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December 29, 2006

Multiple versions of The Juliet Letters

Three recordings of The Juliet Letters have appeared in 2006.
Michelle and David Murray
Kerry-Anne Kutz and the Abysse String Quartet
Tini Kainrath & StringFizz
A German ballet based on it is due to be filmed in March '07

December 26, 2006

Contributing Elvis

Elvis' has contributed to a few various artist albums due in '07

Billboard reports -
(extract)
Bjork, Prince, James Taylor and Elvis Costello are among the artists who have recorded covers for "A Tribute to Joni Mitchell," due in the spring via Nonesuch. The 11-track set also boasts contributions from Sarah McLachlan, k.d. lang, Emmylou Harris and Sufjan Stevens.

"Edith and the Kingpin," Elvis Costello

And -

(extract)

On January 23, 2007
, Blue Note Records will release the companion soundtrack to Billy Strayhorn: Lush Life, a 90-minute documentary film about the pioneering African-American composer, arranger and pianist.

Lovano and Charlap also lend support to special guest vocalist Elvis Costello on one of the most striking performances on the album, a haunting version of Strayhorn's final composition "Blood Count, " which was written from a hospital bed shortly before he died in 1967. Here the tune is given lyrics penned by Costello and retitled "My Flame Burns Blue."


Similarly -

(extract)


Wilco's Jeff Tweedy, Elvis Costello and George Jones are among the artists pitching in on country legend Charlie Louvin's first new album in more than a decade. The self-titled 12-track set will arrive Feb. 20 via Tompkins Square Records and be supported with an extensive tour.

"When I Stop Dreaming," featuring Elvis Costello, Mac McCaughan and Pete Cummings

November 12, 2006

Elvis/Allen DVD , Dec.5th

Concert DVD "Hot As A Pistol, Keen As A Blade"

Features Elvis Costello, Allen Toussaint, The Imposters, Anthony "AB"
Brown and the Crescent City Horns


Recorded live in Montreal in 2006, during his month long tour in
support of "The River in Reverse," a collaboration with New Orleans
musician Allen Toussaint and featuring his regular backing group, The
Imposters, along with Toussaint and his New Orleans Horn Section, The
Crescent City Horns.

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Costello and Toussaint began the
collaboration that resulted in "The River in Reverse." The album
includes new and old compositions by Toussaint, several songs
co-written by Toussaint and Costello, plus one new Costello original,
the title track. Musicians featured on the project include The
Imposters, as well as Toussaint's horn section and guitarist.

Presented in 5.1 surround sound, this amazing DVD includes incredible
live performances of Elvis songs spanning the last four decades.

TRACKLIST: (*tentative*)

Monkey To Man
A Certain Girl
Clownstrike
Tears, Tears And More Tears
Tears Before Bedtime
Poisoned Rose
(I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea
Broken Promise Land
Freedom For The Stallion
The River In Reverse
Who's Gonna Help Brother Get Further?
Deep Dark Truthful Mirror
Play Something Sweet (Brickyard Blues)
Bedlam
Watching The Detectives
Episode of Blonde
Pump It Up
Yes We Can Can
Fortune Teller
Big Chief Medley: (Big Chief/Tipitina/The Olde Professor)
Internation Echo
Clubland
Six-Fingered Man
The Sharpest Thorn
TOTAL RUNNING TIME: 1:53:49

DVD EXTRAS:

Band Introductions
Alison
Who's Gonna Help Brother - An excerpt from the film "Putting The
River In Reverse" by Matthew Buzzel
Interview with Elvis Costello and Allen Toussaint
Photo Gallery
Tour Journal by Elvis Costello

Weeds/Harry Smith tracks

Weeds: Music from the Original Series, Vol. 2
Release Date: October 17, 2006

Features

. Elvis Costello - "Little Boxes"

The Harry Smith Project: The Anthology Of American Folk Music Revisited (2 CD/2 DVD BOX SET)

Various Artists

# Audio CD (October 24, 2006)
# Original Release Date: October 24, 2006
# Number of Discs: 2
# Label: Shout Factory

Features -

"The Butcher's Boy," Elvis Costello
"Ommie Wise Part 1 & 2 (What Lewis Did Last...)," Kate and Anna McGarrigle with Elvis Costello

September 15, 2006

DVD reissues from Rhino

Musictap reports -

There are 2 DVDs reissues coming from the Elvis Costello
camp that includes Live: A Case For Song (1997),
and The Juliet Letters (1993)(with The Brodsky Quartet).
Both DVDs are planned for October 24 from Rhino.

( Submitted by Sweetest Punch)

July 28, 2006

Elvis doing theme song to 'Weeds', Aug. 14 '06

USA Today reports -

The theme song for Showtime's Weeds, Malvina Reynolds' venerable Little Boxes, was once covered by Pete Seeger, but will receive a series of different interpretations in its new season. Elvis Costello sings it on the season premiere (Aug. 14), with later episodes featuring renditions by Engelbert Humperdinck, Death Cab for Cutie, Ozomatli, and Regina Spektor. Tough to get more eclectic than that.

April 17, 2006

New Costello/Toussaint song available

The new Toussaint/Costello song 'The Sharpest Thorn' is already available in Germany on the CD sampler 'Verve Today 2006'

( Submitted by sweetest punch)

April 8, 2006

Amazon link for 'Reverse

Pre-order River in Reverse via Amazon.

April 5, 2006

Elvis/Newport '05 show , radio broadcast April 13 '06

mvyradio has been to some incredible concerts in the past year, and we’re ready to relive the excitement on the air. Every Thursday night at 9pm, for the month of April, we’ll feature another amazing live performance, recorded exclusively for mvyradio. Join host Megan Ward, as she give you a front row seat in the splendor of an old Chicago theater, a dark, packed club in Toronto, and the hot sun of a Newport summer day, for mvyradio Live! Brought to you by Seafood Sam's, Iron House and the Music Box.'

