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January 31, 2005

Berlin setlist

Elvis Costello and The Imposters
Berlin, Charlottenburg
28 January '05

1. Blue Chair
2. Tear Off Your Own Head (It's A Doll Revolution)
3. Beyond Belief
4. Radio Radio
5. Button My Lip
6. Country Darkness
7. Blame It On Cain
8. Either Side Of The Same Town
9. (I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea
10. Heart Shaped Bruise
11. All The Rage
12. Our Little Angel
13. Kinder Murder
14. In The Darkest Place
15. You Turned To Me
16. When I Was Cruel No. 2
17. Watching The Detectives
18. The Delivery Man
19. Monkey To Man
20. Bedlam
Encore 1
21. Hidden Charms
22. Nothing Clings Like Ivy
23. Pump It Up
Encore 2
24. There's A Story In Your Voice
25. Oliver's Army
26. (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding?

27. The Scarlet Tide
28. I Want You

( Submitted by Norbert DeNiro )

January 30, 2005

Elvis plays Leeds , UK, May 28

Elvis touring activities are assuming 'Bob Dylan Never Ending Tour ' proportions with the news of a show in England in May .

ELVIS COSTELLO & IMPOSTERS

Where: Leeds University Union, Leeds
When: SATURDAY, 28/05/2005

January 29, 2005

Elvis spreads the word

Interviews with Elvis have appeared in Italian and Spanish newspapers . Nothing really new is said - see translations here.

SPETTACOLI

«In coppia anche sul palco? Rifiuto l’esempio di
Springsteen, Patti Scialfa è la sua ombra»


Costello: mia moglie Diana è una star, non duetto con
lei


«Sì, sono felice», ammette Elvis Costello. Per l’uomo
nato insieme al rock’n’roll (a Londra, il 25 agosto
del 1954) questo è un periodo da favola. Ha pubblicato
il «Sogno», musica per balletto, e il rockettaro «The
Delivery Man», ha ottenuto 4 nomination ai Grammy,
lavora a un’opera sulla vita di Hans Christian
Andersen. Ma soprattutto, da poco più di un anno, ha
sposato Diana Krall, bionda regina dello «smooth jazz»
Ora è in tour con gli Imposters. Arriverà il 5
febbraio all’Auditorium Verdi di Milano, il giorno
dopo al Parco della Musica di Roma. «Ci sarà molto
rock’n’roll, con le canzoni nuove, certo. E ne
resuscito altre perse nella memoria», racconta.

C’entra Diana nella sua nuova felicità?

«L’amore dà dei vantaggi, come negarlo? Ma nella vita
di tutti esistono momenti duri anche quando si è
innamorati. Però mai come ora mi sento appagato».

Stare insieme per due artisti spesso è difficile...

«Adesso io sono a Berlino, lei in Brasile. Ci vediamo
poco, ma è il lato romantico del nostro rapporto. Il
momento più bello della mia giornata è parlarle al
telefono».

Non avete pensato a un tour insieme?

«Forse, se lo facessimo, si perderebbe la magia. Ci è
capitato di stare su uno stesso palco: l’estate scorsa
per i 25 anni del festival jazz di Montreal, un’altra
volta per beneficenza. Ma sono serate rare».

C’è chi mischia pubblico e privato, come Bruce
Springsteen e Patti Scialfa.

«Lei è brava, peccato il suo talento sia oscurato.
Diana non ha bisogno di me, quando l’ho conosciuta era
parecchio avanti nella sua carriera. E io avevo tutti
i suoi dischi. È stato emozionante lavorare al suo
ultimo album. Aveva appena perso la madre, l’ho
aiutata a riordinare quello che aveva scritto. C’è
complicità fra noi, ma non è una coalizione».

Non le manca nulla?

«È un momento terribile per il mondo, può un musicista
lagnarsi? La mia carriera è stata sempre casuale. I
successi, i premi e i primi posti in classifica sono
arrivati senza che li cercassi. Non ho mai pensato ai
consensi. Sono saltato da un progetto all’altro
secondo l’estro».

Per questo ha accettato di lavorare per la Royal
Danish Opera?

«Il melodramma l’ho sempre sentito vicino, mia madre
aveva origini italiane. Poi mi affascinavano il
rapporto e la passione fra Andersen e il soprano
svedese Jenny Lind. Ma non scriverò un’opera alla
maniera di Puccini... come potrei? La trama assomiglia
a una fiction ma le mie canzoni racconteranno una
storia umana. E non sarà una favola a lieto fine».

Sandra Cesarale


Spettacoli

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

Google translation -

"In brace also on the theater box? Refusal the
example of Springsteen, Scialfa Pacts is its shadow
"Studs: my moglie Diana is a star, not duetto with
she "Yes, is happy", admits Elvis Costello.

For the born man with to the rock' n' roll (to
London, 25 August of the 1954) this is a period from
fable. It has published the "Dream", music for
ballet, and rockettaro "the The Delivery Man", has
obtained 4 nomination to the Grammy, works to a work
on the life of Hans Christian Andersen. But above
all, from little more than a year, it has married
Diana Krall, blond woman Queen of "smooth jazz" the
Hour is in tour with the Imposters. It will arrive 5
February to the Auditorium Greens of Milan, the day
after to the Park of Music of Rome.

"there will be a lot rock' n' roll, with the new
songs, sure. And of resuscito others lost in the
memory ", tells.

There enters Diana in its new happiness?

"the love gives of the advantages, like denying it?
But in the life of all hard moments exist also when it
is in love. But never as hour I feel myself satisfied
".

To be entirety for two artists often is difficult...

"Now I am to Berlin, she in Brasi them. We look at
ourselves little, but it is the romantico side of our
relationship. The beautifulr moment of my day is to
speak them to the telephone ".

You have not thought next to a tour together?

"Perhaps, if we made it, the magic would get lost.
It is capitato to us to be on one same theater box:
the past summer for the 25 years of the festival jazz
of Montreal, an other time for beneficence. But they
are rare evenings ".

There is who public and private fray, like Bruce
Springsteen and Patti Scialfa.

"It is good, sin its talent is darkened. Diana does
not have need of me, when I have known it was much
ahead in its career. And I had all its discs. He has
been moving to work to its last album. He had as soon
as lost the mother, I have helped it to reorder what
he had written. There is complicity between we, but
coalition is not one ".

It does not lack to them null?

"It is a terrible moment for the world, can a
musician lagnarsi? My career has been always
accidental. The successes, the prizes and the first
places in classify are arrive to you without that you
tried them. I have not never thought next to the
consents. They are jumped from a plan to the other
second the estro ".

For this it has accepted to work for the Royal Danish
Work?

"melodramma I have always felt it close, my mother
had Italian origins. Then the relationship and the
passion between Andersen and the Swedish soprano Jenny
Lind fascinated me. But I will not write a work to
the way of Puccini... as I could? The weft is similar
a fiction but my songs will tell one human history.
And fable to lieto fine will not be one ".

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


MÚSICA // CONCIERTO
Costello: "Me da igual si no sueno más en la radio"

• El cantante defiende su integridad artística una
semana antes de la gira española

NANDO CRUZ
BARCELONA

El rigor del invierno también está afectando a la
garganta de Elvis Costello, pero el feroz cantante
inglés defiende con uñas y dientes su carrera e
integridad artística. La primera la salvaguarda con
una gira que lo traerá a Barcelona el próximo jueves.
La segunda pocos la ponen en duda. El hiperactivo
Costello siempre hace la música que le viene en gana.
Se ha ganado enemigos en todos los estamentos de la
industria discográfica y hoy se habrá ganado alguno
más.
La razón, sus opiniones sobre el mundo radiofónico.
Mientras otros artistas de su edad lamentan que las
emisoras no programen su música, Elvis Costello lo
celebra: "La radio es estúpidamente aburrida y su
influencia en mí es nula. No siento ningún respeto por
ella y, por lo tanto, no quiero su respeto. Es un
enemigo de la creatividad en la música. No me importa
si nunca más ponen un disco mío en la radio", anuncia.
Luego matiza, pero sin retroceder un centímetro: "Me
gusta tocar en directo en la radio o en televisión,
pero la idea de ajustarme a los dictados de la radio
es absurda. Y si es absurda cuando tienes 18 aún lo es
más a los 50".

GENTE JOVEN, ROCK ADULTO
Costello sabe que hoy puede sobrevivir sin necesidad
de arrodillarse ante las exigencias del mercado. Y
también sabe que su público agradece la existencia de
un cantante que elude tópicos y fórmulas. Que asume la
creación musical y poética como un deporte de riesgo
artístico. "Creo que la gente ya sabe que no me rijo
por las ideas más simples de lo que se supone que es
una canción de pop o rock y que me gusta combinar
elementos de una forma inusual. Pero eso no significa
que todo lo que haga sea complicado o difícil de
disfrutar", aclara.
Tras 30 años de carrera, lamenta que en Inglaterra
sólo le siga el público adulto. "Allí la cultura
musical está tan compartimentada que es muy difícil
romper la barrera de la edad". Pero en esta gira, y
gracias al talante más rock de The delivery man, ha
ampliado el espectro de su público. "Cuando llego a
una ciudad me gusta notar que toco para una
representación de toda la comunidad y no sólo para un
sector: hombres de determinada edad". Dicho esto,
lanza un consejo: "Los jóvenes deberían escuchar
música de artistas de otras generaciones. Si cierran
los oídos a músicos mayores se están perdiendo cosas".
The delivery man es un disco de sonido rugoso y
enérgico, estructurado "desde una perspectiva de
intérprete y no como una pieza dramática en la que la
gente ha de entender la historia antes de empezar a
disfrutarla". Ahora incluso establece vínculos con
viejas canciones. "En mi primer disco compuse Blame it
on Cain y el protagonista de este disco se llama Abel.
Son canciones con 27 años de diferencia, pero con
nexos comunes". Tal vez la toque en Barcelona. El
repertorio de la gira se nutre de unas 60 canciones.
Instalado en Estados Unidos, Costello presenta su obra
más americana desde King of America. En sus canciones
subyace la violencia latente de la sociedad
norteamericana. Y aunque alguna está planteada desde
una perspectiva post-11 de septiembre, él no ha
querido hacer un disco al respecto. "He oído muchas
canciones huecas y otras, emocionadas, pero no tengo
ni creo que nadie tenga una conclusión o solución
definitiva que proponer al respecto en una canción
--intuye--. Y tampoco creo que sea mi responsabilidad
decir a la gente qué ha de pensar".
The delivery man llega justo después de North, el
disco que compuso tras la ruptura amorosa con su
esposa Cait O'Riordan y en pleno idilio con la
cantante de jazz Diana Krall. Fue recibido con tal
disparidad de opiniones que exige una defensa por su
parte. "A nivel poético es increíblemente
transparente. A nivel vocal, no grito: canto de un
modo muy natural. Todo eso lo convierte en una
experiencia muy auténtica", subraya. "En mi opinión,
es uno de mis mejores cinco discos. Musicalmente es
superior a cuatro o cinco de las que se consideran mis
grandes obras. Tiene más sustancia musical y
originalidad", afirma, tan seguro de sí mismo como
siempre.

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

Google translation -
The rigor of the winter also is affecting the throat
of Elvis Costello, but the ferocious English singer
defends with nails and teeth his race and artistic
integrity. First he safeguard it with a tour that
will bring to Barcelona the next Thursday. The second
few put it in doubt. The hyperactive Costello always
makes the music that comes to him in desire. One has
gained enemy in all the estates of the record industry
and today some will have gained more. The reason, its
opinions on the wireless world. While other artists
of their age are sorry that the transmitters do not
program their music, Elvis Costello celebrates it:
"the radio is stupidly boring and its influence in me
is null. I do not feel any respect by her and,
therefore, I do not want its respect. He is an enemy
of the creativity in music. It does not matter to me
if never more they put a disc mine in the radio ",
announces.

Soon it clarifies, but without backing down a
centimeter: "I like to touch in direct in the radio
or television, but the idea to fit me to the
dictations of the radio is absurd. And if she is
absurd when you still have 18 it is it more to 50".

YOUNG PEOPLE, ADULT ROCK

Costello know that today she can with no need survive
to kneel down before the exigencies of the market.
And also she knows that his public thanks for the
existence of a singer who eludes topics and formulas.
That it assumes the musical and poetic creation as a
sport of artistic risk. "I believe that people or
know that I do not prevail to me by the simple ideas
the more of which she supposes that it is a song of
pop or rock and that I like to combine elements of an
unusual form. But that does not mean that everything
what does is complicated or difficult to enjoy ",
clarifies.

After 30 years of race, it is sorry that in England
to only it follows the adult public him. "There the
musical culture is so bulkhead that it is very
difficult to break the barrier of the age". But in
this tour, and thanks to the will more rock of The
delivery man, has extended the phantom of their
public. "When I arrive at a city I it likes to notice
that I touch for a representation of all the community
and not only for a sector: men of certain age ".
Said this, an advice sends: "the young people would
have to listen to music of artists of other
generations. If they close the ears to greater
musicians they are losing things ". The delivery man
is a disc of rough and energetic sound, structured
"from a perspective of interpreter and not like a
dramatic piece in which people have to understand
history before beginning to enjoy it". Now even it
establishes bonds with old songs. "In my first disc I
composed Blame it on Cain and the protagonist of this
disc is called Abel. They are songs with 27 years of
difference, but with common nexuses ". Perhaps the
touch in Barcelona. The repertoire of the tour is
nourished of 60 songs.

