybody," he says. "My intention was not
to crowd. It was to make something beautiful. It's the
only record I've ever made that aspired to beauty as
the prime objective. That's really all I was trying to
do. Make something beautiful."

What amazes me about North is Costello's state of
total bliss in the second half of the album. While in
the first half he was astonished to find himself so
lost, now he is even more astonished to find such
love. I'm sure he'll probably strike me down for
saying so, but I've never heard such rapture in his
songs. For once he doesn't disagree. "Well, that's a
nice word. I think it is rapturous. Yeah, I'll accept
that, thank you."

· North is released on September 15. Costello's UK
tour goes to Glasgow Royal Concert Hall (October 7),
Newcastle Opera House (, Manchester Bridgewater Hall
(10), London Royal Festival Hall (11) and Birmingham
Symphony Hall (November 7).

Posted by Post Master at 12:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

COSTELLO'S "PIANO JAZZ" AIRS IN SEPTEMBER

Elvis Costello performs jazz standards and his own material with pianist Marian McPartland for an upcoming installment of her National Public Radio series, "Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz." The episode will begin airing on NPR stations across the country on September 30, 2003 , a week after the Deutsche Grammophon release of Costello's album 'North.' Visit www.pianojazz.org for local airtime information.

"I got the call to do it, and I was delighted to speak with Marian," Costello says. "We did it completely off the cuff during the day... it was really good fun."

Costello sings with McPartland's piano accompaniment on songs including the standards "At Last," "My Funny Valentine," "You Don't Know What Love Is," and his own "Almost Blue," among others. He plays guitar and sings on "Gloomy Sunday," made famous by Billie Holiday.

Costello's September 23, Deutsche Grammophon release, 'North,' presents eleven new compositions written at the piano by Costello between Autumn 2002 and New Year's Day 2003.

The album, which features Steve Nieve on piano, Peter Erskine on drums and Mike Formanek on double bass, displays a tender and intimate vocal side never before showcased on record as the eleven ballads are sung predominately in his baritone register.
(Submitted by John Foyle)

Posted by Post Master at 02:21 PM | Permalink

Go to here (www.elviscostello.com) right now. I just got row 'C' both nights. Go Fast Go.

Glad to see some of the mystery of the good seats solved. A big thanks to Kelly Hale for spotting this and posting to the costello list.

Posted by Post Master at 09:47 PM | Permalink

Amazing site of 'new wave' photographs - thousands of them from '77 to '03 - all taken by one photographer. Either this guy didn't like EC (but liked everybody else) or he's saving the best for last. Check it out.

Posted by Post Master at 12:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Speaking about North with sound clips, located over at www.elviscostello.info.
(Spotted by John Foyle)

Posted by Post Master at 10:09 AM | Permalink

As predicted here a few days ago, TicketsNow has Row A, B, C, D & E for Town Hall. Prices are steep - but it's a hassle free way to sit front and usually center.

Do you think they wait inline, sleeping on the sidewalk, or do you think they just dial or click really fast? :-)

Posted by Post Master at 10:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The Denver Post with Article on Warren Zevon and Review of his new CD. In an included discography it says of his '78 release Excitable Boy: "The closest anybody has come to an American Elvis Costello." That's a stretch - I'd say he's more of an American Nick Lowe. Great never-the-less.

See entry below to order The Wind, the new CD available today.

Posted by Post Master at 09:52 AM | Permalink

Posted by Post Master at 09:30 AM | Permalink

The Denver Post prints an Orlando Sentinal article, with a very nice look back at Gram Parsons. EC gets a name-check.

Posted by Post Master at 09:26 AM | Permalink

Posted by Post Master at 05:42 PM | Permalink

The 5-DVD Set of Music Performances from 25-years of Saturday Night Live, based on the shows that were on VH-1, apparently have more complete versions of the performances, including the '77 EC appearance of Radio Radio and the later performance of Veronica.

