CostelloNews.com

The ever maddening Ryan Adams - after doing a particularly self indulgent turn in Dublin - tried to redeem himself in London , borrowing some moves from Elvis in the process.

`At first he doesn't talk, instead playing pumped-up rock while stumbling around on bandy legs borrowed from Elvises Presley and Costello, even his limbs in hock to the past.`

Ryan Adams, Forum, London
By Nick Hasted
28 November 2003

"I'm gonna play all night," Ryan Adams promises the crowd. "You think I'm joking? I've got a 5am plane, man..."

I would almost have taken that as a threat at the start of this marathon, see-sawing show. Claims that Adams was a rock saviour always rang hollow to me, his ability to impersonate Neil Young's blue-eyed ballads and the Stones' swagger having somehow become confused with equalling their status.

When his fourth solo album, Love is Hell, written after a bad break-up, was allegedly rejected by his label as "too dark", it seemed like he was adding to his own would-be myth, notching up a "lost" album, more than pouring out real emotional pain. Mixed reviews for the replacement record, Rock'n'Roll, and a slating for a gig earlier in the week, though, have got his juices going, and tonight he gives us everything he has.

For the first hour, that's nothing special, despite an adoring crowd's screams. Opening with a brace from Love is Hell (soon out as two EPs), he allows a pregnant pause before singing, then droops martyred on to his mic-stand, hanging his pretty head of hair, while his new band, the Killers, kick in. At first he doesn't talk, instead playing pumped-up rock while stumbling around on bandy legs borrowed from Elvises Presley and Costello, even his limbs in hock to the past. Then he mysteriously decides this "sucks", stops for a band meeting, and opts to replay the night's weakest song, the Noel Gallagher knock-off "Shallow", in ragged, a capella close harmony. Such freewheeling spontaneity seems as gauchely self-conscious as most things he does. But it opens things up for the encore, when the night catches alight.

Effectively a second, solo acoustic set, cherrypicking old songs till now ignored on tour, the crowd's roars show this is how they want him. "You sexy fuck!" a woman bellows during the delicate ballad "Oh My Sweet Carolina", summing up the female reaction to his boyishly sensitive side. Ragged screams, shushing and near-fights break out in the intimate quiet around Adams' suddenly softened, exposed performance, charging the air in a way his songs alone don't. Regular shouts of "genius!" are out of all proportion to his writing, singing or playing, but when he lies back and puffs a cigarette in near-post-coital contentment after "My Winding Wheel", crows: "Now, that's a song," after his anthem "New York, New York", and turns The Strokes' "Last Night" into an aching lullaby, his bratty, giddy self-satisfaction creates its own charismatic gravity.

He also mixes his egotism with a star's needy, unreserved love for his fans, finally wading into them, even handing his tambourine to a bouncer to play, as all the boundaries break. By the second encore it seems he may never leave, like an alt.country Al Jolson. But, near midnight, he does. Spoilt, hyped, unconvincing and unoriginal, he has still somehow sated his desires, and ours

Posted by at 02:10 PM | Permalink

Telegraph.Co.UK takes a look at the movie with EC soundtrack.

" Elvis Costello's clunking soundtrack doesn't help."

Posted by Post Master at 11:24 AM | Permalink

Before the snow flies the folks at the Vail Daily are informing the good people of Eagle County that some things other than Kobe happened in the past six months: "Other venerables who have new albums out include Elvis Costello, who has gone miraculously mellow on "North." But never fear, he's also re-released some of his torpedo-rockers from the late '70s and early '80s, "Get Happy" and "Trust," a pair of rock "n' roll classics."

Posted by Post Master at 11:21 AM | Permalink

The Costello/Jackson duet (Wanda not Micheal) gets a recommendation from the Denver Post: "Her duet of "Crying Time" with Elvis Costello is worth the $17.98 purchase price. People who like fun, uplifting music would enjoy seeing "Heart Trouble" under their tree."

Posted by Post Master at 11:19 AM | Permalink

Elvis attended a charity auction in NYC last week of some paintings by U2's Bono.

Excerpt "In the crowd of spectators and patrons and benefactors and collectors and friends, I saw the musicians Elvis Costello and Moby. Of course Bono was there with his wife Ali Hewson and his good friends Guggi, Gavin Friday and Maurice Seezer."

Posted by Post Master at 10:33 PM | Permalink

The soundtrack to the film Cold Mountain will feature a song co-written by Elvis and T-Bone `Henry` Burnett. Called The Scarlet Tide , it is sung by celebrated bluegrass performer Alison Krauss .

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

'Cold Mountain' songs have starring role
By Elysa Gardner, USA TODAY
Nicole Kidman, Renee Zellweger and Jude Law aren't the only stars featured in Cold Mountain, the Civil War epic arriving Christmas Day. T-Bone Burnett, the veteran producer behind the Grammy-winning O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack, has corralled an equally glittering ensemble for Cold Mountain (Music From the Miramax Motion Picture), due Dec. 16.
Inspired by blues, folk, country and gospel influences, the film soundtrack will include new songs by Elvis Costello and Sting. Celebrated bluegrass performer Alison Krauss will sing both Sting's You Will Be My Ain True Love and The Scarlet Tide, which Costello wrote with Henry Burnett.

Zellweger's beau, Jack White of the rock band White Stripes, who makes his feature film debut in Mountain, appears on five additional tracks, among them traditional and blues covers such as Wayfaring Stranger and Christmas Time Will Soon Be Over,and his own original composition, Never Far Away. Other contributing artists include Tim Eriksen, the Reeltime Travelers, Riley Baugus and Tim O'Brien.

"These artists are all true to the sound and spirit of this music," Burnett says. "They cross decades, and centuries, to create traditional music that lives in the moment and reveals the old, coarse truths."

Posted by at 01:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Elvis has recorded a guest vocal for a forthcoming Los Lobos album.Called ` Matter Of Time` - it`s due for release next May. The vocal was recorded seperate from the group - in the very Spanish setting of Oslo , Norway.

Steve Berlin Answers Questions
About the Up-coming "Collaboration CD"

For the past several months the buzz around the band is all about a recording project. Los Lobos has assembled some of their back catalog and some new tunes, with fresh insipration from some all-time great musicians. They are their friends, their peers, and their heroes. Widely known as "Musician's Musicians" it is surely destiny that Los Lobos would come to this. Saxophonist Steve Berlin was kind enough to reveal a little about what's been happening en la tierra de Los Lobos...

November 19, 2003
KF:Do you have a working title?
SB: Haven't got one yet- all suggestions considered!

KF: Whats the release target date? (spring summer, fall)
SB: If we get everything done as planned it should be out around Cinco De Mayo.

KF: How mant tracks have you got?
SB: We have cut 14 (!) but we will probably have 12 or 13 on the record.

KF: How about a list of collaborators and songs?
SB: Here goes:
Revisited Lobos Tracks-
Someday - with Mavis Staples singing and Lonnie Jordan of War on organ
Is This All there Is - with Willie G from Thee Midnighters on vocal
Matter Of Time - Elvis Costello singing, Greg Leisz from Bill Frisell and KD Lang on pedal steel
Wicked Rain/Across 110th St. - Bobby Womack singing
New Material (many of these may have more guests on them before we finish)
Kitate - Tom Waits singing
Ya Se Va - Ruben Blades vocal, Alberto Salas from Los Super Seven on piano
Somewhere In Time - Dave Alvin vocal, Greg Leisz on steel
Hurry Tomorrow - written by Cesar and Robert Hunter
There's a few more still cooking that I won't report on until they actually happen; and seven or eight more guest-less (so far) brand new ones.

KF: Tell us about the how, when and who of how the project started...
SB: We knew we wanted to do something a little larger than simply another record so the idea of the collaborations took shape within that context. It gradually took shape late last winter as we wrote a long, long list of who we might invite and winnowed it down from there. I was amazed at our batting average, even now, as so many folks agreed right off the bat. Many of these things happened almost instantly, and a few took time but they all came thru big time.

KF: Does this fulfill the current Disney/Hollywood contract obligation?
SB: No but that means very little in this volatile industry environment.

KF: I heard you had many inquiries from people who wanted to participate -- too many. Anyone you can mention that you had to turn down? Who was really hard to turn away? Were there so many that there might be a volume 2?
SB: We didn't turn anyone down, but we had a few folks politely and graciously decline. I'd rather not mention it since we are so happy with those that did, why bring it up? I doubt we'll go to a vol. 2 but it sure was fun collaborating this way -- so I fully expect we'll be doing more stuff like this, albeit not within this context.

KF: Did your experience with Los Super Seven help?
SB: It did only to the extent that having managed a project like this one, it wasn't quite as daunting.

KF: Anyone from the LS7's or other past projects included?
SB: Alberto Salas is the only one.

KF: What style of music are included? Blues? Rock? Soul? Latin? Folk?
SB: Yes.

KF: Did you do a lot of travelling to different studios to work with the different folks?
SB: The only remote recording we went on was to record Mavis Staples in Chicago, although Tom Waits did his bit at home and Elvis recorded his at a theater in Oslo without us around. We have one more field trip planned but I can't report on it until we know the track will work.

Posted by at 01:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

.....if Elvis wasn`t having enough hassle with bass guitarists , former Attraction bassist Bruce Thomas` follow up memoir to The Big Wheel - On The Road Again - appears to be finally available. In it Bruce will write about his return to Attraction duty in the 1990`s - along with what he`s been up to over the years. It`s publication has been delayed from this past summer by the minor fact that Bruce hadn`t got around to finishing it .

Posted by at 02:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The New York Times takes a look the dispute at the Lee Konitz party where EC was scheduled to appear.

Excerpt: "A bit of show-business disaster surrounded the subdued music of a new quartet led by the alto saxophonist Lee Konitz on Tuesday night at Iridium. Elvis Costello was to make a brief appearance to give Mr. Konitz a cake for his 76th birthday and to sing "Someone Took the Words Away."

But Mr. Costello left abruptly during the sound check, apparently after a disagreement with the quartet's bassist, Gary Peacock. Mr. Costello's appearance had been arranged by Iridium, which had advertised it widely. Mr. Peacock did not want to play backup for the song; he had said so last week and reiterated that on Tuesday, said Steve Cloud, his manager. When that became clear to Mr. Costello, he left in a huff."

(Note: The title of this post was stolen from a topic of the same name on the Elvis Costello List Server - the creativity was not my own.)

Posted by Post Master at 12:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Do you ever wish you had a whole shelf with nothing but copies of My Aim Is True? Well just might be able to. In addition to the original 7 (?) colors available on different Vinyl sleeves, plus the 8-track, blue-vinyl, Israeli, German, Portugees, CDs from Demon, Columbia, Rhino, Ryko, and HMV 20-year box, you can now pick them up AGAIN on vinyl, available in both yellow and purple rear-sleave colors. They're at: www.acousticsounds.com and Here.

(Original reporting by Mike Bodayle and Alfonso Cardenas - who each probably have 50 more versions than I listed above.)

Posted by Post Master at 02:06 PM | Permalink

Johnny Cash Memorial Tribute: A Celebration of Friends and Family
Will be retelecast Friday, Nov. 28 at 3 p.m. ET/PT on CMT.

"The CMT tribute special features performances by members of the Cash family and diverse music artists including Rosanne Cash, Kris Kristofferson, Sheryl Crow, John Mellencamp, George Jones, Willie Nelson, Kid Rock, Hank Williams Jr., Rodney Crowell, Marty Stuart, Brooks & Dunn, Travis Tritt and Steve Earle. Award-winning actor and director Tim Robbins, a life-long Cash fan, hosted the emotional evening. Former Vice President Al Gore spoke of Cash's humanity.

Highlights from the CMT special include Rosanne Cash's poignant performance of "I Still Miss Someone," Crow's rendition of the Trent Reznor penned and now Cash classic "Hurt" and Brooks & Dunn and Carlene Carter's salute to "Jackson." Bono, Whoopi Goldberg, Ray Charles, Reznor and Dan Rather reflected on Cash's life in taped messages."

Posted by Post Master at 12:48 PM | Permalink

Excerpt: "This once-in-a-decade talent brought a crowd of more than 4,000 to George Washington University's Smith Center on Saturday night. The White Stripes -- Jack and his ex-wife, Meg White, who plays drums -- are the most heartening musical story of 2003, and their ascent marks one of those rare and wondrous moments when you look at the Billboard charts and think: Sometimes the system works....The reality is that if the White Stripes played the very same set in a tiny venue, you'd probably quit your job and follow the band for the rest of your life...."

Posted by Post Master at 11:02 AM | Permalink

Elvis did not , after all , guest at the Lee Konitz birthday show in the Iridium Club , New York , last night (Nov.25th). Some comments from attendees:

" What a drag!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It seems he had a fight or argument with either the bass player or the drummer, and was a no show for both shows, Lee Konitz was good, but after a while you start to think where is Elvis? at 9:30 the first set was over and still no Elvis, then after many angry customers wanted to know what the deal was, We were finally told he wasn't going to be playing or showing up at all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They must have know before the show started, but didn't tell anyone until we all started asking, they were giving out papers printed out for a complimentary ticket, for those of us who wanted our money back."

"I was at the show. Your note above is quite accurate. However here are some more details. While waiting outside on line (I was about the 7th person from the front) at approximately 6:00 pm, Elvis' green BMW appeared on the street in front of Iridium. Elvis walked out of Iridium towards his awaiting car, but suddenly turned back and spoke to the two women at the front of the line. He was quite angry and said they were only going to let him perform for two songs. His driver then opened the rear car door, Elvis got in and off they went down Broadway. As it turns out, Lee Konitz only performed two songs."

New York Times preview of the show that never was:
"The jazz saxophonist Lee Konitz, above right, turned 76 on Oct. 13, but he is celebrating the event now with a six-day engagement at the Iridium club on Broadway that begins tonight. His guests will include Bill Frisell, Gary Peacock and Matt Wilson, and for tonight's show only, Elvis Costello is to present him with a birthday cake. ."

Posted by at 01:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Elvis shared some secrets with Conan O`Brien recently.

"I changed my name to Elvis Costello because my real name, Declan MacManus, just sounded too Jewish."

"Before I was a rock star having my clothes torn off by girls, I was a computer operator having my clothes torn off by robots."

"I write about fifteen new songs a day. I record the great ones, sell the good ones, and give the rest to Phil Collins."

"I love music, 'cause it brings people together. Music is what enables me, a human being, to communicate with you, a bleeping arsehole."

Posted by at 03:41 PM | Permalink

Elvis `n Diana attended an auction in New York on
Friday Nov.21st in aid of The Irish Hospice Foundation

Posted by at 07:40 AM | Permalink

The lovely Laura Cantrell has been talking about touring with Elvis in 2002.

Joshua Jabcuga: Elvis Costello asked you to open for
him for 17 shows on his 2002 tour. What did you learn
from touring with him?

Laura Cantrell: Well, it was a great learning
experience just showing up as we had to do a lot of
things in a professional way that we had never done
before. But in terms of watching Elvis do that many
shows in a row was so revelatory. I had no idea the
man still rocked so hard with his version of the
Attractions, now called the Imposters. He was amazing,
sang from his gut for hours, pulled songs out of the
air and made his audience go berserk. I had really
only seen him perform as a duo with
Steve Nieve so I had no idea it would be so intense.
He really maintains a relationship with his audience
through the music itself.

By Joshua Jabcuga

November 13, 2003

�It�s the honky tonk women, gimme, gimme, gimme the honky tonk blues�: Josh Jabcuga talks with the lovely Laura Cantrell regarding her critically acclaimed indie albums, touring with Elvis Costello, and Jack White in a cowboy shirt.

Joshua Jabcuga: Who would you cite as your musical influences?

Laura Cantrell: I am a real fan of the country artists of yore -- Carter Family, Kitty Wells, Hank Williams, etc. But I also really love the current artists that are great writers and singers like Steve Earle, Lucinda Williams, Emmylou Harris, Iris Dement. All of these folks are pretty inspiring.

Joshua Jabcuga: Your music seems very much like authentic old-school Nashville. It's also highly regarded by critics. You've received two 4-star reviews from Rolling Stone magazine. If you turn on mainstream country radio stations, though, they're dominated by country music that has very little to do, it seems, with the music's roots. Music by the likes of Shania Twain, Faith Hill, Kenny Chesney, pop music with a cowboy hat or a fiddle tossed in for good measure. Where and when do you think mainstream country radio lost touch with its roots?

