CostelloNews.com

Our Man's ear must hurt from all these phone interviews. This time it is CNN.

Excerpt: "Costello's pop-oriented recordings are released through Island/Def Jam. But Universal Classics chairman Chris Roberts offered Deutsche Grammophon as a haven for "North." It will serve as a prelude to the late-2004 release by the label of a Costello orchestral album, recorded with Michael Tilson-Thomas and the London Symphony Orchestra. That set showcases a ballet score for "A Midsummer Night's Dream," commissioned by Italy's Aterballetto dance company.

"Roberts gave me the opportunity to make a ballad album," Costello says, "and I had a whole other repertoire of maybe 20 or more songs that I could have recorded. Then the 'North' songs appeared, and the imperative changed."

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LOS ANGELES, California (Billboard) -- "North" is hardly the usual direction for Elvis Costello.

In sharp contrast to his previous album, 2002's "When I Was Cruel," Costello's Deutsche Grammophon set -- issued September 23 -- eschews rock instrumentation and textures. Costello plays guitar on just one number; the collection's 11 tracks -- all original ballads -- are dominated by Steve Nieve's piano.

Costello says of his unusually naked new songs, "The first song is taken by some as romantic loss, when it's actually about bereavement. The rest of the songs describe a transition from bewilderment into acceptance. That is something I believe people will recognize in degrees ... Hopefully, in time, different songs will mean different things to individuals who are listening."

Though intimate in content, the set is embellished on several numbers by arrangements, written by Costello, featuring a string and horn ensemble that sometimes swells to 48 pieces. Soloists include jazz saxophonist Lee Konitz, trumpeter Lew Soloff and vibraphonist Bill Ware.

The introspective, bluntly honest and often wounded songs were penned during Costello's 2002 American tour.

He says, "I was seeking out pianos wherever I could -- backstage, in dressing rooms, sometimes in the wings of theaters. And then I bought a cheap electronic keyboard so that I could play late at night in a hotel room. I could sketch things out on that. I was also on the road, literally on the road, so I could sit at the back of the bus with the keyboard and keep working.

"When I finished the tour, a second group of songs appeared, which is the second half of the record. Pretty much, they appear in the sequence in which they were written."

Costello's pop-oriented recordings are released through Island/Def Jam. But Universal Classics chairman Chris Roberts offered Deutsche Grammophon as a haven for "North." It will serve as a prelude to the late-2004 release by the label of a Costello orchestral album, recorded with Michael Tilson-Thomas and the London Symphony Orchestra. That set showcases a ballet score for "A Midsummer Night's Dream," commissioned by Italy's Aterballetto dance company.

"Roberts gave me the opportunity to make a ballad album," Costello says, "and I had a whole other repertoire of maybe 20 or more songs that I could have recorded. Then the 'North' songs appeared, and the imperative changed."

"We wanted to bridge the gap," Universal Classics senior vice president and general manager Marc Johnston says. "From "When I Was Cruel" into a symphonic, sort of ballet album was a pretty radical step, so this was the natural journey that Elvis was taking. This album is one step further toward the album next fall."

The CD package for "North" includes a PIN that allows the consumer to download the title composition, which Costello chose not to include on the album.

Costello begins an extensive tour of Japan and Europe in early October.

"Then hopefully," he says, "in the late winter or early spring of next year, we'll do a full-length American tour, if all is well."

Posted by Post Master at 10:52 PM | Permalink

From JamMusic

Excerpts: "Elvis Costello's star power in Canada went up several decibels after it was made public he was smitten with jazz darling Diana Krall. By his own admission, his bookings increased (including cities he hadn't played in 25 years), the venues got bigger and his face was splashed across the front pages of newspapers more frequently.

..."It's not just about looking at it and trying to picture somebody's life so much as see something that stimulates your imagination, like moving pictures," said Costello"

...""Why I don't have massive success and fame and wealth is because it doesn't accumulate the way it does for people who make the same record over and over again," he said."

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TORONTO -- Elvis Costello's star power in Canada went up several decibels after it was made public he was smitten with jazz darling Diana Krall.

By his own admission, his bookings increased (including cities he hadn't played in 25 years), the venues got bigger and his face was splashed across the front pages of newspapers more frequently.

"I'd perhaps underestimated that I was known in Canada," he said bashfully during a recent interview over the line from Germany.

And while fans can look for evidence of the couple's romance -- and his divorce from his wife of 16 years Cait O'Riordan -- on his new album North, Costello says things never happen precisely like they do in song.

"Life is longer, wider and more boring and messier," he said. "It's impossible to say it is literally in every detail exactly as it happened because it leaves out so many things. The things you choose to focus on become songs. Their aim is to be universal in appreciation, be there for people to see themselves in the songs."

Even the album's title has nothing to do with the homeland of his fiancee. "It's sort of like expecting the opposite of the old saying 'Something is going south.' It's like saying onward and upward . . . a general sort of movement towards the positive," explained Costello, who began his recording career in 1977 with the record My Aim Is True.

The actual song North, a whimsical ditty about a country with polar bears, moose and geese, wasn't included on the album because it would have specifically placed the album in Canada, Costello says.

"It would exaggerate the sense of identification of these songs with my life or with our life. And then I've defeated myself," he said.

Besides, he says, the songs were written prior to becoming romantically involved with Krall.

A collection of vocally driven ballads, North intensely captures tender emotions in a roundly classical style, reminiscent of his collaborations with Burt Bacharach and the Brodsky Quartet (which appears on the album). The record, Costello's 24th, follows last year's rock-minded When I Was Cruel.

Set to vulnerable piano chords and delicate orchestral arrangements, North plays like a movie, beginning with the end of a relationship and ending with the birth of another.

He describes the progression as "quite sad and then hopeful and eventually joyous."

"It's not just about looking at it and trying to picture somebody's life so much as see something that stimulates your imagination, like moving pictures," said Costello, who was born Declan MacManus.

To that end he chose to keep the instrumentation sparse because it fit with the lyrics. "That was the most truthful way for the songs to exist," he said. "There's a starting point of sadness and literally the first song is as much about bereavement as it is about romantic loss."

Forever fine tuning his craft and reinventing himself in various musical genres, Costello says he's proud of his ability to stick to his guns and not give in to any commercial formula.

"I didn't think very far forward 20 years ago. I didn't even think I was going to get out of next week in terms of writing and making records. But after a while it seemed, despite the fact that my old records didn't sell very much, there was always somebody there to listen. I'd made some changes . . . because I loved a different type of music and that's what I wanted to do," says the 48-year-old singer who started some 25 years ago with roots in the punk scene and later became one of the barometers for good pop music.

"I'd expected people to become exasperated at that point and stop listening but usually just as many people thought 'Hey that's great. I never heard that before.' "

And he's philosophical about what his approach has meant for him.

"Why I don't have massive success and fame and wealth is because it doesn't accumulate the way it does for people who make the same record over and over again," he said.

Now that the musical chameleon has completed his album, he'll be anxious for fiancee Krall to finish her new one.

But he insists, despite numerous requests by friends and fans, their careers will remain separate entities.

"As you would expect with people who share their lives, you would also lend support to one another but in ways perhaps that are harder to define," he explains. "We don't have to make records together and we don't have to be together all the time for that to be true."

They did however come together for Willie Nelson, performing a cover of Crazy for a tribute album.

"That's probably the right type of thing to do; keep it rare for the special occasion because we have, heaven knows, enough to be getting on with in our own independent careers."

He added that her new material is "a fantastic piece of work that will show another side of her that only aspects of have been shown before. It'll show a vivid picture of her in this place and time which is great for anybody to be able to achieve."

And that's what he thinks he's accomplished with North as well.

"A change," he starts, "But one that doesn't make them depart of the places that people know and love them for, but only deepens it," he explains.

North, he says, gets people's hearts pumping but not in the rock-out, adrenaline flowing sort of way some of his fans are accustomed to.

"I'm proud of the record touching people because I stuck to my intention to make it stay true to the original feeling I had when I was composing the songs and even hearing these orchestral ideas."