Reviewed in Oregon Live: "Performance highlights are numerous. Elvis Costello and the Attractions start "Less than Zero" and then, on live TV, abruptly switch to a frantic version of "Radio Radio"

Posted by Post Master at 12:15 PM | Permalink

Tickets On Sale TODAY 1pm EST - TicketBastard
Sept 22 - Sept 24

Update: As usual, fuck these guys. At 1:01 tickets were 'on sale' but 'not available'. At 1:03 they managed Balcony 'F' and Loge 6. I could stand the rediculous fees if at least there was some chance of getting good tickets. I wouldn't even mind if they admitted that 50% of the seats went directly to brokers or scalpers - fine - I think that's free enterprise. But either admit that it isn't first-come-best-served or sell some good tickets to those who show up the minute they go on sale. After 5 minutes of re-trying and re-trying, both online and on the phone, I gave up. As usually, I'll wind up in the first 3 rows, via some scalper or broker. Or for $5 the day of the show out on the streets. Once again, a total lack of competition leads to horrible service. Email your congressman. Fuck Ticketmaster and more importantly those who run it.

BTW: The fine folks at TicketsNow will undoubtedly have top 5 row tickets very soon. Link on the sidebar at right listed as 'Buy Premium Tickets'. If you don't mind paying-up, this is an excellent place to get the BEST seats. (Plus your purchase supports this site...)

Posted by Post Master at 12:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Two Costello LPs are part of the BuyMusic.com digital music offering - Painted From Memory and When I Was Cruel. They're $9.99 per CD or 0.99 per track. They also have the Willie Nelson & Friends CD, from which I purchased the Trio-ette with Willie, Elvis, & The Future Misses singing Crazy.

Ironically, I stumbled on this site because I first found DontBuyMusic.com.

Posted by Post Master at 12:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Sorry for the late notice, but there is still one more show tonight:

Anne Sofie Von Otter Meets Elvis Costello
8-10am, 10pm-12am & 1-3am (et)

A break-taking concert that teams up the unlikely pairing of Elvis Costello and Anne Sofie von Otter. "Anne Sofie Von Otter Meets Elvis Costello" features mezzo-soprano von Otter undergoing an uncanny transformation from opera diva to sensual jazz-pop artist in teamwork with Costello. Hear "No Wonder" and "For the Stars," innovative new Costello songs composed specially for von Otter.

(Submitted by Connor Ratliff)
PS: I was at this taping and have never seen it - can't wait.

Posted by Post Master at 10:33 PM | Permalink

Posted by Post Master at 02:10 PM | Permalink

From MediaWeek: "..."What can we do different?" asks Sussman. "It's part of our challenge and our conversations every year. You create clever combos, like Springsteen, Miami Steve and Elvis Costello singing a tribute to Joe Strummer. Getting Wolverine to host the Tonys is doing something to reinvent that show. We're happy that our awards have credibility, but in the end, it's those live performances you can't see anywhere else that draw the audience."

Posted by Post Master at 11:55 AM | Permalink

from IndieWire: "Adam Goldberg will unveil his second feature, "I Love Your Work," with a cast that includes Giovanni Ribisi, Franka Potente, Joshua Jackson, Christina Ricci, Jason Lee, Vince Vaughn, and Elvis Costello."

Posted by Post Master at 11:59 AM | Permalink

Thinking about a trip to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame? Here's one person's opinion of it from Boston.com. This visitor is not impressed by the treatment Elvis and others in the class of 2003 get.

Posted by Post Master at 11:02 AM | Permalink

Roberta Bayley has some great photos of Elvis (and others) on her site. Find Elvis Costello in both the Color and B&W pull down menus. These include Elvis with Richard Hell at CBGB (recently released on the Hell Box) plus the sessions that produced the Armed Forces US Promo Poster. Even better, you can order actual 8x10 photo prints for reasonable prices. Wow.
(Submitted by Erika)

Posted by Post Master at 11:12 PM | Permalink

From High Fidelity Review:

"Universal Adds Elvis Costello, The Who and Sea Biscuit to SACD Plans
Universal Music continues to expand their list of upcoming 5.1 Surround Sound SACDs. The newest SACD plans for the Fall include 5 more pop, rock and jazz albums by Elvis Costello, The Who, Randy Newman and Ludacris. The release list also includes the first SACD release on the ECM label. Release Date Nov 4th"
(Submitted by John Foyle)

Note: This brings to 5 the number of copies of North that 'get-a-lifers' will have to purchase, so far: US, UK, Japan, Vinyl, and SACD. And eventually of course the Ryko Re-Release....