Including-

April 13 Elvis Costello at the Newport Folk Festival 2005

March 23, 2006

'The River in Reverse' track listing

From Elvis' PR people -
(extract)

'The River in Reverse,' Elvis Costello & Allen Toussaint's spirited and deeply soulful new album -- seven songs from Toussaint's remarkable catalog; five newly written by the two; and one new song, the title track, written by Costello -- will be released June 6 by Verve Forecast.

'The River in Reverse' track listing:

1. On Your Way Down (Toussaint)
2. Nearer To You (Toussaint)
3. Tears, Tears and More Tears (Toussaint)
4. The Sharpest Thorn (Costello­Toussaint)
5. Who’s Gonna Help Brother Get Further? (Toussaint)
6. The River In Reverse (Costello)
7. Freedom For The Stallion (Toussaint)
8. Broken Promise Land (Costello­Toussaint)
9. Ascension Day (Bird­Costello­Toussaint)
10. International Echo (Costello­Toussaint)
11. All These Things (Toussaint)
12. Wonder Woman (Toussaint)
13. Six-Fingered Man (Costello­Toussaint
)

February 19, 2006

“At the moment, I have no past and no future,” he says. “I wake up in the morning to do this. This is all that I am.”

Rolling Stone reports-

NEW ORLEANS PIANIST, songwriter and producer Allen Toussaint stands at a microphone, waiting for his cue, in the vocal booth at Piety Street Recording, a studio in the city’s Bywater section, near the Mississippi River. Toussaint , 68, is the picture of immaculate Southern comfort in a gray suit jacket, brown slacks, cream white shirt, perfectly knotted caramel brown tie and open. toed sandals. But there is no missing the gently surging indignity in Toussaint’s voice as the tape rolls and the funk kicks in:

“What happened to the Liberty Bell/I heard so much about/Did it really ding dong/It must have dinged wrong/It didn’t ding long.”

Five months after Hurricane Katrina ripped through Toussaint’s hometown, much of it is still in ruins,a victim of collapsed levees and chaotic relief efforts. Hurt and fear are in every silken note he sings.


Elvis Costello
listens in the adjacent control room, shaking his head in awe. Toussaint is putting vocal overdubs on “Who’s Gonna Help Brother Get Further,” a rhythmic plea for a helping he originally wrote and produced in 1970 for Lee Dorsey. The song is also one of seventeen that Toussaint and Costello, 51, have recorded together for The River in Reverse, to be released in May on Verve Records. Like everything else the duo has written and cut for the album — new songs like the title track, “Broken Promiseland” and “Ascension Day”; poignant covers of vintage Toussaint gems such as “Freedom for the Stallion” and “On Your Way Down” — “Brother” reverberates with the power of emotional eyewitness, born of the devastation just outside the studio’s front door.

Sitting with Costello during a session break, Toussaint politely insists that this “is not a sympathy record. These songs can live in war and peace, anytime, anywhere. This recording is far more important, and bigger, than Katrina.”

Costello agrees. “This was a chance to make something positive out of something dispiriting,” he says of the album, produced by Joe Henry and featuring Costello’s group the Imposters with local musicians from Toussaint’s band. “It’s also forward-looking. It is representative of the culture here. And Allen is one of the most important people in that culture.”

Costello and Toussaint’s sessions at Piety in early December (following a week’s work in Los Angeles) are one of the heartening signs of life in this otherwise ravaged city. The Lower Ninth Ward, a short drive from the studio, on the other side of the Industrial Canal, is a wasteland; rushing water from breached levees pushed houses off their pilings, flattening them. Bywater itself was severely damaged by wind and water; Toussaint’s own home in Gentilly was flooded, destroying a lifetime’s worth of personal archives.

“I was feeling bad one day,” Henry says, “because I was keeping Allen’s horn players around, waiting for a take. I said, ‘Do you want to go out and come back later?’ They said, "We don’t want to go out there. We know what it looks like.”

Toussaint evacuated the city after the storm, basing himself in New York, where he and Costello -- with whom he had collaborated on Costello’s 1989 album Spike — ran into each other at Katrina benefit gigs, often doing Toussaint’s songs together. “It used to be common to see ‘songbook’ records,” Costello says, “before rock & roll singers wrote their own songs. I thought, ‘Maybe it’s time for an Allen Toussaint songbook album. Maybe we could do it together.’”

Toussaint not only said yes, he co-wrote five songs with Costello. “To be invited out of an enforced semiretirement,” Toussaint notes with a sly smile, “was a wonderful opportunity.” And Costello “was tireless. As we wrote, he gave vocal performances of the kind that you would give in the studio.”

The two work together with the easygoing warmth of mutual fans and old friends. On their first day of recording in LA., they got master takes of “Greatest Love” and “Nearer to You” in fifteen minutes. But at Piety, it is fascinating to watch Toussaint’s attention to detail, an instinct for soulful perfection that ran through the Sixties and Seventies hits he wrote and produced for, among others, Irma Thomas, Ernie K-Doe and the Meters.

“It’s the closest thing in my life to being around a Duke Ellington,” says Henry, who produced Toussaint’s contributions to the recent I Believe to My Soul and Our New Orleans collections. “After a take, he’ll say to his horn section, ‘That was right, but that’s all it is. Now it has to be alive.”

