Paul McCartney's Back Catalogue Finally Getting Re-Released

EMI announced earlier this week that the often brilliant, occasionally frustrating and always interesting post Beatles catalogue of Paul McCartney will finally be getting re-issued later this year. No details were specified except to say that it will be a digital as well as a traditional cd format campaign.
Paul's solo career began officially with the captivating McCARTNEY album in 1970 although he had done some work away from The Beatles throughout the sixties, most notably with THE FAMILY WAY soundtrack.

McCARTNEY was a true solo album, with Paul playing everything himself with only his wife Linda adding some additional vocals. The album would also add a theme that would play throughout his entire career after The Beatles, that of family.
RAM followed in 1971 and was credited to Paul and Linda. It is my favorite of McCartney's solo albums and I think it rivals his best work with The Beatles. The fantastic BACK SEAT OF MY CAR is among the greatest things he's ever written and the whole album is a solid and sometimes stinging masterpiece.
The rest of the seventies were taken up with Paul's new band Wings and would include some of his best and weakest work. The albums, including the huge BAND ON THE RUN to lesser known works like LONDON TOWN, would all be mixed bags featuring jaw dropping greatness and head scratching WTF moments.
It is worth noting that John Lennon's solo works also have the same mixed quality. Perhaps the greatest thing about their partnership together was quality control and having someone to say to them, 'hey that's not very good or it needs a bit more work'.
Still as with Lennon's work I love the Wings albums. For all of their inconsistencies they still have some of the best music of the seventies and are never boring.
McCartney began making solo albums again in the early eighties with the homemade affair McCARTNEY 2 and the George Martin produced TUG OF WAR. TUG OF WAR received much acclaim upon initial release but has been a bit forgotten, it remains a fine album that is deserving of re-appraisal.
The mid eighties produced the weakest material of Paul's career with the lackluster PIPES OF PEACE and PRESS TO PLAY albums. Things began to pick up when Paul began collaborating with Elvis Costello and the over-produced FLOWERS IN THE DIRT featured some of his best material since the mid seventies.
1997 would see the release of the fine FLAMING PIE album but it was really the double shot of DRIVING RAIN and CHAOS AND CREATION IN THE BACK YARD that would find Paul making his best music since RAM.
Paul's new album is due out next month and I am curious to see if he continue the creative winning streak he has been on in the past five years.

Then there is the other story. Since the late sixties Paul has been involved in a number of lesser known, more abstract and less commercial ventures. These include the Percy Thrillington alter ego and the stunning ambient group Fireman. Throw some slabs of avant garde feedback experiments, art installations and Yoko Ono collaborations and the 'cute one' is a lot more interesting than the casual fan might be aware of.
I highly recommend the fine book, THE UNKNOWN PAUL McCARTNEY, as an introduction and guide to Paul's fascinating side and hidden projects. Also the incredible RUSHES album by Fireman (McCartney and Killing Joke's Youth) which contains some of the best ambient music ever recorded.

No word yet on what albums will be included in the reissue campaign or what bonus tracks we might expect. Bootleg collectors will know that their are dozens of albums worth of outtakes, unreleased tracks and other studio nuggets that could be unleashed. It would be nice to see an ambitious campaign that would really try to put this incredible career in context culturally and artistically and not just a simple remastered albums program.

Here is one of Paul's greatest songs from that first album back in 1970, as a reminder that there has been life after The Beatles.

Bebe Buell

To a lot of younger people she is probably best known as Liv Tyler's mom (not a bad thing to be known for) but Bebe Buell has had a fascinating life that has included time with some of the most famous rock musicians in history.
I just recently discovered Bebe's fantastic website and wanted to recommend it. It contains hundreds of vintage photos of her, Liv and many of the Seventies best rock icons ranging from David Bowie to Blondie to Stiv Bators. Also on the site are various articles, interviews, music recommendations, Bebe's own music, links and more. It's a really cool site with lots of surprises on it.
The site is located at

http://www.bebe-buell.com/

It's a good way to pass an afternoon.

I've been fascinated with Bebe for awhile and her autobiography REBEL HEART is an interesting insiders look at seventies and eighties rock music. Bebe's talented, has a cool daughter and inspired Elvis Costello to write some of the greatest songs ever written. Give her site a visit and check out her book if you haven't read it.