Posted by Post Master at 09:31 AM | Permalink

Costello Goes Soft

Excerpts: "Do not, under any circumstances, listen to "North" while operating machinery or motor vehicles. It's the aural equivalent of taking a Xanax and then downing a bottle of red wine.'

..."For songs that sound so quietly personal and private, Mr. Costello oversells every song, singing in a quavering vibrato that becomes gratingly thick and showy. After repeated listens, you'll be hard-pressed to distinguish one song from the next: It all wafts together into one soporific cloud of lounge smoke.

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Elvis Costello has ... zzzzzz ... recorded another collection of ... zzzzz ... cabaret ballads. It's called "North," and it makes me wish I were East, West or South, anywhere but "North."
Do not, under any circumstances, listen to "North" while operating machinery or motor vehicles. It's the aural equivalent of taking a Xanax and then downing a bottle of red wine.
As someone who holds Mr. Costello in the highest regard, I wasn't particularly jazzed by the idea that the singer-songwriter was returning to the self-indulgent mood of "The Juliet Letters," his 1993 collaboration with the Brodsky Quartet, and "Painted From Memory," his post-hip alliance with Burt Bacharach in 1998.
This after a scorching return to rock form with last year's "When I Was Cruel."
But return to the chamber Mr. Costello has done, gushing undying love to his new flame, the Canadian jazz-pop singer Diana Krall. "It's strange to finally find myself so tongue-tied / A change has come over me / I'm powerless to express / Everything I know but cannot speak / And if I try my voice will break," he croons on "Someone Took the Words Away."
Wonder who that someone is?
"Every single time I approached despair / I thought of your name and you were there," he surges lovingly on "When Green Eyes Turn Blue."
It's portentously announced in the liner notes that "North" was "composed, arranged and conducted by Elvis Costello," and each section of the 11-song cycle is minimalistically crafted in the style of old Broadway book or soft jazz-pop, with sporadic murmurs from brass and strings.
For songs that sound so quietly personal and private, Mr. Costello oversells every song, singing in a quavering vibrato that becomes gratingly thick and showy.
His longtime keyboard associate, Steve Nieve, plays on every track save for a pair, and drummer Peter Erskine lightly brushes a snare drum. The Brodsky Quartet appears on the album's best track, "Still," rescued by a gracefully simple melody.
After repeated listens, you'll be hard-pressed to distinguish one song from the next: It all wafts together into one soporific cloud of lounge smoke.
"Some things are too personal / Too intimate to spill / And gentlemen don't speak of them / And this never will," Mr. Costello sings on "Let Me Tell You About Her."
Couldn't have said it better myself.

Posted by Post Master at 09:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

ELVIS Costello praises Canada
Canoe News, Canada
TORONTO -- Elvis Costello's star power in Canada went up several decibels after it was made public he was smitten with jazz darling Diana Krall. ...

Posted by Post Master at 07:15 PM | Permalink

Adopting the King's name and Buddy Holly's look, Elvis Costello is known as one of the most original performers in pop music. Over the past twenty-five years, Costello has experimented with edgy rock, new wave punk, and tender love ballads. More recently, he's collaborated with artists such as Burt Bacharach, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, and The Mingus Big Band. On the show, Costello joins McPartland and bassist Gary Mazzaroppi. Featured Songs: "Gloomy Sunday" and "I'm in the Mood Again"

Go Here and enter your State to find local times and stations.

Posted by Post Master at 12:50 PM | Permalink

Elvis & A's and I's in the New York Times

Excerpt :"Given the choice between never seeing a vanished band and seeing its reunion, there is always hope that the old spark will return. Sometimes it does. Elvis Costello's 2002 reunion with three-quarters of the Attractions, renamed the Imposters and playing with predatory dynamics, cut the slack out of his songwriting. Joe Jackson's recent tour with his lean but unstoppable late-1970's band stoked his combativeness and his rhythmic kick. Both reunions showed the most auspicious sign: they generated full albums of new songs, proving that the musicians were willing to engage one another instead of just learn the old parts."

Posted by Post Master at 09:02 AM | Permalink

A really great review of the Sept 24th Show at Town Hall and North itself. This is perhaps first review of either that sounds to me like it was written by a thoughtful fan. How did they let a thoughtful guy work at Fox?

Excerpts: "Prolific to a fault, Costello has just released a new album which is called "North" but should have been named "I Absolve Myself."

..."But Krall shouldn't feel too comfortable. Costello included his "I Still Have That Other Girl In My Head" toward the end of Wednesday's show."

..."Oddly enough even these songs came across pretty well in concert, because Costello has become -- and really, I would have lost this bet back in 1991 -- playful, dramatic, and engaging on stage. As my grandmother might say, "Can you beat it?"

..."Even when Costello is ponderous he isn't boring. I take "North" as a notebook for future work. After all, it wasn't more than 18 months ago that he gave us "When I Was Cruel," an album so good that it got no mainstream awards of any kind."

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Costello the Crooner, Tonight On A&E

Elvis Costello -- who appears tonight on A&E's "Live by Request" at 10 p.m. -- is never less than interesting. On his last American date before heading to Japan, he lived up to his reputation. Wednesday night's show at Town Hall in Manhattan was full of Elvis -- the man, the music, the crooner.

That's right: Costello, who was the original angry young man of punk rock circa 1976, loves to croon. He's turned his voice into something of a weapon in the process, sometimes sounding like a dog in heat and other times coming close to a sweetness his fans -- me among them -- could not have expected in those early days.

We love him either way.

Prolific to a fault, Costello has just released a new album which is called "North" but should have been named "I Absolve Myself." That's because two years ago he fell in love with jazz performer Diana Krall, but let his longtime wife get the word through the press. He's just put their $1 million-plus Dublin estate on the market, too. The songs in "North" are all about being in love with Krall because he can't help himself.

But Krall shouldn't feel too comfortable. Costello included his "I Still Have That Other Girl In My Head" toward the end of Wednesday's show.

Most of the songs on "North" have the kind of pithy lyrics Costello is famous for, but nearly all of them lack the melodic strengths of his usual work.

Oddly enough even these songs came across pretty well in concert, because Costello has become -- and really, I would have lost this bet back in 1991 -- playful, dramatic, and engaging on stage. As my grandmother might say, "Can you beat it?" Back in 1991, Costello appeared on stage looking like Jerry Garcia's worst nightmare, with long unruly hair, bloated, a mess. It felt like he might shoot the audience. Something happened in the late 90s -- Prozac, maybe -- and now we have the new, happy Elvis.

This show, to keep costs down, consisted only of Costello and his faithful pianist/accompanist Steve Nieve. Against a barely composed backdrop the pair ran through some of the new numbers, mixing in Costello favorites. They dropped Smokey Robinson's "You Really Got a Hold on Me" into the middle of Costello's "Deep Dark Truthful Mirror," which had the pleasing effect of eating a Valhrona chocolate dessert. Costello also polished off Nick Lowe's "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding," as well as grand renditions of "All This Useless Beauty," "45" and "A Man Out of Time." They were spine tingling in the best way, which is something to say about a 48-year-old performer who's been at it since Gerald Ford was president.

So what about "North?" It might cause people to fall asleep at the wheel if played in a car. But that's a cheap shot.

Even when Costello is ponderous he isn't boring. I take "North" as a notebook for future work. After all, it wasn't more than 18 months ago that he gave us "When I Was Cruel," an album so good that it got no mainstream awards of any kind. And "North" is not without its gems. In "Still," Costello actually comes close to the compositions of his heroes: Burt Bacharach, Cole Porter, and Richard Rodgers. And that's saying a whole lot.

What next? I'd say we're headed toward the Elvis Costello Broadway musical, like it or not. And I'm going to like it.

Posted by Post Master at 10:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

As of this writing North is #18 at Amazon and was at least as high as 12 earlier today. It is also listed as SOLD OUT (I'm sure that will change within a day). Wow - Regis is POWERFUL!

Posted by Post Master at 10:38 PM | Permalink

Elvis contributes a cover of 'Brilliant Disguise' to this CD.
NBC News story about the disc, charity, and artists including EC..