There is no better word to describe the music Costello and Toussaint have made, especially during their week in this city coming back from near-death. On the night they finish “Who’s Gonna Help Brother Get Further,” they also turn to the dark Costello ballad “The River in Reverse.” Costello wrote it within weeks of the flooding. His love for New Orleans and his rage at its betrayal are explicit in his lyrics and vocal:


“There must be something better than this/I don’t see how it can get much worse/What do we have to do to send/The river in reverse?’

It is hard working, Costello admits, amid so much loss: “You think it’s a bit frivolous.” But the healing is obvious as Toussaint listens to the urgency in Costello’s song and smiles. For now Toussaint has little but this record to call his own, and he’s grateful for it. “At the moment, I have no past and no future,” he says. “I wake up in the morning to do this. This is all that I am.”

January 31, 2006

Juliet Letters re-issue, March 21

The Juliet Letters , Elvis' 1992 recording with The Brodsky Quartet is being re-issued , with a bonus disc , on March 21 '06.

( Submitted by sweetest punch and And No Coffee Table)

Continue reading "Juliet Letters re-issue, March 21" »

January 11, 2006

"The River in Reverse," due in May

Billboard reports -

(extract)

Costello's recent collaborations with Allen Toussaint will appear on "The River in Reverse," due in May via Verve Forecast. The material on the set includes new songs co-written by Costello and Toussaint, as well as fresh versions of several vintage Toussaint songs.

With producer Joe Henry, the pair recorded in November in Toussaint's native New Orleans with Costello's band, the Imposters, and several members of Toussaint's band. Conducted amid the city's massive recovery effort, the sessions are thought to be among the first there since Hurricane Katrina struck in late August.

Continue reading ""The River in Reverse," due in May" »

January 1, 2006

New Elvis album available Jan.9th

.....in Australia

MY FLAME BURNS BLUE: 2CD

TRACK LISTING

  Disc 1
1 HORA DECUBITUS
2 FAVOURITE HOUR
3 THAT'S HOW YOU GOT KILLED BEFORE
4 UPON A VEIL OF MIDNIGHT BLUE
5 CLUBLAND
6 ALMOST BLUE
7 SPEAK DARKLY MY ANGEL
8 ALMOST IDEAL EYES
9 CAN YOU BE TRUE?
10 PUT AWAY FORBIDDEN PLAYTHINGS
11 EPISODE OF BLONDE
12 MY FLAME BURNS BLUE (BLOOD COUNT)
13 WATCHING THE DETECTIVES
14 GOD GIVE ME STRENGTH

  Disc 2
1 COSTELLO: PRELUDE ?IL SOGNO / ACT 1? - EDIT
2 COSTELLO: OVERTURE ?IL SOGNO / ACT 1? - EDIT
3 COSTELLO: PUCK ONE ?IL SOGNO / ACT 1? - EDIT
4 COSTELLO: THE COURT ?IL SOGNO / ACT 1? - EDIT
5 COSTELLO: WORKERS' PLAYTIME ?IL SOGNO / ACT 1? - E
6 COSTELLO: OBERON AND TITANIA ?IL SOGNO / ACT 2?
7 COSTELLO: THE CONSPIRACY OF OBERON AND PUCK ?IL SO
8 COSTELLO: PUCK TWO ?IL SOGNO / ACT 2? - EDIT
9 COSTELLO: THE IDENTITY PARADE ?IL SOGNO / ACT 2?
10 COSTELLO: THE FACE OF BOTTOM ?IL SOGNO / ACT 2?
11 COSTELLO: THE SPARK OF LOVE ?IL SOGNO / ACT 2? - E
12 COSTELLO: TORMENTRESS ?IL SOGNO / ACT 2? - EDIT
13 COSTELLO: OBERON HUMBELD ?IL SOGNO / ACT 2? - EDIT
14 COSTELLO: TWISTED - ENTANGLED - TRANSFORM AND EXCH
15 COSTELLO: THE FAIRY AND THE ASS ?IL SOGNO / ACT 2?
16 COSTELLO: SLEEP ?IL SOGNO / ACT 2? - EDIT
17 COSTELLO: THE PLAY ?IL SOGNO / ACT 3? - EDIT
18 COSTELLO: THE WEDDING ?IL SOGNO / ACT 3? - EDIT

November 18, 2005

'My Flame' Due Feb. 28 '06

USA Today reports -

His time is due. Previously unreleased compositions, overhauls of classics and an orchestral suite comprise My Flame Burns Blue, a live album that Elvis Costello hopes will explain some of his absences of the past dozen years.

Due Feb. 28 on Deutsche Grammophon, the concert was recorded at The Hague with the Metropole Orkest, a 52-piece jazz orchestra from The Netherlands. Among the songs and arrangements Costello has been honing over the past decade are Can You Be True?; a reinvented Clubland; Upon a Veil of Midnight Blue (earlier recorded by Charles Brown as I Wonder How She Knows); and Watching the Detectives, refashioned in the vein of a 1950s TV theme. Costello penned lyrics for Hora Decubitas, a Charles Mingus composition (per his widow's request) and for Billy Strayhorn's last work, Blood Count.

A bonus disc captures 45 minutes of Il Sogno, Costello's first full-length orchestral composition. In January, the suite will be the centerpiece of a global tour by Costello and Steve Nieve performing with local orchestras.

Continue reading "'My Flame' Due Feb. 28 '06" »

November 5, 2005

Elvis/Eurythmics

One of Elvis' more obscure guest appearances gets a new lease of life with the upcoming re-issue of the Eurythmics back catalogue. This new edition of Be Yourself Tonight - from 1985 - features a guest harmony vocal from Elvis on the song Adrian. This would appear to be only the second time - after the 1990 issuing of the Eurythmics catalogue on CD - this song has appeared on CD , doubtlessly in much improved sound.

'Net sources say the album has accumulated 13 million sales over the years so this appearance may count as one biggest selling releases that Elvis has been invloved with.