Laura Cantrell: Well, it is a tricky question in that I think country radio does reflects a "non urban" point of view which doesn't have too many other outlets in mainstream media. However, the music that accompanies that point of view has become a lot more like soft rock than traditional country music, that is true. I think you can find people in every generation that claim that commercially popular country music somehow has strayed from its roots. It is an argument that surfaced as early as the 1940s when they started using electric instruments and drums on the Grand Ole Opry, so we're in some way still having this discussion now.

Joshua Jabcuga: Do you think mainstream country radio will ever embrace the Laura Cantrells, Neko Cases, and Carolyn Marks of the world, or are those stations so clueless that you don't even care?

Laura Cantrell: It�s not even up to singular stations anymore, as so much of what is on the air is controlled by corporations who make decisions very centrally and have very limited view of what is acceptable to the millions of listeners they want to reach. I can only speak for myself,
but it is hard enough getting played on college and community radio, so I don't even think about the commercial country format -- it's like another planet. I know though that I really appreciate it when the human beings that run college and community radio care enough about what you do to play a song or two, it always helps!

Joshua Jabcuga: Who are some of your favorite contemporary country singers?

Laura Cantrell: Well you already mentioned Neko Case and Carolyn Mark. I actually have really admired a lot of the "girl singers" that Bloodshot has released over the years, like Sally Timms and Kelly Hogan. Here in New York, I always admired Amy Rigby and Amy Allison. I also think that Emmylou Harris is really interesting, if not really country at the moment, but she has her place in country music, Dolly Parton, etc, I have a really long list.

Joshua Jabcuga: Elvis Costello asked you to open for him for 17 shows on his 2002 tour. What did you learn from touring with him?

Laura Cantrell: Well, it was a great learning experience just showing up as we had to do a lot of things in a professional way that we had never done before. But in terms of watching Elvis do that many shows in a row was so revelatory. I had no idea the man still rocked so hard with his version of the Attractions, now called the Imposters. He was amazing, sang from his gut for hours, pulled songs out of the air and made his audience go berserk. I had really only seen him perform as a duo with
Steve Nieve so I had no idea it would be so intense. He really maintains a relationship with his audience through the music itself.

Joshua Jabcuga: You were born in Nashville, but you call NYC home now. You've hosted the "Radio Thrift Shop" on WFMU in Jersey City for the past ten years. First off, for those that might not know, what is the "Radio Thrift Shop"?

Laura Cantrell: Radio Thrift Shop is my three-hour radio show on Saturday afternoons from Noon-3pm. It is mostly a country show but I like to explore the fringes of country throughout its history, so I play a lot of old jazz and blues, pop music, and a lot of new music that has some country influence.

Joshua Jabcuga: How'd you wind up in New York City with that gig?

Laura Cantrell: I went to college at Columbia University and was involved in college radio there. I found WFMU through really the live music community in New York. It is a really excellent community station that is
staffed by volunteers. People are there to do good radio and the vibe is very creative. I have really enjoyed it.

Joshua Jabcuga: Past or present, who would be your dream duet partner?

Laura Cantrell: Well, I really love both Doug Sahm and Charlie Rich. Two totally different voices that I have no idea would sound like with mine, but it would be amazing to be in the same room with them -- they are also both deceased!

Joshua Jabcuga: The song "When the Roses Bloom Again" has quite the history. Jeff Tweedy of WILCO wrote the arrangement for the song, with lyrics most likely courtesy of A.P. Carter of the Carter family. Has Jeff Tweedy ever heard your version?

Laura Cantrell: I know that we gave the album to WILCO's bass player John Stirratt, but I don't know if Jeff Tweedy ever heard the song. It is a beautiful re-imagining of the song though, the melody of the old country song version is very jaunty and kind of doesn't fit the words.

Joshua Jabcuga: You're an expert on the heritage of country music. Is there a performer from country music's past who was influential but you feel doesn't get the credit they deserve?

Laura Cantrell: Well, I think a lot of the women artists have faded from country's early history, people like the Californian Rose Maddox or Kentucky's Molly
O'Day, who were great stylists and innovators and will probably never make it into the Hall of Fame. Even a lot of the 1960s women like Norma Jean and Bonnie Owens are largely forgotten and it is really hard to find music by them that is currently available on CD.

Joshua Jabcuga: With Johnny Cash's recent passing, many people are raising the question of whether or not someone with his voice and style would be able to break-in to today's scene. What do you think?

Laura Cantrell: I think that Johnny Cash was very singular and had a great vision as well as talent for writing or singing. I don't know that many artists that could even be like him, maybe someone like Jack White who has his own ideas. Not that I think Jack White will make a country record, but I did see him with Loretta Lynn and he looks pretty good in that red cowboy shirt!

Joshua Jabcuga: You'll be opening up for Joan Baez soon. Is that an incredible thrill for you?

Laura Cantrell: Joan Baez is fascinating and her music is very powerful. My mom had �Diamonds and Rust� and played it constantly when I was a little girl. So it is thrilling to get to see someone perform whose music affected me when I was a child. We actually just started our run of the tour with her and she did "Where Have All The Flowers Gone," just solo with her guitar on the first night. It was amazing to hear that song live and then to hear her do "Jerusalem" by Steve Earle with her band.

Joshua Jabcuga: Quick, off the top of your head, the five albums that you can't live without are...?

Laura Cantrell: Argh�I can't pick five from all time, impossible!

Joshua Jabcuga: Thank you for your time, Laura. Good luck with everything

Posted by at 01:59 PM | Permalink

Another review of North from a jazz perspective.

Extract -

And while the album is long on
beauty and lyrical cleverness
it is short on one thing: fun. It would have been nice had Costello
varied the mood a little. It would have drawn
attention to the loveliness of these melodies, without
driving the whole concept into the ground.

Elvis Costello: North

By Alexander M. Stern

A long time ago � it seems like a lifetime � Elvis Costello glared out at the listener from the cover of This Year�s Model as the voice emanating from the speaker snarled words of revenge and guilt: �Don�t say you love me when it�s just a rumor/Don�t say a word if there is any doubt/Sometimes I think that love is just a tumor/You�ve got to cut it out��

Oh, how the times have changed.

Those same eyes now squint through the familiar black horn-rimmed spectacles on the moody gray cover of North, Costello�s latest release on the classical Deutsche Grammophon label (which released For The Stars, Elvis�s 2001 collaboration with Swedish mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter). Instead of revenge and guilt, the voice wafting from the stereo sings of love and loss: �Some things are too personal/Too intimate to spill/And gentlemen don�t
speak of them/And this one never will��

Yes, times certainly have changed.

Of course, Elvis Costello (nee Declan Patrick MacManus) has long since proven that he is far more than the �angry young man� who stormed across the Atlantic in the mid-seventies, declaring how his �aim [was] true.� Over the years, Costello has experimented with rock, pop, country, R&B, blues, and (of course) jazz. After all, Costello is the son of British trumpeter and vocalist Ross MacManus (of the Joe Loss Orchestra � England�s answer to Glenn Miller). Early in his career, Costello recorded a version of Rodgers and Hart�s �My Funny Valentine.� 1982�s Imperial Bedroom included the Chet Baker pastiche �Almost Blue,� while 1986�s King of America featured bass legend Ray Brown on the torchy �The Poisoned Rose.� Baker himself recorded �Almost Blue,� and plays trumpet on Costello�s 1983 antiwar ballad �Shipbuilding.�

�While [North] is long on beauty and lyrical cleverness, it is short on one thing: fun.� Although released on a classical label, North is thus far the closest Costello has come to releasing a �jazz album.� The music recalls Gil Evans' grand arrangements on albums like Porgy and Bess and Sketches of Spain. It is a moody meditation on the failure of one relationship (not surprising, since the album follows the recent breakup of Costello�s marriage to former Pogues bassist Cait O�Riorden) and the flowering of new romance (again, not surprising considering that this album follows Costello�s much publicized engagement to jazz chanteuse Diana Krall). It is at once a parting kiss and a valentine to his new love, all wrapped in tissue paper with the cut ends still wet and a bit of baby�s breath for good measure.

This certainly represents the largest group Costello has ever led. In addition to Attractions keyboardist Steve Nieve (who seems to prove his worth on each new release), North features a proverbial cast of thousands, including a full string section, brass and woodwinds. All of the writing, and most of the arranging, is by Costello himself, and it is impressive. Costello certainly learned a lot hanging out with Bert Bacharach. The strings sweep majestically across the opening cut, �You Left Me in the Dark.� The brasses and woodwinds, which include jazz trombonist Conrad Herwig and trumpeter Lew Soloff, are measured and stately. Lee Konitz solos on �Someone Took the Words Away,� and the effect is lovely. The whole album seems to move as though underwater, slowly but gracefully.

Costello is in excellent voice. The story goes that Costello learned to sing while recording The Juliet Letters with the Brodsky Quartet (who make a dramatic appearance on this album with �Still�); since then Costello has divided his albums between his old �sneering� voice and his new �proper singing� voice. This is a �proper singing� album from start to finish, and it�s impressive how well Costello pulls it off.

There are some complaints, however. All of the songs are in the same (or at least similar) tempo, which makes everything blend together on the first few listenings. If the listener is not grabbed right away, he or she might not make the effort to really inhabit this album and discover its merits. Also, Costello�s lyrics are a bit wordy. At times he seems bent on stuffing as many syllables as possible into a line. One wishes that he had let some of the jazz musicians solo more, relying less on written passages. The album definitely seems a tad grandiose (although it is not nearly as repellant as Billy Joel and Paul McCartney�s inexorable forays into �classical� music), giving Costello the look of a man still unsure if he belongs in such august company. And while the album is long on beauty and lyrical cleverness it is short on one thing: fun. It would have been nice had Costello varied the mood a little. It would have drawn attention to the loveliness of these melodies, without driving the whole concept into the ground.

These are minor quibbles, of course. On the whole, North is a strong effort. Costello continues to grow as a musician, and follows his interests wherever they might lead. More power to him, I say. For Costello fans, North is definitely worth the trip.

Posted by at 07:30 AM | Permalink

A benefit concert , composed of covers of Costello songs , happens in Indianapolis , Indiana , U.S. tonight , Nov.21.

Under the name Tonic Ball Two , the basic details are:
� Featuring: Otis Gibbs, the Pieces, Bigger Than
Elvis, Jennie DeVoe, Danny Flanigan, the Retreads,
Saraswati and others performing the songs of Elvis
Costello.
� When: 8 p.m. today.
� Where: Radio Radio, 1119 E. Prospect St.
� Tickets: $18. For more information, visit the Tonic Ball Web site.

The proposed setlist is :

Ann McWilliams - �Alison�
Otis Gibbs - �What�s So Funny�
danny flanigan and the rain chorus - �Man Out Of Time�
Matt Boyer - �So Like Candy� and �Kinder Murder �
The Retreads - �No Action�
Saraswati - �Senior Service �
Joel Henderson - �What�s Her Name Today?�
Yoko Moment - �Red Shoes�
Blackberry Jam - �Watching The Detectives�
Bluenote Trio - �Almost Blue �
Deano and the Distractions - �Veronica�

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

WHAT IS TONIC BALL:
16 of Central Indiana�s top rock, folk, jazz, funk, country, and pop artists acts gather to
celebrate the songs of Elvis Costello at Radio Radio, 1119 E. Prospect St.., beginning at 8 p.m.
WHAT IS TONIC GALLERY:
More than 50 of the city�s most renowned visual artists will be displaying work for sale�
each piece for just $100�at the Mavris Cultural Center, 121 S. East St.., from 4 ? 9 p.m.

Throughout the evening, we�re encouraging people to discover Fountain Square�
have dinner, check out the merchants, and explore everything the area has to offer.

WHO'S PARTICIPATING:

PLEASE NOTE: Due to an unforeseen scheduling conflict, Jennie DeVoe will be unable to appear at Tonic Ball 2. Jennie sends her regrets and best wishes for a successful evening, and encourages all of her fans to support the important work of Second Helpings. Yoko Moment will be performing instead.

Tonic Ball performers include:
Bigger Than Elvis
Blackberry Jam
Bluenote Trio
Matt Boyer
Butler String Quartet
Deano and the Distractions
Yoko Moment
danny flanigan and the rain chorus
Otis Gibbs
Joel Henderson
Ann McWilliams
The Pieces
The Retreads
Saraswati

Tonic Gallery artists include:
Alisa Fox, Josh Johnson, Jim Sholly, Cindy Wingo, Paul Baumgarten, Kara Biberstein, Bruce Dean, John Domont, Jenny Elkins-Angleton, Frank Glover, Jarrett Hagey, Eric Kass, Blythe Hager, Rob Harrell, Walter Kanabe, William Lawson, Aaron Nicholson, Carl Peters, Kyle Ragsdale, Lois Templeton, James Wilson, David Young, Jennifer Complo McNutt, Susan Hodgins, Scott Johnson, David Kleeman, Bernadette Ostrozovich, Jason Pierce, Julie Thibodeaux, Jerry Lee Atwood, Ashley Gange, Matt Mulenaro, Sigrid Zahner, Stephanie Pierson-Hutson, Rob Day, Andrea Eberbach, Jeff Laramore, David Lesh, Chris Pyle, Paul Wilson, Maura Ahearn, Erin Dulhanty Herr, Duncan Alney, Dale Bernstein, Rob Curfman, Larry Endicott, Dan Francis, Edna Gray, Jason Miller, Mathew Miller, Yasha Persson, Harold Miller, Wilbur Montgomery, Joe Vondersar, Polly Harrold, Emily Kennerk, Kipp Normand

OUR SPONSOR'S:
discoverfountainsquare.com
Lockerbie Townhomes by Estridge
Bill Estes Chevrolet
Marigold
First Indiana Bank
Nuvo
Indy Men�s Magazine
Indianapolismusic.net
LUNA music
American Art Clay

ADMISSION FOR TONIC BALL:
$15 in advance or $18 at the door

Tickets are available now at :
LUNA music North (86th & Ditch)
LUNA music Downtown (Massachusetts Ave.)
Joe Reuzar�s Deli (Fountain Square)
Second Helpings, Inc.
Future Shock (Broad Ripple)
CATH, Inc. (54th & College)
CATH, Inc. (City Market)

ADMISSION FOR TONIC GALLERY:
FREE!

DETAILS OF LAST YEARS EVENT:
Artist Spotlight: Gram Parsons
Nearly $4,600 was raised for Second Helpings
Hundreds of people who were unfamiliar with Fountain Square came to visit and had a great time.
More than 250 tickets were sold.
More than 230 people packed Radio Radio.
Extensive publicity about the event appeared in:
Print: Nuvo Newsweekly, The Indianapolis Star, The Columbus Republic, Indy Men�s Magazine, and other publications.
Radio: Organizers were interviewed and sponsors were mentioned prior to the event on WIBC-AM, WTTS-FM, and WICR-FM.
Television: Organizers appeared on the popular Fox 59 morning show and WISH noon newscast to promote the event..

THIS YEARS GOAL:
We hope that after expenses, we will raise $7,000 - $10,000 to benefit Second Helpings...and that even more people will discover Fountain Square.

WHO IS SECOND HELPINGS?:
Second Helpings is a food rescue, job training, and hunger relief program serving greater Indianapolis. Together with our partners in the food service industry, we rescue and utilize surplus prepared food to educate and train adults for positions in the culinary field and to distribute nutritious meals to programs serving our neighbors in need.

Food Rescue. Americans throw away 27% of all food available in the United States, one pound every day for every man woman and child living in this country. Second Helpings exists to make use of what was once a wasted resource. Together with our partners in the food service industry, we put this resource to work, and make a difference in our community.

Job Training. A portion of the rescued food is utilized as a training tool for adults who are unemployed, under-employed, and seeking a position in the culinary field. A full-time culinary instructor and numerous volunteer chefs and human resources professionals equip the students with valuable job skills. Graduates from the job training program accept higher-paying skilled positions in the food service industry around Indianapolis.