Posted by Post Master at 10:48 PM | Permalink

From the VillageVoice: "Across the city different nightclubbers were having uniquely different blackout experiences. The Chemical Brothers, in town to promote a singles collection, Singles 93-03, were at the 14th-floor midtown offices of K-Rock. Finished with their interview, Tom and Ed were ready to leave, but their Astralwerks escort introduced them to some more people at the station. A few moments later, the building went dark; had they left a few minutes earlier, they would have been stuck in the elevator for an untold number of hours. After walking down the stairs, Tom and Ed made their way to the Mercer, and spent the night drinking in the lobby, where other assorted celebs imbibed, including Elvis Costello, Miramax honcho Harvey Weinstein, photographer David LaChapelle, downtown tranny Amanda Lepore (who spent part of the blackout riding around the East Village in a rickshaw-like vehicle totally butt naked and offering photo ops to strangers), and Duran Duran's Nick Rhodes. (Sadly, Mr. Rhodes couldn't nab a table.)"

(Submitted by John Foyle)

Posted by Post Master at 10:46 PM | Permalink

The Toronto Film Festival screenings of I Love Your
Work have now officially been set for:

- Fri. Sept 5, 6:30pm, Bader (450)
- Sat. Sept 6, 12:00pm, Elgin (1358)
- [Press/Industry Screening:] Fri. Sept 5, 9:15 am,
Varsity 1 (204)

This movie has extensive EC soundtrack music and an appearance by Elvis Costello.

(Submitted by John Foyle)

Posted by Post Master at 06:42 PM | Permalink

It's been relatively quiet - so time for another in the memorabilia series. This is a My Aim Is True promo poster put out by Columbia Records in Canada to promote EC's first record. It's a standard sized 2x3 (approx. poster).

I have it marked as 1978 so the Canadian release may have trailed the US release by a few months. Anyone with more info, please leave a comment.

Posted by Post Master at 04:48 PM | Permalink

Capital searches for gems in 30-year-old archives. "Capital hopes to find a recording of Elvis Costello, one of the music industry's most respected and enduring singer-songwriters, made during a solo session in 1977."

Update: According to Dave Farr, not one to trifle with on these issues: "The solo session EC did for Capitol in 1977 was the source of the versions of "You Belong to Me" and "Radio Radio" which were used on the Rhino reissue of TYM. I know, 'cause I supplied the tapes. "Hoover Factory" was also played in that session, and all have been bootlegged long ago (on the 50 Million Fans boot). So I don't if Capitol is barking up the wrong tree here or not..."

Posted by Post Master at 04:42 PM | Permalink

Listen to Steve Nieve sing one of his new songs. Go to this page and look for the icon above.
(Submitted by Peter Gale)

Posted by Post Master at 01:10 AM | Permalink

If you're a newsreader person (and you should be) check this out, a custom RSS feed for Elvis Costello news from Rolling Stone.

http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/rssxml.asp?oid=199

You can build these for any artist here.

Posted by Post Master at 11:31 AM | Permalink

A Reign Supreme - From Cleveland Free Times.
Nice story on Burke with some EC references: "Elvis Costello, who contributed the song, "The Judgment," dropped by during the recording sessions just to wish Burke well.."

Posted by Post Master at 11:21 AM | Permalink

EC makes a list of 'bad first impressions' in the Australia's The Age:

"December 7, 1978. Crowd riots at Elvis Costello’s first show
The crowds at Elvis Costello’s 2002 tour were mostly chin-stroking, head-nodding fans who had to rush home before the babysitter star-ted charging double. But twenty-five years ago, the audience for the angry new wave hero’s first ever Australian show at Sydney’s Regent Theatre was more excitable. When Costello and the Attractions refused to do an encore after playing for only 57 minutes, the crowd went berserk. While promoter Zev Eizik was trading punches backstage with Costello’s manager, Jake Riviera, the audience decided the best way to encourage the band to do some more songs was to rip up the seats and throw the cushions on stage, along with anything else that was or wasn’t nailed down. The riot, the media agreed the next day, was Costello’s fault. "