I seem to remember contempoary accounts quoting Ms Lennox saying how Elvis had turned up at the recording session - in Paris , I think - with his famous black book of lyrics . However , I see that the song is credited to Lennox/Stewart. However the lyric does feature classic Costello wordplay - 'new clear' / nuclear , for instance - hinting that he did actually contribute or the song was crafted with him in mind

August 12, 2005

Costello Commentary Spiffs DVD Retrospective

Billboard reports -

Originally expected earlier this year, the DVD "The Right Spectacle: The Very Best of Elvis Costello -- The Videos" will arrive Sept. 6 in the United Kingdom via demonVision. A North American release date has not yet been finalized for the project, which rounds up all of the artist's classic promo clips plus a wealth of rare European TV appearances.

Of perhaps most interest to fans is the fact that Costello provides commentary for each of the 27 videos, including such early MTV favorites as "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love & Understanding" and "Everyday I Write the Book."

But securing the artist's services for the project nearly didn't happen, according to DVD producer Sophie Coolbaugh. "Elvis was completely booked up last summer and no matter how we looked at his schedule, there was no way he could spare us a few hours," she tells Billboard.com. "We had given up on the idea when the call came late on a Thursday afternoon -- we could have him for a couple of hours on the following Sunday in New York."

Due to short notice, the producers were forced to rent a studio without air conditioning "on a muggy September evening," Coolbaugh recalls. "Elvis had not dabbled in the art of the DVD audio commentary before, and he took to it like a fish takes to water. It is both witty and interesting, and definitely a key highlight of the disc."

Coolbaugh delighted in "finding bits and pieces that we knew no one had seen in over 20 years, if at all," including an extra song from a 1983 performance on the U.K. show "The Tube" and clips from Holland's Pink Pop Festival ("fabulous pink suit").

However, one classic piece of film eluded "The Right Spectacle." Says Coolbaugh: "The master of Elvis' first-ever TV appearance [performing 'Alison' for 'Granada Reports' in July 1977] has gone missing sometime between 1977 and now. It was very, very lucky that the producers of [the show] 'So It Goes' lifted a clip from it for their show later that year, so the excerpt we have on the disc is the only surviving clip from [Costello's] TV debut."

Since there are no U.S. TV appearances on the collection, could a follow-up "Elvis in the U.S." compilation see the light of day in the future? "We had access to a large number of archives and in the end it was a question of finding clips that were most representative of the period," Coolbaugh says. "Who knows what the future holds -- there are certainly plenty of great clips to consider for a follow up."

July 23, 2005

Piano Jazz in the charts

Playbill reports -

( extract)
A recording of an appearance by pop star and composer Elvis Costello on Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz radio show debuted on the Billboard Contemporary-Jazz Chart at number 16.

Continue reading "Piano Jazz in the charts" »

July 10, 2005

McPartland-Costello jazz program encores on CD

The State , South Carolina reports -


There is no good music or bad music. It’s all just music to Marian McPartland.

“Marian McPartland’s Piano Jazz” — produced for its entire 26-year run by South Carolina’s ETV Radio — has allowed the 86-year-old jazz legend to share the radio stage with such greats as Shirley Horn, Burt Bacharach and Bobby Short. Two years ago, McPartland sat down to play with rock legend Elvis Costello. The resulting duets, which aired Sept.30, 2003, will be released on CD on Tuesday.

“I like what he’s doing now,” McPartland said of Costello. “He’s getting into a more straightforward way of singing.”

McPartland played the piano and Costello, who helped ignite the ’70s punk/new wave explosion, sang jazz standards.

Elvis and jazz? It’s not as far off as you might think. After all, he’s married to jazz sensation Diana Krall, and he has dabbled before in other genres, such as country and easy listening. But it doesn’t end there.

The Englishman’s mother was a jazz and classical records saleswoman and his father, influenced by imported jazz records from America, was a professional trumpet player and singer.

McPartland knew the elder Costello.

“It’s interesting to me that his father was a singer in an English band that I knew very well,” McPartland said. “He sang a song his father sang.”

That song, “At Last,” sits alongside Costello-written songs and standards on “Elvis Costello-Marian McPartland’s Piano Jazz Radio Broadcast.”

McPartland said Costello was pleasant to be around.

“It was a lot of fun for me,” she said. “I don’t get to accompany anyone that often.”

“Piano Jazz,” which airs locally at 8 p.m. Saturday on WLTR-FM 91.3 and WRJA-FM 88.1, usually has McPartland trading sounds with other jazz musicians.

Meshing genres is something McPartland does to stay fresh. Her collaboration with Costello is similar to what she did with classic rockers Steely Dan.

Shari Hutchinson, who has produced “Piano Jazz” for 20 years, said she talked to McPartland almost every day.

When searching for guests, Hutchinson said, she and McPartland talked about Costello because of his jazz background.

“She was intrigued by his playing,” Hutchinson said. “She heard the jazz influences. He’s well versed and well grounded in jazz.”

McPartland hopes to release more CDs, including one with Krall. When asked why she continues working, McPartland said she was having fun so there was no need to stop.

She told Hutchinson exactly when she would be done with music.

“She said she’s going to bop until she drops,” Hutchinson said.

June 16, 2005

laugh along with Elvis

demonVision is pleased to announce, for the very first time on DVD, a unique collection of the visual works of Elvis Costello - The Right Spectacle: The Very Best of Elvis Costello - The Videos,Released on DVD 5 September, 2005

From his first Radar Records single in 1978, I Don't Want To Go To (Chelsea), to his final video for Warner Brothers; 13 Steps Lead Down (from 1994's Brutal Youth album), this is a must purchase for all serious Elvis Costello enthusiasts and fans alike.