Order From Amazon - Light of Day: Tribute to Bruce Springsteen

Posted by Post Master at 02:45 PM | Permalink

EC had a few brief moments in the chair talking with Regis (VERY enlightening) and then sang 'Still'.

His voice seemed to have a slight toll from 4 shows in 4 days, but it was a solid performance none-the-less. I'm sure housewives everywhere are rushing to their local record stores right now causing a run on North....

Posted by Post Master at 12:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

No, not a Virgin Museum - The Tuesday show at the Museum of Television, Broadcast to Virgin Stores.

1) Accidents Will Happen
2) Someone Took The Words Away
3) You Turned To Me
4) Fallen
5) Still
6) When It Sings
7) North
8) Almost Blue
9) I'm In The Mood Again

(Submitted by Mark)

Posted by Post Master at 10:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

An Australian Look North

Excerpt: "This is as intimate an album as Elvis Costello has ever fashioned. More intimate than we might have imagined from a man who always followed his own advice: "Don't wear your heart out on your sleeve, when your remarks are off the cuff."

..."Love isn't combat here but, at first, ebb and flow, doubt and exultation - a stumbling in and quick step back in defence. And then the early hesitance of the protagonist falls away to reveal the most unabashed moments Costello has ever committed to paper.

..."North sits somewhere between Nat King Cole's Nat King Cole Sings for Two in Love and Frank Sinatra's In the Wee Small Hours."

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Elvis Costello, North
(Deutsche Grammophon/Universal)

This is as intimate an album as Elvis Costello has ever fashioned. More intimate than we might have imagined from a man who always followed his own advice: "Don't wear your heart out on your sleeve, when your remarks are off the cuff."

It's stripped of the wordplay and abstractions that have both defined his style and enabled him to deflect attempts to infer the personal. Instead he speaks directly and plainly, not hiding the flood of conflicting emotions behind the bland expression falling in love.

Love isn't combat here but, at first, ebb and flow, doubt and exultation - a stumbling in and quick step back in defence. And then the early hesitance of the protagonist falls away to reveal the most unabashed moments Costello has ever committed to paper. From "all the words you say to me have music in them" in When It Sings, to the self-mocking Let Me Tell You about Her, where the newly-in-love finds himself so voluble about this woman that "when I start to speak [friends] roll their eyes", we are amidst happiness without calculation.

The lyrical intimacy is matched by the vocal closeness. Costello sings primarily down in his rarely used baritone register, his phrasing precise but intense, and there's none of the reach demanded by the songs on The Juliet Letters or Painted from Memory, the two closest comparisons in his catalogue. Essentially, he croons.

Musically these 11 ballads are decidedly intimate. There are no big pop hooks and no dramatics. You won't find yourself swept away at first (or even on second or third listen). Instead there's the accretion of elements such as down-tempo jazz chords (You Turned to Me has several Charles Mingus-like phrases), the swell of strings lifting a cloud, the quietly searching piano lines or the mellowness of a flugelhorn.

And then the realisation dawns that these melodies have warmth, tenderness and grace. And it becomes clear that emotionally and musically North sits somewhere between Nat King Cole's Nat King Cole Sings for Two in Love and Frank Sinatra's In the Wee Small Hours. Like the latter it works from a limited palette that says everything you need; like the former it has a sense of relaxed joy in the small moments.

Posted by Post Master at 10:11 AM | Permalink

Elvis is on 'Hollywood At Large' on CourtTV:
09/26/03 at 07:00 pm ET
09/27/03 @ 11:00 pm ET
09/28/03 @ 03:00 am ET
09/29/03 @ 04:00 am ET

Reportedly it is a 5min interview about MP3 Downloading

Posted by Post Master at 01:05 AM | Permalink

In addition to tonight's A&E Show (see below) Elvis is on The Daily Show with John Stewart tonight (on the Comedy Channel - check local listings) and on Regis and Kathy Lee (or whomever) tomorrow (friday) morning.

Posted by Post Master at 02:36 PM | Permalink

1) Accidents Will Happen
2) Brilliant Mistake
3) Little Triggers
4) Shot with His Own Gun (SN piano, no guitar)
5) You Left Me in the Dark (SN piano, no guitar)
6) Someone Took the Words Away (SN piano, no guitar)
7) When Did I Stop Dreaming? (SN piano, no guitar)
8) You Turned to Me (SN piano, no guitar)
9) Fallen (SN piano, no guitar)
10) God's Comic
11) Indoor Fireworks
12) Either Side of the Same Town
13) Man Out Of Time
14) In the Darkest Place (SN piano, no guitar)

1st Encores:
15) When It Sings (SN piano, no guitar)
16) Still (SN piano, no guitar)
17) Can You Be True? (SN piano, no guitar)
18) 45
19) Deep Dark TruthfulMirror/You Really Got a Hold on Me

2nd Encores:
20) (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding
21) Shipbuilding
22) All This Useless Beauty
23) When Green Eyes Turn Blue (SN piano, no guitar)

3rd Encores:
24) North (SN piano, no guitar)
25) Almost Blue (SN piano, EC guitar until the end - EC moves to piano and SN plays melodica coda)
26) I Still Miss Someone (Johnny Cash) (EC piano)
27) Let Me Tell You About Her (EC piano)
28) I'm in the Mood Again (EC piano)

29) I Still Have That Other Girl (SN piano, EC sings off-mike)
30) The Birds Will Still Be Singing (SN piano, EC sings off-mike)
31) Couldn't Call It Unexpected No.4 (SN piano, EC sings off-mike

Posted by Post Master at 09:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

"Live by Request" (9 p.m., A&E): Elvis Costello takes suggestions and plays for the next two hours. (Repeated at 1 a.m. and then for the next week or so)

From TV Guide: " Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Elvis Costello has made an influential career out of doing what he wanted to do. Tonight he'll let his fans tell him what to do in a concert of requests from New York City. In 1977, Costello arrived with his prototypical New Wave band, the Attractions, to put a spark into a rock scene that was becoming stagnant and overproduced. In the years since, he's dabbled in country and standards, and collaborated with Sir Paul McCartney, Burt Bacharach, Anne Sofie von Otter and the Brodsky Quartet. What he does here, though, is your call."

From the LBR Web Site: "Live concert by the British singer and songwriter called "the most talented pop tunesmith of his generation" by The New York Times. Although he looks like a nerd, Costello's roots are in the explosive punk era and his music often includes themes of political and social protest. Viewers can phone in or e-mail their song requests to Costello as he performs at John Jay College in New York City."

Posted by Post Master at 09:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Curious Trainspotting at Boston.com

Q. The Del Fuegos were once featured in a Miller beer ad. Do you regret doing that?

A. I wasn't in it, because someone at Miller said, ``What's that 12-year-old doing drinking beer?'' Would we do it again? No. ... But Elvis Costello came out [at the time] and said there's a big difference between Phil Collins doing a beer commercial and [the Del Fuegos] doing one. He was right. Now, of course, you can do anything as long as you do it ironically.

Posted by Post Master at 09:22 AM | Permalink

North with Bonus DVD - Available Now
Click the picture above to order from Amazon and support CostelloNews.com

(If you're not ready to buy it today, you can go to Amazon and add it to your shopping cart and then leave. Whenever you go back and make your purchase we'll still get the commission - thanks!)

Posted by Post Master at 04:07 PM | Permalink

The Dallas Morning News
Elvis Costello - Grade D - North - By TERESA GUBBINS
(Fake Login = elvis@costello.com password = costello)

Elvis Costello is practically 50, and boy does it ever show on North , a collection of listless piano ballads sufficiently dreary to induce narcolepsy. Ditching guitar in favor of piano, Mr. Costello moans like a dog, with an occasional segment of horns or strings to "jazz" things up. Minimal arrangements seem intended to make songs such as "You Left Me in the Dark" feel spare and atmospheric; but instead, they're just excruciatingly boring. His arrangement is lousy: He hits the exact same notes as the piano and it comes off as simplistic and deadly dull. And baby, there ain't no tunes here. The tracks, they meander aimlessly. Oh, how painful it all is.

Still, this direction doesn't come as a complete surprise. Forget not that he's engaged to singer-pianist Diana Krall, and also that he recorded "My Funny Valentine" way back in 1979. He's been an old fart at heart forever.