Posted by Post Master at 11:44 AM | Permalink

'North,' Deutsche Grammophon, September 23 Elvis Costello's new album 'North,' featuring eleven new compositions written at the piano by Costello between Autumn 2002 and New Year's Day 2003, will be released by Deutsche Grammophon on September 23. With the album, fans will get a PIN number giving them access to an online-only download of the title track, and the first 100,000 copies sold will include a limited-edition DVD with music videos. Costello will celebrate the release with a special show at New York's Museum of Television and Radio to be simulcast to Virgin Megastores and NPR's "World Cafe."
(Submitted by Connor Ratliff)

Posted by Post Master at 12:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Want to see what the 'blogosphere' is thinking and saying about Elvis? You can see every time EC's name is mentioned on any blog anywhere, via Feedster. I've included a link on the right in the Web Sites section so you can check it from time to time when you have 10 or 17 hours to kill...

Posted by Post Master at 02:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

"MGM has changed the title of its big-screen Cole Porter biography/musical from "Just One of Those Things" to "De-lovely." The film, due next year, stars Kevin Kline as Porter and Ashley Judd as Porter's wife, Linda. It will feature musical numbers performed by Alanis Morissette, Natalie Cole, Sheryl Crow, Elvis Costello, Robbie Williams, Diana Krall and Vivian Green."

Posted by Post Master at 04:33 PM | Permalink

The Chicago Sun Times gives EC quite a back-handed compliment.
"Other geezers who still matter: Laurie Anderson, Iggy Pop, Lou Reed, John Mellencamp, Tom Petty, Elvis Costello, Wire, John Paul Jones, Brian Eno, the Buzzcocks and Pere Ubu."

Posted by Post Master at 04:32 PM | Permalink

"Negation-cottage-industry chronicler Greil Marcus once wrote in these pages that the idea behind Elvis Costello's Armed Forces is that fascism survived the war by going underground and into our daily lives. Party of One follow it to the basement, the symbolic if not actual arena where Caught the Blast was recorded on an eight-track..." From the Village Voice

Posted by Post Master at 04:30 PM | Permalink

Almost Blue, by Carlo Lucarelli (Harvill, £9.99)

Buoyed by the success of Henning Mankell, Harvill is treating us to an impressive array of continental crime, featuring Eva-Marie Liffner, Karin Fossum, Pernille Rygg and Marcello Fois. But pride of place must go to the first of Italian Carlo Lucarelli's Inspector Negro novels, translated by Oonagh Stransky. Still inexperienced female detective Grazia Negro is determined to solve the case of a serial killer preying on the students of Bologna. Only one witness can identify the killer - but he is blind. The reclusive Simone, who spends his days listening to Elvis Costello's Almost Blue, "hears" the city in remarkable ways. With a brilliantly psychotic villain shadowing Simone and Grazia, and a rollercoaster plot that never slows for red herrings or unnecessary verbiage, this is a compact and powerful masterpiece, and the first example we have of the Turin school of Italian noir. More, please.
(Submitted by Kelly Hale)

Posted by Post Master at 12:07 AM | Permalink

In The Age: "Uncertain Pleasures was "a Warner Brothers, big production album" that attempted to marry Coughlan's superbly lived-in voice to songs by Elvis Costello and Fairground Attraction's Mark E. Nevin, but it had mixed results"

Interestingly the track listing I find for Uncertain Pleasures has no Elvis track. Mary sang 'Mischevious Ghost' with Elvis on Bringing It All Back Home, and had her version of 'Upon A Veil of Midnight Blue' on the Lost Dogs Tribute CD. You can get both her version of 'Baby Plays Around' and 'Upon A Veil of Midnight Blue' on the CD Love For Sale.

Posted by Post Master at 01:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

""He won third place in a Billboard Song Contest for 'Fool on a Bicycle,' which is the best song Elvis Costello hasn't written in 10 years." Read it here.

Editors Note: I don't usually include these band-that-sounds-like-elvis name-checks, but the quote and the name 'Candy Pants' were reason for an exception.