Installed in the United States, Costello
presents/displays its American work from King of
America. In its songs the latent violence of the
North American society sublies. And although some is
raised from a perspective post-11 of September, he has
not wanted to make a disc on the matter. "I have
heard many hollow songs and others, moved, but I do
not have nor I believe that nobody has a conclusion or
definitive solution that to propose on the matter in a
song -- intuits --, and either I do not believe that
it is my responsibility to say to people what is to
think".

The delivery man arrives just after North, the disc
that composed after the loving rupture with its wife
Cait ÓRiordan and in the heat of idilio with the jazz
singer Krall Morning call. It was received with such
disparity of opinions that demands a defense on the
other hand. "At poetic level he is incredibly
transparent. At vocal level, nonshout: song of a
very natural way. All that turns it a very authentic
experience ", emphasizes. "In my opinion, he is one
of my better five discs. Musically he is superior to
four or five of that my great works are considered.
It has more musical substance and originality ",
affirms, so surely of itself as always.

Elvis playing New Orleans

New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival

Saturday, April 30
Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Dave Matthews Band, Anthony Hamilton, Elvis Costello etc.

Tickets on sale Monday, January 31 at 10:00 a.m. CST

January 27, 2005

Elvis playing Milwaukee April 16 , NY April 22 , AtlanticCity April 23 , Memphis May 1

Elvis PR people have these additional dates -

April16 Milwaukee,WI RiversideTheater
April22 NewYork,NY BeaconTheater
April23 AtlanticCity,NJ BorgataCasino
May 1 Beale Street Music Festival , Memphis, Tennessee

' The 2005 Beale Street Music Festival line-up will be announced on March 3 and tickets will go on sale at that time.'

Elvis pumps it up by writing an opera

.... is the welcome variation on the usual 'Elvis Lives' headline in this account of Elvis' forthcoming Hans Christian Andersen opera. These new quotes appear -

According to Henrik Engelbrecht, head of dramaturgy at the Royal Danish Opera: "We looked around the serious end of the rock scene for a person we thought could contribute to our art form. We very quickly came up with Elvis.

"We went to see him in Dublin with the idea of doing something about Hans Christian Andersen. We thought we would be teaching him about Andersen but he knew all about him.

"He already had a very operatic idea: that of a staged song cycle connected with the life of Andersen and actually about the writer's obsession with Jenny Lind [the Swedish soprano].

"There is an element of fiction: in Costello's version, Andersen has written Lind a number of secret arias (he was also something of an actor and composer) and the scenario is that he presents his pieces to her for the first time to sing."

Elvis pumps it up by writing an opera about Hans Christian Andersen

Charlotte Higgins, arts correspondent
Thursday January 27, 2005

Guardian

Elvis Costello has made a career out of confounding his fans. Over the years the man behind Oliver's Army has made a country album, worked with Burt Bacharach and made an unashamedly romantic album of love songs. Now he looks likely to baffle audiences again - by writing an opera.
Costello is preparing to write a piece of lyric theatre based on the life of Hans Christian Andersen. It will premiere at the Royal Danish Opera in October.

He has made several forays into the classical music world already, having composed a ballet and collaborated with both the Brodsky Quartet and the Swedish mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter. But the complexities of operatic writing will provide him with his biggest challenge yet.

According to Henrik Engelbrecht, head of dramaturgy at the Royal Danish Opera: "We looked around the serious end of the rock scene for a person we thought could contribute to our art form. We very quickly came up with Elvis.

"We went to see him in Dublin with the idea of doing something about Hans Christian Andersen. We thought we would be teaching him about Andersen but he knew all about him.

"He already had a very operatic idea: that of a staged song cycle connected with the life of Andersen and actually about the writer's obsession with Jenny Lind [the Swedish soprano].

"There is an element of fiction: in Costello's version, Andersen has written Lind a number of secret arias (he was also something of an actor and composer) and the scenario is that he presents his pieces to her for the first time to sing."

The 50-year-old singer-songwriter has consistently expressed his unwillingness to be remembered for "a handful of songs I wrote 25 years ago". Or, more tersely: "I don't give a fuck about being a rock'n'roll star. I just want to do the things that interest me."

He said last year: "All the music comes out of the same head. It's just using different methods to get at the solution to whatever motivated you to write it in the first place."

Costello has in his time curated the South Bank festival Meltdown, and in 2000 took to the stage at the Hoxton New Music Days in London to do a surprise turn with the contemporary classical group the Composers' Ensemble.

He taught himself to read music 10 years ago. On composing his ballet score, Il Sogno (based on A Midsummer Night's Dream), he has written: "I deliberately set aside modern methods involv ing computers, preferring a pencil and paper. The 200-page score was completed in approximately 10 weeks." The work was commissioned by the Italian company Aterballeto in 2000.

Asked why the Danish Royal Opera had looked to the world of rock, Mr Engelbrecht said: "What we have is an art form that is 400 years old, and has developed. We don't do opera seria like we did in the 18th century _ One of the tasks we think we have is to look at other forms - dance, rock and film - anything that can invigorate our own art form."

The Danish Royal Opera - whose new opera house opened last night with Aida, starring Roberto Alagna, and which will this spring premiere an opera by Handmaid's Tale composer Poul Ruders based on Kafka's The Trial - will invite Costello to perform the song cycle in October.

The work should be fully staged on the opera house's studio stage the following year. A director and cast have yet to be appointed.

Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005

German interview with Elvis

Nothing really new in this - see translation here.

Copenhagen setlist


Elvis Costello with the Imposters
Vega
Copenhagen
22 January 2005


1. Blue Chair
2. 45
3. Next Time 'Round
4. Beyond Belief
5. Radio Radio
6. Button My Lip
7. Country Darkness
8. Brilliant Mistake
9. Either Side Of The Same Town
10. (I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea
11. Heart Shaped Bruise
12. Suit Of Lights
13. Our Little Angel
14. Kinder Murder
15. In The Darkest Place
16. Watching The Detectives
17. The Judgement
18. Temptation
19. Blame It On Cain
20. High Fidelity
21. Uncomplicated

Encore 1

22. The Delivery Man
23. Monkey To Man
24. Bedlam
25. Shipbuilding
26. Needle Time
27. Hidden Charms
28. The Monkey
29. Pump It Up

Encore 2

30. Nothing Clings Like Ivy
31. There's A Story In Your Voice
32. Oliver's Army
33. (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding?
34. The Scarlet Tide

( Submitted by Lars Gram )

Antwerp setlist


Elvis Costello and the Imposters
Koningin Elisabethzaal
Antwerp
Holland
Jan.26 2005


1. The name of this thing is not love
2. Man out of time
3. You belong to me
4. Radio, radio
5. Button my lip
6. Country darkness
7. Brilliant mistake
8. (I don't want to go to) Chelsea
9. Good year for the roses
10. Our little angel
11. Suit of lights
12. Kinder murder
13. When I was cruel
14. Watching the detectives
15. You turned to me
16. Blame it on Cain
17. Either side of the same town
18. High fidelity
19. Uncomplicated

encore 1
20. The delivery man
21. Monkey to a man

encore 2
22. Nothing clings like Ivy
23. Pump it up
24. Love that burns
25. Hidden charms
26. You bowed down
27. (What's so funny about) Peace, love & understanding
28. The scarlet tide
29. I want you

( Submitted by Filip Dejongh)

January 26, 2005

Elvis' new album is out!

The Clarksdale Sessions is out and has been reviewed by a fan -

I'm enjoying it, but it's undeniably slight, sort of like getting half of a Rhino bonus disc. It also covers similar territory to the recent FUTURAMA SESSIONS, and I expect less obsessive fans to think both projects are the same thing.

It has a very rough and "live" sound throughout, which isn't surprising, since these are rehearsals and jams rather than finished tracks. Bits of studio chatter appear between songs.

It runs 26 minutes in all. Here's my attempt at a track-by-track breakdown:

The Monkey: The same version previously available in Japan and on the vinyl TDM. Ho hum.

Country Darkness: Not all that different from the album version, but with a rougher sound and more prominent guitar from EC (and none from John McFee). Davey's vocals are notably absent, although it sounds like he may be singing off-mike.

Needle Time: Played at roughly the tempo of the FUTURAMA SESSIONS version (which is to say slower than the album), but the overall effect is more relaxed thanks to the subtler guitar sound.

The Scarlet Tide: EC's voice accompanied by only piano (apparently played by EC) and low-in-the-mix accordion (Steve). This is nice, although EC ruins my favorite line in the song by singing "jokers who break everything" rather than "brokers..."

In Another Room : I think this is a really good song, so I'm a little disappointed to think this is going to be the official version. It could have been great with a little more studio polish. This sounds like the unfinished rehearsal that it is, and as a result it is merely pretty good.

Tipitina: This is not listed anywhere on the packaging, and I don't know if it should really be considered its own track. Elvis shouts the title of this Professor Longhair song, and the band launches into a 30-second instrumental which is certainly similar to "Tipitina," although it may not be quite close enough (or long enough) to require paying any royalties.

The Delivery Man: Like "Country Darkness," this is not all that different from the album version, but it's a bit heavier and more guitar-driven.

Dark End Of The Street: Begins with a bit of Steve playing this song on his own and being asked what song it is. It then cuts abruptly to a full-band performance with a nice vocal from EC. Unfortunately, it fades out while he's still singing the last verse.

( Submitted by And No Coffee Table)

I'm enjoying it, but it's undeniably slight, sort of like getting half of a Rhino bonus disc. It also covers similar territory to the recent FUTURAMA SESSIONS, and I expect less obsessive fans to think both projects are the same thing.

It has a very rough and "live" sound throughout, which isn't surprising, since these are rehearsals and jams rather than finished tracks. Bits of studio chatter appear between songs.

It runs 26 minutes in all. Here's my attempt at a track-by-track breakdown:

The Monkey: The same version previously available in Japan and on the vinyl TDM. Ho hum.

Country Darkness: Not all that different from the album version, but with a rougher sound and more prominent guitar from EC (and none from John McFee). Davey's vocals are notably absent, although it sounds like he may be singing off-mike.

Needle Time: Played at roughly the tempo of the FUTURAMA SESSIONS version (which is to say slower than the album), but the overall effect is more relaxed thanks to the subtler guitar sound.

The Scarlet Tide: EC's voice accompanied by only piano (apparently played by EC) and low-in-the-mix accordion (Steve). This is nice, although EC ruins my favorite line in the song by singing "jokers who break everything" rather than "brokers..."

In Another Room: I think this is a really good song, so I'm a little disappointed to think this is going to be the official version. It could have been great with a little more studio polish. This sounds like the unfinished rehearsal that it is, and as a result it is merely pretty good.

Tipitina: This is not listed anywhere on the packaging, and I don't know if it should really be considered its own track. Elvis shouts the title of this Professor Longhair song, and the band launches into a 30-second instrumental which is certainly similar to "Tipitina," although it may not be quite close enough (or long enough) to require paying any royalties.

The Delivery Man: Like "Country Darkness," this is not all that different from the album version, but it's a bit heavier and more guitar-driven.

Dark End Of The Street: Begins with a bit of Steve playing this song on his own and being asked what song it is. It then cuts abruptly to a full-band performance with a nice vocal from EC. Unfortunately, it fades out while he's still singing the last verse.

Elvis DVD ' put back indefinitely'

The DVD , THE RIGHT SPECTACLE - VERY BEST OF ELVIS COSTELLO, has been delayed . Someone in Demon , the U.K. publishers of the disc told a fan

Due to legal problems the release has been put back indefinitely.
They hope to have it out before the end of the year and will publicise it heavily then..................it was very much last minute as they were "all set to go". He also said that they couldn't take any chances with such a "major artist".

( Submitted by John )

January 25, 2005

Elvis' voice was shot

Joyce writes about the Utrecht, Holland show -


A weird kind of show. Elvis' voice was shot. After maybe 3 songs he asks
the audience if we want him to reschedule or just go on. The audience wants him to continue. I'm torn myself.

Getting a babysitter is so tough as it is but I feel bad that Elvis is
compelled to continue. Elvis looks great. I thought I'd just read that he
was out of shape. I think he looks rather fit. He wears great ties these
days. The sound for the first several songs is awful but gets better. I
figured at first that it was just because we were in front but not so as it
improved. I'm confused as to why this seems to happen so frequent based on other people's comments about the shows. Right after asking about continuing the show, a few people shout things out. I shout out for Psycho if he's up for it. Seemed like a good song for his raspy voice and it was one that I really wanted to hear live. And, he does it!!!!!! The band was tight as always. Davey adds a lot to the band with his backup singing.
Steve is great as always. Fun to watch Pete pounding away and singing
throughout.

I didn't expect Elvis to play as long as he did (2 hours and 15 minutes or so). I also feared long rambling musical breaks which I don't mind occasionally but not all night. I love the glittering purple guitar. Elvis was quite the trooper and thanked us for putting up with him. It was actually quite an enjoyable show. Other problems including problems with some of the equipment happened so I figure they're glad this one is over. When Good Year For The Roses began, some guy held out roses for Elvis to take. It was funny in the awkwardness watching Elvis look over occasionally while the guy kept holding the flowers up while Elvis was singing. When Elvis grabbed the flowers during the song, the guy wanted Elvis to put a rose in his lapel but Elvis decided to put it behind his ear instead which was cute. Still, Elvis really seemed to be lingering and giving us our money's worth.