Editors Note: Dear Ms. Gubbins - Don't worry, there's a new Sting CD this week you can enjoy. Also, Mr. Costello wants to know if perhaps when he's next in the Dallas area would you perhaps be willing to 'tutor' him on some of the finer points of music, melody, arrangement, composition, and dog moaning? He's eager to improve and certainly someone of your obvious talents could be of assistance. Please let us know.

Posted by Post Master at 03:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)

Costello rides song cycle on new side trip

Excerpts On North:
..."People will say 'Oh, it's informed by jazz,' but it's just as much informed by songs written in the 19th century," Costello said in a recent phone interview. "They don't have to be the same shape, but what they do have to be is true to the way you feel. And these are very true to my feelings at the moment."

..."Some of the best work I've done has come that way, but some other really good songs have been worked on over a much longer period," Costello said. "Some of the songs I wrote with Paul McCartney (are like that) - not necessarily the ones most successful in chart success (Veronica, My Brave Face), but the ones that perhaps have a little bit more grit. The song So Like Candy, this has been around awhile, and suddenly it has a permanence to it. You can go back and find a new angle in the drama of it."

NEWS OF NEW RELEASES:
..."We're one of the few performers in the world who doesn't have a DVD of some kind," said Costello, who is scouring for footage from throughout the years to make a live retrospective, hoping for release in 2004. He's located good early performance footage, as well as the MTV videos of his songs.

..."He also has ideas about putting out complete shows from various eras on CD. "The problem is I put out too many new records. It's difficult to actually stop long enough to create a gap. If you were really going to do it justice, you'd want to do some snapshot live albums from different periods of time rather than do the compilation live album."

..."Costello fans have other reasons to rejoice - the latest three titles in his reissue series are out. Trust, Punch the Clock and Get Happy are all jammed with bonus cuts....Almost as enjoyable as the music is Costello's own liner notes, where he's brutally honest about his music and himself.... "You're trying to tell a story of how the record came to exist. That's what the reissues are," Costello says. "The Get Happy notes . . . tell not just about the making of the record, but the dramatic period of time we moved through: The end of our initial pop success. It was not glorious; quite the opposite, it was quite horrifying at times."

..."He's able to issue these discs exactly as he wants because, unlike most artists, Costello retained the rights to his publishing and his master tapes. "It's rare for anybody to own his back catalog. Most people sell bits and pieces of themselves because they're forced into it. I managed to be in a position to reclaim all of it."

FULL TEXT
By Mark Brown, Rocky Mountain News
September 24, 2003

With piano, bass and some string orchestrations, Elvis Costello knows exactly what some fans are going to think of his new album, North.

"People will say 'Oh, it's informed by jazz,' but it's just as much informed by songs written in the 19th century," Costello said in a recent phone interview. "They don't have to be the same shape, but what they do have to be is true to the way you feel. And these are very true to my feelings at the moment."

North, which just arrived in stores, is almost a song cycle. The album takes the listener from the end of one relationship to the beginning of a new one - a scenario almost certain to have fans thinking it's a chronicle of his marital breakup and engagement to singer Diana Krall.

"Certainly the record . . . isn't set out to tell a story, but it does progress. I always try to not prejudice people's ears by giving too much away," Costello said.

After the return to rock of last year's When I Was Cruel, the new CD is another side trip. North is a set exclusively made up of ballads he wrote on piano.

"I can't really ask people to do more than listen. I will say that it obviously isn't a record that in any way is a continuation of the sound of When I Was Cruel, but then again, When I Was Cruel didn't have anything to do with Painted From Memory, and next to nothing to do with All This Useless Beauty."

"It's very intimate in that I don't sing out a lot. I sing in a low register, close to the listener. It's a very emotional record," Costello said.

The songs came to him in a torrent, sometimes two or three in an evening. His prolific writing pace - one of the things that estranged him from his original label, Columbia, in the '80s makes fans believe the songs always come this way.

"Some of the best work I've done has come that way, but some other really good songs have been worked on over a much longer period," Costello said. "Some of the songs I wrote with Paul McCartney (are like that) - not necessarily the ones most successful in chart success (Veronica, My Brave Face), but the ones that perhaps have a little bit more grit. The song So Like Candy, this has been around awhile, and suddenly it has a permanence to it. You can go back and find a new angle in the drama of it."

If North has a shortcoming, it's in the sameness of the songs. While Costello is going through a variety of emotions (anger, betrayal, hope, joy) he varies his delivery little. Ultimately, the album may be for Costello fanatics.

Costello fans have other reasons to rejoice - the latest three titles in his reissue series are out. Trust, Punch the Clock and Get Happy are all jammed with bonus cuts.

"Get Happy was an exceptional record when it came out because it had 20 tracks. The version coming out . . . now has 50 tracks," Costello notes.

Almost as enjoyable as the music is Costello's own liner notes, where he's brutally honest about his music and himself.

"You're trying to tell a story of how the record came to exist. That's what the reissues are," Costello says. "The Get Happy notes . . . tell not just about the making of the record, but the dramatic period of time we moved through: The end of our initial pop success. It was not glorious; quite the opposite, it was quite horrifying at times."

He's able to issue these discs exactly as he wants because, unlike most artists, Costello retained the rights to his publishing and his master tapes.

"It's rare for anybody to own his back catalog. Most people sell bits and pieces of themselves because they're forced into it. I managed to be in a position to reclaim all of it."

That freedom has encouraged him to look further for more archive releases.

"We're one of the few performers in the world who doesn't have a DVD of some kind," said Costello, who is scouring for footage from throughout the years to make a live retrospective, hoping for release in 2004. He's located good early performance footage, as well as the MTV videos of his songs.

"People still get a kick out of them because of the funny fashions and odd staging. We're talking about putting out something next year that probably compiles all the video clips but also extends it into some live material."

He also has ideas about putting out complete shows from various eras on CD.

"The problem is I put out too many new records. It's difficult to actually stop long enough to create a gap. If you were really going to do it justice, you'd want to do some snapshot live albums from different periods of time rather than do the compilation live album."

Live At El Mocombo, issued as part of a Rykodisc box set several years ago, "is a reasonably good snapshot of the band in a club, but we certainly played better than that in our time, just not with tape rolling. We had very bad luck early on. Whenever we put a mobile recorder outside we tended not to play well or something went wrong."

These days, with all the archive releases, "there's a tolerance for a slightly less-pristine audio quality. Now you can release something that is literally like a Polaroid, an audio Polaroid, rather than people expecting it to be completely perfect, you know?"

North

Deutsche Grammophon,

Grade: B-

Posted by Post Master at 10:40 AM | Permalink

- Courtesy Barbara Fugate / The Danuloff Archives

<Zoom In - Image #3>

Posted by Post Master at 10:08 AM | Permalink

At WireImage
Elvis played last night in show rebroadcast at some Virgin stores last night, some others tomorrow night - see earlier listing for info. No setlist or other details yet.

Posted by Post Master at 09:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

COSTELLO STEERS TO TRUE 'NORTH'
By DAN AQUILANTE

Excerpts:
...'ELVIS Costello's new album, "North," released yesterday, is an affected nostalgia record that hits the musical retro rockets so hard, the guy lands somewhere in the '30s

..."While the program was uniformly slow, Costello's emotive delivery and physical showmanship kept the concert from becoming a yawn fest.

..."The night was hardly perfect. Many of the in- and out-of-love songs sounded alike under the influence of Nieve's stark piano work. That sameness was a constant, from Costello's musical history lesson, "45," with which he opened the concert, to his autumn love song, "Fallen." Where he broke the stylistic pattern was with the concert showstopper "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding," played with fond memories for the old new wave.

FULL TEXT
-----------

September 24, 2003 -- ELVIS Costello's new album,
"North," released yesterday, is an affected nostalgia
record that hits the musical retro rockets so hard,
the guy lands somewhere in the '30s, when tunes were
powered with sentimental sophistication.
That's right - it ain't rock 'n' roll.

So when the Irish songwriter celebrated the release of
that disc Monday with a gig at Town Hall featuring
most of those new songs, there was as much trepidation
as anticipation in the air.