Trust Tom Snyder and Elvis Costello

I remember a great old Rolling Stone interview with Lou Reed around 77 where he is driving around New York with a journalist listening to The Sex Pistols NEVER MIND THE BULLOCKS, and he's lamenting the fact that the British Punk scene had only ripped off the New York sound but not the intelligence. It's a classic Lou moment that was quite perceptive although I am sure he said it before the first Elvis Costello album landed in the fall of that same year.
One of my favorite Tom Snyder interviews, thankfully preserved on Shout Factory's excellent Tomorrow Show Punk and New Wave collection, is when he sat down for a talk with Elvis Costello for the release of his TRUST album in 1981.
Costello was sandwiched between the odd combination of a clean-television rights activist and the great Frank Capra when he came out and performed a bruising and beautiful NEW LACE SLEEVES, one of the great songs off the undervalued TRUST. Snyder's moments with John Lydon, The Plasmatics and a bloody Iggy Pop might have made for better television, but the Costello interview provided American audiences with one of their first viewings of the man behind one of the most fierce and uncompromising persona's in rock history.
The talk revolves around Costello's time as a Computer operator, battles with record company executives, his lyrical influences (Snyder is obviously impressed by his mentioning Cole Porter and Lorenzo Hart), his father and his infamous Saturday Night Live appearance. Not brought up was the ugly Ray Charles incident that had damaged Costello's career in the late seventies. Snyder was right not to approach it as the issue had bean beaten to death and mostly resolved by February of 1981.
Both Costello and Snyder come across as well spoken intelligent men with sharp sense of humors. There is something so unrehearsed and fresh about this interview, and indeed all of Snyder's interviews, that is sadly lacking from most of today's talk shows. It's to both men's credit that the talk doesn't disintegrate into the combative nature of something like Snyder's interview with Paul Weller (a talk that seemed to bring out the worst in both men) or the infamous Lydon talk.
After the interview Costello would perform the astonishing WATCH YOUR STEP, also on TRUST, and Frank Capra is brought out. Costello's record company was so impressed with the interview that they released a rare promo vinyl copy of it backed with the studio version of WATCH YOUR STEP. An autographed copy is currently up on Ebay and it makes me wish I had 150.00 to spare as it is one of the only Costello records not in my collection. It looks like a great souvenir documenting a nice moment between two individuals who were the best at what they did. I thought of Costello yesterday when I heard the news that Snyder had passed away, and I wonder if the great man sent a clever spiritual quip to the one of the first journalists who bothered looking through his angry persona.

Dust Off Those Grooves (Chapter 15) Wendy James' Now Ain't The Time For Your Tears

I love Rock and Roll. I adore it and will for the rest of my life. The best Rock and Roll exhilarates me, it speaks to me, it makes me cry, it says things to me about my life that not a lot of art can. But despite all of this, I am the first person to admit that there is at times something near ridiculous about Rock that very few artists can ever truly escape from. Elvis isn't ridiculous, neither are the Beatles. Dylan, Lou Reed, Pere Ubu, The Clash...these are just a handful of artists (among several others) who have escaped it. Only The Beatles could make a song as slight as SHE LOVES YOU into something truly transcending where as anyone else doing it would just sound completely trite.
The problem with a lot of Rock and Roll is that most artist don't understand how joyously funny it can all be. Some like Frank Zappa take it too far and ultimately seem to sacrifice their initial love in favor of poking fun at a very powerful art form. Others like The Sex Pistols seem to initially understand the sheer inanity of much of it but also seem to fall quickly into a very cynical and dark trap that they can't escape. Others, whether it is Rick Wakeman performing a rock opera on ice or Tom Verlaine talking Paul Verlaine, not only don't get the joke but don't even seem to comprehend that there might be one in question...which isn't to take away from Rick Wakeman or Tom Verlaine as they are brilliant in their own ways but they could never reach the power of someone like Elvis or The Beatles who could understand that a line like, "Yea, Yea, Yea" could be funny as well as groundbreaking.
So what does all of this have to do with one Wendy James? Well for me Wendy James has always been a rare breed, someone who understands the sheer ridiculousness at the heart of even the greatest rock and roll but is also someone who has always been totally in love with it.