Widely regarded as one of the most respected singer/songwriters in rock and pop, Elvis Costello was instrumental in pioneering the pop video in its early days, most of which became regular viewing on MTV and other noted music television channels.

The DVD boasts a grand total of 27 videos that includes material rarely seen since the original release of the singles they supported.

The DVD can be watched with Audio Commentary that Elvis has recorded especially for each video. Costello's witty and lively explanations provide insights into where, why and how the videos were created. Fans will laugh along with Elvis as he tells comic anecdotes and mocks both himself and his fellow band members.

Bonus features include over 70 minutes worth of ultra rare television archive footage culled from an array of TV channels from the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK. Costello and the Attractions perform Alison, Lip Service and No Dancing on the British TV show, Granada Reports, Shipbuilding on The Tube, Oliver's Army on the Dutch TV show Countdown, and Peace in Our Time on Sweden's Mandagsboren, and many more.

But that's not all! The DVD is presented in a collectable digipack, with comprehensive production notes written by the man himself. What's more, the DVD includes a surprise Easter Egg strategically hidden away on the DVD for the most ardent of Costello enthusiasts to find.

Continue reading "laugh along with Elvis" »

March 24, 2005

Limited Edition 7" Vinyl single by Elvis

2000 copiesof a 7" vinyl single , pairing Brilliant Mistake and True Love Ways, will be released in the U.K. to promote the April re-issue of King Of America. It's ' first come first served' - so order now!

( Submitted by John)

Elvis ' "Artist's Choice"

An "Artist's Choice" CD of songs selected by Elvis is now available at Starbucks locations. It does not appear to be available on Starbucks' website, but it will probably show up there eventually.

Here's the lineup:

1. Louis Armstrong - Let's Do It (Let's Fall In Love)
2. Muddy Waters - I Love The Life I Live (I Live The Life I Love)
3. Clifford Brown - Yesterdays
4. Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell - You Ain't Livin' Till You're Lovin'
5. Fleetwood Mac - Oh Well, Part 1
6. Aretha Franklin - Do Right Woman, Do Right Man
7. Joni Mitchell - The Last Time I Saw Richard
8. The Band - Tears Of Rage
9. Nick Lowe - I'm A Mess
10. George Jones - Mr. Fool
11. Lucinda Williams - Over Time
12. Rilo Kiley - Does He Love You?
13. Dusty Springfield - I Don't Want To Hear It Anymore
14. Randy Newman - Real Emotional Girl
15. Diana Krall - Almost Blue
16. Paul Simon - Peace Like A River
17. Joe Tex - The Love You Save (May Be Your Own)
18. Freda Payne - Bring The Boys Home

It includes fairly lengthy liner notes by EC, commenting on each track. (Oddly, he suggests at one point that "Stranger In The House" is on the CD, but it's not.)

Elvis explains, “I've picked songs that illustrate how I've learned almost everything I know about music just from listening to records. I've tried to tell the story behind every choice. I've also selected a few recent favorites with the suspicion that they will be songs that will stick around. I loved the rest of them long enough to know that they are not going anywhere.”

Of Lucinda Williams' “Overtime,” Costello says, “It is my belief that Lucinda is the closest living counterpart to Hank Williams, when it comes to writing from the heart with absolute economy.” About Muddy Waters' “I Live the Life I Love,” Costello says, “I just love the way this record sounds, how the band parts all interlock and the fashion in which Muddy just starts singing whenever he feels like it.”

( Submitted by Nunki)

March 20, 2005

Listen to Elvis in Texas

.....on this BBC radio broadcast of songs from Elvis' show at South By Southwest in Austin , Texas last Wednes. Elvis' set starts about 1hour 8minutes into the radio show.

The songs featured are :

1.Delivery Man
2.Mystery Dance
3.Either Side Of The Same Town
4.(I Can't Stand Up ) For Falling Down
5.Hi Fidelity
6.Why Dont You Love Me like You Used To Do

( Submitted by Martin Foyle )

March 8, 2005

Elvis 'Live' DVD

Elvis Costello and the Imposters
Club Date - Live in Memphis
This item will be released on April 19, 2005.
Pre-order
Amazon

Synopsis from Eagle Vision -

The old saying goes "You can never go home again".
Costello has made a career of doing what "can't"
should" be done, and Club Date: Live In Memphis
exception. Costello returns to his musical roots, leaving
cozy comfort of theater-sized venues and stages
sweaty club in Memphis, Tennessee for a set that rolls
his best songs from his 27-year career. Club Date:
Memphis, recorded in late 2004, was shot in High-
and features Stereo, 5.1 Surround and DTS audio to
viewer that intimate setting from their own home.

Track Listing:

1) Waiting For The End Of The World--- 3:09
2) Radio Radio---2: 45
3) Mystery Dance-2: 31
4) Blue Chair-3:45
5) Bedlam-5:26
6) Country Darkness 4:16
7) Blame It On Cain-3;52
8) Either Side Of The Same Town 3:39 (Elvis Costello/Jerry Ragovoy)
9) High Fidelity-- 2:39
10) The Judgment-3:24
11) Monkey To Man-5:04
12) The Monkey -3:17 (Dave Bartholomeu)
13) I Still Miss Someone 3:12
14) Heart Shaped Bruise 4:25
15) Wheels 3:11 (Chris Hillman/Gram Parsons)
16) The Delivery Man 5:53
17) Hidden Charms 3:42 (Willie Dixon)
18)Alison/Suspicious Minds 4:33 (Mark James)
19) Peace Love And Understanding 4:00 (Nick Lowe)
20) Pump It Up 5:10

Bonus Songs:

21) My Baby’s Gone 3:28 (Louvin Brothers)
22) There’s A Story In Your Voice 3:24
23) Button My Lip 8:01
24) Sleepless Nights 4:03

Bonus:

Road Trip Documentary “Off The Beaten Path” A Road Trip With Elvis & Pete.
Radio and The Fan

( Submitted by snarling pup)

March 6, 2005

Preorder King Of America

You can preorder the new edition of King Of America on
Amazon .