But there was no need for worry. Costello and his ex-Attractions bandmate pianist Steve Nieve were very good at making the blue, moody, very old-fashioned love songs come to life.

While the program was uniformly slow, Costello's
emotive delivery and physical showmanship kept the
concert from becoming a yawn fest.

Though the merits of these new songs should be
apparent on the CD, they aren't. Take the tune "Let Me
Tell You About Her."

On the disc, it's easy to overlook Costello's clever
writing when he croons the urbane couplet, "I wasn't
very conversational, except to say, 'You're
sensational.' Friends now regard me with indulgent
smiles, but when I sing, they run for miles."

But in concert, with a little hand jive and his
expressive rubber face, these lyrics got smiles and
out-loud laughs.

That happened again and again during the show.

In the song "North," Costello was the master of the
interior rhyme, creating whimsical lyrics such as, "Up
where the polar bear and moose and geese will play,
and some of them address you en Francais," was
terrific during his stage delivery - yet the Looney
Toons humor remains undetectable on the studio record.

The night was hardly perfect. Many of the in- and
out-of-love songs sounded alike under the influence of
Nieve's stark piano work.

That sameness was a constant, from Costello's musical
history lesson, "45," with which he opened the
concert, to his autumn love song, "Fallen."

Where he broke the stylistic pattern was with the
concert showstopper "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace,
Love and Understanding," played with fond memories for
the old new wave.

Posted by Post Master at 09:49 AM | Permalink

NY Daily News

Elvis Costello played from his new album
By MAC RANDALL - SPECIAL TO THE DAILY NEWS

EXCERPTS: "So I'm at Town Hall," Elvis Costello cracked near the
start of his performance at the venerable W. 43rd St. auditorium Monday. "Does that make me the mayor?"

..."Which Elvis Costello was in the house? The spiky rocker? The classical buff? The jazz aficionado? Or the Merle Haggardloving country crooner? During a generous two-hour set, Costello - who plays Town Hall again tonight - displayed all these sides of his dizzyingly eclectic musical personality.

..."On record, many of the "North" numbers feel washed out, handicapped by string and horn arrangements that are tasteful to a fault. But stripped down to just piano and voice, they gained a surprising intensity. Taking advantage of Town Hall's stellar acoustics, Costello sang in an intimate, conversational fashion, often abandoning his microphone. Nieve tossed off florid trills, broke into jaunty bursts of stride and lingered over pregnant pauses, during which you could hear the crowd breathe.

(Submitted by John Foyle)

-----------------------------------------------------
Onstage, Costello
finds true 'North'

.

"So I'm at Town Hall," Elvis Costello cracked near the
start of his performance at the venerable W. 43rd St. auditorium Monday. "Does that make me the mayor?"

Well, no.

But easy as it was to answer that question, a bigger
one remained:

Which Elvis Costello was in the house?

The spiky rocker? The classical buff? The jazz
aficionado? Or the Merle Haggardloving country
crooner?

During a generous two-hour set, Costello - who plays
Town Hall again tonight - displayed all these sides of
his dizzyingly eclectic musical personality.

He did it in ultra-Spartan style, accompanied only by
longtime foil Steve Nieve on piano and melodica,
occasionally joining in himself on acoustic guitar.
And he did it with seemingly effortless command.

Nine of the show's 27 songs came from Costello's new
CD, "North," a subdued collection of ballads tracing
the demise of one relationship and the start of
another. According to Costello, it was the first time
they'd been played in a full-length concert.

On record, many of the "North" numbers feel washed
out, handicapped by string and horn arrangements that
are tasteful to a fault.

But stripped down to just piano and voice, they gained
a surprising intensity.

Taking advantage of Town Hall's stellar acoustics,
Costello sang in an intimate, conversational fashion,
often abandoning his microphone. Nieve tossed off
florid trills, broke into jaunty bursts of stride and
lingered over pregnant pauses, during which you could
hear the crowd breathe.

"Fallen," with its dreamy autumnal melody plumbing the
depths of Costello's vocal range, was a particular
standout.

Besides the "North" tracks, Costello and Nieve
peppered the set with fan favorites ("Accidents Will
Happen," "Man Out of Time"), rarities ("Either Side of
the Same Town," written for soul singer Howard Tate)
and a tender tribute to Johnny Cash, "I Still Miss
Someone."

They also, quietly, made a political point with three
songs in a row: "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love
and Understanding," "Radio Silence" and the haunting
anti-war anthem "Shipbuilding."

Originally published on September 24, 2003

---------------------------------------------------

Posted by Post Master at 09:34 AM | Permalink

North - By Ken Micallef

It began with 1982's Imperial Bedroom. The album featured a newly reflective and ever poignant Elvis, not the sarcastic new waver known for such lines as, "six little Hitlers will fight it out until one little Hitler does the other one's will." The fireball wordsmith was replaced with Elvis-as-Sinatra, swooning for an imaginary lover, God's lonely man. Angry Elvis never really returned, gone to collaborate with Paul McCartney and Burt Bacharach, fashioning himself as a worldly torch singer with the Brodsky Quartet. Well, while Elvis is quite the crooner, an entire album of achy-breaky heartache is too much for the casual Costello listener to bear. Imperial Bedroom was only an experiment; North is a full tilt ballad blowout. Elvis pens beautiful songs like the Bacharach-esque "When Did I Stop Dreaming?" and the moonlight missive, "Can You Be True?" Accompanied simply by piano or strings or a subtle trio, we imagine Elvis in the spotlight on a concert stage, or wrapped around a streetlamp on a 1940's Warner Bros. film set. He pines and pouts and bares his soul, releasing his inner demons through majestic lyrics. "I will be there if the days bring torment, not trust," he sings. "My darling," he continues, "you make everything seem right." It's so touching these 11 songs of pain and sacrifice. "As a consequence, I can see out of the gloom," he sings near North's end. We are simply tourists along for Elvis's emotional outpouring. We are humbled. Robert Goulet, Pavarotti, and Celine Dion line up for autographs. But Elvis has left the building. And so have we.

(Submitted by John Foyle)

Note: We're trying to get details on the special pressing of Armed Forces which contains the four extra little Hittlers...

Posted by Post Master at 09:17 AM | Permalink

Elvis points 'North' -- Costello devotes much of Town Hall show to his newest CD
BY JAY LUSTIG - Star-Ledger Staff

EXCERPTS:
..."took place on the eve of the release of his new album, "North." Yet it would be hard to imagine an event that ranked lower on the fanfare scale

..."he didn't even play his guitar on the "North" material

..."Other surprises in the show included the country standard, "I Still Miss Someone," and "Either Side of the Same Town," which Costello co-wrote for "Rediscovered," the recent comeback album by soul singer Howard Tate. Songs from old Costello albums included everything from the Dylanesque anthem "Man Out of Time" to elegant ballads like "Almost Blue" and "Shipbuilding

..."And show-opener "Accidents Will Happen," which dates back to Costello's punk/new wave phase of the late'70s, supplied an ideal first line for this down to-earth, conversationally toned evening: "I just don't know where to begin."

Congratulations to Jay for the most incipid lines on a North Review:

FULL TEXT
----------
Elvis points 'North' -- Costello devotes much of Town
Hall show to his newest CD

Wednesday, September 24, 2003

BY JAY LUSTIG
Star-Ledger Staff

NEW YORK -- Elvis Costello's Monday night show at Town
Hall took place on the eve of the release of his new
album, "North." Yet it would be hard to imagine an
event that ranked lower on the fanfare scale.

Throughout the show, he was backed only by his
longtime keyboardist, Steve Nieve, and he didn't even
play his guitar on the "North" material. Nieve left
the stage at one point, and Costello presented solo piano-and-vocal versions of three songs. For the final number, "Couldn't Call It Unexpected, No. 4," Costello sang with no amplification.

There were no visual gimmicks, and Costello even
joked, during "God's Comic," that the show didn't have
a high enough budget for someone to kill the lights,
for theatrical effect, when he sang the line, "turn
out the light."