Hunger Relief. Many programs serving our neighbors in need struggle to provide nutritious food. Often times, they lack the funds, equipment, and staff to provide quality meals. Second Helpings provides high-quality, nutritious meals at no cost to programs serving our neighbors in need.

In the Fountain Square Area, Second Helpings delivers meals to:
-Compassion Center
-Holy Family Shelter
-Progress House

Financial Support. Tonic Ball/Tonic Gallery is a major fundraising event for one of the city�s most innovative organizations...doing some of the most important charitable work imaginable. Any donations you can make to this cause will be greatly appreciated.

For directions, and other like info, please visit:
Radio Radio - 317.955.0995, 1119 E Prospect, Indpls IN 46203

Posted by at 01:33 PM | Permalink

Q magazine have brought out one of their bright ,
flashy , graphic laden specials , this time all about
their choice of the 1001 best songs . U2`s One is
No.One - which makes a difference from Bohemian
Rhapsody(No.524) or Imagine(127), I suppose .

Elvis features with Pump It Up at 474 and I Want
You at 194. Pump.. is classified as `BEST FOR`
throwing punchy soul moves. The accompanying text
(credited to Tom Doyle)notes

WHAT IT DOES Cribs the disdainful delivery of
Dylan`s Subterranean Homesick Blues for Costello`s
ultimate rant. With The Attractions providing the
muscular Stax-cum-garage-rock it`s an atypical but
genuine floor-filler.
FACT He wrote it on the fire escape at a Newcastle
hotel during Stiff Records` 1977 tour - disgusted that
his roadmates were taking the sex and drugs and
rock`n`roll ethos all too literally.
FILE WITH Subterranean Homesick Blues by Bob Dylan;
Reward by Teardrops Explodes.
GET IT This Years Model

I Want You is BEST FOR destroying yourself. Emma
Warren notes
WHAT IT DOES Throws your worst paranoid fears
back at you. Brutal and vicious , Costello whispers
stalker violence and obsesses two-note guitar solos.
Chris Martin once described Trouble as " a bad song
that can make things worse". I Want You is exactly
that - times a thousand.
FACT Recorded live in the studio on one mic, it
comes from Blood And Chocolate Costello`s (first)
divorce album.
FILE WITH Knives Out by Radiohead ; Sweet
Surrender by Tim Buckley
GET IT Blood And Chocolate

Posted by at 01:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The Dirty Dozen Brass Band are there too.

Posted by Post Master at 10:02 AM | Permalink

Windy City Media Group: Earlier this year, the expanded reissues of Get Happy, Trust and Punch The Clock, by Elvis Costello and The Attractions CDs were released. Now, a few months later, North (Deutsche Grammophon), the new Elvis Costello CD, has arrived. An assured and mature 11-track disc, the songs, in arrangements that favor jazz and cabaret settings, sound as familiar and lived in as the standards from the American popular songbook. On nine of the album�s 11 songs, Attraction Steve Nieve accompanies Costello on piano. On �Still,� Costello is reunited with The Brodsky Quartet, with whom he recorded the sumptuous The Juliet Letters 10 years ago. But the compass remains pointed at Costello, whose dramatic renderings of songs include �You Left Me In The Dark,� �Someone Took The Words Away,� �When Did I Stop Dreaming?,� �Let Me Tell You About Her,� �Can You Be True?,� and the remarkably subtle �When It Sings.�

Posted by Post Master at 10:00 AM | Permalink

Suave meet Smarm, Live on Tape.

Posted by Post Master at 09:58 AM | Permalink

"Much like Elvis Costello in his punk days, Jack White is using primitivism to convey something broad and deep. Right now, it looks like there's no end to where he can go. " - NY Daily News

Amen.

Posted by Post Master at 09:55 AM | Permalink

Elvis performed I`m In The Mood Again on the Conan O`Brien Show on Wednesday , Nov.19th (early hours of Thurs.July 20th). Read about it on the Costello Fan Forum. Listen to a download (when available; only two requests at a time can be handled).

Posted by at 07:19 AM | Permalink

Elvis is going to be appearing on Tuesday November 25th at the Iridium Jazz
Club with the Lee Konitz Birthday All Stars (and Bill Frisell's there all
week!)

LEE KONITZ 76th Birthday Celebration
With Special Guest ELVIS COSTELLO
(Tuesday Only)

and Featuring Special Guests:

BILL FRISELL, GARY PEACOCK AND MATT WILSON ALL WEEK!

Lee Konitz has always been a lone wolf. Never the flashiest or most aggressive of saxophonists, over the course of a remarkable recording career that has--amazingly--now nearly reached the 50 year mark. For Konitz, being a jazz musician means being an improviser, and being an improviser means taking risks and searching for new challenges. When Konitz first came to prominence in the late 1940s he was one of the very few alto players of the period who was able to escape the dominating presence of Charlie Parker and create a completely personal, recognizable sound and style on the instrument. He appeared in Stan Kenton�s most progressive orchestra, Miles Davis� �Birth of the Cool� nonet, Lennie Tristano�s intricate combos and Gerry Mulligan�s �cool� bands of the 1950s before moving on to lead his own bands including the formation of the Lee Konitz Nonet.

Posted by at 07:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

LA Weekly has reviewed North jointly with Randy Newman`s new album.

The Piano Lesson
by Franklin Bruno

It�s not as though aggressive rock & roll can�t be squeezed out of a piano, from the boogie-woogie panic of Jerry Lee Lewis (who set his ax on fire long before Hendrix) to the treated hammering of John Cale. In spite of this perfectly unrespectable pedigree, pop music more often trades on the instrument�s place in more polite settings: the concert hall, the cocktail lounge, and even the family parlor in the decades before phonographs and radios. A rocker alone at the piano usually signifies some combination of sophistication, contemplativeness and sentimentality, from �Imagine� on down to Ben Folds. Want to come on sensitive, or just find some chords you can�t reach on a guitar fretboard? Head for the eighty-eight.

The Randy Newman Songbook and Elvis Costello�s North resonate with these associations, though in different registers. In some ways, it�s unfair to compare them: Newman�s album comprises new, unaccompanied performances of material from the last 35 years, while Costello�s consists of 11 new songs, written at the keyboard but orchestrated to showcase his newfound compositional skills. But both have the rich (in both senses) sound of a concert grand at their core � no cathouse crackerboxes for these upscale artists.

Which brings us to another link. Appearing on �prestige� imprints of their respective multinationals, both albums are presented as something more than disposable pop product. (And lucky for them, as Costello and Newman are now of an age and appearance that makes teen-idolhood unlikely.) The Songbook project (two more volumes are planned) is Newman�s first for Nonesuch, Time-Warner�s catchall for high-/low-culture straddlers from Laurie Anderson to Wilco. North bears the �Yellow Label� of Deutsche Grammophon. (Roll over, Beethoven . . .) This makes more sense if you know that the venerable classical label and Island/Def Jam, Costello�s present home, are both tentacles of Universal Music Group.

You see? The recording industry isn�t such a dragon. It only sues 12-year-olds for downloading nursery rhymes so it can do what it really wants to do, which is bring you these works of Serious (and likely unprofitable) Art. Yes, and everyone at Mobil loved Don Giovanni.

Randy Newman has built a career on spitting such contradictions right back at us. Following an untitled instrumental, Songbook shows us how seriously he takes this retrospective business with the mock-egotistical �Lonely at the Top,� written well before his real success as a performer. After this, he gets down to business, sifting through material familiar (�You Can Leave Your Hat On�) and obscure (�Let Me Go,� from a 1972 movie). The vocal performances are as expressively mealy as ever; the piano work is spot-on but rarely flashy. Mitchell Froom�s production is so intimate that you can hear the sustain pedal pumping during the selections from Newman�s film scores (Avalon, Ragtime).

Newman has recorded his share of contemporary-sounding pop-rock (�Short People� and �I Love L.A.,� neither found here). But his musical reputation rests on his command of styles that hark back to an earlier, allegedly simpler America, as though the spirits of George M. Cohan and Stephen Foster had taken over the body of a Louisiana-born, Hollywood-bred secular Jew. His masterstroke has been to use the good-old-days connotations of ragtime and sentimental balladry to soften us up for the lyrical sucker punch. Even the lovely �Marie,� not so distant from Cohan�s �Mary (It�s a Grand Old Name),� admits something the Yankee Doodle Dandy never would: �I�m drunk right now baby/But I�ve got to be/Or I couldn�t tell you/What you mean to me.�

The barbs are more toxic when Newman turns to social and political themes. Those good old days? Not so good, for lots of people: the murdered child in �Germany Before the War,� the �wogs� enticed into the slave ship in �Sail Away,� and just about everybody on either side of the color line in the post-Reconstruction South. �Rednecks,� first heard on the 1974 concept album Good Old Boys (recently named by the Skynyrd-revivifying Drive-By Truckers as a key influence), is still unsettling nearly 30 years later. After seeing Georgia governor Lester Maddox kicked around on the Dick Cavett show, Newman�s bigot pens a warts-and-all anthem to Dixie, complete with liberal � or illiberal � use of the N-word, that devolves into a list of Northern cities where African-Americans are allegedly better off. �He�s free to be put in a cage in Harlem in New York City/Free to be put in a cage on the south side of Chicago . . . They�re gatherin� �em up for miles around/Keeping the niggers down,� he concludes, while a rolling Scott Joplin piano riff blithely pumps away. Bold even for Newman, �Rednecks� still has the power to shock, and to force listeners to examine their own views and actions. It shatters the gentility of the �great man and his songs� setup like Gilbert Gottfried at a Friars� Club roast.

Strong as these new performances are, longtime admirers may not actually need this album. Still, it�s worth hearing for the connections drawn between older songs and those from 1999�s Bad Love. �The World Isn�t Fair� finds the singer in his �mansion on the hill,� telling Karl Marx�s ghost how pleased he is that capital has prevailed: �The rich get richer/and the poor you don�t ever have to see/It would depress us, Karl.� As for preserving this arrangement, there�s a suggestion in the next song, 1972�s �Political Science�: �They all hate us anyhow/So let�s drop the big one now.� As Newman has written elsewhere, that song is �never out of date, unfortunately.� Songbook would be a victory lap if it gave us anything to cheer about.

North, by contrast, is almost entirely apolitical, ahistorical and asocial. Hermetically sealed with a kiss, it excludes all non-romantic concerns. That�s fine � no one�s confiscating your copy of �Oliver�s Army� or �Shipbuilding.� The course of love isn�t smooth throughout these songs, but the power struggles and recriminations that mark Costello�s best-known lyrics are largely absent. Take �Let Me Tell You About Her,� in which he doesn�t: �Gentlemen don�t speak of it, and this one never will.� Fairly gallant, from someone who long ago admitted stirring up trouble in his personal life to generate raw material for songs.

This could be the first Elvis Costello album that is richer musically than lyrically. North isn�t exactly an attempt to �go legit� � Deutsche Grammophon aside � but it�s too ambitious to work as adult-contemporary wallpaper. Except for some overripe introductions, Costello uses the orchestral palette with restraint, framing a small combo of ex-Attraction Steve Nieve, jazz drummer Peter Erskine and various bassists. The closest comparison may be to the misty, muted settings Alex Stordahl wove for Sinatra at his post-Dorsey crooniest.

Next to the vernacular ease of Newman�s melodies, Costello�s are wildly convoluted, backed with as many tricky harmonic shifts as Armed Forces had puns. The Great American Songbook is in the mix, but so are Schubert, Sondheim and Joni Mitchell. When these songs falter, it�s less often the fault of the tunes or the words themselves than the way they�re combined. Strained diction (�Wits may sharpen up/their cuts and clever flays�) and rhymes that don�t merit being called �off� (�fracture�/�statue�?) might whip by unnoticeably at Get Happy! tempos, but in a carefully sung ballad they�re harder to ignore.

When everything clicks, however, North isn�t just respectable, it�s moving. �Fallen,� a thematic cousin to Vernon Duke�s �Autumn Leaves,� rambles through �the amber and the burnished gold� with a well-placed bloom of strings after the bridge. The closing �In the Mood Again,� just Costello at the piano and an atmospheric vibraphone, shoots down several of the above generalizations. Formally, it�s as tight as any Broadway warhorse, and its Manhattan setting and cautious optimism offer the album�s sole hint that the world contains more than two people. Think Bruce�s The Rising filtered though the soundtrack of When Harry Met Sally.

�Someone Took the Words Away,� fittingly, has the disc�s best purely instrumental passage, an inventive sax solo couched in strings, � la some high-toned Norman Granz production. Without checking the credits, I�d never have guessed the player: Lennie Tristano sideman and cool-jazz icon Lee Konitz. There�s a whiff of cultural striving about some of Costello�s recent teamings, notably his iffy album with soprano Anne Sofie von Otter, though there�s no doubting his respect for the musicians he works with. But the Konitz solo is no look-who-I-know (or who-I-can-afford) cameo; it�s a generous place in the spotlight for an underappreciated master. Now that�s class.

Posted by at 06:32 PM | Permalink

The great RT in interview and song.

Posted by Post Master at 09:47 AM | Permalink

Elvis spoke to the Argentinian newspaper La Capital in October . See a translation here.

martes, 21 de octubre de 2003

Once canciones en c�mara lenta que recorren la tristeza y la esperanza
Elvis Costello lanz� "North", un disco de tono intimista y confesional
El m�sico ingl�s interpreta 11 temas acompa�ado por el piano y una orquesta de cuerdas y metales

A primera vista parece que Elvis Costello grab� su nuevo disco en c�mara lenta. Las canciones de "North" recuerdan a una colecci�n de lieder del siglo XIX.

"En su gran mayor�a son canciones muy, muy lentas", reconoce el m�sico brit�nico, que actualmente se encuentra de gira por Europa. "S� que muchas personas tienen dificultades para entender esta grabaci�n".

El �lbum transita en s�lo 45 minutos el camino de la profunda tristeza hasta la naciente esperanza, en referencia a la separaci�n de la que fuera su mujer durante 16 a�os y a su nuevo amor, la cantante de jazz Diana Krall.

"D�jame que hable de ella, c�mo me hace sentir, y luego echar el tel�n sobre esta escena que no revelar�", canta Elvis Costello en una de las estrofas del tema "Let Me Tell You About Her", una de las once piezas que componen este "North", quiz� el disco m�s sincero de un autor que, desde su irrupci�n como cabecilla de la Nueva Ola brit�nica de finales de los a�os setenta, no dej� de sorprender a sus seguidores con sus continuos vaivenes musicales, siempre brillantes, a trav�s de los m�s diversos g�neros del pop.

En esta ocasi�n el m�sico prescinde de la guitarra -apenas doce compases- y se hace acompa�ar del piano de su inseparable Steve Nieve para relatar su tr�nsito desde las sombras a la luz del amor. The Brodsky Quartet y una enorme orquesta de cuerdas y metales -entre los que se destacan el veterano Lee Konitz en saxo alto- a�aden solemnidad y dramatismo a las composiciones de Costello, fr�giles y urgentes, escritas en apenas dos meses.

"Creo que siempre hay que estar orgulloso de lo que uno hace, pero en este caso ha sido la culminaci�n del trabajo desarrollado durante ocho a�os. El sonido conseguido, con ese formato de voz y piano y la orquesta detr�s, es lo que quer�a hacer", dice el m�sico.

Costello, de 48 a�os, rompe en su nuevo trabajo con todas las reglas de los grandes �xitos y exige al oyente que ponga mucho de su parte. Los temas revelan dificultosamente sus detalles y su din�mica interna al o�do acostumbrado a los ritmos claros.

El m�sico es consciente de que no todos tendr�n la paciencia para viajar hasta el final. "Siempre es frustrante cuando las personas no le dan a la m�sica la oportunidad de hablar por s� misma. Pero puedo entenderlo. Vivimos en un mundo que es demasiado r�pido".

Cuando se le pregunta si le preocupa c�mo los fans van recibir este dif�cil nuevo disco, responde con su voz grave: "No tengo fans". Y es que en sus m�s de 25 a�os de carrera, Costello super� todas las fronteras entre los estilos musicales, mezcl� punk, rock, folk, jazz y m�sica cl�sica y sorprendi� y desafi� a sus oyentes una y otra vez.