James appeared in the mid eighties fronting a British Band called Transvision Vamp. They were a brief sensation and scored several charting hits but their three albums were all a bit hit and miss and rarely scored points with the critics. At the heart of Transvision Vamp, and especially Wendy James, was a real love affair with Rock and Roll and a real embracing of everything inane and ridiculous about it. Coming out of the late Post Punk movement when everything suddenly felt strange and inane, Transvision Vamp gleefully stole licks from everyone from Lou Reed to Serge Gainsbourg. Wendy would casually lift famous lines, play an ultimate pin-up model on their sleeves, and sing songs like BORN TO BE SOLD and BACK ON MY KNEES again in one of the most distinctive British voices of the eighties. Their live shows were particularly chaotic, and quite brilliant at times, when they shrugged off much of their lps slick production. In their great moments such as the terrifying PAY THE GHOSTS or the epic VELVETEEN (in which Wendy successfully channels not only Hazelwood and Sinatra but also Gainsbourg and Birkin) Transvision Vamp were a fine band who deserved much higher marks than the critics gave them.
Transvision Vamp broke up in the early nineties, shortly after their middle finger waving LITTLE MAGNETS VERSUS THE BUBBLE OF BABBLE album, and they disappeared from sight. They should have waited a bit as Brit Pop, and the acceptance of bands like the brilliant Elastica and the ferociously literate Sleeper, was just a few years away. Even Kurt Cobain admired Wendy and one of his most sublime moments was proudly wearing a Transvision Vamp shirt on a live MTV program shortly before his death.
Which almost brings us to the album I am paying tribute to here. After Transvision Vamp broke up, Wendy found herself feeling a bit lost and more than a bit depressed, so she did what any down and out Rock Star with nothing to lose would do...she sat down and wrote a long personal letter to one of her idols, a Mr. Elvis Costello and asked him to write a couple of songs for her.
Costello would say of the letter and the call afterwards:
"My wife and I got a phone call and wound up writing ten songs for this girl, Wendy James of the pop-punk group Transvision Vamp. Not one -- ten. We just had a weekend to spare, so we wrote ten. I said: 'If we don't finish by Sunday, forget it. It's got to be quick, like a Tin Pan Alley job.' I always said I could write pop songs to order, and then somebody said prove it. And I did."
So in an audacious move, on not only Wendy James part but also Costello's, a full album's worth of songs was handed to James to record. It should also be added that these weren't just any songs, but these were the tracks that so many fans and critics of Costello had been pleading for him to write, as they sound like a very direct continuation to his early MY AIM IS TRUE and THIS YEAR'S MODEL records. Only someone as brave and who possesses as much genius as Costello would dare give songs this quick witted and solid away...for the record I would like to point out in my eyes that Costello has only improved with age, and that people who have refused to follow his journey have missed out on many of the most remarkable records of the last twenty years.

To get back on track here, after Costello handed James the songs she then went so far as to hire Attraction Pete Thomas to play on the Chris Kimsey produced album. Stepping into the studio to cut the ten jewells Costello and Cait O'Riordan had given her must have been extraordinary for James and it is such a shame in hindsight that so few were listening.
NOW AIN'T THE TIME FOR YOUR TEARS isn't perfect. It has always sounded under produced to me and I have always thought a thorough remixing and remastering would do it wonders. Coming through loud and clear though on some of Costello's simplest but most brilliant lyrics is a confident James who gives the songs something really special, sounding like what you would imagine Jean Shrimpton would sing like fronting The Clash, James is consistently brilliant throughout the recording, even when the production lets her very much down.
The recorded in France album kicks off with one of the most explosive songs Costello had written since the ARMED FORCES era, the corrosive and exciting THIS IS A TEST. James sounds near possessed with something to prove even though the sound is too small. Even better is the blazing follow up, the stunning LONDON'S BRILLIANT, which surely ranks amongst the finest Costello lyrics of the nineties. Has their ever been lines that summed up London after punk like, "Still digging up the bones of Strummer and Jones" and "With a bite and a bark, he tried to make his mark. Now he's getting fucked silly somewhere in Piccadilly." James gives a winningly exhausted sounding performance on this track and it remains one of the real highlights of her career, a sad and spirited lament to having been born just past all the greatness.
Another favorite follows with the haunting BASEMENT KISS. I have seen some criticise James' voice on this track but I guess these people have forgotten what all of their Marianne Faithfull and France Gall records from the Sixties sounded like. The track is a brilliant backwards looking ode to to London in the Sixties that sounds like the soundtrack to an imaginary Ken Loach film starring Carol White.
PUPPET GIRL is probably the most famous track on the album, as Costello himself would perform pulverising live versions of it with The Attractions on their historic BRUTAL YOUTH tour. I saw one of these shows and this song was a real highlight. It returns Wendy to her most perverse Transvision Vamp days, as it sounds very much like she is singing about what many of her underestimating critics made her out to be. Costello seems very much in on the joke and the line " We'll ruin your reputation on the day you breakaway and try to cut your string" is truly prophetic, and quite touching coming out of Wendy James mouth.
EARTHBOUND is another track let down a bit by the producer but James still gives it all she's got, although this track was capable of shaking the speakers. DO YOU KNOW WHAT I'M SAYING joins BASEMENT KISS as the album's more striking ballad and it is followed by the brutal and fascinating WE DESPISE YOU.
WE DESPISE YOU sounds like a BLOOD AND CHOCOLATE outtake and that's a major compliment. Wendy sounds totally convincing in her rage here and it features some of Costello's most cutting lines since TOKYO STORM WARNING. The lines "When I don't fall at your feet, too old to be frightened and too scared to tell the truth. You lie in your teenage anguish but you can no longer blame it on your youth" is vintage Elvis and it very much reminds me of The Clash's final single, the chilling THIS IS ENGLAND, in which Joe Strummer laments, "I got my motorcycle jacket but I'm walking all the time."
FILL IN THE BLANKS is another exciting track marked by a great James lead vocal and a slightly disappointing backing track. It does manage to pull out the astonishing line, "Adjani, Dalle and Fanny Ardant, He says, 'All those French birds give me a hard on" so it can't truly be considered a weak moment.