Utrecht setlist


Elvis Costello with the Imposters
Vredenburg
Utrecht, Holland,
24 January 2005

1. Blue Chair
2. Tear Off Your Own Head (It's A Doll Revolution)
3. Waiting For The End Of The World
4. Beyond Belief
5. Radio Radio
6. Button My Lip
7. Country Darkness
8. Brilliant Mistake
9. Psycho
10.(I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea
11.Good Year For The Roses
12.Clubland Null
13.Dust 2…
14.Alison/Suspicious Minds
15.Either Side Of The Same Town
16.Blame It On Cain
17.High Fidelity
18.Uncomplicated
Encore 1
19.The Delivery Man
20.Monkey To Man
21.Hidden Charms
22.Needle Time
23.Nothing Clings Like Ivy
24.Pump It Up
25.Love That Burns
Encore 2
26.(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding?
27.I Want You
28.There's A Story In Your Voice
29.Oliver's Army
30.The Scarlet Tide

(Submitted by Ron Wiltschut )

Elvis plays Las Vegas ,Casper and Sioux Falls

Elvis Costello and The Imposters

Hard Rock Hotel
Las Vegas, NV
Fri, 03/25/05
on sale
Sat, 01/29/05 01:00 PM

Casper Events Center
Casper, WY
4/13/2005

Washington Pavilion of Arts and Science
Sioux Falls, SD
4/15/2005

January 24, 2005

Elvis does unspeakable things with his guitar

......in Oslo -
Extract -
When Elvis Costello asks you to take a seat in the “Blue Chair”, he does not expect you to sit back and relax. First of all, because there were no seats
available at Rockefeller Music hall, but mainly because Elvis kept us all on
our toes with an energetic, engaging and humorous concert. From the opening
“Blue Chair”, it was two intense hours and Friday turned into Saturday
without anyone noticing.

During the night we were treated to a whole lot of tidbits from his 30 year
long career, done both with bitterness and with a great sense of humour. The
latter is most apparent when he does unspeakable things with his guitar.
Most solos are left to Steve Nieve, though and Elvis has got a strong sense
of irony regarding his own guitar-playing. But then, almost at the end of
the night, he plays a blues where he treats us to a beautiful guitar
solo, that no one would´ve thought him capable of.

...and Copenhagen -

Extract -

Smart Elvis, sharp Elvis, Elvis the musician. Elvis Elvis Elvis. You never get tired of that name.

Elvis has filled half of his productive career with experiments verging on the embarrassing. But when he is good, then he is both outstanding and unique. He was indeed that, today in front of an audience of 1,500 in Copenhagen.

Short, square and hidden behind a suit and with orange tinted sunglasses. No hat this evening, but a bunch of guitars, a bunch of rock, punky, dirty blues and beautiful ballads.

He was unstoppable with his old cronies, although a number of times overshadowed by his piano player Steve Nieve. The architect looking wizard created minimalist fills, giant clanging sounds, and everything in between. Not kids stuff, and not normally things that one would use a lot of time on to learn – one has computers and other programs that can handle that type of stuff. Nieve is a man of a forgotten time. But which time?

There was plenty of newer material, like the most recent and far from bad The Delivery Man record, maybe a little too much, but Elvis wanted to play it. For more than two hours in addition to the two hours he used to warm up during the sound check. He generously drew from his catalogue, where standards (positively meant) like Radio Radio, Chelsea and especially Watching the Detectives got under one’s skin throughout the night. Great art from a little man sung with an instrument that the rest of the world rightfully is in envy of.

Dagbladet reviews Oslo concert

”ON OUR TOES FOR A HUMOROUS COSTELLO”

ELVIS COSTELLO, ROCKEFELLER, OSLO
AUDIENCE: 1.200

TWO HOURS OF ENERGY AND HUMOUR
REVIEWED BY KURT HANSSEN


When Elvis Costello asks you to take a seat in the “Blue Chair”, he
does not
expect you to sit back and relax. First of all, because there were no
seats
available at Rockefeller Music hall, but mainly because Elvis kept us
all on
our toes with an energetic, engaging and humorous concert. From the
opening
“Blue Chair”, it was two intense hours and Friday turned into Saturday
without anyone noticing.

Elvis Costello and The Imposters are on tour, mainly to promote
Costello´s
21.album, but he´s also more than willing to dig deep into his musical
past,
which is a veritable treasure-chest.
Basically, it´s almost like an old fashioned EC & The Attractions
concert,
the only difference being that Bruce Thomas is replaced by Davey
Faragher.
I´ll gladly admit that I missed the ingenious bass-playing of Bruce
Thomas,
but as usual, Professor Steve Nieve is brilliant on his array of
keyboards,
and Pete Thomas is the same utterly solid drummer as he´s always been.

The new songs from TDM, which, incidentally will soon be re-released as
a
double CD, is scattered throughout the set and he plays most of the
album.
Highlights included; “Heart-shaped bruise”, with Faragher stepping in
for
Emmylou Harris, “Country darkness”, and the beautiful “Nothing clings
like
Ivy”, while the title track will almost surely become another Costello-
classic.

He treated his old fans to some of his classics, like “Radio, radio”,
“Chelsea”, “Watching the detectives, and of course “Alison”, which
segued
into “Suspicious minds”. He did the same thing later on by letting;
“Either
side of the same town” segue into “Dark end of the street”.

During the night we were treated to a whole lot of tidbits from his 30
year
long career, done both with bitterness and with a great sense of
humour. The
latter is most apparent when he does unspeakable things with his
guitar.
Most solos are left to Steve Nieve, though and Elvis has got a strong
sense
of irony regarding his own guitar-playing. But then, almost at the end
of
the night, he plays a blues where he treats us to a beautiful guitar
solo,
that no one would´ve thought him capable of.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Copenhagen

It was the unstoppable musician, the round man without the great anger that Elvis Costello exhibited at Vega, during a fine but far from unforgettable concert.

Smart Elvis, sharp Elvis, Elvis the musician. Elvis Elvis Elvis. You never get tired of that name.
Elvis has filled half of his productive career with experiments verging on the embarrassing. But when he is good, then he is both outstanding and unique. He was indeed that, today in front of an audience of 1,500 in Copenhagen.

Short, square and hidden behind a suit and with orange tinted sunglasses. No hat this evening, but a bunch of guitars, a bunch of rock, punky, dirty blues and beautiful ballads.

He was unstoppable with his old cronies, although a number of times overshadowed by his piano player Steve Nieve. The architect looking wizard created minimalist fills, giant clanging sounds, and everything in between. Not kids stuff, and not normally things that one would use a lot of time on to learn – one has computers and other programs that can handle that type of stuff. Nieve is a man of a forgotten time. But which time?

There was plenty of newer material, like the most recent and far from bad The Delivery Man record, maybe a little too much, but Elvis wanted to play it. For more than two hours in addition to the two hours he used to warm up during the sound check. He generously drew from his catalogue, where standards (positively meant) like Radio Radio, Chelsea and especially Watching the Detectives got under one’s skin throughout the night. Great art from a little man sung with an instrument that the rest of the world rightfully is in envy of.

Such highpoints were there unfortunately too few of this evening that in its entirety was neither unforgettable nor decidedly magic.

Then you can’t overlook snag number 2: the missing youthful anger. Costello is surely gotten softer during the years, but a more totally punkish and dirty playing Elvis IS and will always be the REAL Elvis, nostalgically seen. We saw way too little of this man tonight.

January 23, 2005

A welcome reminder of the dirty, nasty old EC.


The Observer (London) -

Costello is one of the major artists yet to license his back catalogue to iTunes, so this five-track EP from last year's The Delivery Man set, recorded 'live' in New York, could be his way of testing the water. It's rawer and earthier than the album equivalents, with Elvis coming on as a secular Al Green and the Imposters sounding like the live mid-Eighties Attractions. A welcome reminder of the dirty, nasty old EC.

"Everything is personal"


Elvis tells a Norwegian 'paper -

"Progress and renewal is more important than success"'
Elvis Costello

EC: "There´s lots of dark and heavy songs on The Delivery Man. But when you perform something live, it should be with joy and surplus energy.

"Art is not democratic..it´s more like a sneaking dictatorship", Elvis
says, kicking at his critics.

Elvis Costello received a lot of strange reactions when he released two
albums simultaneously last fall. And on paper it might seem as if "The
Delivery Man", on which Elvis revels in his continuing fascination with
traditional American music, and "Ill Sogno", music for a ballet based
on Shakepeares´ "A midsummer night´s dream" are miles apart.
Costello begs to differ, though.

"By releasing the albums on the same day, I wanted to present them as
works of equal merit. When I released NORTH, which was the most honest and direct album I´d ever done, the critics told me that this wasn´t the case". Instead they told me what I SHOULD have been doing", Costello quips in his dry and witty manner.

"Everything is personal"

"Of course, it´s totally legitimate not to like an album. But many critics, especially of the male gender....and they ARE in majority, simply couldn´t
accept NORTH for what it was. Just because it didn´t sound like
something I did 25 years ago", Costello rolls his eyes behind his hornrims.

"So I decided to short-circuit the problem by stating that all my work
is of equal important value to me. All these thing come from my head. They are all personal to me.The working-methods on TDM and Il Sogno are obviously very different and they are unique experiences and adventures. But it´s not as if one is a highly intellectual exercise, but rather an attempt to try something I haven´t done before. The other is an attempt to do something I´ve done before, but in a new and different way. That´s why they are equally spontaneous".

His critics and his audience have given him the thumbs-up. While
critics of classical music were amazed at the competence Costello showed in the arrangements on "Ill sogno", the rock critics praised TDM, because once again Costello is pushing the boundaries for what a rock album can be and sound like.

New and Old

" I do believe that we have a very strong set of songs with an open
structure. It clearly invites to doing concerts, and maybe even another
album if I´m inclined. Last fall, when we did a concert in Memphis with the intent of making a live DVD, we put songs from TDM alongside some of my old songs, and they connected in a strange way, almost as if they were talking to each other. For example, the main character of The Delivery Man is named Abel and the fact that one of my old songs is called Blame it on Cain". I have the utmost respect for my fans and the audience, and I expect them to use their own imagination when they come to my concerts. " Elvis says in his challenging way.

Translated by Sverre Ronny Sætrum

"Progress and renewal is more important than success"'
Elvis Costello

EC: "There´s lots of dark and heavy songs on The Delivery Man. But when you perform something live, it should be with joy and surplus energy.

"Art is not democratic..it´s more like a sneaking dictatorship", Elvis
says, kicking at his critics.


Elvis Costello received a lot of strange reactions when he released two
albums simultaneously last fall. And on paper it might seem as if "The
Delivery Man", on which Elvis revels in his continuing fascination with
traditional American music, and "Ill Sogno", music for a ballet based
on Shakepeares´ "A midsummer night´s dream" are miles apart.
Costello begs to differ, though.

"By releasing the albums on the same day, I wanted to present them as
works of equal merit. When I released NORTH, which was the most honest and direct album I´d ever done, the critics told me that this wasn´t the case". Instead they told me what I SHOULD have been doing", Costello quips in his dry and witty manner.

"Everything is personal"

"Of course, it´s totally legitimate not to like an album. But many critics, especially of the male gender....and they ARE in majority, simply couldn´t
accept NORTH for what it was. Just because it didn´t sound like
something I did 25 years ago", Costello rolls his eyes behind his hornrims.

"So I decided to short-circuit the problem by stating that all my work
is of equal important value to me. All these thing come from my head. They are all personal to me.The working-methods on TDM and Il Sogno are obviously very different and they are unique experiences and adventures. But it´s not as if one is a highly intellectual exercise, but rather an attempt to try something I haven´t done before. The other is an attempt to do something I´ve done before, but in a new and different way. That´s why they are equally spontaneous".

His critics and his audience have given him the thumbs-up. While
critics of classical music were amazed at the competence Costello showed in the arrangements on "Ill sogno", the rock critics praised TDM, because once again Costello is pushing the boundaries for what a rock album can be and sound like.

New and Old

" I do believe that we have a very strong set of songs with an open
structure. It clearly invites to doing concerts, and maybe even another
album if I´m inclined. Last fall, when we did a concert in Memphis with the intent of making a live DVD, we put songs from TDM alongside some of my old songs, and they connected in a strange way, almost as if they were talking to each other. For example, the main character of The Delivery Man is named Abel and the fact that one of my old songs is called Blame it on Cain". I have the utmost respect for my fans and the audience, and I expect them to use their own imagination when they come to my concerts. " Elvis says in his challenging way.

"Looking like a cross between Herman Göring and a pimp..." Elvis on Norwegian TV

Sverre reports -

An affable, relaxed and very witty Elvis appeared on the talk-show; "First
and Last" on Norwegian TV last night (Jan. 21) . Hosted by Fredrik Skavlan, the
weekly show is the singular most popular TV program in Norway, usually watched by 1 million viewers. Mainly because Skavlan tends to invite a mixture of celebs and people who actually has something worthwhile to say.He also lets people finish a sentence, which is not always that common in talk-shows.