El silencioso "North" sucede directamente a "When I Was Cruel", del a�o pasado, en el que Costello se volvi� a acercar al rock. Las canciones nuevas fueron escritas justamente durante la ruidosa gira de presentaci�n de aquel disco, en general de noche, sentado solo al piano. Las canciones reclamaban esa forma, explica Costello. "No creo que hubiera sido mejor hacerlas m�s din�micas, o m�s ruidosas, o m�s r�pidas".

As�, contienen elementos musicales de los a�os 40 del siglo XX y de los a�os 30 del siglo anterior. "Escuch� a muchos compositores alemanes del siglo XIX y aprend� de ellos como crear una colecci�n de lieder".

El tema del disco es el fin de una relaci�n y el comienzo de una nueva, tal como ocurri� en la vida real de Costello tras la dolorosa separaci�n de la cantante Cait O'Riordan. "Es un viaje de la oscuridad a la luz", comenta, aunque aclara que lo autobiogr�fico se limita a las emociones. "No es mi diario", afirma y despu�s a�ade: "Cualquier canci�n es personal. Mi vida est� cambiando emocionalmente y todo lo que digo en el disco es cierto, pero no s�lo quiero contar de forma ego�sta lo que me ha pasado".

Luego, el m�sico oriundo de Liverpool habla de la m�sica del disco. "A pesar de todas esas melod�as y armon�as, tan trabajadas y a menudo inquietantes, s�lo quer�a hacer canciones comprensibles para todo el mundo, que no sonaran extra�as a nadie y que funcionasen en el disco y sobre los escenarios, lo que es muy dif�cil. La gente, en el disco, no puede ver tus labios, tus ojos, c�mo te mueves... Creo que la orquesta te arropa en ese sentido y llena la m�sica de gestos".

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eleven slow-motion songs travelling through sadness
and hope.

Elvis Costello has just published "North", an
intimistic and confessional(like in the Catholic
sense: confess) record.

The British musician plays 11 songs, acompanied by a
piano and a string and horns orchestra.

On first approach, it seems that Elvis Costello
recorded his new work in "slow-motion". The songs in
"North" resemble a nineteenth century lieder
collection.

"Most of these songs are very, very slow (quiet?",says
the British musician, who is now on tour througout
Europe, "I know many people have difficulties in
understanding this recording"

The album is a 45 minute travel from deep sadness to
promising/new born hope, in reference to his
separation from his (former) wife for the last 16
years and his new love, Diana Krall, the jazz singer.

"Let me tell you about her,..." sings Elvis Costello
in one of the verses of "Let me tell you about her",
which is one of the pieces "North" is comprised of. It
may be the most sincere record of an author that,
since his eruption in the musical scene heading the
British New Wave in the late seventies, has never
given up surprising his followers with innumerable
musical roundabouts, always brilliant ones,travelling
through the most diverse span of genres in pop.

For this time, he keeps the guitar out of the scene
(just twelve bars) and in comes the piano of Steve
Nieve for narrating the transit from the shadows
to the lights of love. The Brodsky Quartet and a big
string and horns orchestra (the alt sax of Lee Konitz
deserves to be pointed out) add solemnity and
dramatism to Costello's compositions, which are
fragile and urgent, composed in just two months time.

"I believe you always have to be proud of the result
of your work, but this time it has been the climax of
the work being carried out for the last eight years.
The sound we have accomplished, with the voice and the
piano in the foreground and the orchestra in the
background, is just what I wanted to do", says the
musician.

Costello, 48 years old, with his new work, breaks all
the rules of the greatest hits and demands that the
listener put some effort. The tunes reveal its details
and inner dynamics with great difficulty for ears
accustomed to clear rythms.

The musician takes for granted that not everyone will
have the patience to enjoy this trip till its ending.
"It is always frustrating when people do
not give music the chance to speak for itself. But I
can understand that. We live in a world that is just
too fast (demanding ?)"

When he is asked if he feels worried about how his
fans are going to respond to this difficult new album,
he answers in a grave voice: "I have no fans".
In a carreer spaning over 25 years, Costello has
trespassed every frontier between musical styles,
mixing punk, rock, folk, jazz and classic music,
surprising and challenging his listeners again and
again.

The quiet "North" follows "When I was cruel", his
previous year`s record, in which Costello got close to
rock once again. The new songs where written
during the noisy tour of the previous record, mainly
by night, sitting alone at the piano. The songs really
asked for that, explains Costello. "I do not think it
would have been better to do them more dynamic, noisy
or uptempo"

In this way, they contain musical elements from the
decade of the 40's of the 20th century and the 30's of
the 19th century. "I listened to a great number of
German composers from the 19th century, learning how
to create a lieder collection".

The main subject of the record is the end of a
relation and the beginning of a new one, just like
what happened in Costello's real life after his
painful separation of singer Cait O'Riordan. "It is a
trip from the shadows to the light" he says, making
clear that the autobiographic aspects are limited to
the emotions. "It is not my diary", he says, "Every
song is personal. My life is changing in the emotional
aspect and everything I tell in the record is true,
but I do not want to sing what happened to me from an
egotistic point of view"

Later on, the Liverpool-born musician talks about the
music in the record. "In spite of all those melodies
and harmonies, with a lot of work and intensity in
them, I just wanted to write songs that could be
understood by everyone, that everyone could relate to
them, and that could work not only on the record but
also on the stage, something that is very difficult.
The audience, while listening to the record, just can
not see your lips,your eyes, the way you move... I
believe that the orchestra, in this sense,cradles you
and fills the music with gestures"

Posted by at 07:39 AM | Permalink

This is probably a scam, and will certainly gain the pukes at the RIAA if it isn't, but all that aside, browsing it does show the appeal of something reasonably priced. iTunes is fantastic, and $9.99 a CD is better than $17.99, but it is dishonest to say that after removing packaging and distribution CDs should cost more than $3.99 or $4.99 to download - so songs should be .025 or so.

This Russian service sets them based on size, from approximately .01 to .08 cents. Personally, if people report that this is legit (under Russian Law and financially - although I would use Paypal and never give anyone in eastern europe a credit card) and the songs are good quality, I'll be burning up my DSL line very soon. Anyone who knows more, please add a comment.

Posted by Post Master at 10:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

More on the little ladys' degree, and the less significant mention that EC co-wrote 6 songs on her new CD.

Elvis Costello w/ the father-in-law to-be

Excerpts: "Costello, a longtime icon on the music scene, sat midway up the auditorium with Krall's family during the ceremony. The 49-year-old singer-songwriter was one of the last to stop clapping as the green cape denoting a doctorate was draped over his fiancee's shoulders.

..."A degree from this university is particularly special to her," said the gap-toothed Brit who has visited Vancouver Island with Krall before.

... "I love being here. People have made me very welcome. They leave us be, you know," Costello said.

..."We go to Thriftys and buy groceries," she said. "I like to be at my place and wear my boots. It's about family and being in a place where I grew up and am comfortable . . . . I really love it and soak it up when I come here."

...'She and Costello wrote six songs together for the new album, a record she says deals a lot with "love, loss and hope."

...Coming home is a key part of that, she said. She and Costello try to live a regular life here, she said, although the two left right after the ceremony so Costello could do several TV appearances in Los Angeles, including Jay Leno on Friday night.

Full Text
----------
Tears flow as Krall sings of her home
UVic honours star with arts doctorate

Kim Westad
Times Colonist

Jazz singer Diana Krall performs at convocation ceremonies at the University of Victoria Wednesday. Krall, a native of Nanaimo, was given an honorary doctorate of fine arts. �It wasn�t about singing some sultry, sexy tune,� she said. �It was about home.�

CREDIT: Darren Stone, Times Colonist


Darren Stone, Times Colonist / Elvis Costello sits with Diana Krall's father Jim Krall at UVic Wednesday.

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Becoming Dr. Diana Krall was far more nerve-wracking than playing Carnegie Hall, the Nanaimo-born jazz singer said Wednesday after receiving an honorary doctorate in fine arts from the University of Victoria.

"It's a lot more difficult than a performance," Krall said in a later interview. "It wasn't about getting up there and singing some sexy, sultry tune. It wasn't about that. It was about home."

Krall, in the traditional black-and-red gown and beefeater hat -- it looks like something from Harry Potter -- that doctors of fine arts wear, mouthed "I'm nervous" to university president David Turpin as she was about to be given her degree.

But any nerves appeared gone when the Grammy- and Juno-Award winning songwriter sat down behind a sleek black Steinway on the stage.

The beeps from digital cameras in the audience were steady as the lights dimmed and Krall played a piano solo, The Gravy Waltz, written by one of her favourite teachers, jazz bassist Ray Brown.

But it was her second and final song, from a new album and a song that she's never performed in public before, that had some in the packed University Centre auditorium crying.

The deeply personal Departure Bay refers to many Vancouver Island landmarks -- the Malahat, the ferry, sea planes, salt air and sawmills -- as well as to her mother who died of cancer, and to her fianc�, Elvis Costello, with whom she wrote the song.

"I was on the fence about doing this new tune. I thought, 'Can I go through with it?' because it's very emotional," said Krall.

After her performance, Krall, her ears a bit plugged from a cold, had photos taken in her grad gown with her family, and drank iced tea.

Costello, a longtime icon on the music scene, sat midway up the auditorium with Krall's family during the ceremony. The 49-year-old singer-songwriter was one of the last to stop clapping as the green cape denoting a doctorate was draped over his fiancee's shoulders.

"A degree from this university is particularly special to her," said the gap-toothed Brit who has visited Vancouver Island with Krall before. Krall's mother Adella, who died in May 2002 of cancer, earned her education degree from UVic.

"I love being here. People have made me very welcome. They leave us be, you know," Costello said.

In Departure Bay, Krall sings, "Who knew when I started that I'd find love and bring him home."

Krall, 38, has a home on Vancouver Island that she's trying to keep private. And she's thrilled with her recent purchase of a piece by the late First Nations artist Bill Reid. She's learning about Canadian and First Nations art; her only jewelry Wednesday was a thick silver Haida bracelet -- and an engagement ring with a diamond solitaire so large it made the band look dainty.

She and Costello wrote six songs together for the new album, a record she says deals a lot with "love, loss and hope."

"It's nice to write about home. It is quite lovely to step back from it and then come back," Krall said.

She's had a "bit of a tough year-and-a-half, with a lot of loss."

Her mother, singer and friend Rosemary Clooney and Ray Brown all died within six weeks of each other.

"I think this album is mostly about the things that keep us on the straight and narrow," said Krall, who calls it a "personal portrait of where I am now."

Coming home is a key part of that, she said. She and Costello try to live a regular life here, she said, although the two left right after the ceremony so Costello could do several TV appearances in Los Angeles, including Jay Leno on Friday night.

"We go to Thriftys and buy groceries," she said. "I like to be at my place and wear my boots. It's about family and being in a place where I grew up and am comfortable . . . . I really love it and soak it up when I come here."

Krall didn't attend university, but left home at 17 on a music scholarship and then learned from some of the top jazz musicians, slowly building her career. She said she's still learning.

Posted by Post Master at 09:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

CMT will televise the memorial celebration for Johnny Cash on Saturday, Nov. 15 at 8 p.m. ET/PT. Taping of the concert, titled the Johnny Cash Memorial Tribute, will take place on Nov. 10 at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium. Artists already lined up to perform include the Fisk Jubilee Singers, Kris Kristofferson, Rosanne Cash, Larry Gatlin, Willie Nelson, Sheryl Crow, Rodney Crowell, Steve Earle, George Jones, John Mellencamp, Hank Williams Jr., Jack Clement, Marty Stuart, Jimmy Tittle and Johnny Western."

Detailed article about the concert Here

The show is on Saturday (Nov. 15) at 8 p.m. ET/PT, reprising on Sunday (Nov. 16) at 2 p.m. ET/PT. CMT.com will feature coverage of the telecast throughout the week.

Posted by Post Master at 12:13 AM | Permalink

Elvis appears as co-writer, with Paul Simon and Bernie Taupin, of the song in this parody joke funny snide thing I don't quite understand.

Excerpt: "The tune, composed through the headline-grabbing collaboration of master songwriters Bernie Taupin, Elvis Costello, and Paul Simon, features nearly fifty popular recording artists who convened at Capital Records, Hollywood to contribute their talents.

�We are appealing to the RIAA to step back for a moment and consider the message they are sending with this song,� said Paul Bremer, Presidential Envoy to Iraq. �Although their intentions are good, this may be counter-productive in the long run.�

Posted by Post Master at 07:38 PM | Permalink

Conan and Kilborn next week.

Posted by Post Master at 07:34 PM | Permalink

Cool new online database of all UK Chart Hits from 1952 to 2003.

Posted by Post Master at 10:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Elvis has every reason to cover Graham Parker`s Lady Doctor now ; he`s just attended a conferring on Ms Krall of a honourary Doctorate.

Excerpt: "Costello was in the audience to watch his fiance accept her honourary degree. Krall's father and sister were also in attendance. "It's a wonderful honour," Costello said. "As her mother had a degree from this university, it's special to her."

NEWS STORY
Krall granted honourary PhD from UVic

canada.com

Wednesday, November 12, 2003

It's been a good year for Diana Krall. The jazz musician from Nanaimo has received the Order of B.C. and become engaged to music legend Elvis Costello.

Wednesday she got another feather in her cap when she was granted an honourary doctorate in fine arts from the University of Victoria.

Krall chose to make a musical address instead of delivering a formal speech. She performed Gravy Waltz, a piece written by one of her best-loved teachers, Ray Brown of the Oscar Peterson Trio. She also performed for the first time a song she wrote about Vancouver Island.

Krall told the graduates she is a life-long learner.

"I'm still learning. I'm still going to school, finding different mentors as they move along by you," Krall said. "I'd like to thank everybody. This means a lot to me."

Accolades are nothing new for Krall. She has won Grammy and Juno awards and performed with some of the most celebrated artists in both jazz and pop music.

Costello was in the audience to watch his fiance accept her honourary degree. Krall's father and sister were also in attendance.

"It's a wonderful honour," Costello said. "As her mother had a degree from this university, it's special to her."

� Copyright 2003 CH TV

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Lady Doctor

I've got a lady doctor She cure da pain for free
I've got a lady doctor Oh there ain't nothing wrong with me.

I went in with a heart burn into the surgery
To my surprise two pretty eyes was running up and down me.
Said now be a patient patient stretch right out on that couch
Help yourself to the pills cure your ills

I'm never gonna square it on out.

REPEAT CHORUS

Well all the cats said go see her it's only just down the road
You go in with pneumonia come out with just a heavy cold
She won't give you no jargon no medical how-do-you-do
Well just get right down under that stethoscope
Baby let that lady mess on with you.

Ain't nothing wrong with
Ain't nothing wrong with me

Ooh ooh ooh ooh lady doctor yeah.

Posted by at 07:44 AM | Permalink

The UK has gone just as nuts as the US - copyright wise. In another few years there will be some wireless gizmo in your computer/cd-player that just signals the cops when you play some 'ilicit' music and then they either come over and get you, the house arrest ankle braclet that we'll all be wearing 'just in case' will suddenly activate, or they're mail you a citation and auto-deduct the huge fine from your bank account. Someone please email me when the revolution begins - I'm in.

If you want to find a little sanity to balance all the insanity above, check out this guy - read his writings and watch his presentations in the archives. If only he was on the Supreme Court.

Posted by Post Master at 09:56 PM | Permalink

Since reviewers never lie or write for dramatic effect :-)

"Hearts of Oak" solidified the Pharmacists and firmly established Leo's reputation as a songwriter.

In 13 tracks, ranging from the utopian ska reminiscence "Where Have All the Rude Boys Gone?" to the introspective travelogue "Bridges, Squares," the boy from Bloomfield, N.J., emerged as the heir apparent to Joe Jackson, Elvis Costello, Bruce Springsteen - in other words, to any other musician who wired emotions and intellect into a distinctive worldview."

Posted by Post Master at 10:35 AM | Permalink

The Stinger gets stung and stings back:

"And he is always getting slated by his peers. Elvis Costello recently saw Sting perform at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and called his act "appalling". Why do people give him such a hard time?

"Maybe because they know I can take it. Everybody has a right to fair comment. I can deal with it." He frowns. "He [Costello] wasn't that good either."