THE NAMELESS ONE is the only track lyrically that sounds a bit like a throw away, but musically it turns out to be one of the better sounding tracks on the lp, which probably foreshadows much of the bad luck the album would experience upon its release.
The closer is a stunner and reminds me very much of a great dramatic Bacharach and David song from the Sixties. I WANT TO STAND FOREVER sounds lyrically a bit like something Costello would deliver a few years after for his own magnificent collaboration with Bacharach, PAINTED FROM MEMORY, and it contains one of the most memorable vocals ever delivered by Wendy James. It is a fine and fitting finale to an unjustly overlooked and often maligned album.
The album was released in 1993 to just okay sales and many negative reactions. The singles would feature a series of confessional acoustic B Sides co-written by James that were incredibly striking and unlike anything else she had ever delivered. The album would have a brief and delayed Stateside release a bit later but it fell on mostly deaf ears and quietly sank out of print.

The majority of Costello's original demos have popped up on various b-sides and bonus discs and they are all remarkable sounding. After the relative failure of the album to attract the public or critical ear, Wendy James quietly dropped out of sight. She would record another album later in the nineties but it remains unreleased. A few years ago she surprisingly re-appeared with a new band, the rough and exciting Racine and her new material shows a woman very much matured, but still in love with much of the racket of, not only hers, but all of our youths.
NOW AIN'T THE TIME FOR YOUR TEARS is a remarkable album that has unfortunately slipped under the radar for the most part. It is an essential listen for fans of Elvis Costello, Wendy James and British rock in general. Minor production quibbles aside, this album is a triumphant punk record steeped in the Sixties...and like the greatest rock and roll it is even a bit ridiculous...but sublimely so.

Dylan On The Road

Tim Lucas has posted a really interesting personal review of his first Bob Dylan show over at the always great Video Watchblog. I read this with great interest as I will soon be seeing the same tour, and I plan on posting my thoughts on it here afterwards. This will be the third time I have seen Bob and I am extremely excited about it. The first time I saw him was transcendent, while the second was disappointing mostly due to the audience so I am curious to see what this tour will bring.
Opening up is Elvis Costello, who has been transcendent each time I have seen him and I expect nothing less from him later in the week...Zimmerman and MacManus on the same bill, I am expecting my mind to be blown.