Elvis was joined by 40 Norwegian artists who´s releasing a Tsunami-Aid
album this Monday, a professor of sociology, a couple of actresses and
another professor who´s the new "guru" in child-raising. As I said, a mixed bunch.

The first guest was the professor of sociology, which a newspaper
recently deemed one of the most important Norwegian intellectuals in recent times. Skavlan started off by asking him if he regarded some of the other guest on tonight´s show as intellectuals, to which the professor replied; "I don´t know any of the other guests that well, but I´ve always regarded Elvis Costello as a very intellectual artist, because he´s got original ideas and concepts, seems totally unafraid of taking chances, is highly unpredictable and curious. To me, that´s an intellectual person".

They showed brief segment of the "Monkey to man" video, then Skavlan
introduced Elvis by saying; "Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome THE
Elvis Costello" and our boy received a thunderous applause from the studio audience. He started off by quipping that "No primate was harmed while shooting the video...although a couple of bass players might´ve
been...."

Skavlan asked him of any Norweigan roots and/or links (sic) and Elvis
revealed that his cousin is married to a Norwegian named..ahem...Sverre. Who is 83 and still runs marathons. He also said that he got a couple of
Norwegian friends; "One of whom is a very talented young man named
Sondre Lerche, who is going to tour with me in the US later this year", and that his wife is a close friend of Norwgian singer Sissel, who he met backstage, as she´s part of the Tsunami- artists. At this comment, Skavlan says; "Oh, yes, you´re married to that famous Jazz musician/singer Diana Krall", to which Elvis quipped: "Is THAT what she is.. .I´ve been wondering what she did every time she leaves the house..."

Skavlan congratulated him on being nominated for the Grammies and Elvis said that one of the nominations is for a foxtrot. "I´m doing a song in the bio-movie of Cole Porter, called De-Lovely and the song I sing is a foxtrot. So forget the Lambada and the Maccarena....I´m here to bring back the Foxtrot !" He revealed that wearing period-piece clothes in the movie made him look like: "A cross between Herman Göring and a pimp"

He commented on the Tsunami disaster and all the charity gigs that have
followed by stating that he applauded every effort, but he thought the
main thing was following it through, and not just do a concert of a song and then drop it. He used Band Aid/Live Aid as a case in point where they
actually have done some good over the years by staying with the project. He seemed a bit ambivalent towards appearing at Live Aid; "The biggest names doing their hits...." and that he would find it difficult writing a song to about such disasters. He said that he´d been watching FOX News and was appalled by people who said that it was an "Act of God....God´s wrath", and if he would write a song it would probably have been about challenging these blasphemous views.

He talked a bit about the current tour and the fact that he´s doing
lots of his old songs mixed in with the new ones, and used the
"Spinning-songbook" tour as a description. "Tonight´s audience at Rockefeller are lucky. We used to have someone from the audience come up and spin a wheel with songs, and then we´d play the song which the wheel stopped at...then we put him or her inside a cage, poking them with hot irons. We stopped doing that..."


The sosciology professor repeated that he regarded Elvis as an intellectual
and Elvis seemed a bit embarrassed about this,but handled it very
elegantly by stating that "There´s not a big race to be the biggest intellectual in my business...People tend to use descriptions like : A Work Of Genius, to make things sound exiting, but there are very few people who I would call genius in pop-music. There are a lot of hard working people, like myself, though". When you hear the term Concept Album, it conjures up images of dry-ice, and men in capes singing songs about goblins. But a concept is just an idea, and of course there are ideas behind my songs"

The conversations drifted towards men and women having mid-life crisis,
and Skavlan asked Elvis if he had gone through such a crisis, but
apparently he hasn´t. "You mean the red sports-car type ? No I haven´t. Fact is, I´m in better shape than I´ve ever been"

He then urged the viewers to turn off their TV´s ("After this show, of
course....") come on down to Rockefeller and have a good time !!


"First and Last" is available at the TVstation´s web-TV. If you go to
http://www.nrk.no/forstogsist and go to "NRK NETT TV", choose
UNDERHOLDNING" at the menu. The web-TV window should open and give you another menu, from where you choose: "Forst og sist" (First and Last) and the date 21.januar 2005. It´s not available yet, but I guess it will be sometime during the coming week. And you have to register to use the web-TV.

An affable, relaxed and very witty Elvis appeared on the talk-show; "First
and Last" on Norwegian TV last night. Hosted by Fredrik Skavlan, the
weekly show is the singular most popular TV program in Norway, usually watched by 1 million viewers. Mainly because Skavlan tends to invite a mixture of celebs and people who actually has something worthwhile to say.He also lets people finish a sentence, which is not always that common in talk-shows.

Elvis was joined by 40 Norwegian artists who´s releasing a Tsunami-Aid
album this Monday, a professor of sociology, a couple of actresses and
another professor who´s the new "guru" in child-raising. As I said, a mixed bunch.

The first guest was the professor of sociology, which a newspaper
recently deemed one of the most important Norwegian intellectuals in recent times. Skavlan started off by asking him if he regarded some of the other guest on tonight´s show as intellectuals, to which the professor replied; "I don´t know any of the other guests that well, but I´ve always regarded Elvis Costello as a very intellectual artist, because he´s got original ideas and concepts, seems totally unafraid of taking chances, is highly unpredictable and curious. To me, that´s an intellectual person".

They showed brief segment of the "Monkey to man" video, then Skavlan
introduced Elvis by saying; "Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome THE
Elvis Costello" and our boy received a thunderous applause from the studio audience. He started off by quipping that "No primate was harmed while shooting the video...although a couple of bass players might´ve
been...."

Skavlan asked him of any Norweigan roots and/or links (sic) and Elvis
revealed that his cousin is married to a Norwegian named..ahem...Sverre. Who is 83 and still runs marathons. He also said that he got a couple of
Norwegian friends; "One of whom is a very talented young man named
Sondre Lerche, who is going to tour with me in the US later this year", and that his wife is a close friend of Norwgian singer Sissel, who he met backstage, as she´s part of the Tsunami- artists. At this comment, Skavlan says; "Oh, yes, you´re married to that famous Jazz musician/singer Diana Krall", to which Elvis quipped: "Is THAT what she is.. .I´ve been wondering what she did every time she leaves the house..."

Skavlan congratulated him on being nominated for the Grammies and Elvis said that one of the nominations is for a foxtrot. "I´m doing a song in the bio-movie of Cole Porter, called De-Lovely and the song I sing is a
foxtrot. So forget the Lambada and the Maccarena....I´m here to bring back the Foxtrot !" He revealed that wearing period-piece clothes in the movie made him look like: "A cross between Herman Göring and a pimp"

He commented on the Tsunami disaster and all the charity gigs that have
followed by stating that he applauded every effort, but he thought the
main thing was following it through, and not just do a concert of a song and then drop it. He used Band Aid/Live Aid as a case in point where they
actually have done some good over the years by staying with the project. He seemed a bit ambivalent towards appearing at Live Aid; "The biggest names doing their hits...." and that he would find it difficult writing a song to about such disasters. He said that he´d been watching FOX News and was appalled by people who said that it was an "Act of God....God´s wrath", and if he would write a song it would probably have been about challenging these blasphemous views.

He talked a bit about the current tour and the fact that he´s doing
lots of his old songs mixed in with the new ones, and used the
"Spinning-songbook" tour as a description. "Tonight´s audience at Rockefeller are lucky. We used to have someone from the audience come up and spin a wheel with songs, and then we´d play the song which the wheel stopped at...then we put him or her inside a cage, poking them with hot irons. We stopped doing that..."


The sosciology professor repeated that he regarded Elvis as an intellectual
and Elvis seemed a bit embarrassed about this,but handled it very
elegantly by stating that "There´s not a big race to be the biggest intellectual in my business...People tend to use descriptions like : A Work Of Genius, to make things sound exiting, but there are very few people who I would call genius in pop-music. There are a lot of hard working people, like myself, though". When you hear the term Concept Album, it conjures up images of dry-ice, and men in capes singing songs about goblins. But a concept is just an idea, and of course there are ideas behind my songs"

The conversations drifted towards men and women having mid-life crisis,
and Skavlan asked Elvis if he had gone through such a crisis, but
apparently he hasn´t. "You mean the red sports-car type ? No I haven´t. Fact is, I´m in better shape than I´ve ever been"

He then urged the viewers to turn off their TV´s ("After this show, of
course....") come on down to Rockefeller and have a good time !!


"First and Last" is avaliable at the TVstation´s web-TV. If you go to
http://www.nrk.no/forstogsist and go to "NRK NETT TV", choose
UNDERHOLDNING" at the meny. The web-TV window should open and give you another menu, from where you choose: "Forst og sist" (First and Last) and the date 21.januar 2005. It´s not avaliable yet, but I guess it will be sometime during the coming week. And you have to register to use the web-TV.

January 22, 2005

Ellevill Elvis leverte

Elvis impressed in Oslo -

The musical chameleon Elvis Costello doesn´t give a toss what music critics
might think of his variety of musical genres. However, he does give a toss
about his fans, and last night night, a very focused and playful Costello
invited the crowd at Rockefeller Music Hall to a party. Now, Costello is a
smart guy, and even though the critics has been ecstatic about his new album
The Delivery Man, he knows he´s got a huge back-catalogue of great songs to
choose from, and last night he wisely mixed his new songs with some of his
classics, mixing the energetic and fierce rockers with the subdued and
melancholic ballads.

To those who might´ve thought that the presence of The Imposters would give
the evening a tinge of the C&W, like they do on TDM, they were proven wrong
He performed highlights from his entire career, from KOA, WIWC, and of
course from TDM. Unlike other artists, Costello saves some of the new
numbers for the encores, or should I say the "extra-set" ? Last night he
performed two extra-sets total and during the last one he did his signature-songs; "Alison", "Oliver´s army" and "PLU".

For well over two-and-a-half-hour Elvis delivers...again, and again...and
again. Thanks, Elvis !!

Translated by Sverre Ronny Sætrum , who also comments -

Extract -
I´m not often rendered speechless. But after seeing Elvis and The Imposters
for two-and-a-half hours last night, I was completely lost for words. It is
the best EC concert I´ve ever seen, in Norway or elsewhere. I kid you not.
Elvis is more fierce than he was in the late 70´s, his singing voice is just
getting better and better, the gig was a veritable juke-box of songs from
his entire back-catalogue, and not ONCE did I get the impression that he was
going through the motions. The often tiresome stand-up comedy act of earlier
gigs are gone, he spends his two-and-a-half-hour onstage racing through his
back-catalogue like there is no tomorrow, only slowing down a bit for some
of the awesome ballads. And The Imposters are now simply one of the
tightest combos in the biz.Dave is both a brilliant bass-player AND a good
harmony/backing-singer, Steve´s theremin-doodling is kept to a minimum,
consentrating of truly awesome playing on the piano, organ, melodica,
harmonica. And Pete Thomas is the best drummer in rock and roll music, non ?

From Sverre Ronny Sætrum , eclistserv


I´m not often rendered speechless. But after seeing Elvis and The Imposters
for two-and-a-half hours last night, I was completely lost for words. It is
the best EC concert I´ve ever seen, in Norway or elsewhere. I kid you not.
Elvis is more fierce than he was in the late 70´s, his singing voice is just
getting better and better, the gig was a veritable juke-box of songs from
his entire back-catalogue, and not ONCE did I get the impression that he was
going through the motions. The often tiresome stand-up comedy act of earlier
gigs are gone, he spends his two-and-a-half-hour onstage racing through his
back-catalogue like there is no tomorrow, only slowing down a bit for some
of the awesome ballads. And The Imposters are now simply one of the
tightest combos in the biz. I first saw them at the Royal Festival Hall
Meltdown concert in London in 2001 , then at the London Hippodrome when WIWC was released, when they sounded
under-rehearsed.They played at Rockefeller in Oslo two years ago, and had
improved much by that time, but IMO, they didn´t have as good an album as
TDM to support at that time. Besides, Elvis was also intent on playing with
his new electronic toys, and The Mad Professor really went ga-ga with his
theremin. Not to everyone´s taste.....But this time around it´s a tight rock
and roll unit on stage. Dave is both a brilliant bass-player AND a good
harmony/backing-singer, Steve´s theremin-doodling is kept to a minimum,
consentrating of truly awesome playing on the piano, organ, melodica,
harmonica. And Pete Thomas is the best drummer in rock and roll music, non ?


I deliberately forgot paper and pencil, opting for sheer enjoyment, thus the
set-list as follows is in no particular order, but this IS all the songs
they played:
The first 5 are in correct order, though, and it´s part of why I think it´s
the best EC show I´ve been to:


BLUE CHAIR
TEAR OFF YOUR OWN HEAD (IT´S THE DOLL REVOLUTION)
NEXT TIME ROUND
BEYOND BELIEF
RADIO RADIO

(NOT A BAD OPENING-SALVO, IS IT..???)