Posted by Post Master at 10:32 AM | Permalink

Elvis spoke to United Music in Italy recently. See a translation here.

Di PG Brunelli

Canzoni d�amore (per Diana Krall?) magnificamente
orchestrate e dai toni molto personali. Questo �
�North� il nuovo album di Elvis Costello che arriva a
celebrare 25 anni di carriera. Il momento di Costello,
per� non si ferma qui, perch� assieme al nuovo lavoro
c�� un processo di riscoperta del passato che � in
fase di completa ristampa.

Guardare al passato fa paura o fa sorridere?

�Mah, entrambe, perch� � comunque ricordare momenti di
una vita passata. � quasi come se io non fossi pi�
quella persona. C��, quindi, un certo senso di
distacco e di obiettivit� che mi fa essere molto
onesto con me stesso. Mi hanno chiesto di scrivere le
note di copertina degli album e alcune sono veramente
scritte a cuore aperto, tanto che mi chiedo come abbia
fatto a registrare un certo album nello stato nervoso
in cui ero in quel determinato momento. Debbo
aggiungere che non mi pongo mai innanzi alle canzoni
con un atteggiamento nostalgico e le posso
interpretare ancora con lo spirito giusto.�

Hai recentemente ritrovato la vena giusta anche
durante i concerti. Sei stato riscoperto dal pubblico?

�A me non sembra di essere mai andato via. Il pubblico
c�� sempre stato, ma, come tante cose, va a cicli. I
concerti in questo momento mi coinvolgono molto,
perch� la band che mi accompagna (The Impostors) �
eccezionale ed io mi sento veramente a mio agio sul
palco�.

Che cosa dici a chi ti fa notare che praticamente gli
Impostors sono gli Attractions, il gruppo storico che
ti aiutava in passato, con una paio di alterazioni?

�Faccio loro notare che le differenze sono sostanziali
a livelli umano. Con gli Attractions c�erano tensioni
personali che con questa formazione non ci sono. Se
sali sul palco e ti accorgi che non ti stai divertendo
o se ci sono forze interne che ti spingono in
direzioni in cui non ti interessa andare, allora ti
rendi conto di essere nella situazione sbagliata e
devi cambiarla�.

Esiste un filo rosso che accomuna �North� con le cose
che hai fatto negli ultimi venticinque anni?

�A volte mi sembra proprio che non ci sia nulla in
comune. Il rock/punk di �My Aim Is True�, per esempio
ti aggrediva. Questo nuovo album, invece deve essere
ascoltato con calma, con pazienza. Ci sono
arrangiamenti con sfumature che non si notano subito.
� un disco quieto, con emozioni concentrate che se
suonato dal vivo trova la sua collocazione ideale in
un piccolo teatro con la gente che sta seduta. � anche
vero che un atteggiamento artistico di questo genere,
con questi arrangiamenti e queste orchestrazioni, era
gi� stato toccato quando ho lavorato con Burt
Bacharach. � un aspetto che mi interessa molto e che
ho ulteriormente esplorato recentemente in una
rielaborazione di �Sogno di una notte di mezza estate�
di Shakespeare�.

(06/11/2003)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By PG Brunelli

Magnificantly orchestrated love songs (for Diana
Krall?) in very
personal
tones. This is North, the new album by Elvis Costello,
which celebrates
the
25th year of his career.
This is not Costello's only moment, because along with
the new album,
he is in
the process of re-discovering the past by preparing a
complete series
of re-
releases.

Does looking at the past scare you or make you laugh?

"Well, both, because in anyway it is remembering
moments of a times
gone by.
It is almost as if I wan't that person.
After all there is a certain sense of separation and
objectivity which
makes me
look very honestly at myself.
They asked me to write the liner notes of the
re-releases, and some of
them are
really written with an
open heart, and I asked myself how I could have
recorded a certain
album in the
nervous state I was in at that moment.
I must add that I have never had a nostalgic attitude
towards the songs
and I
can still interpret them with the right spirit."

Recently you seem to have found new energy, also
during your concerts.
Have you
been rediscovered by the audience?

"I don't think I have ever been away. The audience has
always been
there, but
like with many other things it comes and goes.
I feel very well about the concerts in this period,
because the band
that backs
me up (The Imposters) is exceptional and therefore I
feel
very well on stage!"

What do you say to those who say that practically The
Imposters are the
same as
The Attractions, the band that backed you up in the
past?

"I tell them that the differences are to be found on
the personal
level. There
was a lot of personal tension with The Attractions,
which there isn't
with the
new formation.
If you go on stage and you find that you are not
enjoying it or that
there are
internal forces that pushes you in directions in which
you have no
interest
in going, then you realise that you are in an
unhealthy situation, and
that you
should change that situation.

Is there a thread that binds North
together...something that summons up
what
you have been doing for the last 25 years?

"Sometimes it seems that it has nothing in common.
F.ex the rock/punk
of My Aim
Is True attacks you. The new album
has to be listened to with calm, with patience. There
are arrangements
with
subtle tones that you don't hear immediately. It is
a quiet album, with a lot of emotions, which - if
played live - finds
it's
ideal place in a small theatre, where people can sit
down and listen.

It is also true that an artistic attitude of this
kind, with these
arrangements
and orchestrations, already has been explored when I
worked with Burt
Bacharach. It is something that interests me a lot,
and I have recently
tried
hands with it when I wrote the orchestral score for
Aterballetto's
interpretation of Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's
Dream'

(06/11/2003

Posted by at 07:50 AM | Permalink

Pitchfork have got around to reviewing North.

Excerpt: "Unfortunately, North, Elvis Costello's 24th album (yes, I did say 24th)
may be one of his least inspiring to date. Conceptually, the album should
have been a knockout. Costello's music has always fared best when its
arrangements were stripped to their bare essentials, creating an
intimate space for his wry voice, witty narratives, and poignant melodies."

"...It could be said that part of what makes Elvis Costello such a
shape-shifting artist is his unrelenting determination to capture the
everlasting beauty he sees within the material of his favorite
songwriters. It's a cruel irony that, as he grows older and aims higher, he only falls further away from himself and fails more profoundly at grasping that elusive quality."

Elvis Costello
[Deutsche Grammophon; 2003]
Rating: 3.9

Few musicians have made such successful careers by confounding
expectations as Elvis Costello has. His sprawling, epic discography seems to dutifully cover almost every genre (excluding hip-hop, thankfully): From the ska-inflected wit of his debut, My Aim Is True, to the Byrdsian rock bombast of Armed Forces, to King of America's stripped down Americana, Costello has painted himself as something of a reclusive, embittered Bowie-- a songwriting chameleon given more to political discourse than grandiose, caricatured personas. Unfortunately, with each passing year, his wide-ranging ambitions seem to become more of a nuisance than an inspirational creative light.

Costello has always seemed to have a difficult time reconciling the
critic in him with the artist, and it speaks volumes that one of his most
inspired moments of late took place not in the studio, but at a desk: His Vanity Fair article Rocking Around the Clock was an immensely enjoyable,
meticulously documented, hour-by-hour blueprint for an ideal full day of binge music listening. In a rare moment, Costello flashed his true inner manically obsessive music dork nature. Of course, he's taken the time to indulge many of his inner-music critic's fantasies over the years, and while some of these indulgences have struck musical paydirt, his diverse ambitions have often come at the cost of his own music's consistency, and have largely muddied the proverbial waters of his aesthetic voice.

Unfortunately, North, Elvis Costello's 24th album (yes, I did say 24th)
may be one of his least inspiring to date. Conceptually, the album should
have been a knockout. Costello's music has always fared best when its
arrangements were stripped to their bare essentials, creating an
intimate space for his wry voice, witty narratives, and poignant melodies. And while Costello saw success with his landmark "intimate" guitar album, 1985's King of America, he'd never before made a sister album for it, of piano-based material. Costello's "piano songs" like the pensively yearning "Almost Blue" (from 1982's abstract pop masterpiece Imperial Bedroom) and the gently heroic "Shipbuilding" (off 1983's Punch the Clock) have undoubtedly accounted for some of the most moving and inspired moments of his later career.

The only catch with North is that Costello seems less concerned with
presenting a collection of melodically clever and empathetic songs
filled with his trademark sense of irony and double-entendre, than with
recording an album for the classical and jazz elite. In other words, it looks
like the result of self-conscious pandering to his inner music critic. Note that Costello inexplicably released the album on the "acclaimed" classical
label, Deutsche Grammophon; the beaming yellow of the label's logo jumps out absurdly against the sharp gray contrasts of the album art. And while he might gain "street cred" amongst the classical music in-crowd with this move, the result makes for what may be his least compelling work ever.

North may be better understood as a stylistic experience than as a
musical one-- the music itself is a testament to this: Costello has eschewed all sense of melody and humor in favor of rambling, mock-jazz noodling. Where Costello matched the sparse arrangements of his jazz-influenced classic "Almost Blue" with the nuanced simplicity of standards like "Body and Soul", North defies this simple beauty as one long drab exercise.

The album does find some saving grace in the iconic marvel of Costello's
voice. His delivery on North sounds like a rich, thick slab of wet red
paint, adding rich texture and depth to the dim gray backdrop of his
accompaniment. Also, touches of classic Costello rear their head every
now and again; especially on the yearning nostalgia of "Fallen" ("I
believed that life was wonderful, right up to the moment when love went wrong") and the wondrously elegant love song set amidst New York City, the album's closure, "I'm in the Mood Again".

Still, from the melodramatic opener "You Left Me in the Dark" (sample
lyric: "You left me standing alone/ Although I thought that we could not be
parted"), notes tumble on ad infinitum, leading nowhere and standing in
direct contrast to the meticulously crafted maudlin atmosphere. The
sentimental "When Did I Stop Dreaming" offers a possible excuse for the
album's unrelentingly dim mood: if Costello has indeed become paralyzed
with cynicism as signified by the lyric "Pardon me, if I seem distant and
strange/ Just tell me when did I stop dreaming?", it makes sense that
this batch of songs reeks of such icy indifference.

It could be said that part of what makes Elvis Costello such a
shape-shifting artist is his unrelenting determination to capture the
everlasting beauty he sees within the material of his favorite
songwriters. It's a cruel irony that, as he grows older and aims higher, he only falls further away from himself and fails more profoundly at grasping that elusive quality.

-Hartley Goldstein, November 11th, 2003

Posted by at 06:08 PM | Permalink

Elvis` 2002 article in Vanity Fair about 24 hours of music has been included in a collection of music writing.

Update: Article about the book at New York Press

Da Capo Best Music Writing 2003: The Year's Finest Writing on Rock,Pop,Jazz,Country, & More (Da Capo Best Music Writing, 2003)
by Matt Groening (Editor), Paul Bresnick (Editor)

Paperback: 336 pages ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.82 x 8.52 x 5.56
Publisher: DaCapo Press; (October 7, 2003)
ISBN: 0306812363

Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
This fourth volume is edited by Simpsons creator and onetime music critic Groening, who writes that he didn't try for any overview of significant trends, but instead "just went for essays jammed with information and conveyed with style, passion and wit." Each of the 21 examples vividly displays those qualities, and there is nary a weak essay (although, once again, writings on country, reggae and classical are sparsely represented). Some of the best include Bill Tuomala's hilarious alternate history of Van Halen, with the rock superstars recast as underground critics' favorites who never achieved success in an era when punk groups like the Ramones were "dominating the charts"; Chuck Klosterman's investigation of the present-day popularity among Mexican-Americans of Morrissey, the sexually ambiguous front man of the mid-1980s British cult band the Smiths; two long pieces from the New Yorker on funk legend James Brown and recently rediscovered bluesman R.L. Burnside; and Elvis Costello's remarkable selections for what he sees as appropriate listening music for every hour of the day, from 6 a.m. to 5 a.m. As in previous collections, satirical writers from the Onion provide criticism masked as comic relief in "37 Record-Store Clerks Feared Dead in Yo La Tengo Concert Disaster" ("It's just a twisted mass of black-frame glasses and ironic Girl Scouts T-shirts in there").
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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

Elvis Costello picks music for every hour of the day
Vanity Fair, 2002-11-01
- Elvis Costello

GOOD MORNING, MY SWEET
String Quartet in C Major, anyone? The author, awoke in a New York hotel room, and in the mood for some seven a.m. Mozart.

ROCKING AROUND THE CLOCK
by Elvis Costello

The perfect music for five A.M. jitters, nine A.M. bustle, two P.M. contemplation, eight P.M. assignations? The author presents a 24-hour soundtrack - Mary J. Blige, Haydn, Bj�rk, Van Morrison, Hank Williams Sr. - that can only improve your day.

What wakes you up at 5 A.M.? Toothache? Heartbreak? Or the nervous rush that comes from too much wine the previous evening? You can tell yourself it is still "night" in the hour after four. Once five strikes it is indisputably "morning".

What sound will soothe as the sharp light floods past the ill-fitting curtains of your hired room? You need fine gauze for the senses. Outside, the last taxis with exhausted revelers skulk home as newspaper trucks sling piles that lie in doorways.

Play Joao Gilberto's "Aguas de Mar�o" (Polygram), a song that has no need to raise its voice. It's either this or John McCormack's Songs Of My Heart: Popular Songs and Irish Ballads (Angel) at a low volume. The circuit of the vanity clock commences. It's just another parlour (or boudoir) game; in the words of Errol Flynn, this is only "for fun and sport".

6 A.M. A time of brief respite, before telephones and televisions assault us, and we may be still and patient enough for Palestrina's Missa Papae Marcelli sung by the Westminster Cathedral Choir (Hyperion). It was once thought that this work saved music in a time when dogmatic cardinals wanted to forbid the use of polyphony. Scholarship does a disservice to our imaginations by illustrating a more mundane reality. Listening to "Kyrie", you can believe that it would have been persuasive.

Voices are raised in praise. Perhaps it is enough to believe that they believe, but if that feels hypocritical, then you could always turn to Monteverdi's "Lamento d'Arianna" performed by the Deller Consort (Vanguard). It speaks of another kind of love and sorrow.

7 A.M. There is a need for order and purpose to the day. Haydn symphonies are ideal at this hour. Concise and with an absence of bombast, they sharpen your wits with a wit of their own.Don't expect this from the slick machine of the modern orchestra. The period group is what you need, with the buzz and clang of the arcane bells, reeds, and bows. There are many recordings, but Volume 2 of the Haydn Symphonies Series, by the Academy Of Ancient Music (L'Oiseau-Lyre), directed by Christopher Hogwood, is a good place to begin.

As the murmur of news seeps unbiden through the walls and windows, you may prefer the prophecy of the opening measures of the Mozart String Quartet No. 19 in C Major, K. 465", often subtitled "Dissonant", performed by Le Quatuor Talich (Calliope), or turn to the piano for "On An Overgrown Path" played by Andr�s Schiff on the album Leos Jan�cek: A Recollection (ECM), or Brahms's autumnal intermezzos "Opuses 117 and 118", performed by Radu Lupu (Decca).

8 A.M. The day is picking up pace. Mingus is playing loud in the kitchen, something is boiling. It's Blues & Roots (Rhino), or the excellent Thirteen Pictures: The Charles Mingus Anthology (Rhino). Hit the repeat function on "Jump Monk". Like the motor of a city, the rattle of an overhead railway, blood coursing back to the heart, air propelled through the pipes of an old hotel. There is a hoarse voice rising to a shout with the force of life.

What else would work at this hour? The rock-steady beat of Tighten Up: Trojan Reggae Classics 1968-1974 (Trojan) or "Expecting To Fly" from Neil Young's great, reissued compilation, Decade (Reprise).

THE MUSIC DOCTOR IS IN
Take some Aretha at 9 am, then a dose of Madonna at 10. Dancing with the Hoover is permitted, even encouraged.


9 A.M. The guitar and tender falsetto of Curtis Mayfield lead The Impressions in "I'm So Proud" and "Keep On Pushing". If you can't find Big 16 (HMV) or 28 Originals (ABC) on vinyl, then The Ultimate Collection (Hip-O) will spin you out of doors or across tiled floors.