Idiot Wind

Since moving back to Kentucky about fifteen years ago one of the main points of frustration has been the lack of good concerts we get here. Inevitably I have to drive to either Nashville or Cincinnati to see a good show. Louisville does get some quality shows but they are pretty few and far between, and the gap seems to be widening. It has always struck me as odd since there are so many incredible venues, ranging from small sized clubs to larger arenas. Last night I was reminded as to why quality entertainment is becoming rarer and rarer around here, and it isn't the fault of the artists, the promoters or teh venue managers.
Here is a link to an article in yesterday's Louisville Courier Journal, written by their local music columnist. It is essentially a reminder as to the importance of both Bob Dylan and Elvis Costello. Why on earth is the local music columnist having to write this? Well, because it seems the people of the community just aren't buying tickets to see it, even though they are very reasonably priced.
So my tickets for tonight's show will probably be a lot better, because they have actually had to move the stage and remove the close to 10,000 seats they did not sell. That is a huge and depressing number, and frankly I just don't understand. It is the same feeling I got back in the early nineties when I witnessed Maureen Tucker and Sterling Morrison playing a gig in Louisville to about a dozen people.
It makes me angry at the community and a bit ashamed but it clears up why Kentucky doesn't get more quality artists. I suppose I will continue having to make the commute to either Nashville or Cincinnati, save for the what will probably become even rarer quality Louisville show.
I'm extremely excited for tonight's show but it bothers me that more people around here aren't. Bob Dylan and Elvis Costello have been two artists who have gone out of their way to not ignore Kentucky in the past, I'm not sure if that will continue after tonight's show.

Entering Their House Justified

Despite the fact that Louisville's Freedom Hall is not a good place to see a concert, last nights show with Elvis Costello and Bob Dylan was for the most part pretty spectacular.
The arena, with its uncomfortable makeshift chairs facing away from the stage, never got above half full last night even though the building was housing a show with two of the most legendary and important figures in popular music. The show began promptly at seven o'clock with Amos Lee performing a spirited opening half hour set. Lee, and his solid band, tried out a couple of new songs among some older ones and the audience that was there gave him a decent welcoming.
The night really began though when the lights dimmed and a defiant looking Elvis Costello walked out on stage and burst into a roaring THE ANGELS WANNA WEAR MY RED SHOES. The early part of Costello's set was marred by people taking their seats late, a problem I have noticed becoming more and more apparent with each show I attend. It just seemed to fuel Costello's fire as the great man put on a spitting, angry and politically charged set which also included a couple of new songs.

Highlights of Costello's solo set included a stunning rendition of BLOOD AND CHOCOLATE'S searing UNCOMPLICATED and a surprising performance of GET HAPPY'S NEW AMSTERDAM (with a little of The Beatles YOU'VE GOT TO HIDE YOUR LOVE AWAY thrown in for good measure). Costello chatter in between songs shows a man clearly infused with lot of rage at the war in Iraq and the country's political situation in general. He mentioned his renewed political passion had come with the arrival of his new children, who were backstage with wife Diana Krall, and bragged that as they were American born they could one day become President and Vice President.
Costello is frankly astonishing live and his vocal power and sharp guitar work clearly floored many in the audience. Probably the night's most moving moment came on the more recent EITHER SIDE OF THE SAME TOWN, which seemed to send a trickle of chills throughout the entire room. Costello ended his stand with his COLD MOUNTAIN contribution SCARLET TIDE, and the song's clear anti-war message rang through with Elvis' impassioned performance. A well deserved standing ovation was given as the great man stomped off the stage.
Not many people could follow someone like Elvis Costello, but Bob Dylan is certainly one of them. Taking the stage just past eight thirty, Dylan (dressed in black and frankly looking more bad ass than he has in years) came on stage with his band and without a word of introduction sprang into a sloppy and rollicking LEOPARD-SKIN PILL-BOX HAT. The, maybe about Edie Sedgwick, song from BLONDE ON BLONDE was the perfect opening for the gloriously fiery set Dylan was about to deliver and it merged perfectly into a spirited DON'T THINK TWICE IT'S ALL RIGHT. Dylan, swinging an electric ax, sounded vocally rougher than usual at first but he improved as the impassioned performance went on.
After WATCHING THE RIVER FLOW, Dylan left stage front and moved back to his keyboards and delivered one of the highlights of the evening, a menacing and slightly extended LOVE SICK. His band was really smoking on this track and throughout the night they were really extraordinary, with special note going to the fret work of Denny Freeman and the stomping percussive stylings of George Recile. LOVE SICK gave way to a fun rendition of ROLLING AND TUMBLIN', a song that the band clearly love playing. A double shot of SPIRIT ON THE WATER and HIGH WATER followed before one of the evening's major highlights, a moving take of MODERN TIMES'S WORKINGMAN'S BLUES #2.
Dylan's heartfelt performance of WORKINGMAN'S BLUES was chilling and put tears in my eyes, with the final lines "Some people never worked a day in their life,
Don't know what work even means" hitting like an little emotional bulldozer to the already captivated audience. Even better was the follow up, a brutal and long version of THINGS HAVE CHANGED. Recile's drumming was particularly effective on this song and the band just smoked on Dylan's terrifying lament (and tribute) on not caring anymore. The evening's most pulverising moment came after with a gut wrenching reading of THE LONESOME DEATH OF HATTIE CARROLL. It's hard to imagine anyone injecting more feeling into a song than Dylan did last night when he seemed to put it all on the line with:
"Hattie Carroll was a maid of the kitchen.
She was fifty-one years old and gave birth to ten children
Who carried the dishes and took out the garbage
And never sat once at the head of the table
And didn't even talk to the people at the table
Who just cleaned up all the food from the table
And emptied the ashtrays on a whole other level,
Got killed by a blow, lay slain by a cane
That sailed through the air and came down through the room,
Doomed and determined to destroy all the gentle."
The effect was pulverising and its a moment I'll not soon forget...