( Submitted by Sweetest Punch)

March 5, 2005

Piano Jazz to get July release


Musictap reports -

Concord Jazz plan a SoundSaver title for Marian McPartland and Elvis Costello called Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz scheduling for a July 12 release.

( Submitted by Martin Foyle)

March 2, 2005

Elvis on John Peel 'tribute disc'

Olivers Army on will appear on a John Peel 'tribute disc' in April.

There's A Story In Your Voice video clip

You can watch the video clip of There's A Story In Your Voice from Live in Memphis DVD. Registration is needed, but it's not complicated at all.

( Submitted by Ayako Sasamoto)

February 22, 2005

A Royal Upgrade for Costello's King of America

ICE magazine tell -

The third time might well be the charm for Elvis Costello's King of America. His adventurous, roots-leaning first album without the Attractions barely nudged the Top 40 of Billboard's album chart when it was released in 1986. In 1995, it was reissued by Rykodisc, with a second disc of rarities. On April 26, Rhino takes a crack at the King, loading up two CDs with the original album's 15 tracks
and a whopping 21 bonus cuts from 1984-85.

Originally intended as part of the label's Costello reissue program, which for the last four years has released his catalog in groups of three albums, King of America will arrive as a stand-alone. But that's no accident. Co-producer (with Val Jennings) and iTunes Chief Music Officer Gary Stewart gives two reasons why KOA is swinging solo.

"First," Stewart tells ICE, "it's coming on the heels of The Delivery Man [last year's Costello set on Lost Highway], which is kind of a roadhouse, roots-rock, country-meets-soul record. King of America is the first time he tried this
approach with his own material. You hear him working with T-Bone Burnett, [Los Lobos'] David Hidalgo and the other Elvis' "T.C.B. band" [guitarist James Burton, bassist Jerry Scheff, drummer Ronnie Tutt].

"Second, it's Elvis' favorite album, and it's often cited by fans of his as one of their favorites. It's really the album that in many ways rehabilitated the term "singer-songwriter" [from its association with more sedate
autobiographers] and brought back that sort of literate element of Costello, his love of American music and his storytelling."

For the fans, already familiar with the original album (which contained "Brilliant Mistake," "Sleep of the Just" and a cover of "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood"), the big news is the new set's second disc. Eleven of its cuts appeared on the Ryko reissue, most notably the solo demo "Suffering Face," KOA outtakes "King of Confidence" and "Shoes Without Heels" and both sides of Burnett and Costello's Coward Brothers single "The Peoples' Limousine"/"They'll Never Take Her Love From Me." Six live covers of songs previously done by Mose Allison,
Waylon Jennings, Percy Sledge and others were performed by Elvis Costello & His Confederates (Burton, Scheff, keyboardist Mitchell Froom and drummer Jim Keltner).

Rhino's reissue adds the solo demos of KOA songs "Indoor Fireworks," "Poisoned Rose," "I'll Wear It Proudly," "Jack of All Parades" plus "Having It All" (intended for KOA but unused), "Deportee" (a rewrite of "Deportee's Club from 1984's Goodbye Cruel World) and a demo of that same LP's "I Hope You're Happy Now." Elements of "Betrayal," heard here in
demo form, wound up in "Tramp the Dirt Down" on 1989's Spike.

"Then there's a gorgeous cover of Richard Thompson's 'End of the Rainbow,'" says Stewart. "The only way people could have heard that was on an anti-drug
benefit record [1986's It's a Live-in World], where the producers added a bass and background singer without Elvis' permission." Rounding out the bonuses is a live version of the Confederates doing Buddy Holly's "True Love Ways."

The complete track list for Disc Two: "Having It All," "Suffering Face," "Deportee," "Indoor Fireworks," "I Hope You're Happy Now," "Poisoned Rose," "I'll Wear It Proudly," "Jack of All Parades," "The Peoples' Limousine," "They'll Never Take Her Love From Me," "King of Confidence," "Shoes Without Heels," "End of the Rainbow," "Betrayal," "That's How You Got Killed Before," "The Big Light," "It Tears Me Up," "The Only
Daddy That'll Walk the Line," "Your Mind is on Vacation/ Your Funeral My Trial," "That's How You Got Killed Before (Reprise)," and "True Love Ways."

"The quality of the bonus material," Stewart concludes, "is so good that the five grade-A songs on there, if they'd been added to the original album, could have made King of America a double album on a level with Blonde on
Blonde, Exile on Main Street or London Calling."

( Submitted by Craig Montoya )

January 26, 2005

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 22, 2005

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 17, 2005

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).

January 16, 2005

Elvis DVD out Jan.17th...

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

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.

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 )

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!

December 22, 2004

Clarksdale Sessions on Cd in March


Elvis' PR people announce -

Extract -

In March, Lost Highway Records will release a limited edition of the Grammy nominated 'The Delivery Man,' the acclaimed new album from Elvis Costello & The Imposters, to celebrate the kickoff of a US tour March 1. The limited edition includes a bonus disc, 'The Clarksdale Sessions,' featuring five alternate versions of songs from 'The Delivery Man,' and two non-album tracks including the new and otherwise unavailable Costello song "In Another Room." 'The Clarksdale Sessions' will also be released separately as a 10" record.