Men of leisure and Victorian-minded are inclined to answer their mail at this hour. The distraction of Aretha Franklin's I Never Loved A Man The Way I Love You (Atlantic) will save on postage. Mighty singers still walk among us. Solomon Burke's mid-2002 release, Don't Give Up On Me (Fat Possum), is all the proof you need. I must declare an interest in this one, having co-written one track, "The Judgement", with my wife, Cait. Songs from Dan Penn, Tom Waits, Nick Lowe, Bob Dylan, and the album's producer, Joe Henry, recrown the King Of Rock And Soul. Now it is time to do some housework.

10 A.M. Turn up Madonna's "Rays Of Light", or even that "Into The Groove" 12-inch single (Warner Bros.)�until the neighbours complain. Dance around the furniture with the Hoover like Fred Astaire and his hatstand. The Pet Shop Boys' Please (Capitol) will assist with the dusting. Elgar's "Enigma" Variations conducted by Sir Adrian Boult (EMI Classics) may bring a little nobility to the washing up. Gentlemen, beware, that novelty apron will rob you of your dignity.

11 A.M. Time for a cup of tea and a biscuit after all that hard work. Select a record from the dressing-up box - David Bowie's Hunky Dory (Virgin) or Elton John's excellent Tumbleweed Connection (Rocket), from his Annie Oakley period. This is also the occasion when you may seek out a lost gem like Judee Sill's "Jesus Was A Cross Maker" (Asylum) or "The Bells" from Gonna Take A Miracle (Columbia), performed by Laura Nyro and Labelle.

NOON. If you are just waking up now, then you have missed a wonderful morning. Try playing the title song from Oklahoma! (Angel Classics) at full blast until you repent. For those of you just returning from your morning appointments, there is time enough for an act or two of a Mozart opera. Try the first act of Le Nozze di Figaro conducted by Karl B�hm (Deutsche Grammophon), all temptation and intrigue, or the finale conducted by John Eliot Gardiner (Archiv), for some sublime forgiveness. It depends on how that meeting went. Those leftovers in the refrigerator start to look like lunch.

1 P.M. Coffee is on the stove, if that is your poison. Duke Ellington and His Orchestra fill the air - it's Ellington At Newport (Columbia). Follow up with selections from Porgy & Bess (Verve) performed by Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald. This may be just the time to play Louis Armstrong's "Wild Man Blues" from The Complete Hot Five and Hot Seven Recordings (Columbia/Legacy). That cut contains everything you need to know.

2 P.M. Switch off the television, disconnect the phone, and pull down the shutters. Abandon clock time for one hour in a cool, low-lit room. Everything can wait. Two works from the end of the catalogue occupy you now: Schubert's "Piano Sonata No. 21 in B-flat Major, D. 960", played by Alfred Brendel (Philips), followed by Beethoven's "String Quartet in F Major, Opus 135", performed by the Budapest Quartet (Sony). They sing of ideas beyond words. Tell whoever was waiting on your arrival that you had to see your priest.

3 P.M. You are out of this world now. You might as well keep going. Skip James's Complete Early Recordings (Yazoo) will be your guide. The eerie falsetto ray sails out beyond the surface clicks and scratches. You may also need PJ Harvey's Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea (Island), where the air is rarefied. By the time you read this you should be able to purchase Bj�rk's Greatest Hits (Elektra). When you feel it is time to re-enter the atmosphere, cue up Ralph Stanley (DMZ/Columbia), a new installment of Dr. Stanley's beautiful art. Scare the pants off your death-metal nephew with the ancient tale "Little Mathie Grove": "And with his sword (he) cut off her head and kicked it against the wall."

4 P.M. Music of the longer shadows is now needed, something where you can detect the glue and rivets holding it all together. For goodness' sake, it's the Mississippi Sheiks' "The World Is Going Wrong" from Stop And Listen (Yazoo). Richard Manuel's yearning voice cries "Tears Of Rage" from Music From Big Pink (Capitol), while Emmylou Harris's unsentimental "Red Dirt Girl" (Nonesuch) reports the demise of a childhood friend. Finally, enter the world of Alice (Anti), Tom Waits's masterpiece of dark mirrors and the frozen earth.

5 P.M. Let's try another language. Swinging Addis, Volume 8, or Ethiopian Blues & Ballads, Volume 10, of the superb �thiopiques series (Buda Musique), will transport you in time and space. We whine about whether our records are free enough, and dupe ourselves into thinking that piracy is a blow against the capitalist marauders, when we just want something for nothing. Here is a country that had a pop explosion in the brief window of opportunity between a feudal monarchy and the insane repression of distorted Marxism. Imagine that you dropped the greatest James Brown records into a 5,000-year-old well of deep lamentation and you will get the idea. Do you really want me to care about the nasty little Reagan's children of the Napster generation or which nitwit is running AOL Time Warner or Vivendi Universal this week? They all deserve one another.

Blasting out from the opposite coast, "Envy No Good" is a standout track from the Afro-Rock Volume 1 (Kona/DMI) collection. A young Englishman went to Ghana to seek out the last vinyl copies of this music. He made sure the musicians got their royalties. Any record that contains the work of K. Frimpong and His Cubano Fiestas can only improve your day.

6 P.M. As you gather yourself for the evening ahead, some cautionary words from Luke The Drifter may be advisable. "Too Many Parties And Too Many Pals" is one of Hank Williams Sr.'s homilies under that alias. You'll find it alongside terrifying ballads such as "They'll Never Take Her Love From Me" on two of Hank senior's numerous collections (Jasmine, Mercury).

George Jones sings of a man who did little to heed such warnings. As "The Last Town I Painted" concludes, "I painted it blue". Then check out "Mr. Fool" from Cup Of Loneliness: The Classic Mercury Years (Mercury).

Switching over to Merle Haggard, you can take some comfort in the recklessness of "No Reason To Quit" (Capitol). Get back in the mood with some of Muddy Waters's ferocious Chess sides; "Just To Be With You", "Too Young To Know", and "I'm Ready" should do it. Then take it up to the top of the hour with Sonny Boy Williamson's "One Way Out " and "Commit A Crime" by Howlin' Wolf (various Chess compilations).

TIME TO HIT THE TOWN
For the evening hours, our musicoligist recommends Mary J. Blige, to prepare the mind for the night's exploits, followed by Al Green.

7 P.M. You're in a car now, destination unknown. "Ball Of Confusion (That's What The World Is Today)" from The Temptations' Psychedelic Soul (Spectrum) compilation is rattling the bodywork. It alternates with Mary J. Blige's No More Drama (MCA) and El-P's Fantastic Damage or El-P Presents Cannibal Oxtrumentals (both Definitive Jux).

This might also be the time to revisit songs that you haven't heard for a while, such as "She Is Still A Mystery" and "Six O'Clock" from The Lovin' Spoonful - Greatest Hits (Buddha). You might prefer something by Salt-N-Pepa or Hanson, depending on your birthday.

At this hour, A Hard Day's Night (Capitol) is almost certainly a better Beatles choice for the motorcar than Revolver or The White Album. Then crank up Disc One of The Byrds' boxed set (Columbia/Legacy) for "She Don't Care About Time". Ignore people staring as you sing along with "I'll Feel A Whole Lot Better" while waiting at a red light.

8 P.M. Assuming you didn't get pulled over for speeding, you are where you need to be right now. If you are with your beloved, then you already know what sets your scene. We shall discreetly fade to black. Is that Sonic Youth that I hear in the distance?

If you should find yourself waiting by the phone for an invitation that never comes, literal-minded selections may mock you as much as they comfort. In this respect, Al Green's Call Me (Hi) probably just beats Don Covay's "It's Better To Have (And Don't Need)" from Mercy Mercy: The Definitive Don Covay (Razor & Tie).

Resist the temptation to play old slow songs. "I've Grown Accustomed To Her Face" from My Fair Lady (Sony Classical/Columbia/Legacy) will only alarm the neighbors as they hear the stifled sobbing coming through the walls. Dogs fear human tears nearly as much as lighning.

9 P.M. Face it, you are settling in for the night. Let Van Morrison's Veedon Fleece (Polydor) wash over you:

Fair play to you
Killarney's lakes are so blue.
These songs are beautiful and unfathomable:

Linden Arden stole the highlights
And he put his finger through the glass
For still more mischievous moods, dive straight into Bob Dylan's Love And Theft (Columbia). One song, "Floater (Too Much To Ask)", states:

I left all my dreams and hopes
Buried under tobacco leaves.
The very next, "High Water (For Charlie Patton)", advises you:

Throw your panties overboard.
There is lots of life in lots of old dogs.

10 P.M. You've run out of explanations and tall tales. Miles Davis's In A Silent Way (Columbia/Legacy) rides on a Tony Williams cymbal all the way to the immaculate puzzle of Radiohead's Amnesiac (Capitol). "Morning Bell" at evening time. Something leads you to Surf's Up (Capitol), the Beach Boys' very own archaeological dig, you dig? The Brian Wilson title song is so beautiful and bold. The lovely track that Cameron Crowe used at the end of Almost Famous can also be found here. It's the work of brother Carl and is called "Feel Flows". Keep that remote control close at hand. Here comes Mike Love's "Student Demonstration Time". Will the madness never end?

11 P.M. The day is almost done. Now there is a choice between words and another form of eloquence. Joni Mitchell's Blue (Reprise) sounds better than ever at this hour. All of today's confessional writers need to spend a year of pre-midnight hours with this record before sharing their pain with us.

Something still darker and stronger can be found in the tormented imagination of Gesualdo: Madrigals, directed by William Christie (Harmonia Mundi). It is hard to imagine the world from which these compositions came. Carlo Gesualdo was the heir to a prince and was said to have been a murderous cuckold who displayed the slain bodies of his first wife, her lover, and a child of doubtful paternity. It can make you uneasy about even listening to this music.

You probably have enough of your own troubles. Pablo Casals's recordings of the Bach Cello Suites (EMI Classics) will bring the day to a supernatural conclusion.

MIDNIGHT.

Can I cry a little bit?
There's nobody to notice it
Can't I cry if I want to
No one cares...

Randy Newman's magnificent "Just One Smile" comes from Dusty Springfield's Dusty In Memphis (Rhino). It's the record you selected just ahead of that pile of Peggy Lee albums you keep for this very occasion.

The blue mood is irresistible now. The hi-fi plays "You Don't Know Me" from Ray Charles's Modern Sounds In Country And Western (Rhino):

You give your hand to me
And then you say hello
And I can hardly speak
My heart is beating so...

MUST ... HAVE ... MUSIC
One am. The night is winding down. You are not. Surrender to the melancholy of Lucinda Williams.

1 A.M. Surrendering to melancholy... Lucinda Williams's Essence (Lost Highay) plays as loud as the hour allows. Her tales of "Lonely Girls" and reasons to cry use only the essential words. This is a deeper shade of "Blue", her lovely ballad. She will inquire, "Are you down?"

If this is not the way to go for you, then put on John Prine's Great Days (Rhino), a collection of his finest moments, or his album of duets, In Spite Of Ourselves (Oh Boy). Finally, play Sam Phillips's Fan Dance (Nonesuch). It is in a world (and class) of its own and you can visit it.

2 A.M. Jimmy Reed will put a little motor in the mood with the woozy groove of "Take Out Some Insurance" and "My Bitter Seed" from Rockin' With Reed (Vee-Jay). The lights are low - there would be cigarette smoke, but you know that is a filthy habit ... and your heart can't stand another drink. This record does all the hurting for you. The world is winding down. Hounddog (Columbia/Legacy) is the perfect accompaniment. Mike Halby and David Hidalgo's impossibly slow blue pulse never sound better than on "I'll Change My Style".

3 A.M. Quarter to three has come and gone, but that won't stop Only The Lonely (Capitol) from being the ultimate Frank Sinatra album for this time of night - weary, confidential, and completely self-obsessed. You could ask for no more than "Angel Eyes", "Good-Bye", or "One For My Baby". The only record that I know of that is more drained of expectation is Chet Baker's early vocal masterpiece "The Thrill Is Gone". Indeed. You can find it on Chet Baker Sings (Pacific Jazz), and he does. There is a James van Heusen song that both men share. Sinatra's version can be found on In The Wee Small Hours (Capitol). It is both noble and knowing. Chet's narcotic rendition could once be found on Chet Baker With Fifty Italian Strings and has now been reissued as the title track of Deep In A Dream: The Ultimate Chet Baker Collection (Pacific Jazz). It is altogether more troubling.

My cigarette burns me
I wake with a start
My hand isn't hurt
But there's pain in my heart
But we'll love anew
Just as we used to do
When I'm deep in a dream of you.
Now as you edge closer to the darkest hour, play "Ghost Of Yesterday" or "Laughing At Life" (with Lester Young) from Lady Day: The Complete Billie Holiday On Columbia (1933-1944).

4 A.M. Eyes are closing despite your struggle. Morton Feldman's almost seamless fabric of music for piano and string quartet is both hypnotic and transporting. I use the word "fabric" with good reason. The composer is said to have written in admiration of tapestries with just the occasional fascinating imperfection. The recording Piano And String Quartet is by The Kronos Quartet and Aki Takahashi (Nonesuch).

As you drift between the conscious and unconscious worlds, you may glance at a mute television to find that Oliver Postgate's Clangers is being aired. If you can't find a channel showing these stop-frame animated parables of the wonderful armadillo-like creatures and their planet, you can always use Vernon Elliot's lovely score (Trunk) to dream your own version.

Posted by at 06:02 PM | Permalink

Elvis is back in Canada , where he attended a Spiritualized `in store ` appearance.

"Space rockers Spiritualized make music that draws all kinds of listeners, even rock and pop-jazz royalty. At the band's in-store performance at Virgin Megastore on Robson Street on Sunday, singer Jason Pierce serenaded a crowd of fans that included Elvis Costello and his sweetheart Diana Krall. "

Posted by at 05:54 PM | Permalink

Ah the old days.
When buying music required going to a record store.

Posted by Post Master at 11:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

First, a brief review from Phili Burbs: "And finally, rockabilly queen Wanda Jackson has a new album, "Heart Trouble" that features performances by Elvis Costello, the Cramps and Dave Alvin. Jackson, who originally started as a country singer, changed her style after performing on the same bill as Elvis Presley, who suggested that she record rock and roll material. Jackson's hits include "Let's Have a Party" (previously recorded by Elvis) and "Fujiyama Mama."

Then, listen to Wanda on NPR - She tells brief story about being in the studio with Elvis.

And if you have some time, hear the entire album.

Posted by Post Master at 04:45 PM | Permalink

Someone's going to be asked to leave Canada:

Excerpt: "But whoa now. Has Elvis gone serious on us? We always knew he had a serious side -- what with his liaison with the Kronos Quartet, etc -- and he could be downright earnest about his bouncy music. On North he opens You Left Me In The Dark with a lush cascade of strings, then settles into a slow jazz ballad. Track two, Someone Took the Words Away, is more of the same: a melancholy number with a lovely, plaintive sax solo by Lee Konitz, in which Elvis bemoans not being able to express himself with the words of love."

FULL TEXT
-=--------
Elvis Costello/Grammophon

Yes, that's Elvis Costello, of Elvis and the Attractions and bouncy New Wave songs such as Pump It Up and Mystery Dance, on Deutsche Grammophon, the label synonymous with serious classical music and everything that Elvis Costello was not. And vice versa.

But whoa now. Has Elvis gone serious on us? We always knew he had a serious side -- what with his liaison with the Kronos Quartet, etc -- and he could be downright earnest about his bouncy music. On North he opens You Left Me In The Dark with a lush cascade of strings, then settles into a slow jazz ballad. Track two, Someone Took the Words Away, is more of the same: a melancholy number with a lovely, plaintive sax solo by Lee Konitz, in which Elvis bemoans not being able to express himself with the words of love.

By track four, You Turned To Me, the tunes and their arrangements are starting to sound much like one another, and when he sings the line "how cruel the young can be" in Fallen, I'm not quite sure I believe him. The same bleak, sad piano chords are with us again in When It Sings and those anguished vocals, familiar to us from his pop rock, here lack the authority to make jazz.

Unlike Joni Mitchell's voice, which has gotten lower and lower as she's gotten older and lived her way into jazz lyrics, Costello's voice just doesn't handle this new groove, even though it's obvious from the lyrics he's exactly where he wants to be.