Posted by Post Master at 01:22 PM | Permalink

Elvis the Accordian Lover.

"Cool? Ask Elvis Costello, Paul Simon and John Mellencamp if it's a cool instrument _ they've all used accordions in their recordings. So have Jimi Hendrix, Talking Heads and They Might Be Giants."

Posted by Post Master at 01:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

From MTV News: "Singer/songwriters Elvis Costello, Pete Yorn, Jesse Malin and Billy Bragg are a few of the artists contributing to the double album Light of Day: A Tribute to Bruce Springsteen. Proceeds from the sale of the album, due September 2, will benefit the Parkinson's Disease Foundation (www.pdf.org) and the Kristen Ann Carr Fund, which grants money for cancer research and assists those suffering from the illness."

Posted by Post Master at 01:19 PM | Permalink

View and download both low and HIGH-RESOLUTION versions of three great new Elvis Costello pictures (headshots) from EC's PR-Agency. Plus a high-resolution copy of the NORTH album cover. Awesome!
(submitted by Chris Wright)

Posted by Post Master at 12:13 AM | Permalink

From ICE Magazine:
* The first 100,000 US copies of North will have a bonus DVD of EC playing Fallen and North solo at the piano.
* Japan bonus tracks will be Impatience and Too Blue
* Euro edition will have Impatience
* US Internet track is to be North but EC may switch it to Impatience since alternate North is on the DVD (Where will this leave the studio North?)

(Submitted by Mike Bodayle)

Posted by Post Master at 10:01 AM | Permalink

AUDIO BULLYS ELVIS COSTELLO HOMAGE AS NEXT SINGLE

"Audio Bullys will release their next single, 'Way Too Long', on August 18. The track, which features a sample from Elvis Costello’s ‘I Don’t Want to Go to Chelsea’, is lifted from their 'Ego War' album, which came out last month on Source."
(Submitted by John Harrison)

Posted by Post Master at 10:06 AM | Permalink

The EC&DK spotting continues:

In the UK, Decca records have released a new double CD of George Gershwin songs and music by "various" artists, and believe me, they don't come much more varied. The CD "The very best of George Gershwin" is notable for being (I think) the first release to feature Elvis and Diana together (albeit on separate tracks). Elvis gives us : "But Not For Me" and Diana performs "S' Wonderful". The EC track is likely the same as that which appeared on the 1994 "The Glory of Gershwin" release on Mercury (but I am sure a completist somewhere out there will tell us if it isn't).

Decca are using TV ads to promote the CD release which mention EC, but don't (I think) actually include any of his track. The CD is available to order now from Amazon in the UK (and elsewhere for all I know) for 14.99 pounds sterling.

(Submitted by Nick Ratcliffe)

And Mr. Foyle find us:
Elvis and Diana both appeared on tracks on a Chieftains `Best of` The Wide World Over -
Elvis singing on The Long Journey Home and Diana (dueting with Art Garfunkel) on Morning Has Broken.

Posted by Post Master at 10:03 AM | Permalink

Pictures and info on the recent Fuji Rock Festival Appearance

Here are some fine photos

And this one is a rather humiliating illustration

(You can click 'cancel' and NOT install the Japanese language pack and the images will still appear properly)

Story and Picture from Japan Times

(Submitted by Ayako Sasamoto)

Posted by Post Master at 09:59 AM | Permalink

The next batch of Elvis Costello Re-issues are Trust, Get Happy, and Punch The Clock.

You can order and get them NOW from from Amazon.co.uk.
Or you can pre-order them from US Amazon.com and they will ship when released in September.

Click HERE to see bonus track listings.

GET HAPPY! - 28 Bonus Tracks on Bonus CD
Order Now - Amazon.co.uk
Pre-Order - Amazon.com

Trust - 16 Bonus Tracks on Bonus CD
Order Now - Amazon.co.uk
Pre-Order - Amazon.com

Punch The Clock - 26 Bonus tracks on Bonus CD
Order Now - Amazon.co.uk
Pre-Order - Amazon.com

Here's a great interview/article about these re-re-reissues.