The Clarksdale Sessions Track listing:

1. The Monkey
2. Country Darkness
3. Needle Time
4. The Scarlet Tide
5. In Another Room
6. The Delivery Man
7. Dark End Of The Street

Continue reading "Clarksdale Sessions on Cd in March" »

December 21, 2004

Elvis' easter egg

The Jan'05 issue of Record Collector ( London) has this note -

COSTELLO SPECTACLE
Demon issue an Elvis Costello DVD-Video on 17 January, entitled The Right Spectacle — The Very Best Of Elvis Costello — The Videos. The package features 27 videos from his Radar and Warners years (running to 100 minutes), as well as an audio commentary from Elvis on each clip. Additionally, there’s 70 minutes of archive TV footage, including unbroadcast material from The Tube, film from the UK, Netherlands and Sweden shot between 1977 and 1983, and an unseen easter egg video. The digipak contains extensive production sleevenotes by Elvis.

December 14, 2004

Win signed-by-Elvis vinyl edition of TDM



U.S. residents only (grrrr!) ; enter via this link -

From Johnny Cash to the Willie Nelson; Whiskeytown to Ryan Adams; Kim Richey to the O Brother, Where Art Thou? Soundtrack; Lucinda Williams to Lyle Lovett; Tift Merritt to Drive-By Truckers, Lost Highway Records has one of the most enticing stable of artists around.


Whether your format choice is CD, SACD or VINYL this catalogue is a must-have for music lovers!! Because of this Red Trumpet is opening this new Lost Highway Store to celebrate all of this great music all in one place!

Register now to get one of the following:
1) GRAND PRIZE #1: Autographed copy of Elvis Costello THE DELIVERY MAN LP

2) GRAND PRIZE #2: Autographed copy of Tift Merritt TAMBOURINE LP

3) FIRST PRIZE: One of five cool lithographs of Elvis Costello THE DELIVERY MAN

The Red Trumpet Lost Highway Contest ends 11:59 PM ET January 4, 2005.


A random drawing from among all eligible entries received during the entire Contest Period will be conducted on or about January January 11, 2005 for the Grand and First Prizes. Odds of winning will depend on the total number of eligible entries received for the applicable drawing.

December 8, 2004

Costello video on magazine DVD

Issue 13 of Paste magazine has the Monkey To Man video on its cover DVD.

New Costello album in January?

Musictap have this -

Lost Highway will press 10" vinyl for ECostello fans
on January 25. The album is The Clarksdale Sessions.

U.music have this -

COSTELLO ELVIS | The Clarksdale Sessions (12inch Album Vinyl)
release date :: Tue, Jan 18, 2005 | catalogue # :: B000390501 | format :: 12inch ALBUM - VINYL

December 5, 2004

Alison Moyet covers Almost Blue

Alison Moyet has released her splendid version of Almost Blue as a single.

November 30, 2004

Live Costello Download

ECitunesExclusive.jpg

Futurama Sessions - EP Elvis Costello
Release Date:November 30, 2004

The Delivery Man
The Monkey
Needle Time
Monkey to Man
Button my Lip

Only available to U.S. residents.

November 12, 2004

Elvis DVD on the way, Jan. 05

A U.K. site has this -

THE RIGHT SPECTACLE - VERY BEST OF (DVD)

A unique collection of the visual works of Costello for the first time on DVD, 'The Right Spectacle' features a total of 27 videos that include material rarely seen since the release of the singles they supported. Elvis has also recorded a witty and lively audio commentary full of incredible insights for each of the videos, the DVD also includes close to 70 minutes worth of very rare archive footage culled from an array of TV broadcasters from The Netherlands, Sweden and the UK, all presented in a collectable digipack with comprehensive production notes penned by Elvis himself. A very special package and a must for fans!

1 (I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea
2 Pump It Up
3 Radio Radio
4 (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding
5 Oliver's Army
6 Accidents Will Happen
7 I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down
8 High Fidelity
9 Love For Tender
10 Possession
11 New Amsterdam
12 Clubland
13 New Lace Sleeves
14 Good Year For The Roses
15 Sweet Dreams
16 You Little Fool
17 Everyday I Write The Book
18 Let Them All Talk
19 The Only Flame In Town
20 I Wanna Be Loved
21 Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood
22 Veronica
23 This Town
24 The Other Side Of Summer
25 So Like Candy
26 Sulky Girl
27 13 Steps Lead Down

Special Features
Granada Reports / So It Goes (UK) - Filmed at Erics, broadcast October 1977 - Alison[Excerpt], Lip Service, No Dancing
Revolver (UK) - Early to mid 78 TV studio - This Years Girl, Radio Radio
Countdown (Netherlands) - 30.5.79, live in a club - Olivers Army, Accidents Will Happen, Watching The Detectives, You Belong To Me
Pink Pop (Netherlands) - 4.6.79, live outdoor festival - Lipstick Vogue, Watching The Detectives
Whats In (UK) - 16.3.81, TV Studio - Shot With His Own Gun
The Tube (UK) - 4.11.83, TV studio - Shipbuilding, Everyday I Write The Book, Clowntime is Over, TKO (Boxing Day)
Mandagsboren (Sweden) - 21.11.83, TV studio - Big Sisters Clothes, Peace In Our Time

Release date : Monday 17 January 2005

( Submitted by Nick and Dave and John )

October 31, 2004

Fun use of Costello song on compilation

Non-drinker of alcohol that Elvis is , he must have grinned when he was asked for permission for this use of this recording -

Best Pub Jukebox...Ever
Various Artists

Audio CD (October 11, 2004)