Costello managed to dazzle in the unflashy setting,
though, warmly crooning 10 songs from "North" -- his
first full-length cabaret-style album -- and
performing scaled-down versions of tunes from
throughout his career.

He rocked at times, muscularly strumming a distorted
acoustic guitar on songs like "45," "Tart" and
"(What's So Funny'Bout) Peace, Love and
Understanding?" There was just as much tension and
release in "Rocking Horse Road" and "Radio Silence" as
there would have been with a full band. But most of
the numbers were in a more calm, thoughtful mode.

"North" is a soul-searching song cycle about losing
love, then finding it again. While it does display
some of Costello's trademark cleverness, it also
contains some of his most plainspoken lyrics.

"I wasn't very conversational, except to say that
you're sensational," he sang, with disarming
enthusiasm, in "Let Me Tell You About Her," a song
that painted this 48-year-old Rock and Roll Hall of
Famer as a lovestruck schoolboy: "Friends now regard
me with indulgent smiles/But when I start to speak
they run for miles." Whether Costello or the more
virtuosic Nieve was playing piano for "North" songs,
they stuck to a simple, uncluttered style that never
distracted from the lyrics.

In addition to the 10 album tracks, Costello performed
the song "North," which was left off the album, but is currently available for free downloading on his Web site, www.elviscostello.com. Presumably, it didn't make the album because its whimsical flavor would have been out of place, but in concert, it supplied some necessary comic relief. It's a quirky song of praise for the healing powers of Canada. "The polar bears and moose and geese will play/And some of them address you en français/Give me the ice and snow/Time to go north," sang Costello.

Other surprises in the show included the country
standard, "I Still Miss Someone," and "Either Side of
the Same Town," which Costello co-wrote for
"Rediscovered," the recent comeback album by soul
singer Howard Tate. Songs from old Costello albums
included everything from the Dylanesque anthem "Man
Out of Time" to elegant ballads like "Almost Blue" and "Shipbuilding."

"In the Darkest Place," a gorgeous song from "Painted
From Memory" (Costello's 1998 collection of
collaborations with Burt Bacharach), proved perfectly
suited for the unplugged treatment. And show-opener
"Accidents Will Happen," which dates back to
Costello's punk/new wave phase of the late'70s,
supplied an ideal first line for this down-to-earth, conversationally toned evening: "I just don't know where to begin."

Costello's show tonight at Town Hall is sold out.
Tomorrow at 10 p.m., he will perform at John Jay
College in New York. This concert will not be open to
the general public, but will be broadcast live on the
A&E cable television network, with an encore
presentation Sunday at 10 a.m.

Copyright 2003 The Star-Ledger.

Posted by Post Master at 09:12 AM | Permalink

POP REVIEW | ELVIS COSTELLO - By JON PARELES
Elvis Costello Returns, Brooding and Restless

EXCERPTS:

..."Style, it might be argued, is the sum of a musician's reflexes: the melodic contours, harmonic turns, rhythms and verbal patterns that come most naturally. Elvis Costello is determined to refute that argument. Whenever he grows secure in a style, he sets it aside and seeks out another one, fighting his own reflexes to a draw. His new album, "North" (Deutsche Grammophon), is his latest battle with himself. ... He made up in drama what he had sacrificed
in decibels."

..." While the words aspire to transparency, the music grows complex, as if Mr. Costello soaked up as many convolutions as he could from his 1998 collaboration with Burt Bacharach, "Painted From Memory" (Mercury), then set out to bend and fold them further. He sounds as if he has been studying Cole Porter, Randy Newman, Paul Simon, Stephen Sondheim, Chopin and Schubert, too. The "North" album features Mr. Costello's own arrangements for strings and horns, but onstage he put down his guitar for the new songs, letting Mr. Nieve provide pastel jazz harmonies and pristine quasi-classical embellishment."

..."Mr. Costello hasn't made his songs easy on himself. He's at the limits of his vocal instrument in his new ones, trying to use the strain in his voice to suggest yearning. Another singer might be more comfortable with this music. But Mr. Costello would clearly rather find comfort in romance than in songwriting.

FULL TEXT
---------
Style, it might be argued, is the sum of a musician's
reflexes: the melodic contours, harmonic turns,
rhythms and verbal patterns that come most naturally.
Elvis Costello is determined to refute that argument.
Whenever he grows secure in a style, he sets it aside
and seeks out another one, fighting his own reflexes
to a draw.
His new album, "North" (Deutsche Grammophon), is his
latest battle with himself. Last year he reunited with
most of his crafty late-1970's band to speed up and
rock out on "When I Was Cruel" (Island); now he has
veered to the opposite extreme, singing slow,
sustained ballads. At Town Hall on Monday night (he
has a second concert there tonight), accompanied only
by Steve Nieve on piano, Mr. Costello retrofitted his
old songs with his latest approach while he unveiled
new ones. He made up in drama what he had sacrificed
in decibels.

The songs from "North" turn Mr. Costello's usual
gambits inside out. The album has a story line about
an old romance collapsing and a new one beginning
(although the title song, which is available only on
the Internet, is more playful, a tribute to Canada).
On the album the lyrics replace Mr. Costello's usual
rush of images and wordplay with brief, emotionally
direct verses: "Maybe this is the love song that I
refused to/Write her when I loved her like I used to."

While the words aspire to transparency, the music
grows complex, as if Mr. Costello soaked up as many convolutions as he could from his 1998 collaboration with Burt Bacharach, "Painted From Memory" (Mercury), then set out to bend and fold them further. He sounds as if he has been studying Cole Porter, Randy Newman, Paul Simon, Stephen Sondheim, Chopin and Schubert, too. The "North" album features Mr. Costello's own arrangements for strings and horns, but onstage he put down his guitar for the new songs, letting Mr. Nieve provide pastel jazz harmonies and pristine quasi-classical embellishment.

In the past a typical Costello melody has taken clear,
stepwise motions up and down the scale, while using
symmetry to make the audacious lyrics more
approachable. But his new tunes rarely go very far
without taking a leap to an unlikely note. They also
use harmonic nuances to paint the lyrics, with rising
or falling chords to match mood shifts and chromatic
tensions giving way to reassuring major-chord
resolutions.

Mr. Costello chose older songs, like "Shot With His
Own Gun," "All the Rage," "Rocking Horse Road" and
"Almost Blue," that are full of betrayals and bitter aftermaths. As he sang them, Mr. Costello reveled in
dynamics: a desperate crescendo followed by a brooding
hush, a shout leading to a pained reconsideration. He
often moved away from the microphone, letting his
voice be heard unadorned.

Mr. Costello hasn't made his songs easy on himself.
He's at the limits of his vocal instrument in his new
ones, trying to use the strain in his voice to suggest yearning. Another singer might be more comfortable with this music. But Mr. Costello would clearly rather find comfort in romance than in songwriting.

Posted by Post Master at 09:05 AM | Permalink

Billboard
Elvis Costello & Steve Nieve / Sept. 22, 2003 / New
York (Town Hall)
Accompanied only by longtime collaborator/pianist Steve Nieve, Elvis Costello took to the stage at New York's Town Hall last night (Sept. 22) to introduce "North." The new album of ballads, in stores today via Deutsche Grammophon, is a departure from the wry, often bitter material for which the artist is so well known, and he wisely couched the material within selections spanning his career.

Costello performed nearly the whole of the new album, plus the title track (only available to buyers via free download) throughout the more than two-hour exhibition to an overly eager audience in the pristine theater. And while sparse arrangements of such beloved songs as "Accidents Will Happen," "Man Out of Time" and "All the Rage" met the new ballads on a musically even field, differences between old and new were easily notable.

The new material is passionate traditional pop in the vein of George and Ira Gershwin or Costello's one-time collaborator, Burt Bacharach and his songwriting partner, Hal David. The lyrics are direct, devoid of clever-clever wordplay and cheeky humor, instead laying matters of the heart out in the open. And it's mostly a startling success; sophisticated, not syrupy, and seemingly screaming for an ancillary narrative for which to frame it for a long life on Broadway.