BONUS TRACK LISTS
(note these were moving around a bit as release approached and there might be slight changes to final releases)
==============

Trust - Bonus Tracks
1. Black Sails In The Sunset (Alternate Version)
2. Big Sister (Alternate Version)
3. You'll Never Be A Man (Alternate Take)
4. Sad About Girls
5. Slow Down
6. Clubland (Alternate Take)
7. From A Whisper To A Scream (Alternate Take)
8. Watch Your Step (Alternate Take)
9. Twenty-Five To Twelve
10. Black Sails In The Sunset
11. Big Sister
12. Love For Sale
13. Weeper's Dream
14. Gloomy Sunday
15. Boy With A Problem
16. The Long Honeymoon (Instrumental Piano Demo)

GET HAPPY - Bonus Disc
1. I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down [Alternate Version]
2. I Stand Accused [Alternate Version]
3. Girls Talk
4. Human Touch [Alternate Version]
5. Temptation [Alternate Version]
6. Motel Matches [Alternate Take]
7. Clowntime Is Over No.2
8. Girls Talk [Alternate Version]
9. Getting Mighty Crowded
10. From A Whisper To A Scream [Alternate Version]
11. Watch Your Step [Alternate Version]
12. Dr. Luther's Assistant
13. Ghost Train
14. New Lace Sleeves [Alternate Version]
15. Hoover Factory
16. Just A Memory
17. New Amsterdam [Band Arrangement]*
18. Black & White World [Demo]
19. Riot Act [Demo]
20. 5ive Gears In Reverse [Demo]
21. Love For Tender [Demo]
22. Men Called Uncle [Demo]
23. King Horse [Demo]
24. Seven O''Cock [Demo]
25. High Fidelity [Early Live Arrangement]
26. Opportunity [Early Live Arrangement]*
27. The Imposter [Live]*
28. Don't Look Back [Live]*

Punch The Clock - Bonus Disc
1. Everyday I Write The Book [Studio Merseybeat Version]
2. Heathen Town
3. Baby Pictures
4. The Flirting Kind
5. Big Sister's Clothes/Stand Down Margaret [BBC Session]
6. The Town Where Time Stood Still
7. Danger Zone [BBC Session]
8. Seconds Of Pleasure
9. Walking On Thin Ice
10. The World And His Wife [Solo Version]
11. Shatterproof
12. Let Them All Talk [Demo]
13. King Of Thieves [Demo]
14. The Invisible Man [Demo]
15. The Element Within Her [Demo]
16. Love Went Mad [Demo]
17. The Greatest Thing [Demo]
18. Mouth Almighty [Demo]
19. Charm School [Demo]
20. The Flirting Kind [Demo]*
21. Heathen Town [Demo]*
22. Possession [Live]
23. Secondary Modern [Live]
24. Watch Your Step [Live]*
25. The Bells [Live]
26. Back Stabbers/King Horse [Live]

Posted by Post Master at 01:04 AM | Permalink

As part of a new series for this site, I'll be posting cool and unusual EC Collectibles or Images. When available, details will be provided. In this case, I have no idea...

Posted by Post Master at 10:50 AM | Permalink

Weds nite (last) at CBGB.
"Elvis Costello Helps Relauch Boog City"

Excerpts: "It was all Elvis, all the time -- Costello, that is. Boog City, the East Village community newspaper, relaunched with a fund-raiser Wednesday night at CB's 313 Gallery on the Bowery.

"We covered Nirvana's 'Nevermind' and the Ramones' 'Rocket to Russia' last year," said David Kirschenbaum, the paper's editor and publisher. "It only seemed natural to cover Elvis Costello's first two albums ('My Aim is True' and 'This Years Model') which came out in 1977 and 1978, respectively, for this issue of the paper, which focuses on those same years."

"So, Kirschenbaum found 13 different musical acts from New York City and Long Island to play two consecutive songs each from the albums to raise funds to offset the paper's printing costs. From the all-girl rock of Pantsuit to the Tet Offensive's hard driving string trio and vocals, to Simone White's haunting voice and acoustic guitar, each act delivered their own unique interpretation of these Costello classics. The Baby Skins falsetto and xylophone-driven "Alison" was also a highlight of the evening."

Posted by Post Master at 03:29 PM | Permalink