Track seven, Still, sounds a bit like the Elvis we knew, with its clever lyrical line, but when he sings in the final track that "I don't know what's come over me," longtime Elvis fans will wonder the same thing. One moody love ballad after another is just too much. Is this what comes of falling in love with a jazz diva?

Posted by Post Master at 04:41 PM | Permalink

Excerpt: "The trouble with Elvis's latest effort is that it reeks of late-career indulgence. He hitches up with Diana Krall and puts out an album of mediocre jazz. It's like she gave him an orchestra for Christmas and he responded by writing her a bunch of love songs. It's all just a little too cloying for me."

FULL TEXT
------------
The trouble with Elvis's latest effort is that it reeks of late-career indulgence.

Costello's place in the pantheon of pop gods will never be disputed - the content of his first three albums guarantees that.

The casual insight of his lyrics - as in It's Been a Good Year for the Roses, for example - confirms him as a masterful balladeer. And his a capella cover of the classic He'll Have to Go, performed to a Sweetwaters festival crowd many summers ago, still haunts me.

So what happens?

He hitches up with Diana Krall and puts out an album of mediocre jazz. It's like she gave him an orchestra for Christmas and he responded by writing her a bunch of love songs. It's all just a little too cloying for me.

What's interesting is the accompanying DVD - two of its three songs are filmed live, with Elvis at what looks and sounds like an old church-hall piano.

One, in true Elvis fashion, is North, the title track of the album that doesn't appear on the album. The other is Fallen, which on the CD has strings sawing away in the background, but here has nothing but the plunk-plunk of the piano and Elvis wearing his heart on his vocal delivery.

It's pure magic. Do it like that, Elvis, or else leave the building.

Posted by Post Master at 04:39 PM | Permalink

The new DVD release of 'They Might Be Giants' A Tale of Two Johns has some EC related bonus material:

"Apollo 18 and Elvis Costello: A segment talking about a rocky patch in the relationship between They Might Be Giants and Elecktra records, after Flood when the record company wanted Elvis Costello to produce Apollo 18. Shirley Meyers and AJ Schnack goof around a bit, talk about the My Fair Lady DVD and why cut the segment. (runs 4:00)"

Posted by Post Master at 04:36 PM | Permalink

Burt Bacharach on his song selections for his new CD with Ronald Isley:

"I wanted to give him space," says Bacharach, 75, with Isley, 62, listening in. "I never wanted to threaten him with crowded orchestrations. One of the ideas they had at Dreamworks was to include 'God Give Me Strength' [which Bacharach wrote in 1999 with Elvis Costello] on this disc. But there's too many words in that song. It is very poetic and jammed together, like a lot of Elvis' work.""

Posted by Post Master at 04:33 PM | Permalink

Photos of Elvis - from the , I guess , May `03 recording of Piano Jazz - have appeared on the Manhattan Beach Recording Studio site. Elvis is pictured alone here.

Posted by at 06:58 AM | Permalink

I Love Your Work - the film Elvis appears in as `himself` - is screening in the next week or so at the MIFED festival in Italy.

November 07, 2003

For the next week and a half, I Love Your Work will be heading to Italy, hitting the Mifed International Film Market. Sadly, my colleagues and I will be stuck stateside, though the film will be in good hands - the foreign sales rep, Fireworks Intertnational, will be at the Market, finalizing ILYW's foreign distribution plans.

In the US, though several distrubutor offers are on the table, we've yet to reach a final decision, as technical problems with the master print have prevented us from screening the film for several more interested parties. With print problems finally (we think) hammered out, we should be able to hold the final screenings in the next couple of week, and lock in a plan by the end of the month.

Joshua Newman (CEO) :: 04:57 PM

Posted by at 06:38 PM | Permalink

Elvis ended this stage of the North promotion tour with a concert that appears to have had both the artist and the audience in combative form. The Costello Fan Forum tells all.

Posted by at 06:14 PM | Permalink

An article in the London Guardian tells of Elvis moving into his New York apartment.

Not sure how credible this is ; if the columnist means last
week - last week of October - are we supposed to
believe that Elvis popped over the Atlantic for a spot
of house moving inbetween European mainland gigs? No
wonder he was reported as rather tired at one of the
Scandinavian shows!

Thursday November 6, 2003
The Guardian

Stargazing

Elvis is in the building

Last week I was leaving my building when I saw Michael, my doorman carrying two black guitar cases through the lobby, followed by a man who looked very similar to Elvis Costello. I live in the West Village in Manhattan - so every man looks like Elvis Costello. But this time, it turns out, it was Elvis Costello - and he has moved into my apartment block.

But why would he be in my building? "There probably wasn't anything available at 59 West 12th," my friend Laura offers, as though stating the obvious. Fifty-nine West 12th is a Fifth Avenue-style prewar up the street. Isaac Mizrahi lives there. "Or maybe he just uses it for his equipment. You know - like a storage space."

My building is fine - very convenient - it has an affable doormen, a brilliant handyman and a great laundry room in the basement. It's just not the sort of place where you imagine a rock star would live. There are about 15 apartments per floor with dark green carpeted hallways that are vacuumed once a week. I'm known as 17Y. As in: "Seventeen-Y - you got dry cleaning!"

I've never thought of my building as a desirable address but, then again, I live in the dead zone. This is the back of the building that faces the back of the building next door. Sometimes, between two and three in the afternoon, if I open the window and tilt far to the left, I can tell it's a sunny day.

"There are some beautiful apartments in this building!" says Joe, the other doorman, somewhat defensively. "Why wouldn't he want to live here?"

I guess I couldn't believe that out of all the apartment buildings in New York, Costello (floor unknown), would move somewhere so un-hip. There are families with mezuzahs on the door. There are tenants from when the building was first built. There are three elevators, two of which are clogged with strollers and bicycles and rain-soaked Chinese food deliverymen. The third is permanently out of order. Shouldn't he be in a loft in Tribeca?

"Maybe he couldn't get approved anywhere else." Bill, 22B, suggests. New York co-op boards are notoriously picky. When I applied to get in to this building, my interview took place with Mrs Rosenblatt, 3F. I sat on her plastic-covered sofa and answered questions along the lines of: "Do you own - or ever intend to own - a dog that barks?" And when she discovered I was a writer her eyes widened. "What kind of writer?" She asked, suspiciously. "A quiet one," I replied. I can only imagine her tone when she interviewed Costello. "A musician? Really. What kind of musician?"

The other day I heard someone practicing scales on the piano. It went on for ages and I was going to call to say something but then I thought twice. What if it was him? The last thing I want is to be the person complaining about Elvis Costello making too much "noise" on the piano.
Ariel Leve

Posted by at 01:49 PM | Permalink

Not EC related, thank God - Bad Album Covers.

Posted by Post Master at 08:59 AM | Permalink

Wouldn't something like this for EC be amazing?

Posted by Post Master at 01:11 AM | Permalink

Rock on TV lists EC as appearing on The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn
(CBS) on Nov 21, the night after Conan. (He's also scheduled for Conan and Leno that week)

(Submitted by Dave Farr)

Posted by Post Master at 09:42 PM | Permalink

Elvis` concert in Stockholm has attracted reviews from two newspapers,
Dagens Nyheter and Aftonbladet , both featuring a photo from the show.

Publicerad 4 november 2003 08:17

Sobert blandat med tjo och tjim

Efter sentimentala ballader avslutar Elvis Costello
med klassiker och allt blir som f�rr.

Musik


Artist: Elvis Costello
Plats: Cirkus i Stockholm

En bit in i konserten b�rjar Elvis Costello spela
teater. Han g�r i v�g fr�n mikrofonstativet likt en
�ngestriden s�mng�ngare, sl�r ut med h�nderna i yviga
gester, allt l�ngre ut p� scenkanten. R�sten tr�nger
naturligtvis igenom i alla fall. Det har blivit dags
att inleda presentationen av de sorgesamma balladerna
fr�n senaste skivan "North". Mannen som nyss s�g ut
att g�ra en parodi p� trubadurer med den akustiska
gitarren i h�gsta hugg, tar nu fram allt kabaretaktigt
han har.

Elvis Costellos musik f�rh�ller sig till lika gamla
rockm�ns som en noga utprovad, skr�ddarsydd kostym
till en dussindito. Allt han tar i, om det s� �r
mindre publiktillv�nda klassicistiska experiment eller
det st�ndiga filandet p� popens innersta k�rna, �r
pr�glat av hans maniska f�rh�llningss�tt till
musikhistorien. Allt m�ste l�ta s� v�lkl�tt det g�r.

Att han sj�lv sedan alltid b�r h�rresande slipsar (f�r
dagen akvariumbl�) �r en annan sak.

Elvis Costello representerar den gentlemannam�ssiga
gubbrocken. Numera ges hans skivor ut p� ett klassiskt
bolag f�r klassisk musik och det �r lika lite som
n�got annat en slump. Costello �r kulturkonservativ ut
i fingerspetsarna. Han vill ha vinylen tillbaka och
all historiel�s musik utrotad. D�rf�r undervisar han
ocks� g�rna omv�rlden, i kalenderbitarlistor i
musikmagasin, eller p� universitet.

Nu har han blivit k�r i den kanadensiska
jazzs�ngerskan Diana Krall, och "North" b�rjar med
kraschen i den f�rra relationen och slutar i lyckan
med Den Nya Kvinnan. Det �r allts� en skilsm�ssoskiva
- the extended version (men ocks� ett slags
forts�ttning p� "Painted from memory" med Burt
Bacharach fr�n -98).

Samtidigt handlar den alltmer h�gst�mda stilen om att
han gr�ver sig allt l�ngre bak i sina skivbackar,
tillbaka till de jazzs�ngare som var den allra f�rsta
musik han h�rde som barn. Och att han g�r jazzinslaget
till ett slags dekorativt drag, medan han forts�tter
att skriva det han verkligen kan - popmusik.

Det blir s� klart ganska musealt. N�r Steve Nieve �r
som mest pomp�s och �verlastande och Costello
spankulerar omkring p� scen och sjunger dessa nya
k�rleksballader �r det sentimentalt p� ett s� sobert
s�tt att man undrar om han vill h�vda att k�rlek �r
n�got andligt, som skulle smutsas ner av att bli
fysiskt.

F�r att parera nostalgin sk�mtar han om att de som ber
honom h�lla sig till sina "gamla" l�tar �r fel ute - i
sj�lva verket skriver han ju bara �ldre och �ldre
s�nger - och inleder �nnu en som "kunde vara fr�n
1850".

Men han �r ocks� mannen som f�r publiken att sjunga
med i gutturala ljud och klappa med och tjoa s� att
b�nkarna svajar. Som tack f�r att de underh�ller honom
tillbaka f�r de en avslutning med klassiker som
"Shipbuilding" och "(What�s so funny about) peace,
love & understanding" s� att allt blir som f�rr, och
s� att Steve Nieves kyrkomusikerfrilla hoppar h�gt.
N�r jag m�ste g� f�r att skriva det h�r har han h�llit
p� i tv� timmar och det verkar som om han aldrig
kommer sluta spexa.

Malena Rydell

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

musik live


St�rsta m�jliga stillhet, Costello

BEG�VADE S�NGER I ALL O�NDLIGHET De som ansvarar f�r folkh�lsan borde inse att det �r livsfarligt att vara s� seri�s, gravallvarlig och stentrist som Elvis Costello.

Foto: MAGNUS WENNMAN
Elvis Costello

Plats: Cirkus, Stockholm. Publik: 1 200. L�ngd: Fyra dygn, k�nns det som. B�st: "God"s comic" �r inte b�st, men utg�r en livsn�dv�ndig luftficka. S�mst: Att det knarrar s� dant i Cirkus stolar n�r man byter st�llning. En skr�ck denna afton.

And�ktigt.
S� j�vla and�ktigt att man efter tv� och en halv timme bokstavligen kippar efter luft.
�r h�lsov�rds- myndigheterna verkligen medvetna om vad Elvis Costello �ker omkring och uts�tter folk f�r?
Det litar f�rmodligen blint p� den gamla lag fr�n 1800-talet som s�ger att alla m�ste bli reservationsl�st imponerade n�r Elvis Costello tar med sig Steve Nieve upp p� en scen och under st�rsta m�jliga stillhet framf�r vanvettigt beg�vade s�nger i all o�ndlighet.
Men om de som ansvarar f�r folkh�lsan bara kunde ta och g�ra en ny rutinkoll - det �r ju �nd� 170 �r sedan "My aim is true" kom nu - skulle de inse att det �r livsfarligt att vara s� h�r seri�s, gravallvarlig och stentrist.

Konstjazzballader
Herregud, tv� stillast�ende konstjazzballader till p� Cirkus och vi hade avlidit.
Jag f�rnekar inte att kv�llen rymmer sina �gonblick. "This house is empty now", "Shipbuilding" och "I want you" - med nytt, �nnu ilsknare gitarrsolo - �r alla intensivt besj�lade och vackra. I en normal kontext, en d�r det funnits utrymme f�r dynamik, hade de f�rmodligen rest sig som m�ktiga utropstecken.

Snustorra duktigheter
Men h�r slukas de i den allm�nna syrebristen och blir till snustorra duktigheter i m�ngden.
I st�llet sitter man och uppskattar en putslustig "God"s comic" och en struttig version av Smokey Robinsons "You"ve really got a hold on me". De �r verkligen inte b�st.

Skitn�digt m�nster
Men de bryter mot det skitn�diga m�nstret, de bildar luftfickor vi �r i desperat behov av efter att ha �gnat vad som k�nns ett helt dygn �t att kv�va hostningar som skulle kunna kr�nka Den Store Konstn�ren.
Socialminister Engqvist, revidera Costello-lagen. Det h�r kan inte f� intr�ffa igen.

Per Bjurman
Publicerad: 2003-11-04

Posted by at 02:18 PM | Permalink

45
Green Shirt
Brilliant Mistake
The Other End Of The Telescope
The Long Honeymoon
Shot With His Own Gun
This House Is Empty Now
You Left Me In The Dark
Someone Took The Words Away
When Did I Stop Dreaming?
Home Truth
No Wonder
Toledo
You Turned To Me
Fallen
Gods Comic
Spooky Girlfriend
Either Side Of The Same Town
Shipbuilding
What's So Funny 'Bout Peace, Love And Understanding
When It Sings
Still
Can You Be True
Inch By Inch / Fever
Deep Dark Truthful Mirror / You Really Got A Hold On Me
This Is Hell
I Want You
Almost Blue
Let Me Tell You About Her
I'm In The Mood Again
North
I Still Have That Other Girl In My Head (without mic)
Couldn't Call It Unexpected no 4 (without mic)

(Submitted by Ulf Gotthardsson)

Posted by Post Master at 11:25 AM | Permalink

The entire show is now available for online viewing in RealVideo.

Posted by Post Master at 11:18 AM | Permalink

Konzertsaal der Universit�t der K�nste:

1) Accidents Will Happen
2) 45
3) Rocking Horse Road
4) The Other End of the Telescope
5) Long Honeymoon
6) Shot with His Own Gun
7) This House is Empty Now
8) You Left Me in the Dark
9) Someone Took the Words away
10) When Did I Stop Dreaming
11) Home Truth
12) No Wonder
13) Toledo
14) You Turned to Me
15) Fallen
16) God's Comic
17) This is Hell
18) Either Side of the Same Town
19 Man out of Time

20) In the Darkest Place
21) Shipbuilding
22) PLU
23) When It Sings
24) Still
25) Can You Be True?
26) God Give Me Strength
27) Deep Dark Truthful Mirror
28) ??? (I think he played 'When Green Eyes Turn Blue' next)
29) Inch by Inch
30) I Want You
31) Almost Blue
32) Let Me Tell You about Her
33) I'm in the Mood Again
34) I Still Have that Other Girl
35) CCIU No. 4

(Submitted by Marcus Kuley)

Posted by Post Master at 10:29 PM | Permalink

Costello Fan Forum compiles all the reviews of north (so far).

Posted by at 04:54 PM | Permalink

Accidents Will Happen
45
Brilliant Mistake
Other End Of The Telescope
The Long Honeymoon
Shot With His Own Gun
This House Is Empty Now (part without mic.)
You Left Me In The Dark
Someone Took The Words Away
When Did I Stop Dreaming
Home Truth
That Girl Is Gone
No Wonder/Toledo
You Turned To Me
Fallen
God's Comic
This Is Hell
Either Side Of The Same Town
Shipbuilding
(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding?