Number of Discs:2
Label: Virgin TV
ASIN: B00063UFDS
Catalogue Number: VTDCD652

Disc: 2

13. Elvis Costello & The Attractions - I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down

October 28, 2004

Monkey To Man single

Tower Records have this -

Monkey To Man Pt.2 (2 Tracks) - Elvis Costello


Release Date: 10/4/2004
Label: Universal
CD Single (602498644560)
Track Listings:
1. Monkey To Man / Elvis Costello
2. Monkey / Elvis Costello

Monkey To Man Pt.1 (Enhanced) - Elvis Costello

Release Date: 10/4/2004
Label: Universal/Mercury
CD Single (602498642764)
Track Listings:
1. Monkey To Man / Elvis Costello
2. Monkey / Elvis Costello
3. Love That Burns / Elvis Costello
( Recorded live in Memphis, April '04)
4. Monkey To Man (Video) / Elvis Costello

Continue reading "Monkey To Man single" »

October 15, 2004

Elvis track on magazine cover disc

The disc on the cover of the November issue of U.K. magazine Word includes the title track of The Delivery Man.

October 6, 2004

Elvis' new album for 2005

Jimbo reports-

Elvis returned to Clarksdale the other day with a film crew. he was
shooting a documentary for the new CD and wanted some footage of the
studio and the shacks. He also informed me he was going to release all of
the Clarksdale recordings as a LP, in the spring of 2005, over in Europe.

( Submitted by Mark D)

September 22, 2004

Costello on iTunes : Albums and Bonus Track

"She's Pulling Out The Pin", not included on the US CD release of The Delivery Man CD, is now available via iTunes.
Just click the icon below:

She's Pulling Out the Pin

So is The Delivery Man:

The Delivery Man

And Il Sogno:

Elvis Costello: Il Sogno

September 17, 2004

She’s Pulling Out The Pin-lyrics/credits

The European edition of The Delivery Man is on sale and includes the lyrics to its extra track She’s Pulling Out The Pin.

Continue reading "She’s Pulling Out The Pin-lyrics/credits" »

September 10, 2004

More Elvis on iTunes news

According to newly launched EC website:

Get the "She's Pulling out the Pin" exclusive track from "The Delivery Man" sessions only at iTunes and stay tuned for an exclusive Elvis Costello iTunes sessions coming in October!

She's Pulling out the Pin is not currently listed at iTunes, however. The prospect of some 'exclusive session' tracks is exciting though.

Monkey Man Video

Is now online in RealMedia format and in the Windows Media format. The single is also available on iTunes for $0.99.

September 8, 2004

Il Sogno on iTunes

It's there. And featured prominently in Apple's New Music Tuesdays email.

Correction: Only one song is up - Oberon and Titania

Diana's Choice

diana-choice.jpg

A few more pennies into the family royalty stream, as Mrs. Costello picks one from Mr. Costello (Almost Ideal Eyes) for her Starbuck's Artist Choice CD. (submitted by Wes Vokes)

August 31, 2004

All You Need Is Love

The Live Aid DVD's will include Mr. Costello's stirring rendition of 'All You Need Is Love' (full track list)

(Submitted by Micheal Hernandez)

Live Aid DVD Details Confirmed

After months of rumours and speculation, Warner Vision International have finally confirmed the release date and contents details of the forthcoming Live Aid DVD set. The 4-disc set, originally put together after Sir Bob Geldof caught a bootlegger selling pirate versions on the web, is currently set for a pre-Christmas release making it the must have present for music lovers world-wide.
Elvis' performance of ‘All You Need Is Love’ will be on Disc One.

August 26, 2004

Monkey & Pin in Japan

It looks like the Japanese version of THE DELIVERY MAN will include both "She's Pulling Out The Pin" and a second bonus track:

1. Button My Lip
2. Country Darkness
3. There's A Story In Your Voice
4. Either Side Of The Same Town
5. Bedlam
6. The Delivery Man
7. Monkey To Man
8. Nothing Clings Like Ivy
9. The Name Of This Thing Is Not Love
10. Heart Shaped Bruise
11. She's Pulling Out The Pin
12. Needle Time
13. The Judgement
14. Scarlet Tide
15. The Monkey

I assume "The Monkey" is a cover of the Dave Bartholomew song which inspired "Monkey To Man." (Submitted by Nunki)

August 25, 2004

Delivering Vinyl

Red Trumpet's got the Delivery Man LP up for preorder.

(Submitted by Craig Montoya)

August 24, 2004

The Pin is pulled

The track listing of the UK release of The Delivery Man is out and it DOES include "She's Pulling Out The Pin". This song is supposedly not included on the US release.

U.K. tracklisting

1. Button My Lip
2. Country Darkness
3. There's A Story In Your Voice
4. Either Side of the Same Town
5. Bedlam
6. The Delivery Man
7. Monkey to Man
8. Nothing Clings Like Ivy
9. The Name of This Thing Is Not Love
10. Heart Shaped Bruise feat
11. She's Pulling Out The Pin
12. Needle Time
13. The Judgement
14. The Scarlet Tide

(Submitted by Gilbert)

August 21, 2004

Lyrics/credits for The Delivery Man

The liner notes and lyrics for The Delivery Man are now online.

1. Button My Lip (4:51)
2. Country Darkness (3:56)
3. There’s A Story In Your Voice (3:42)
4. Either Side Of The Same Town (4:00)
5. Bedlam (4:48)
6. The Delivery Man (4:39)
7. Monkey To Man (4:25)
8. Nothing Clings Like Ivy (4:15)
9. The Name Of This Thing Is Not Love (2:48)
10. Heart Shaped Bruise (4:06)
11. Needle Time (5:06)
12. The Judgement (3:50)
13. The Scarlet Tide (2:22)

Continue reading "Lyrics/credits for The Delivery Man" »

August 18, 2004

I Think Track 7 Fades A Bit Earlier...

Still thinking about finding the time to compare all these