BUTTON MY LIP
COUNTRY DARKNESS
EITHER SIDE OF THE SAME TOWN
DARK END OF THE STREET
BEDLAM
THE DELIVERY MAN
MONKEY TO MAN
NOTHING CLINGS LIKE IVY
HEART-SHAPED BRUISE
NEEDLE TIME
THE SCARLET TIDE
WHEN I WAS CRUEL
HIDDEN CHARMS
LOVE THAT BURNS
KINDER MURDER
UNCOMPLICATED
BRILLIANT MISTAKE
SUIT OF LIGHTS
HIGH FIDELITY
MOTEL MATCHES
OLIVER´S ARMY
WHAT SO FUNNY ´BOUT PEACE,LOVE AND UNDERSTANDING ?
PUMP IT UP
WATCHING THE DETECTIVES
I DON´T WANT TO GO TO CHELSEA
BLAME IT ON CAIN
ALISON/SUSPICIOUS MINDS

HIGHLIGHTS:

COUNTRY DARKNESS is more guitar-driven than the album version and benefits
hugely from this. One of his best ballads EVER.

HEART-SHAPED BRUISE, Dave is singing great harmony vocals, stepping in for
Ms.Emmylou Harris (EC: "They wouldn´t let the cow-girl into this country..."

SUIT OF LIGHTS is stunning

BRILLIANT MISTAKE from semi-acoustic to electric, probably close to how it
would´ve sounded if The Attractions had played it on KOA.

THE SCARLET TIDE It´s the last encore and it´s the most beautiful version
I´ve heard of it so far. Again, Dave sings the harmony-vocals, Steve adds a
beautiful melodica-theme and Pete offers some gentle playing on the tom-toms
During the song, the crowd was utterly silent and the post-song roar was
thunderous. Goosebumps-time.

MOTEL MATCHES One of my favorite EC tunes. It´s awesome.

DOWNERS:

WHEN I WAS CRUEL Not a great song to begin with, IMO, a bit better without
the samples and electronic doodling of past,but I still wish he´d drop it
from the show
NEEDLE TIME Ditto, not a great song, doesn´t work live, drop it.

Elvis plays Portland , Bozeman and Chicago

Elvis Costello and The Imposters
Portland , OR
April 8 2005
Bozeman , Montana
April 12 2005
Tickets go on sale Friday January 28, 2005 at 10:00AM
Chicago, IL
Apr 17, 2005
Onsale to General Public:
Sat, 01/29/05 10:00 AM

Elvis sings on two songs on new Brodskys album

Elvis sings on a version of his 1998 co-composition ( with Cait O'Riordan) My Mood Swings and Randy Newman's Real Emotional Girl ( 1983) on the forthcoming Brodsky Quartet album Moodswings .

January 21, 2005

Elvis plays Spokane and Boise

Elvis Costello and The Imposters
Big Easy
Spokane
, WA USA
April 9 '05

Big Easy Boise
Boise, ID
April 11 '05

January 20, 2005

Elvis/ Hans Christian Andersen opera 'will open in 2006'

The Associated Press report -

Extract - Elvis Costello, Britain's musical chameleon, is creating an opera based on Danish fairy tale writer Hans Christian Andersen's impossible romance with a Swedish woman, a spokesman for Copenhagen's new opera house said Thursday.

"The Secret Arias" is based on songs written by Andersen for Jenny Lind, a soprano dubbed the "Swedish Nightingale," whom the Dane pined for, despite her never returning his affections, said Henrik Engelbrecht, head of dramaturgy at the Royal Theater.

"Elvis immediately loved the idea and when we met him 18 months ago to discuss it, he had already a clear idea about the opera," Engelbrecht told the AP.

It is believed that Andersen wrote his tale "The Nightingale" with Lind, who lived from 1820-1887, in mind.

The work will open in 2006 in the new opera house's small experimental stage that can seat 200. The cast hasn't yet been decided.

After Copenhagen, "The Secret Arias" likely will go on an international tour, and be released as a compact disc and DVD, Engelbrecht said.

Costello, who has recorded with Swedish soprano Anne Sofie Von Otter and the Brodsky Quartet, will perform the songs during a concert this fall at the new $441 million opera house, which opened Jan. 15.

Elvis Costello writes opera about Hans Christian Andersen
'The Secret Arias' is about the Danish fairy tale writer's romance with a Swedish woman

By Jan M. Olsen
The Associated Press

Originally published January 20, 2005, 11:50 AM EST

COPENHAGEN, Denmark -- Elvis Costello, Britain's musical chameleon, is creating an opera based on Danish fairy tale writer Hans Christian Andersen's impossible romance with a Swedish woman, a spokesman for Copenhagen's new opera house said Thursday.

"The Secret Arias" is based on songs written by Andersen for Jenny Lind, a soprano dubbed the "Swedish Nightingale," whom the Dane pined for, despite her never returning his affections, said Henrik Engelbrecht, head of dramaturgy at the Royal Theater.

"Elvis immediately loved the idea and when we met him 18 months ago to discuss it, he had already a clear idea about the opera," Engelbrecht told the AP.

It is believed that Andersen wrote his tale "The Nightingale" with Lind, who lived from 1820-1887, in mind.

The work will open in 2006 in the new opera house's small experimental stage that can seat 200. The cast hasn't yet been decided.

After Copenhagen, "The Secret Arias" likely will go on an international tour, and be released as a compact disc and DVD, Engelbrecht said.

Costello, who has recorded with Swedish soprano Anne Sofie Von Otter and the Brodsky Quartet, will perform the songs during a concert this fall at the new $441 million opera house, which opened Jan. 15.

Costello emerged from Britain's early new wave scene as one of the original "angry young men" and since then has dabbled in everything from orchestral symphonies to harmonious pop. Some of his featured singles include "Alison" and "Radio, Radio" and "Veronica."

This year, Danes mark the bicentennial of Andersen's birth, who is renowned for his children's stories, including the classics "The Little Match Girl," "The Ugly Duckling" and "The Red Shoes." Andersen died in 1875.

In early April, international celebrities, music stars, athletes and Danish royals will attend a four-day carnival in Copenhagen to start a yearlong international celebration.

"Unfortunately we won't make it for the Hans Christian Andersen's celebrations this year," Engelbrecht said.

Copyright © 2005, The Associated Press

Elvis in Sweden


Elvis Costello and The Imposters
Stockholm, Konserthuset
19 Jan. '05
20.30 - 22.50


1. Blue Chair
2. Possession
3. Next Time Round
4. Beyond Belief
5. Radio Radio
6. Button My Lip
7. Country Darkness
8. Brilliant Mistake
9. Either Side Of The Same Town
10.I Don't Want To Go To Chelsea
11.Heart Shaped Bruise
12.Suit Of Light
13.No Wonder
14.You Turned To Me
15.When I Was Cruel #2
16.Watching The Detectives
17.Blame It On Cain
18.High Fidelity
19.Uncomplicated

Encore 1
20.The Delivery Man
21.Monkey To Man
22.Bedlam
23.The Scarlet Tide

Encore 2
24.Needle Time
25.Hidden Charms
26.There's A Story In Your Voice
27.Oliver's Army
28.What's So Funny 'Bout Peace, Love And Understanding?
29.Nothing Clings Like Ivy
30.Pump It Up
31.The Monkey

( Submitted by Ulrika & Ulf Gotthardsson )

Elvis plays L.A.

Elvis Costello and The Imposters
The Wiltern LG, Los Angeles
Sat, 03/26/05 08:00 PM

on sale Sun, 01/23/05 12:00 PM


So, that's:

March 2 - Orlando (House of Blues)
March 4 - Miami (Jackie Gleason Theater)
March 5 - Tampa (Tampa Theatre)
March 6 - Atlanta (The Tabernacle)
March 8 - Charlotte (Grady Cole Center)
March 9 - Nashville (Ryman)
March 10 - Knoxville (Tennessee Theatre)
March 12 - New Orleans (House of Blues)
March 13 - Houston
March 15 - Dallas (Nokia Live)
March 16 - Austin (SXSW) (...assumedly)
March 17 - Tulsa (Cain's Ballroom)
March 19 - Denver (Fillmore Auditorium)
March 20 - Salt Lake City (Kingsbury Hall)
March 22 - Oakland (Paramount)
March 23 - San Diego
March 26 - Los Angeles
April 7 - Seattle (The Paramount)
April 19 - Ann Arbor (Michigan Theatre)
April 20 - Cleveland (HoB)

( Submitted by John Harrison)

January 19, 2005

Elvios plays Houston , San Diego and Seattle

Elvis Costello & The Imposters
Elvis Costello
Verizon Wireless Theater, Houston, TX
Sun, Mar 13, 2005
No sale date given

4th and B, San Diego, CA
Wed, Mar 23, 2005 08:00 PM
Onsale to General Public:
Fri, 01/21/05 10:00 AM

The Paramount Theatre ,
Seattle , Wa
Thursday,
April 7 , 2005
On Sale 2/12/05

Elvis starts tour in Sweden


Elvis starts his tour tonight with this thoughtful comment -

" I understand a lot of Swedes suffered when the Tsunami hit Asia, and
I feel a bit awkward flying into Stockholm with a: "Hey, let´s rock and
roll", but music can be helpful when you´re trying to find your way
back to your life, and we will give our contribution to that".

Translation by Sverre Ronny Saetrum

Klart Costello rockar

I morgon spelar den musikaliska mångsysslaren Elvis Costello på Konserthuset i Stockholm. Frågan är vilken av sysslorna som gäller. DN ringde upp honom.



När Elvis Costello får välja kan det bli jazz, teatermusik, easy listening eller rock.
Förstora bilden




Elvis Costello är popikonen som gjort det till en sport att kasta poppuritaner mellan hopp och förtvivlan. Under hela sin karriär har han växlat spår nästan lika ofta som "Big brother"-Linda byter pojkvän, och de senaste 15-åren har han exploderat i musikalisk upptäckarlusta; samarbeten med Burt Bacharach, Anne Sofie von Otter, Brodskykvartetten och Charles Mingus är bara några. Och däremellan har han med ojämn regelbundenhet hittat tillbaka till grunderna - bittra berättelser till gitarr, bas och trumma. Som på förra årets "The delivery man" med kompbandet The Imposters.

En slarvig titt i konsertpogrammet kan med andra ord skapa viss förvirring över vad som händer på Konserthuset i Stockholm i morgon kväll.

- Vi är ett rock´n´roll-band, säger Elvis Costello lugnande på telefon från den amerikanska västkusten. Men vi har en repertoar på runt 80 låtar, och killarna i bandet är kapabla att spela i princip vad som helst.

I The Imposters har tre av medlemmarna spelat tillsammans förr, lugnt sagt. Förutom Elvis Costellos sång och gitarr finns gamla The Attractions-parhästarna Steve Nieve på piano och klaviatur samt trummisen Pete Thomas. Bara basisten Dave Faragher är någorlunda ny.

"The delivery man" är en roots-rock/blues/country/jazzskiva som att döma av hur många minuter Elvis Costello kan mala på om hur bra bandet är känns som om han slutligen har hittat hem. Men, nej, glöm det.

- Jag har så svårt att inse att jag ska avstå från de musikaliska möjligheter som kommer i min väg, säger han. Och allt det här "andra" som jag har gjort, Burt Bacharach, jazz, till och med teatermusiken, förnyar mitt intresse av att plocka upp elgitarren igen, öppna skallen och vräka ur mig.

Elvis Costello menar att hans stilskiften sällan är ett problem för publiken. Däremot för oss i medierna som ska beskriva det han gör.

- Så fort jag gör något annorlunda får vissa nästan en allergisk reaktion. Det började redan med countryskivan "Almost blue" 1981. Efter ungefär fem år brukar dock reaktionen lägga sig och de här människorna kan börja lyssna på vad som faktiskt finns på skivan, och inte i deras egna förväntningar.

Elvis Costello har förvånat kunnat konstatera att inget av hans musikaliska projekt väckt så starka känslor som 2003 års tillbakalutade jazzskiva "North". När den släpptes fann han sig nästan löpa ett medialt gatlopp.

- Det är nästan lite kul att jag har upprört som mest med min mest lågmälda skiva, säger han och skrattar. Men lyssnar man på "North" så hör man att flera av låtarna med lätthet skulle kunna göras med ett rockband och vässade kanter. Nu gjorde jag inte det, och det var mitt brott. Men de som inte hör till exempel soulen i den skivan har inte fattat ett dugg av vad jag någonsin har gjort, inte ens de högljudda skivorna.

Det må vara frustrerande för den gamla stammen Costellofans att aldrig få reda på vad idolens nästa steg blir. Men han vet det inte ens själv. Det enda han vet är att det inte blir 1977 igen.

- The Attractions var ett fantastiskt bra band en gång. Men det finns ingen anledning att tävla med hur man var som 22-åring. Det var en unik tid i min karriär och den kommer aldrig igen. Men det säger jag dig, jag är otroligt mycket starkare i dag än då. Jag skulle kunna sparka den unga Elvis Costello i arslet och bolla runt med honom.

Så det blir tuff rock i Stockholm på onsdag?
- Tänk på att allt går att göra om live. Flera av låtarna jag gjorde med Burt Bacharach har jag tolkat på scenen på ett helt annat sätt än hur det lät på skivan. Men visst, central för konserten blir nog skivan "The Delivery Man".

- Jag har förstått att flodvågen i Asien drabbade många svenskar, och jag vet inte om man bara kan komma inflygande i Stockholm och säga "hey, kom igen så lirar vi lite rock´n´roll", men musik är också ett sätt att hitta tillbaka till livet och det ska vi försöka bidra till.