Encore:
When It Sings
Still
Can You Be True?
When Green Eyes Turn Blue
Deep Dark Truthful Mirror/You've Really Got A Hold On Me

Encore:
Inch By Inch
Almost Blue
I Still Miss Someone
Let Me Tell You About Her
I'm In The Mood Again
I Still Have That Other Girl (without mic.)
Couldn't Call It Unexpected No. 4 (without mic.)

Posted by Post Master at 09:39 PM | Permalink

The radio show "En Vivo" on Radio 3 was a selection of songs from his concert in Madrid on the 29th. For the curious, here's a list of the songs they played:

Toledo
You Turned to Me
Fallen
God's Comic
Either Side of the Same Town
Tart
Shipbuilding
(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding?
When It Sings
Still
Can You Be True
Inch by Inch/Fever
And a snippet of Almost Blue

(Submitted by Andrew Dodge)

Posted by Post Master at 09:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The most recent issue of Jazz Times (Max Roach cover) features the most complimentary review I've seen thus far. Critic Christopher Loudon says "North" "should eventually be regarded as the apex of the 49-year-old musical chameleon's mid-career." He goes on to write, "Self-indulgent? Perhaps. Quirky? Sure (this is still Elvis Costello). Brilliant? Unquestionably."

(Submitted by Tom)

Posted by Post Master at 06:46 PM | Permalink

Jimmy T99 Nelson , a Costello fave , has released a compilation of his classic 1950`s/60`s recordings. Jimmy and Elvis met backstage at Elvis`s show in Texas last year.

A large Jimmy Nelso bio article here.

FULL TEXT
====================
We found out through various avenues that Elvis Costello has been ending every show on his extended US tour the same way: After the final encore, while the house lights are coming up and the crowd is beginning to leave, over the PA system a great track from a great record is played: "I'll Miss Show Business" written and performed by Jimmy T99 Nelson (from his 1999 CD Rockin and Shoutin the Blues).

We were also told that Elvis's web site has a reference to this story which we checked out and it is true. A fan had left a message for Elvis in the "Ask Elvis" section inquiring about the song and Elvis replied back confirming the name of the artist and the song. Click here to read the Q&A (9th. question down). A friend and supporter of ours who is also a blues historian, Dr. Roger Woods, managed to take Jimmy to meet Elvis and wrote us a review of the evening; he also took the photograph above. Here is a brief summary in his own words:

In terms of sight-lines and sound, we got great complimentary seats for the concert. In terms of Jimmy's mobility, getting him there (up various stairs and risers and into his center-of-the-room seat)--and in the dark (we entered the room approximately 20 minutes after EC came on stage)--was a bit of a challenge.

Once settled in his chair, T-99 (who had never heard of Elvis Costello until I contacted him about this whole scheme) proceeded to express his amazement at the size of the crowd (an almost totally packed house--in the largest configuration for that venue) and the intensity with which the audience was responding to EC's performance.

"Man, this guy is really popular, isn't he?" Jimmy observed, adding "And the people seem to be crazy about him. What's the deal?"

Not long after that, while EC vamped on guitar to the crowd's delight, interjecting inarticulate but passionate vocal effects, Jimmy nudged me and said with a grin, "White folks always steal from black folks."

As the concert evolved, it became clear that Jimmy wasn't too impressed with the many rocking numbers that had the crowd pumping fists and bobbing up and down. But when EC delivered one of his several splendid ballads, Jimmy would nod his head--and occasionally even applaud at song's conclusion. Leaning into my ear, he opined that EC "doesn't have the greatest voice, but he sure puts a lot of feeling into a song."

At concert's end (and while T-99's "I'll Miss Show Business" played over the PA) we slowly made our way through the exiting crowd to the stage-left curtain, as we had been previously instructed to do. After showing our passes and waiting for a few minutes, we were eventually led backstage, up two painfully steep flights of stairs (Jimmy's bad leg really got a work-out), and into a lounge. Jimmy collapsed into his chair, told me to fetch him a cup of coffee, and--while the room slowly filled with another 10-15 lucky people who somehow were granted backstage passes (most of whom clutched posters or photos they'd brought for EC to autograph)--blurted out with a laugh that he was "the only black man in the house tonight." (I silently added, "and the only octagenarian too.")

After another 10 minutes passed, Elvis entered the room, went straight to Jimmy, hugged him, sat down and proceeded to converse at length. While the other people stood respectfully in the background, EC talked to Jimmy and me about old T-99 songs (about which he was quite knowledgable) as well as more recent tracks (asserting his admiration for that 1999 CD from which "I'll Miss Show Business" came), and he expressed pure glee when Jimmy presented him with a copy of his 2002 independent CD release (Take Your Pick).

My favorite moment: EC was reminding Jimmy of an old song (with the line: "Three minutes and 38 seconds is all I need to get to my baby" or something like that), and he proceeded to begin to sing the lyric. Jimmy cut him off with a big hand and the command, "Stop!" Then the master, with a pronounced sense of swing, started vocalizing the lyric, "the right way. . . with flavor." EC smiled and immediately the two joined voices and tore through the whole first stanza, both spontaneously pounding on the table top for percussive effect. When they finished the last line, the baffled onlookers (most of whom had no clue who Jimmy is) burst into applause.

Jimmy followed that up with some wisecrack about how EC wasn't black, to which the latter responded, "Yeah, but I'm Irish, and that's almost the same."

After about thirty minutes, during which EC focused his attention mainly on Jimmy, the manager came in and announced that it was time for the star to get on the bus. I suggested to Jimmy that we move on and let the other (amazingly patient) folks get a chance to procure the autographs they apparently sought. EC told us to stay put and kindly proceeded to scribble his signature on anything the others thrust before him, still talking and joking with Jimmy all the while.

After a few more pleas from the manager, Elvis eventually made ready to depart. As we all stood up and began to shuffle for the door, he turned to me, grabbed my hand, and thanked me profusely for bringing Jimmy to meet him. (I still can't believe it.)

On the ride home, Jimmy clearly was pleased with the whole experience. Despite the physical demands of getting there, this rendezvous with Elvis Costello had been good for him, had granted him some of the respect he merits for being the songwriter and performer that he is.

As I left him at the door to his home in Third Ward, he said he'd probably go inside and "write for a while."

John Lomax of the Houston Press also wrote and published a short summary of this event. Click here for details (it is under the heading "Scuttlebutt Caboose".

Posted by at 04:52 PM | Permalink

Yet another mysterious (to me, anyway) interview

Elvis Costello er lei av late kritikere og uopplyste
musikkjournalister. Han er lei av platebransjen ogs�,
men lover at konserten i Oslo i morgen ikke blir noen
klagesang.
TERJE MOSNES
L�rdag 1. november 2003 10:52,
oppdatert 11:11

- FOLK SOM VENTER seg en rolig duokonsert, kommer til
� bli ekstremt overrasket over det energiniv�et to
mennesker kan trekke opp, telefonivrer Elvis Costello.

- Steve Nieve er en ganske seri�s sak � ha med seg p�
en scene, han kan spille veldig delikat piano, men
ogs� l�te som et helt band. I den ene �yeblikket er
det vise- eller liederaften, i det neste
avantgardejazz eller rock'n'roll, og etter s� mange �r
har vi nok av l�ter � velge blant. Gamle sanger, nye
sanger, gamle sanger i nye versjoner og naturligvis
sanger fra �North�. Akkurat de krever en litt spesiell
innramming.

S� VISST. �North�, nylig utgitt p� Universals
klassiske Deutsche Grammophon-etikett, er en
stillferdig, men ladet CD. En b�de ribbet og rikt
orkestrert sangsyklus om d�ende kj�rlighet, oppbrudd,
forvirring, ny forelskelse og jublende h�p.

- Jeg liker �syklus�-sammenlikningen bedre enn det
late, lettvinte �crooner-nostalgi�-stempelet som
enkelte kritikere har satt p� �North�, sier Costello.

- Disse folkene viser at de verken h�rer p� et bredt
utvalg av musikk eller aner noe om musikk fra f�r
1970. Jeg gj�r selvsagt det, og nekter � late som noe
annet. Sangsykluser fra det 19. �rhundret er noe av
det jeg har brukt mye tid p�, jeg har l�rt av det og
ser ikke noe galt i � v�re klar over alle mulighetene
som finnes i musikk. Folk med begrenset fantasi
mistenker meg for � lage mange typer musikk for �
gj�re meg viktigere enn jeg er, jeg er ganske lei av �
unnskylde meg for � vite mer om musikk enn s� mange av
de folkene som skriver om musikk.

�NORTH� BLE TIL i tida etter Costellos brudd med
Caitlin O'Riordan etter 15 �rs ekteskap og den
p�f�lgende romansen med jazz-megastjerne Diana Krall.
Hvordan gikk han fram for � gj�re sangene personlige
og ikke private?

- Jeg tenkte: �Jeg kan ikke la v�re � skrive disse
sangene. Men hvis jeg skal dele dem med alle andre,
kan de ikke handle om s� private opplevelser at de
blir meningsl�se�, begynner Costello.

- Sanger m� fungere, og det � bokstavelig talt
gjenfortelle livet blir for kjedelig, for individuelt,
for intimt og av og til for stygt. S� du g�r til din
egen livserfaring, plukker ut det som beveger deg mest
og skaper noe ut av det. Jeg synes ikke det ligger noe
u�rlig i en slik redigering. �North� mangler verken
smerte eller feiring, og n�r enkelte kritikere
beskylder meg for � lage sanger som en form for
intellektuell �velse, blir jeg oppbrakt.

- JEG SKRIVER sanger mye som et f�lelsesmessig svar p�
omstendigheter, fortsetter Costello. - Rundt �North�
gjennomlevde jeg alvorlige, dyptgripende forandringer,
og det forskrekker meg at noen kan tro at disse
sangene er resultat av kalkulerte, intellektuelle
�velser. Det r�per kritikernes enorme mislykkethet n�r
det gjelder � forst� hva en skriveprosess inneb�rer,
og jeg mener at enhver som skriver en slik kritikk,
b�r si opp jobben sin. Det spiller ingen rolle om de
liker eller misliker min eller noen annens plate, de
begriper rett og slett ikke hva som kreves for �
skrive sanger, og diskvalifiserer seg derfor
umiddelbart fra � kommentere dem.

- Hvordan opplevde du mediekj�ret rundt din og Diana
Kralls forlovelse?

- I hovedsak har ikke pressens inntrenging i mitt
privatliv v�rt negativ. Selvsagt finnes det en
nysgjerrighet siden jeg er forlovet med en annen kjent
musiker og fordi det er kontrast mellom v�re
musikalske verdener, men oppstusset er skapt av folk
som bare kjenner Diana og meg gjennom ville
tabloidgeneraliseringer: f.eks. Mr. Angry & The Sexy
Jazz Venus i ei italiensk avis forleden.

- DE IGNORERER det faktum at jeg har skrevet mange
�mme sanger og at Diana er en helvetes flott pianist
og en t�ff, livskraftig musiker, brummer Costello.

- At hun tilfeldigvis er fotogen, har ingenting med
musikalske kvaliteter � gj�re. Hun har g�tt gradene,
l�rt seg faget, men i showbransjen er den offentlige,
kommersielle imagen nesten alltid feil i forhold til
mennesket. Alt og alle skal reduseres til enkle
stereotypier.

- Turneen din skal innom Stockholm, Anne Sofie von
Otters hjemby. Har dere vurdert � fortsette
samarbeidet fra �For the Stars�?

- Ingenting er planlagt, men jeg h�per vi kan jobbe
sammen igjen. Det var en nydelig opplevelse, hun er
storartet og har en skakk form for humor. Da vi
vurderte hvilke sanger vi skulle spille inn, var hun
veldig selvkritisk, ikke i forhold til teknikk, som
hun har i massevis, men i forhold til sin egen evne
til � tolke troverdig. Enkelte fikser ikke elegansen
og den kultiverte stemmen hennes, men er det et ideal
at Anne Sofie von Otter plutselig skal l�te som Janis
Joplin? Hun brukte ikke mye klassisk sangteknikk p�
�For the Stars�, men holdt p� pusteteknikken, som
setter henne i stand til � synge lange, vakre linjer
som du m� tilbake til Sarah Vaughan for � finne maken
til.

- Hva med din egen platekarriere p� Universal?
Fortsatt rock p� Island Def Jam og alt det andre p�
Deutsche Grammophon?

- Jeg har en todelt kontrakt, ja. Deutsche Grammophon
begriper hva jeg driver med, vi har et bra samarbeid,
og neste �r kommer en CD med ballettmusikk jeg skrev
til �En midtsommernattsdr�m�, innspilt med London
Symphony Orchestra og Michael Tilson Thomas. P�
rocksiden er det verre. Jeg skulle gjerne ha laget en
CD sammen med The Imposters, men Def Jam gj�r at
Universal er dominert av hip hop. De m�ler musikalsk
verdi ut fra hvor mye st�y som kan piskes opp den
f�rste weekenden ei plate er i salg, og jeg merker
ingen vilje hos dem til � forplikte seg overfor nye
plater fra meg.

- Rammes du av den s�kalte krisa i platebransjen?

- Platebransjen g�r i oppl�sning foran �ynene p� oss!
Og det er ikke noe rart, ethvert firma som reduserer
prisene sine med 30 prosent, innr�mmer at de
overpriset med 30 prosent tidligere, ikke sant?
Bransjen har utgitt for mange d�rlige plater til for
h�y pris i for lang tid, og har v�rt styrt av for mye
gr�dighet og dradd inn for mange penger fra b�de
publikum og artister - det er grunnen til krisa i
platebransjen. Ropene om ulovlig nedlasting via
Internett er bare en avledning for bransjens egen
gr�dighet, Internett betyr bare at en enda st�rre
gjeng pirater har kommet og bl�st bransjen opp av
vannet. F�rst n�r bransjen slutter � oppf�re seg
pomp�st og rope �Vi blir bestj�let!� - mens den selv
har stj�let fra alle i 30 �r - og heller framskaffer
en p�litelig teknologi for lovlig nedlasting, har den
en sjanse til � komme over krisa. Og det haster. For
musikerne skj�nte det der med en gang.

- Jeg har en todelt kontrakt, ja. Deutsche Grammophon
begriper hva jeg driver med, vi har et bra samarbeid,
og neste �r kommer en CD med ballettmusikk jeg skrev
til �En midtsommernattsdr�m�, innspilt med London
Symphony Orchestra og Michael Tilson Thomas. P�
rocksiden er det verre. Jeg skulle gjerne ha laget en
CD sammen med The Imposters, men Def Jam gj�r at
Universal er dominert av hip hop. De m�ler musikalsk
verdi ut fra hvor mye st�y som kan piskes opp den
f�rste weekenden ei plate er i salg, og jeg merker
ingen vilje hos dem til � forplikte seg overfor nye
plater fra meg.

- Rammes du av den s�kalte krisa i platebransjen?

- Platebransjen g�r i oppl�sning foran �ynene p� oss!
Og det er ikke noe rart, ethvert firma som reduserer
prisene sine med 30 prosent, innr�mmer at de
overpriset med 30 prosent tidligere, ikke sant?
Bransjen har utgitt for mange d�rlige plater til for
h�y pris i for lang tid, og har v�rt styrt av for mye
gr�dighet og dradd inn for mange penger fra b�de
publikum og artister - det er grunnen til krisa i
platebransjen. Ropene om ulovlig nedlasting via
Internett er bare en avledning for bransjens egen
gr�dighet, Internett betyr bare at en enda st�rre
gjeng pirater har kommet og bl�st bransjen opp av
vannet. F�rst n�r bransjen slutter � oppf�re seg
pomp�st og rope �Vi blir bestj�let!� - mens den selv
har stj�let fra alle i 30 �r - og heller framskaffer
en p�litelig teknologi for lovlig nedlasting, har den
en sjanse til � komme over krisa. Og det haster. For
musikerne skj�nte det der med en gang

Posted by at 12:08 PM | Permalink