Selling it to last night's crowd was easy, although hardcore fans frothing in anticipation of an intimate evening with Costello at times detracted as much from the experience as the occasional ringing cellular phone. Anxious applause broke out as the quietest moments of these unfamiliar and subdued songs were
mistaken for the songs' end. Tittering sometimes spread as some searched for sardonic meaning in words and actions where none was intended.

Nonetheless, the heartbreak of "You Left Me in the Dark" and "You Turned to Me" and the rebirth of "Let Me Tell You About Her" and "I'm in the Mood Again" soared even to the upper reaches of the cozy theater. Costello's investment in the songs and arrangements were obvious as he prefaced some with explanation, stood by the grand piano to enjoy Nieve's playing during "Someone Took the Words Away" and basked in the approval of the faithful. "It's the first time we've incorporated so many of these works into a full length concert," Costello said, admitting that he and Nieve "appreciate your appreciation."

Aside from the "North" selections, the crowd was also treated to such gems as "Indoor Fireworks," a mid-tempo version of "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love & Understanding" and "God's Comic," as well as a poignant rendition of Johnny Cash's "I Still Miss Someone" by Costello alone at the piano. Only "45" and "Tart," both from last year's "When I Was Cruel" (Island), belied the majority of the set with caustic distortion wailing from his acoustic guitar.

Nieve's astounding abilities at the piano aside, the charm of "North" and its performance lay in Costello's vocal abilities and limitations. Emotional camouflage and lyrical conventions stripped away, the pain of betrayal and loss feels alarmingly real, and by the same token, the fragility of the first steps of finding love again is relived with hesitation and excitement. As such, fans who have indulged Costello's seemingly constant exploration of music's varied landscapes with an open mind will be rewarded if they follow him
"North." -- Barry A. Jeckell

Costello & Nieve play Town Hall again on Wednesday (Sept. 24) and will spend October and early November visiting Japan and Europe.

Posted by Post Master at 09:01 AM | Permalink

1) Accidents Will Happen
2) 45
3) Rocking Horse Road
4) Shot with His Own Gun (SN piano, no guitar)
5) You Left Me in the Dark (SN piano, no guitar)
6) Someone Took the Words Away (SN piano, no guitar)
7) When Did I Stop Dreaming? (SN piano, no guitar)
8) You Turned to Blue (SN piano, no guitar)
9) Fallen (SN piano, no guitar)
10) God's Comic
11) Indoor Fireworks
12) Either Side of the Same Town
13) Man Out of Time
14) When It Sings (SN piano, no guitar)

1st Encores:
15) In the Darkest Place (SN piano, no guitar I think)
16) When Green Eyes Turn Blue (SN piano, no guitar)
17) Can You Be True? (SN piano, no guitar)
18) All the Rage
19) Tart
20) (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding
21) Shipbuilding
22) Radio Silence

2nd Encores:
23) North (SN piano, no guitar)
24) Almost Blue
25) Still (EC Solo - On piano)
26) I Still Miss Someone (J. Cash)
27) Let Me Tell You About Her (EC Solo - On piano)
28) I'm in the Mood Again (EC Solo - On piano)
29) Couldn't Call It Unexpected (SN piano, EC sings off-mike)

-this probably isn't exactly right order - post comment with any fixes.
Highlights: All North songs sounded far better to me than they did on the Advance CD, but 'Still' was my personal fav of the evening. Even better was 'Either Side Of the Same Town', 'Radio Silence', and of course 'All The Rage'

Posted by Post Master at 01:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Given out last night at the Town Hall show. Lots of people didn't get them and the distributor was nowhere to be found a few minutes after the show. Not sure how many were given out, or where or when they might appear again...

Posted by Post Master at 09:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The May 2002 Appearance of (I don't want to go to) Chelsea put Elvis on this disc along with Johnny Cash, Joe Strummer, Leonard Cohen, Dusty Springfield, and many others.
(Submitted by Chris Wright)

Posted by Post Master at 08:59 PM | Permalink

Elvis's house in Dublin was sold today, for approx. $1.3M US.

Posted by Post Master at 08:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

ELVIS COSTELLO - "North" - NY Post
"North," the latest from Elvis Costello, is a musically pretty disc that's also pretty boring as it tells a boy-loses-girl, boy-finds-himself-and-rediscovers-love story.

Inspired by loss and propelled by mopey, moody music, "North" heads South because all of the songs sound alike. Die-hards will take umbrage and cite the subtleties within individual tunes, but after several spins it seems as if he's lost his pop compass and drifted into the land of background music. Be warned: This is a quiet strings 'n' things record that's closer to easy listening than rock 'n' roll.
(Submitted by John Foyle)

Posted by Post Master at 08:52 PM | Permalink

Elvis Costello, North (* * * ½) USA TODAY
Costello may have been cast as a child of punk early in his career, but as a writer, he has always owed a greater debt to Lennon & McCartney and Rodgers & Hart than Lou Reed or the Sex Pistols. This latest effort emphasizes that point, spotlighting the meticulous songcraft that has provided the foundation for all of Costello's diverse projects through the years. The spare, moody tracks here may not offer the bracing punch of last year's more rhythmically charged When I Was Cruel. But the delicately haunting melodies and lyrics driving tunes such as Still, Can You Be True? and I'm in the Mood Again — and Costello's characteristically tasteful, intuitive singing — blend wit and feeling as few can.
—Gardner
(Submitted by John Foyle)

Posted by Post Master at 08:50 PM | Permalink

"Dagsavisen" (3 out of 6). Deems EC´s singing as probably the best he´s ever done, but think he should´ve written some decent tunes to go with that great voice....

"VG" luuuurves it (6 out of 6) and calls it "a masterpiece from a superb songwriter"

"Dagbladet" (5 out of 6) hails the album as a "brilliant song-cycle og broken and newfound love"
(Submitted by Sverre Ronny Saetum)

Posted by Post Master at 08:47 PM | Permalink

Elvis will be doing 2 new numbers on the show this thursday.

Posted by Post Master at 08:45 PM | Permalink

A change of direction for Mr. C
Elvis Costello - "North" - 3 1/2 stars (out of 4)
Los Angeles Times September 21, 2003
Well, it was fun while it lasted, but you can put away the dancing shoes, Elvis has left the ballroom.

Last year's "When I Was Cruel" was Costello's return to the sound and spirit of the snarling young rocker, but since his career is an adventure in genre-hopping, it's no surprise to see him pirouette 180 degrees. American saloon song meets European art song in "North" (in stores Tuesday), which recounts a romantic meltdown and reawakening in the vernacular of pre-rock torch music and jazz-dappled pop standards.

Tempos range from near-stillness to measured, the emotional pitch is rigorously restrained, the modulations of mood are sometimes all but imperceptible. A meditative tone emerges from spare settings -- some songs are formed by just piano, bass and voice, while others introduce strings and horns -- and from a focus on the specifics of this singer's story. Costello's phrasing is conversational but idiosyncratic, and his register is a clear, intimate baritone.

Lyrically, the noted wordsmith seems determined to avoid knee-jerk signifiers and easy slogans, big-sell choruses and clever couplets. That keeps him well clear of cliches, but the bargain leaves his introspections on the dry side, sometimes to the point of austerity. That "North" remains so consistently moving testifies to the music's power to animate the scenarios. - Richard Cromelin
(Submitted by Nunki)

Posted by Post Master at 08:43 PM | Permalink

Elvis Costello - North - From Rolling Stone

Having reinstated his rock & roll credentials last year with When I Was Cruel -- not to mention getting inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame -- Elvis Costello characteristically makes a dramatic stylistic turn on North. The album is filled with haunted, piano-centered ballads and elegant string and horn arrangements that tease out subtleties in the songs' already understated melodies. Costello's singing is quiet and controlled, an intimate voice describing an emotional journey from abandonment ("You Left Me in the Dark") to a renewed commitment to love ("Let Me Tell You About Her"). North exudes a consistent, subdued beauty that, at times, is almost too delicate to make a true impression. Despite its intelligence and musical sophistication, the album floats by on a breeze so light that it risks escaping notice; the songs disappear into the air before the listener can discover a way to inhabit them. There's an undeniable pleasure in that effort to grasp this music and its meanings before they fade, but at times you can't help wishing they were less evanescent, more substantial. - ANTHONY DECURTIS
(Submitted by John Foyle)

Posted by Post Master at 08:42 PM | Permalink

Elvis Costello is featured in an exclusive interview on the upcoming Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks CD/DVD release, available everywhere November 4th from Surfdog Records.