January 18, 2005

Elvis plays Dallas , Tx ,March 15

Elvis Costello & The Imposters
NOKIA live at Grand Prairie, Grand Prairie,Dallas , Tx
Tuesday, March 15, 2005 @ 8:00 PM

Unconfirmed shows in Houston , Tx , March 13 and SXSW Festival March 16-20 '05

( Submitted by John Everingham)

Elvis plays Cleveland , April 20

Elvis Costello & The Imposters
House of Blues, Cleveland
April 20 '05
Cleveland, OH
on sale 01.22

( Submitted by oily slick )

January 17, 2005

Bernie Taupin digs Elvis

Elton John's co-writer talks about songwriting -

Extract -

What’s the best lyric you’ve ever heard?

Elvis Costello’s Watching The Detectives has one of the most viciously satisfying lyrics that comes to mind. It’s cryptic but at the same time has enough of a visible storyline to make you relate to it. It has this hypnotic pulse that’s so venomous that the words literally jump out the groove and bite you in the ass -

‘You snatch a tune, you match a cigarette / She pulls the eyes out with a face like a magnet/ I don't know how much more of this I can take / She's filing her nails while they’re dragging the lake’.


Followed by the coup de grace: ‘Though it took a miracle to get you to stay / It only took my little finger to blow you away’. Elvis is constantly magnificent as a lyricist. There is nothing remotely pedestrian about what he has to say .There are so many examples of his work that to cite just a few is doing him a disservice but I’d have to throw in Pump It Up and Indoor Fireworks as prime examples of his genius. He’s interesting, he’s articulate and the melodies he writes wrap around the words perfectly.

New Elvis song with Brodsky Quartet

Moodswings , a Brodsky Quartet album , is due to be released on Feb. 28th. A new Elvis Costello song , title unknown , will be featured. Elvis recorded the vocal for it in London in Nov. '02. The Quartet will be doing shows featuring the song in Blackheath , England ( Jan. 28th) and Derry , Northern Ireland (Feb.5th).

Elvis plays OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA, March 22

Elvis Costello & The Imposters
THE PARAMOUNT THEATRE
2025 BROADWAY
OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA
March 22 2005

According to the KFOG Concerts page.

( Submitted by Ed MacDaniel)

Elvis plays Salt Lake City, March 20

Elvis Costello & The Imposters
Sunday, March 20 '05, 7:00PM MST

University of Utah - Kingsbury Hall
Salt Lake City, UT, USA

This event is currently not available for sale through the web. It is scheduled to go onsale at: 01/22/05 10:00AM MST.

January 16, 2005

Elvis DVD out Jan.17th...

........The Right Spectacle , Elvis' 'Best of..' DVD collection is now out so start ordering!

January 14, 2005

Loads more Elvis dates in the U.S.?

USA Today report -

Extract -

As rock fans celebrate a birthday of one Elvis this month, they can look forward to a tour from another. The ever-prolific Elvis Costello and his band The Imposters are hitting the road to promote their critically acclaimed CD The Delivery Man, nominated for two Grammy Awards. The concert trek kicks off March 2 in Orlando and is scheduled to run through April, with more than 30 dates in cities including Nashville, New Orleans, Houston, Denver, Salt Lake City, Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago, Cleveland, New York, Philadelphia and Boston.


Music
Latter-day Elvis takes to the road

As rock fans celebrate a birthday of one Elvis this month, they can look forward to a tour from another. The ever-prolific Elvis Costello and his band The Imposters are hitting the road to promote their critically acclaimed CD The Delivery Man, nominated for two Grammy Awards. The concert trek kicks off March 2 in Orlando and is scheduled to run through April, with more than 30 dates in cities including Nashville, New Orleans, Houston, Denver, Salt Lake City, Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago, Cleveland, New York, Philadelphia and Boston.

The tour will be immediately preceded on March 1 by the release of a limited edition of Delivery Man, with a bonus disc, The Clarksdale Sessions, featuring alternate versions of songs and additional tracks, as well as a video excerpt from an upcoming DVD.

•Elysa Gardner

January 11, 2005

Feb. release for Delivery Man (Enhanced) (Sp [BOX SET] ?

Amazon have a February release date for an edition of The Delivery Man which will feature the original album, the U.K.-only extra track and The Clarksdale Sessions ( which , of course , includes The Monkey , which was the Japan-only extra track). Amazon U.K. also have it.

"Revenge And Guilt A Speciality"

Elvis spoke to The Word magazine about song writing -

How do you go about writing lyrics?

I write passing thoughts, overheard conversations, discovered quotations, advertising signs, mumbled threats and words of kindness and endearment on scraps of paper. Sometimes I mutter them into dictaphones or record them onto my answer-machine when there is not an eyebrow pencil to hand in order to commit them to the page. Only very occasionally do I actually write directly into one of the numerous beautifully bound notebooks that I have purchased for the task. These usually contain lists of probable titles or 'long-form' descriptions of possible songs that some might call short stories. In the end they are filled with the various drafts of songs in progress.

When I begin to write, I sometimes like to transfer fragments - collected weeks, months or even years apart - on to a page in an A2 sketch pad (very large, very white paper). Connections can then be established and the page quickly resembles a mad equation of fluorescent pink arrows connecting one stanza to another, circled in lime green highlighter.

Eventually, some sense and rythm emerges and they are married to music. Sometimes it's then better to remove dull, literal sense once the meaning is clear to oneself. It is this space that the listener's imagination may choose to reside or invent.

It is easier to cheat the rhythmic structure of the musical material when one is composing alone. Many of my early songs have irregular structure for this reason. A computer is only of use to me to type a final legible draft. I have a writer friend who only writes on one model of typewriter, because the quirks of the mechanism and the appearances of typeface are reassuring. I find that, despite the variety of fonts available, the ordered appearance of the computer screen kills the rhythm of the written word. Sometimes the page needs to be tiny and crumpled. Sometimes it needs to be vast and pristine.

Some small tips:-
1) Always get up in the night to write down that line that comes to you just before sleep. You won't remember it in the morning.
2) Practice writing legibly in the dark.
3) Make sure that scrap of paper by your bedside is not a valuable cheque or priceless antique manuscript or something that you will not want to deface. It will also make your nocturnal script hard to decipher.
4)Some of the best songs arrive in the imagination, complete in words and music.
5)A song that you heard in your dreams just before you awoke is nearly always impossible to recall. Anyway, it was probably The Teddy Bear's Picnic played backwards.

Give us an example of an immortal lyric.

I misread the question as 'immoral lyric', of which I can think of many. I believe that very little is 'immortal' but much that is modest is impressive.
Lucinda Williams adds one attribute of the Lonely Girls per verse in a lyric with the almost impossible economy of Hank Williams - 'heavy blankets that fall upon them; sweet sad songs sung by them; pretty hairdos that they wear; sparkly rhinestones that shine upon them' - until she places herself among them with the resigned line, 'I oughta know about lonely girls'. Simple and perfect.

Mostly, I'm attracted to denser lyrics with passing novelistic description - Joni Mitchell's 'magnolias hopeful in her auburn hair' and 'dressed in stolen clothes she stands cast-iron and frail with her impossibly gentle hand and blood red fingernails' from Shades of Scarlet Conquering; Joe Strummer's 'the all-night drug prowling wolf who looks so sick in the sun' from White Man in Hammersmith Palais; the poignancy in the mere title of Ron Sexsmith's Clown In Broad Daylight; and Chris Difford's aside 'the cab took us back home through the night I'd noticed / the neon club lights of adult films and Trini Lopez from Picadilly'.

One of the most enduring moments is an absence, It is in Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan's Hold On. Having perfectly pictured a girl with 'charcoal eyes and Monroe hips' they conclude the portrait of an affair: 'By a 99 cents store, she closed her eyes and started swaying / But it is so hard to dance that way when it's cold and there's no music'. Your ear anticipates 'no music playing' but it doesn't arrive and there is just a measure of accompaniment. This is very beautiful. Then the song pays off: 'Any your old hometown's so far away / But inside your head there's a record that's playing...hold on'.

Best opening line?

'Is there anybody going to listen to my story / All about the girl who came to stay?' from the Beatles' Girl. Many folk songs start this way but few pay off with such erotic promise, although that is probably a lot to do with the way John Lennon sings this opening.

Alternatively there's 'In the time of my confession / In the hour of my deepest need' from Bob Dylan's Every Grain Of Sand. It has a gravity that the song entirely justifies.

Are there any particular emotions that are easier to write about - like revenge or guilt?

Don't you know that I only write about revenge and guilt?!! There are probably five subjects in all human song - I want someone, I lost someone, I believe in something, someone died, and a Dukla Prague Away Kit.

On the whole, sad is easier than cruel, as both cruel and happy are close to vain and foolish. They require qualification or totally unbridled joy (or relish in the case of cruel) as in 'You ain't livin' until you're lovin'. There is just more sadness in the world. Angry sad songs, sometimes mistakenly called 'political', don't often change ugly minds, but they make those in sympathy with them feel less lonely. 'Sad' is not necessarily bad or indulgent. It is why we sing in church and why John Dowland and Skip James had the blues.

Reverie is difficult to achieve without being cute. It might have been easier in the days of romantic convention. It is hard to imagine anyone writing a lyric as contrived and yet as utterly perfect as Lorenz Hart's Dancing On The Ceiling. The singer imagines his lover in the apartment overhead and remarks 'I try to hide in vain underneath my counterpane / But there's my love up there above'. It's reminiscent of a 30's movie dream sequence. I don't think anyone would put the word 'counterpane' into a song today, although I was quite happy to include one mention of 'bakelite' and two references to 'shellac' in my songs.

Any golden rules - like there's no rhyme for 'orange'?

I disagree. I think 'revenge' can be made to rhyme with 'orange', though I accept it is not a pure rhyme. They are also both dishes best eaten cold.
A few random observations:-
1) Assonance can be very liberating and tart.
2) Puns are better saved for bad greeting cards that you could buy your annoying uncle.
3) Could rap exist without the simile?
4) There is music in words and meaning is music. This is probably why so many show singers over emote. They do not seem to trust the music because they are actors at heart and trust in words.
5) Maybe they are all just dreadful hams.

There are certain words that clang and reverberate in the middle of a line. Sex is wonderful to write about, allude to - and enjoy at every possible occasion - but the word itself goes off like a bomb in a line, whereas the word 'taboo' is delightful. See Sex Bomb if you don't believe me.

( Submitted by Laughingcrow)

"Revenge And Guilt A Speciality" - Elvis Costello

How do you go about writing lyrics?

I write passing thoughts, overheard conversations, discovered quotations, advertising signs, mumbled threats and words of kindness and endearment on scraps of paper. Sometimes I mutter them into dictaphones or record them onto my answer-machine when there is not an eyebrow pencil to hand in order to commit them to the page. Only very occasionally do I actually write directly into one of the numerous beautifully bound notebooks that I have purchased for the task. These usually contain lists of probable titles or 'long-form' descriptions of possible songs that some might call short stories. In the end they are filled with the various drafts of songs in progress.
When I begin to write, I sometimes like to transfer fragments - collected weeks, months or even years apart - on to a page in an A2 sketch pad (very large, very white paper). Connections can then be established and the page quickly resembles a mad equation of fluorescent pink arrows connecting one stanza to another, circled in lime green highlighter.
Eventually, some sense and rythm emerges and they are married to music. Sometimes it's then better to remove dull, literal sense once the meaning is clear to oneself. It is this space that the listener's imagination may choose to reside or invent.
It is easier to cheat the rhythmic structure of the musical material when one is composing alone. Many of my early songs have irregular structure for this reason. A computer is only of use to me to type a final legible draft. I have a writer friend who only writes on one model of typewriter, because the quirks of the mechanism and the appearances of typeface are reassuring. I find that, despite the variety of fonts available, the ordered appearance of the computer screen kills the rhythm of the written word. Sometimes the page needs to be tiny and crumpled. Sometimes it needs to be vast and pristine.
Some small tips:-
1) Always get up in the night to write down that line that comes to you just before sleep. You won't remember it in the morning.
2) Practice writing legibly in the dark.
3) Make sure that scrap of paper by your bedside is not a valuable cheque or priceless antique manuscript or something that you will not want to deface. It will also make your nocturnal script hard to decipher.
4)Some of the best songs arrive in the imagination, complete in words and music.
5)A song that you heard in your dreams just before you awoke is nearly always impossible to recall. Anyway, it was probably The Teddy Bear's Picnic played backwards.

Give us an example of an immortal lyric.

I misread the question as 'immoral lyric', of which I can think of many. I believe that very little is 'immortal' but much that is modest is impressive.
Lucinda Williams adds one attribute of the Lonely Girls per verse in a lyric with the almost impossible economy of Hank Williams - 'heavy blankets that fall upon them; sweet sad songs sung by them; pretty hairdos that they wear; sparkly rhinestones that shine upon them' - until she places herself among them with the resigned line, 'I oughta know about lonely girls'. Simple and perfect.
Mostly, I'm attracted to denser lyrics with passing novelistic description - Joni Mitchell's 'magnolias hopeful in her auburn hair' and 'dressed in stolen clothes she stands cast-iron and frail with her impossibly gentle hand and blood red fingernails' from Shades of Scarlet Conquering; Joe Strummer's 'the all-night drug prowling wolf who looks so sick in the sun' from White Man in Hammersmith Palais; the poignancy in the mere title of Ron Sexsmith's Clown In Broad Daylight; and Chris Difford's aside 'the cab took us back home through the night I'd noticed / the neon club lights of adult films and Trini Lopez from Picadilly'.
One of the most enduring moments is an absence, It is in Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan's Hold On. Having perfectly pictured a girl with 'charcoal eyes and Monroe hips' they conclude the portrait of an affair: 'By a 99 cents store, she closed her eyes and started swaying / But it is so hard to dance that way when it's cold and there's no music'. Your ear anticipates 'no music playing' but it doesn't arrive and there is just a measure of accompaniment. This is very beautiful. Then the song pays off: 'Any your old hometown's so far away / But inside your head there's a record that's playing...hold on'.