Something special had to follow up HATTIE CARROLL and Dylan didn't disappoint as the opening chords of HIGHWAY 61 REVISITED started rippling through the room. Dylan's frantic take was astounding, and he still manages to make the song sound as fresh and invigorating as the original. The eerie AIN'T TALKIN' followed which quickly gave way to the awesome SUMMER DAYS, which again showed the band as a totally together unit. The set ended with a strangely mumbled but incredibly effective version of the searing MASTER'S OF WAR. This performance, added on with Costello's opening, made this one of the most overtly angry and political shows I have seen in a long time.
As MASTER'S OF WAR came to a close, Dylan and his band silently left the stage to another full standing ovation. After a few minutes the band returned for a short but powerful encore of THUNDER ON THE MOUNTAIN and a slowed down, slightly menacing take of LIKE A ROLLING STONE. The band and Dylan then grouped together at the front of the stage and after a few waves exited and never re-appeared.
This was my third Dylan show and it was one of the best. He looked fantastic and seemed like he was in good physical shape. Whether it was Costello opening that fired him up so much, or something else, I don't know, but Bob Dylan seemed about half his age last night and could have blown almost anyone off the stage. His band was great and, despite a small crowd and bad venue, this was one of the best shows I have seen in a while. I would have loved to have seen Dylan and Costello play together but since I didn't expect it, I wasn't disappointed. Frankly just having the two of them in the same building was enough to make the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

Throughout last night's show, many thoughts of Dylan's career ran through my head. One that I kept returning to was his character Alias in Peckinpah's PAT GARRETT AND BILLY THE KID. Why that mysterious character kept popping into my head last night I don't know, but as the small and slightly hunched over man walked off the stage I thought of a moment in Peckinpah's masterful film. That moment when James Coburn's Garrett sadly tells Kris Kristoferson's Billy, "It feels like times have changed." to which Billy responds with a pointed and defiant, "Times maybe...but not me."

20 Albums By Elvis Costello For My Desert Island Hut

Tonight at Nashville’s historic Ryman Theater I will have the pleasure of seeing Elvis Costello live again. I have seen Elvis perform several times in the past fifteen years and each show has been among the best I have ever witnessed, so I don’t expect tonight’s to be a let down.
With the exception of Lou Reed (whom, amazingly enough I am seeing at The Ryman next week) no songwriter has meant more to me than Costello. Since it had been awhile since I have attempted any kind of ‘best of’ list here I thought I would offer up a personal guide to the albums of Elvis Costello. It was harder than I thought because frankly I like my least favorite Elvis Costello albums more than my favorites by most other artists and, as with any list, I will change my mind about the order of some selections immediately after posting.
I’m making this a ‘Top Twenty’ list so a couple fell by the wayside and obviously I’m not including any compilations or live records…enjoy and feel free to argue or agree with any of my choices. I’m also including two favorite tracks off each record, which in some cases was harder than selecting the album order.

1. Imperial Bedroom (1982): My favorite album by just about anyone. Costello’s stunning masterpiece stands alongside such towering works as Pet Sounds, What’s Going On and Low as being an album I can’t imagine a record collection without.
Favorite Tracks: The whole damn album but if I had to pick, then "Beyond Belief" and "Man Out Of Time".