Posted by Post Master at 08:40 PM | Permalink

The great All Music Guide takes a look at the bonus discs

* Trust
* Punch The Clock

Posted by Post Master at 08:38 PM | Permalink

North crashed into this week's UK album charts at #44.
(submitted by John Foyle)

Posted by Post Master at 08:35 PM | Permalink

We'll have extensive coverage of last night's NYC show soon. Technical problems today, sorry for the delay. We've got some exclusive pictures and artwork, and more - check back soon.

Posted by Post Master at 07:43 PM | Permalink

The Independent looks at what happend to Gram Parsons after he died.

Posted by Post Master at 02:49 PM | Permalink

The New York Times strains the old EC quote to introduce children's books:

"Writing about music is like dancing about architecture,'' Elvis Costello told an interviewer 20 years ago, when he was still angry. Capturing the essence of one medium in the other, he suggested, has its challenges. Actually, he was a little more blunt. ''It's a really stupid thing to want to do,'' he said.

Three of these books approach Costello's simile from its other end. They take an architectural approach to dancing. They are workmanlike, serious, even rigorous, which can be a good thing and does capture one aspect of ballet. But they do not get at its essence, and they pass up opportunities to make use of the many vivid ways illustrated books for children can tell stories."

Isn't there some debate about whether or not EC was the original author of this quote? I seem to recall a case being made for Frank Zappa having said it first.

Posted by Post Master at 02:47 PM | Permalink

Canada loves Elvis - so they talk about Howard Tate. Very good article on the man and his history plus this new CD.

"Eleven of the 12 songs on Rediscovered are Ragovoy compositions - including a rendition of Get It While You Can, a song first recorded by Tate and then made famous by Janis Joplin. Also included are Prince's Kiss, and Either Side of the Same Town, a collaboration between Ragovoy and Elvis Costello. "

Posted by Post Master at 02:45 PM | Permalink

Posted by Post Master at 02:43 PM | Permalink

While checking out the Elvis Costello Home Page I took note of the exhaustive schedule of concerts and appearances on the home page - impressive!

Posted by Post Master at 12:26 PM | Permalink

The EC home page just posted scans of the new Rhino sampler for GH, Trust, and PTC.

Rhino's promotional text from the sleeve:

"From vinyl to cassette to CD and to CD again, we know that you've bought these fine albums enough times already and frankly, we don't expect you to buy them again simply because our remastering engineers are so damn good. No, we're willing to give you Get Happy!!, Trust, and Punch The Clock, in all their re-re-remastered glory, absolutely free. All you have to do is purchase their respective "bonus" discs, each one worth every cent we're asking. In fact, the so-called bonus discs are so packed with previously unreleased Elvis--demos, B-sides, live cuts, raritites and, get this, DEMOS OF RARITIES-- that it may take you days before you get around to those albums you loved enough to buy over and over and over again in the first place."

(Submitted by Conner Ratliff)

Posted by Post Master at 12:24 PM | Permalink

SMH Australia discovers that North was impacted by relationship changes in EC's life.

Excerpts:
..."Obviously any close identification of these songs with me is less important than the variety of identifications that occur [in listeners]," the 49-year-old says. "It's irrelevant really whether they're about my life or not. It's irrelevant to the listening pleasure unless all you want to be is a voyeur. It's an unsatisfactory investigation and a fruitless one, if people ask me."

..."I can't pretend I live in those times," Costello says, with only the barest hint of resignation. "I, as a songwriter, live in the post-Blood on the Tracks, post-Blue era - just to pick two albums [by Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell] from my record collection that meant a lot to me. We assume a close identification between the singer and the songwriter. Maybe that's wrong or maybe, as it is with this record, that is much less important than what we feel about those songs.

..."There's no doubt that, at a certain point around the time when Dylan switched from a fantastic and righteous commentary on events to the interior life, there's a shift ... from people writing lyrics of romantic convention, which might, of course, have been informed by very personal experiences - and certainly were in the case of Cole Porter and Lorenz Hart, and people like that - to naked rambling at times. Some of it very uninteresting and unedifying rambling."

FULL TEXT
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Falling in love again fuels Elvis Costello's new album. Just don't expect him to kiss and tell.

Elvis Costello ended a 16-year relationship with Irish singer and songwriter Caitlin O'Riordan last year and began a surprising new one with Canadian jazz singer Diana Krall.

Costello's new album, out on Monday, is packed with songs about the giddy euphoria of falling in love again. Musically it harks back to the great American songbook tradition of Rodgers and Hart, Gershwin, Mercer and Porter, marking another shift after last year's more rock-influenced album When I Was Cruel.

Lyrically it appears to be an album structured along the lines of Harold Pinter's play Betrayal: beginning with an end (You Left Me in the Dark) and ending with a declaration of hope at a beginning (I'm in the Mood Again).

Yet Costello does not want us to see any great significance in this, does not want us to assume that the songs on North are necessarily related to his life.

"Obviously any close identification of these songs with me is less important than the variety of identifications that occur [in listeners]," the 49-year-old says. "It's irrelevant really whether they're about my life or not. It's irrelevant to the listening pleasure unless all you want to be is a voyeur. It's an unsatisfactory investigation and a fruitless one, if people ask me."

Costello laughs as he says this, but there's no questioning the steel. In 26 years and 19 albums since his twitchy and wordy 1977 debut (the country/rock rather than punk-influenced My Aim is True), Costello has never discussed his private life and has consistently denied personal connections in his lyrics.

Sure, the lyrics on North are the most direct he's ever written, the most unabashed in their emotional celebration: "These few lines I'll devote/To a marvellous girl covered up with my coat/Pull it up to your chin/I'll hold you until the day will begin."

Sure, they were written in a feverish burst in the weeks and months after he met Krall in Australia last year while they were both on tour (he and O'Riordan attended Krall's Opera House concert). But he isn't about to change now.

Still, he knows terrain will be scanned and matters assumed by fans, reviewers and the curious. What Costello wouldn't give for a public and critical mood more in tune with the musical era upon which North draws.

It was a time when Lorenz Hart's troubled and unrequited love for his songwriting partner Richard Rodgers emerged in songs that the general public digested happily as universal love songs.

"I can't pretend I live in those times," Costello says, with only the barest hint of resignation. "I, as a songwriter, live in the post-Blood on the Tracks, post-Blue era - just to pick two albums [by Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell] from my record collection that meant a lot to me. We assume a close identification between the singer and the songwriter. Maybe that's wrong or maybe, as it is with this record, that is much less important than what we feel about those songs.

"There's no doubt that, at a certain point around the time when Dylan switched from a fantastic and righteous commentary on events to the interior life, there's a shift ... from people writing lyrics of romantic convention, which might, of course, have been informed by very personal experiences - and certainly were in the case of Cole Porter and Lorenz Hart, and people like that - to naked rambling at times. Some of it very uninteresting and unedifying rambling."

I put it to Costello that, when I first heard the songs of Lorenz Hart, I knew nothing of his story and responded to the songs on one level. But, when I learnt what some of those lyrics signified, I had a different, yet no less valid, appreciation of those songs.

"I think you can, after the fact, but what was most important was your first instinctive reaction to it, an emotional reaction that was not intellectual," he argues.

So if we can't discuss who, can we say what the songs on North are about?

"Most acutely it's about the acceptance of love, that feeling of bewilderment, that first realisation," Costello says. "Not everybody starts from the position of absolute confidence and self-belief. You have doubt, bewilderment, embarrassment almost at being taken over by this feeling.

"The songs came to me fairly rapidly. They were written before I had time to consider whether I was writing in a different way or not. The next thing I knew, I had five or six songs which were very different to the music I was currently playing.

"I wrote most of them while I was on the road last September [with his rock band, the Imposters]. I was writing them after the shows, in the small hours, on the buses, while playing with the Imposters. It was such a different voice, musically and lyrically