Best opening line?

'Is there anybody going to listen to my story / All about the girl who came to stay?' from the Beatles' Girl. Many folk songs start this way but few pay off with such erotic promise, although that is probably a lot to do with the way John Lennon sings this opening.
Alternatively there's 'In the time of my confession / In the hour of my deepest need' from Bob Dylan's Every Grain Of Sand. It has a gravity that the song entirely justifies.

Are there any particular emotions that are easier to write about - like revenge or guilt?

Don't you know that I only write about revenge and guilt?!! There are probably five subjects in all human song - I want someone, I lost someone, I believe in something, someone died, and a Dukla Prague Away Kit.
On the whole, sad is easier than cruel, as both cruel and happy are close to vain and foolish. They require qualification or totally unbridled joy (or relish in the case of cruel) as in 'You ain't livin' until you're lovin'. There is just more sadness in the world. Angry sad songs, sometimes mistakenly called 'political', don't often change ugly minds, but they make those in sympathy with them feel less lonely. 'Sad' is not necessarily bad or indulgent. It is why we sing in church and why John Dowland and Skip James had the blues.
Reverie is difficult to achieve without being cute. It might have been easier in the days of romantic convention. It is hard to imagine anyone writing a lyric as contrived and yet as utterly perfect as Lorenz Hart's Dancing On The Ceiling. The singer imagines his lover in the apartment overhead and remarks 'I try to hide in vain underneath my counterpane / But there's my love up there above'. It's reminiscent of a 30's movie dream sequence. I don't think anyone would put the word 'counterpane' into a song today, although I was quite happy to include one mention of 'bakelite' and two references to 'shellac' in my songs.

Any golden rules - like there's no rhyme for 'orange'?

I disagree. I think 'revenge' can be made to rhyme with 'orange', though I accept it is not a pure rhyme. They are also both dishes best eaten cold.
A few random observations:-
1) Assonance can be very liberating and tart.
2) Puns are better saved for bad greeting cards that you could buy your annoying uncle.
3) Could rap exist without the simile?
4) There is music in words and meaning is music. This is probably why so many show singers over emote. They do not seem to trust the music because they are actors at heart and trust in words.
5) Maybe they are all just dreadful hams.

There are certain words that clang and reverberate in the middle of a line. Sex is wonderful to write about, allude to - and enjoy at every possible occasion - but the word itself goes off like a bomb in a line, whereas the word 'taboo' is delightful. See Sex Bomb if you don't believe me.

also....

David Hepworth's Ten Records You Can Read...

Elvis Costello: The Very Best Of -

He's furiously prolific, which sometimes has made his work difficult to love, but he's probably the toughest attack-mode songwriter pop has ever seen. Tramp the Dirt Down, Radio Radio, IDWTGT Chelsea: these are songs that drop their targets unerringly and leave them down. His flair for puns sometimes seems like a medical condition ("the high heel he used to be has been ground down" etc) but nobody does fear and loathing better. "We could be in Palestine, overrun by the Chinese line, with the boys from the Mersey and the Thames and the Tyne".

and also...

Aimee Mann's ipod on random...

'And In Every Home' by Elvis Costello (from Imperial Bedroom, 1982)

Imperial Bedroom's one of the fancier ones, isn't it? Every song on the album has such great production, with Beatles-y flourishes, very ornate and dense. I loved it from the minute I heard it. I was also a fan of Elvis' from pretty much out of the box, though the first album passed us by in the States. This is definitely my favourite period of his.

January 10, 2005

Elvis plays Ann Arbor , April 19

Elvis and The Imposters play Michigan Theater
Ann Arbor, MI USA on April 19 '05

January 9, 2005

Aloha from Elvis....

..... in Hilo , Hawaii , where our hero was spotted holidaying this past week.

The Anchorage Daily News

STAR SIGHTINGS . . . On the other Big Island full of Alaskans. Dennis and Stephanie McMillian called in from the First Friday shindig in Hilo to report sitting a few tables away from superstar Elvis Costello and his wife, jazz singer Diana Krall, at a Waimea restaurant.

The Anchorage Daily News
Alaska Ear
The Divine Appendage

(Published: January 9, 2005)

STAR SIGHTINGS . . . On the other Big Island full of Alaskans. Dennis and Stephanie McMillian called in from the First Friday shindig in Hilo to report sitting a few tables away from superstar Elvis Costello and his wife, jazz singer Diana Krall, at a Waimea restaurant.

Audra McDonald covers Elvis

Four-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald performed God Give Me Strength as part of her American Songbook shows in New York this week.

Playbill

Four-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald, scheduled to open the seventh season of the American Songbook season, has canceled her Jan. 6 performance due to illness.

McDonald's performances on Jan. 7 and 8 are, at this time, scheduled to go on as planned.

The award-winning singer-actress will present a brand-new concert celebrating contemporary pop composers at the new Rose Theater in the Frederick P. Rose Hall at the Time Warner Center. McDonald's evenings will boast works by Elvis Costello, Laura Nyro, James Taylor, Paul Simon, Stevie Wonder and Prince. Featuring a ten-piece band, the concerts will also include songs by such McDonald favorites as Michael John LaChiusa and Adam Guettel. (McDonald is also at work on a new album that will feature the works of these many composers.)

About her American Songbook concerts, McDonald recently told Playbill On Line, "We always try and put a few of our favorites in, but it's basically a new show. We're doing a lot of works by these composers and then some pop material, trying to explore the bridge between their work and the pop world. I'm not crossing over — this is not Audra's big crossover," she laughed. "I'm not becoming Britney Spears. Actually, a lot of the music I've chosen is music that I think could have been conceived for any musical in this day and age."

When asked about how she chooses songs for her concerts, the singer explained, "I pick a lot of it, but I get a lot of ideas thrown at me from different places. My music director, Ted Sperling, helps a lot. I also have a lot of people whose taste in music I appreciate and respect. Certain things — like the Laura Nyro tunes — came from [conductor] Michael Tilson Thomas back in 1998. And, the Elvis Costello tune was a tune that a pianist of mine suggested that I sing, and then I was chatting with [jazz vocalist] Diana Krall, and she said, 'You know what song you should sing? My husband's.' When things like that drop into your lap or come across your consciousness like that, I try and pay attention to them."

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

New York Daily News

Originally published on January 9, 2005

So long, same old songs


BY DAVID SPRAGUE
DAILY NEWS WRITER

When called upon to dish out selections from the so-called "American Songbook," most singers morph into performing versions of diner cooks, serving up simple aural comfort food.
Tony winner Audra McDonald didn't fall into that trap at the Rose Theater in the Time Warner Center last night, choosing instead to spice things up with a vengeance.

That meant swapping old war horses like Sammy Cahn and Cole Porter for songwriters that were almost certainly unknown to the majority of the sold-out crowd. But thanks to McDonald's winning performance, it wouldn't be surprising to see twentysomething eccentrics like Nellie McKay, whose "Stepford Wives"-styled allegory "I Wanna Get Married" was a highlight, get a sudden influx of show tune fans.

Appropriately enough, given her Broadway roots, McDonald trotted out plenty of material that dripped with drama, notably Rufus Wainwright's opera-queen plaint "Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk" and the fiery Laura Nyro obscurity "Tom Cat Goodbye."

At times, however, her emphasis was oddly misplaced. An angst-ridden take on John Mayer's "My Stupid Mouth," for instance, only played up the "Dude, Where's My Prozac" insipidness of the song's lyrics.

While McDonald could be blamed for making some iffy choices in material, her vocal performance was spot-on throughout the 90-minute show - from the Brazilian lilt she attached to "Wonderful You" to the trembling reading she gave Elvis Costello's "God Give Me Strength."

McDonald peppered the set with plenty of humor - explaining, for instance, that she canceled her scheduled Thursday performance at the same venue due to a stomach virus that "would've turned it into a Gallagher show," referring to the smash-happy comic.

Like the songs themselves, though, McDonald's banter sometimes delivered a subtle sting. Late in the show, she turned towards stage left and asked, "We all know what color I am, right?" waiting a few beats before divulging that she meant to say she was "blue" and not "red."

That served as an introduction to Randy Newman's nuke-'em-all burlesque "Political Science," a 1972 composition that could easily pass for a George W. Bush campaign speech. The way McDonald performed it last night, it could just as easily slip into the canon of standards - a sly, subversive trick that would surely make Cole Porter smile.

January 8, 2005

Is Elvis Costello the future of new classical music?

...asks Greg Stepanich -

Extract - Costello isn't quite there, but he's got potential.

It's critical to note that he wrote the score himself, orchestrations and all, without any assistance. Whereas McCartney refuses to learn notation on the superstitious grounds that it would make his talent evaporate, Costello simply buckled down and learned how to read and write music about 10 years ago. It's stalled his creativity not one bit; it has instead given him new avenues to explore.

Still, Il Sogno is a deeply frustrating score to listen to. There are passages in which Costello's music sounds congruent with that of 20th-century British classical composition, such as the material describing the fairy realm (Oberon and Titania) that opens Act II of the ballet.

But no sooner does a gentle oboe tune ripen in the hands of the clarinet and the violins then Costello steps back, in an ostensible bid to describe the two fairy monarchs arguing, and writes an egregiously bad section of lame-o jazz riffs over what sounds like a Music for Young Orchestras arrangement of On Broadway.

He does the same thing earlier in the section titled The State of Affairs. He writes a fanfare-like passage that has an intriguing flavor of rock, then a Shostakovich-like pattern separated by a snare drum, and then, sadly, a few seconds of retro-'50s cool jazz, complete with vibes and trap set.

Much better are pieces like Oberon Humbled, a reflective piece of winding, soft melody interrupted in the middle by an echo of a heavy dance beat, but this comes across as logical, not as a piece of inserted incongruity designed to comfort the fears of worried pop fans who might otherwise think their boy Elvis has gone over to the tuxedoed dark side.

The point of all this analysis is simply this: Elvis Costello is probably quite capable of coming up with a much better orchestral work than Il Sogno. He's got a good ear for color, and he's able to write decent themes that sound orchestral rather than like pop tunes wearing fancy clothes.

On the downside, he's too short-winded a melodist to construct a powerful piece of symphonic argument at this point, and much of his ballet score suffers from a lack of energy that leaves listeners waiting for the next tune to turn up.

But Costello is closer to the future of classical composition than many of his peers. If he's able to take his gifts and find his classical voice with them, and yet remain recognizably our Declan, then he will be one of the very few composers other than Gershwin or Leonard Bernstein to comfortably, convincingly, sit on both sides of the aisle.

A&E/The Blog Squad
The classical crossover

Is Elvis Costello the future of new classical music?
By Greg Stepanich

Palm Beach Post staff writer

Sunday, January 09, 2005

I've heard plenty of new classical music over the past 20 years and written about a good deal of it, and I have to say that most of it was pretty mediocre — when it wasn't downright bad.

One of the few pieces I can recall to have lived up partly to its hype was the First Symphony of John Corigliano, a difficult, uncompromising but compelling piece that I first heard in its great Chicago Symphony recording, and then live in a blazing performance by the Florida Philharmonic under James Judd.

Although it had an au courant hook in its dedication to AIDS victims, as well as a touch of the cinema in its use of a disembodied, ghostly echo of the Albeniz Tango in D, the symphony didn't need any gimmicks: It was, and is, a fine piece of American classical composition.

But it's not just classical composers who dream of adding something of significance to the repertory. Since George Gershwin, writers of commercial popular music have tried to stretch their creative wings and essay a different aspect of their art.

In Gershwin's day, as American popular music began its rise to global domination, classical composers such as Kurt Weill and Vernon Duke were turning their backs on symphonies and string quartets and writing only for film and Broadway.

Pop composers tried to go the other way, with Richard Rodgers taking on Victory at Sea and a young Cole Porter writing a ballet score in 1923 called Within the Quota that a writer noted as one of the first treatments in the literature of "symphonic jazz."

In more recent times, Paul McCartney has cranked out, with much help, a few classical pieces including Standing Stone, a large oratorio; Billy Joel has issued an attractive album (Fantasies and Delusions) of 19th century-style classical piano pieces (the CD's graphic design borrowed the look of the yellow G. Schirmer volumes with which all American piano students are familiar); and Elvis Costello has been working on several classical projects for some time, including a song cycle with string quartet called Three Distracted Women.

Costello's latest venture is a work for ballet called Il Sogno (The Dream), based on Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream and commissioned by an Italian dance company called Aterballetto. The work has gotten mixed reviews, and here at The Post, we ran a fairly negative brief about it when the CD of Costello's score was released back in September.

I picked up the disc a couple of weeks ago (it features the London Symphony under part-time Miamian Michael Tilson Thomas) and I've been studying it with some interest. Looked at one way, it's an incoherent hodgepodge of non-related styles that does not illustrate the action of Shakespeare's play so much as it does the wide range of Costello's listening habits.

But considered from a different angle, Il Sogno points the way toward a successful path for contemporary classical music, unlike the work of the other two rockers. I found McCartney's Standing Stone unpersuasive except for the closing choral song; and while much of Joel's solo piano music is quite beautiful, it's also deeply derivative, and of Chopin in particular. That doesn't make the music meritless; it only means it's music of the past, no matter how lovely it is.

At this point, someone is likely to say, 'Ah, but all classical music is music of the past.' Not so. What classical music has been waiting for is a composer with a sufficiently original voice who can bring together the various influences of his or her day and construct a vital message for today's audience. I don't see how any composer can build a voice that will sound relevant without taking into account the language of popular music, and I think the composer who can do that truly will be someone to be reckoned with.

Costello isn't quite there, but he's got potential.

It's critical to note that he wrote the score himself, orchestrations and all, without any assistance. Whereas McCartney refuses to learn notation on the superstitious grounds that it would make his talent evaporate, Costello simply buckled down and learned how to read and write music about 10 years ago. It's stalled his creativity not one bit; it has instead given him new avenues to explore.

Still, Il Sogno is a deeply frustrating score to listen to. There are passages in which Costello's music sounds congruent with that of 20th-century British classical composition, such as the material describing the fairy realm (Oberon and Titania) that opens Act II of the ballet.

But no sooner does a gentle oboe tune ripen in the hands of the clarinet and the violins then Costello steps back, in an ostensible bid to describe the two fairy monarchs arguing, and writes an egregiously bad section of lame-o jazz riffs over what sounds like a Music for Young Orchestras arrangement of On Broadway.

He does the same thing earlier in the section titled The State of Affairs. He writes a fanfare-like passage that has an intriguing flavor of rock, then a Shostakovich-like pattern separated by a snare drum, and then, sadly, a few seconds of retro-'50s cool jazz, complete with vibes and trap set.

Much better are pieces like Oberon Humbled, a reflective piece of winding, soft melody interrupted in the middle by an echo of a heavy dance beat, but this comes across as logical, not as a piece of inserted incongruity designed to comfort the fears of worried pop fans who might otherwise think their boy Elvis has gone over to the tuxedoed dark side.

The point of all this analysis is simply this: Elvis Costello is probably quite capable of coming up with a much better orchestral work than Il Sogno. He's got a good ear for color, and he's able to write decent themes that sound orchestral rather than like pop tunes wearing fancy clothes.

On the downside, he's too short-winded a melodist to construct a powerful piece of symphonic argument at this point, and much of his ballet score suffers from a lack of energy that leaves listeners waiting for the next tune to turn up.

But Costello is closer to the future of classical composition than many of his peers. If he's able to take his gifts and find his classical voice with them, and yet remain recognizably our Declan, then he will be one of the very few composers other than Gershwin or Leonard Bernstein to comfortably, convincingly, sit on both sides of the aisle.

Nick Lowe talks about Elvis

Nick remembers early Elvis -

Extract - His mood brightens,however, when he starts talking about Elvis Costello, whose best work remains the records Nick produced for him.

“When I was in Brinsley Schvarz, he used to come and see us all the time’ Nick recalls. “He was always there, looking very intense. Even when he was with other people, he always seemed to he standing apart from them. The first time I actually spoke to him was in a pub in Liverpool. He was at the bar, and I thought, ‘Well.., there he is again. I’d better buy him a drink.’ Because I was famous then, you see. I was in the Brinsleys, man. We were pub rock
legends, earning £175 a night. We were big time. And I went over and he just glared at me. Damned unsettling. You know the way he is. Anyway, after that, whenever I saw him, we'd have a drink. I just thought he was a very intense fan. Then he moved to London and we lost touch. And then we started Stiff and one day I saw him at the local tube station.

“He’d just been around to the office to buy a copy of ‘So It Goes'. And we started chatting and he said he’d been trying to get a deal, and then he told me the story he now trots out all the time.

“At the time, he thought he was like something out of one of those old—fashioned films where a guy walks into a music publisher’s office and says, ‘Boy, have I got a song for you!’ And he plays it on the piano and
the publisher leaps up and says, ‘It so happens that Miss Fay Fontaine is next door! And they wheel in old Fay and she sings it gorgeously and it’s a fucking
great big hit and our boys away. And Elvis obviously thought this was the way to do it.

“So he’d been going around to these record companies and they’d ask him for a tape and he’d tell them he was going to sing the songs, and then he’d pull out an acoustic guitar. Of course, they were appalled. There’s something very intimidating about sitting with Elvis - he sings at full blast, and he’s got an
incredibly loud voice and he emotes like mad.

So he’d be there emoting away like there’s no tomorrow and the guy’s phone would ring and it would be his wife or something and Elvis would be in the middle of some song and the guy would be going, 'Eight? Yes. That’ll he fine, darling. Lamb casserole? Wonderful!’ And poor old Elvis would be there wondering what to do. Should he carry on singing? Should he stop?
Should he carry on singing, but try to be a bit quieter?

“Anyway, it turned out he’d left a tape at Stiff and when I got to the office Jake [Riviera, later Costello’s legendarily fiery manager] was raving about
‘Mystery Dance',because he thought Edmunds could cover it. Then we listened to the tape again, and Jake said, ‘No. Fuck it.This guy can make a record of his own. He’s got tons of stuff here.'

“I wasn’t convinced, I must admit. The song that finally changed my mind was ‘Alison'. I was stunned when I heard that. I'm absolutely mad for a weep and when I’m in the humour, I’m hopeless. And when I heard EC doing ‘Alison’ for the first time, I wept like a baby.”

Uncut , Feb. 05

Stop Me If You've Heard This One Before - Rock ' n
Roll War Stories From The Editor's Desk

Nick Lowe

LEEDS: MAY 1982

REGRETS?” NICK LOWE MUSES thoughtfully, chopping out
another line of coke in his Leeds hotel room, four or
five hours after the first night of a UK tour with
American roots titans Ihe Blasters.”I suppose I’ve
had a few’ he laughs.

To be honest, we both have. Following the previous
evenings show at Leeds University, we had returned to
the hotel and laid minful siege to the bar. After
a couple of hours of uproarious quaffing, I
reluctantly remind Nick that one of the reasons I’m
here is to interview him for what used to be Melody
Maker. So we go up to his room, where Nick decides we
need something to perk us up somewhat for the
conversational contest to follow. At which point, he
produces a couple of large wraps of coke. After a few
hearty toots, Nick is in full anecdotal flow and I’m
fighting a losing battle to get a word in edgeways.

It’s around three in the morning when you join us, and
Nick has already been through several amusing changes
of mood. At one point, for reasons I can’t even
begin in retrospect to imagine, we start talking about
The Dead Kennedys, the very mention of whose name
puts Nick into a bit of a strop.

“People screaming ‘fuck’ into a mic and singing about
eating baby limbs—The Dead Kennedys, that kind of
thing — it’s like having a lot of damned children
misbehaving all over the house, he moans. “You feel
like telling them to go and play in the garden.”

Presently, Nicks entering a phase of modest
self—recrimination, hence his musings on regret at the
top of this page.

“Obvionsly, we’ve all got a few skeletons rattling
around in the old cuphoard,” he reflects, enjoying
another hit of the coke. “But there’s nothing that
l've said or clone that really makes me wince. Even
those Bay City Rollers records - when I did them, I
was sincere. At least, I needed the money sincerely.
Generally, though, I think I’ve escaped damned
lightly. ‘There are so many people getting freaked out
and trying to keep up with what they said when they
started out.

I’m thinking in great big letters of The Clash. I
feel very sorry for them actually, because they seem
so confused. They’re continually having to maintain an
image and it must he damned hard. They don’t write
songs, they write headlincs. They’re probably
dyingto to write something positively hloody
mindlcess’

There follows a fairly maudlin interlude, during which
Nick recalls his fractured friendship with the great
Dave Edmunds. His mood brightens,however, when
he starts talking about Elvis Costello, whose best
work remains the records Nick produced for him.

“When I was in Brinsley Schvarz, he used to come and
see us all the time’ Nick recalls with a fondness
no doubt sentimentally fuelled by drugs and a lot of
beer. “He was always there, looking very intense. Even
when he was with other people, he always seemed to he
standing apart from them. The first time I actually
spoke to him was in a pub in Liverpool. He was at the
bar, and I thought, ‘Well.., there he is again. I’d
better buy him a drink.’ Because I was famous then,
you see. I was in the Brinsleys, man. We were pub rock
legends, earning £175 a night. We were big time. And I
went over and he just glared at me. Damned unsettling.
You know the way he is. Anyway, after that, whenever I
saw him, we'd have a drink. I just thought he was a
very intense fan. Then he moved to London and we lost
touch. And then we started Stiff and one day I saw him
at the local tube station.

“He’d just been around to the office to buy a copy of
‘So It Goes'. And we started chatting and he said he’d
been trying to get a deal, and then he told me the
story he now trots out all the time.

“At the time, he thought he was like something out of
one of those old—fashioned films where a guy walks
into a music publisher’s office and says, ‘Boy, have I
got a song for you!’ And he plays it on the piano and
the publisher leaps up and says, ‘It so happens that
Miss Fay Fontaine is next door! And they wheel in old
Fay and she sings it gorgeously and it’s a fucking
great big hit and our boys away. And Elvis obviously
thought this was the way to do it.

“So he’d been going around to these record companies
and they’d ask him for a tape and he’d tell them he
was going to sing the songs, and then he’d pull out an
acoustic guitar. Of course, they were appalled.
There’s something very intimidating about sitting with
Elvis - he sings at full blast, and he’s got an
incredibly loud voice and he emotes like mad.

So he’d be there emoting away like there’s no tomorrow
and the guy’s phone would ring and it would be his
wife or something and Elvis would be in the middle of
some song and the guy would begoing, 'Eight? Yes.
That’ll he fine, darling. Lamb casserole? Wonderful!’
And poor old Elvis would be there wondering what to
do. Should he carry on singing? Should he stop?
Should he carry on singing, but try to be a bit
quieter?

“Anyway, it turned out he’d left a tape at Stiff and
when I got to the office Jake [Riviera, later
Costello’s legendarily fiery manager] was raving about
‘Mystery Dance',because he thought Edmunds could cover
it. Then we listened to the tape again, and Jake said,
‘No. Fuck it.This guy can make a record of his own.
He’s got tons of stuff here.'

“I wasn’t convinced, I must admit. The song that
finally changed my mind was ‘Alison'. I was stunned
when I heard that. I'm absolutely mad for a weep and
when I’m in the humour, I’m hopeless. And when I
heard EC doing ‘Alison’ for the first time, I wept
like a baby.”

Nick seems like he's slowing down a hit when there’s a
knock on the door. It’s Meldy maker Photographer,
Tom Sheehan, with a crate of beer.

“Thought you chaps might have worked up a hit of a
thirst,” the legendary lensman says with extraordinary
foresight.

“The fucking cavalry’s arrived’ announces Nick,
conspicuously revived by the sight of all that ale.
The next thing you know, Nick’s chopping out more
coke and looking forward to what’s left of the night.

“I have a terrible feeling this was meant to last me
the whole tour,” he says of the coke. “Oh, well. No
point in moaning when it’s gone..! Tuck in, chaps,” he
suggests.

So we do , not blinking for a while after that.

Allan Jones

January 7, 2005

Elvis on Grammy album

Monkey To Man by Elvis and The Imposters will be on the 2005 Grammy Nominees album , released Feb. 1 '05.

January 6, 2005

Elvis 'n Chrissie sing Bread for the Penguins

A Pretenders site reports -

Walk Like A Penguin...

Chrissie ( Hynde) has recorded the Bread song "Everything I Own", as part of a duet with Elvis Costello. The song will appear in an animated film called 'Happy Feet', sung by penguins. The film's release is planned for 2006.

( Submitted by Michael Hernandez )

More year-end praise for elvis

The Tennessean -

Elvis Costello, The Delivery Man (Lost Highway).

Musically inspired by the American South and recorded mostly in Mississippi, The Delivery Man is closer in sonic intent to Costello's 1986 gem King of America than to anything he's recorded in the past decade and a half.

There are some of Costello's signature word-spewing rave-ups, but there's also an awe-inspiring duet with Emmylou Harris on Heart Shaped Bruise, a beautiful ballad that would have sounded at home on an album by Costello's long-gone country-rock inspiration, Gram Parsons.

The Palm Beach Post.

2004: Year in Music

BEST CONCERT MOMENT: Elvis Costello channeling his inner Bacharach and Sinatra while crooning This House Is Empty Now, Mizner Park.

January 5, 2005

Order Elvis' DVD collection

The Right Spectacle , Elvis' forthcoming 'Best of..' DVD collection is now also available to be ordered from Play.com and Tower.co.uk , along with 101.cd.

January 2, 2005

See the sleeve of The Clarksdale Sessions

Red Trumpet , specialists in vinyl , seem to have this as the sleeve of The Clarksdale Sessions

January 1, 2005

Order Elvis' new album

Tower.com appear to be the first 'net outlet taking orders for

Clarksdale Sessions (10"Vinyl)
Elvis Costello
01/25/2005

.......and Happy New Year Everyone!