2. Blood And Chocolate (1986): Searing and often surprisingly overlooked mid-career work that finds Elvis at his most biting. The Attractions sound positively possessed on this album.
Favorite Tracks: “I Want You”, “Tokyo Storm Warning”


3. This Year’s Model (1978): The Attractions debut is still one of the most
ferocious and brilliant rock albums ever recorded.
Costello’s most famous lyrics here still have enough punch to put even the most jaded listeners in the E.R.
Favorite Tracks: “(I Don’t Want To Go To) Chelsea”, “Lipstick Vogue”


4. Painted From Memory (1998): The controversial Bacharach collaboration is rarely off my cd player. Both legends deliver some of their finest work here to pulverising effect. I absolutely adore this album...
Favorite Tracks: "The House Is Empty Now", "God Give Me Strength"


5. Armed Forces (1979): The massive third album and the second with The Attractions, who are by this point pretty much the greatest backing band ever. I love the rumored original title for this one...Emotional Fascism.
Favorite Tracks: "Accidents Will Happen", "Party Girl"


6. When I Was Cruel (2002): This was such an overwhelming album when it came out just a bit past five years ago and it still gives me chills every time I hear it. A stunning achievement that keeps improving with age.
Favorite Tracks: "When I Was Cruel No. 2", "Alibi"


7. Mighty Like A Rose (1991): I'll never understand the hostile reception this album got. Beautifully written, played and featuring some of the greatest songs from one of the most vulnerable periods of his career.
Favorite Tracks: "So Like Candy", "Couldn't Call It Unexpected No. 4"


8. Trust (1981): I suppose in hindsight it was the first Attractions album that was flawed, but I love those flaws and I find myself playing it more than most of the other early albums.
Favorite Tracks: "Clubland", "Big Sisters Clothes"


9. Punch The Clock (1983): I know it's overproduced but production be damned...this album has some of his greatest and most joyously subversive songs on it. Plus, it's hands down my favorite album cover in his catalogue although its got some pretty rough competition.
Favorite Tracks: "Shipbuilding", "Charm School"


10. King Of America (1986): Backed by Elvis Presley's TCB band, this album stands as possibly his bravest. Add on to that the great songs and inspired work by everyone involved and you've got a track for track masterpiece.
Favorite Tracks: "Brilliant Mistake", "Indoor Fireworks"


11. My Aim Is True (1977): What? The brilliant debut album not in the top ten? Blame it on the disappointing playing here by future Huey Lewis members as all of the songs are truly legendary.
Favorite Tracks: "Mystery Dance", "I'm Not Angry"


12. Brutal Youth (1994): The Attractions return with this inspired and diverse collection of songs. This tour was the first time I saw Elvis and the show remains one of the major highlights of my gig going life.
Favorite Tracks: "Kinder Murder", "Rocking Horse Road"


13. The Delivery Man (2004): Bruising Americana played like he and his band are coming off a three day bender. It's hard to imagine many more artists nearing fifty delivering an album this raw, twisted and vibrant.
Favorite Tracks: "Either Side Of The Same Town", "The Delivery Man"


14. Get Happy (1980): It took me a long time to warm to this album but its rewards are numerous. The sound of a man clearly in trouble paying tribute to some of the most joyous music of his youth...a party record made by someone just over the edge.
Favorite Tracks: "New Amsterdam", "Riot Act"


15. All This Useless Beauty (1996): Has an album of leftovers ever sounded so alive? Killer stuff here only hurt when one hears some of the songs left off like "Almost Idea Eyes".
Favorite Tracks: "Complicated Shadows", "Distorted Angel"


16. Spike (1989): Could use with some cutting but still one can't deny the power of Costello's most commercially successful project, at least here in the States.
Favorite Tracks: "Deep Dark Truthful Mirror", "God's Comic"


17. Goodbye Cruel World (1984): "Thanks for buying my worst album"...no problem Elvis, it's actually a pleasure if you can ignore the bad eighties production times 100 and a couple of off tracks...the bonus disc on the reissue is among the most essential in his collection as it shows how great many of these songs were before the dreaded team of Langer and Winstanley nearly destroyed them.
Favorite Tracks: "Worthless Thing", "Love Field"


18. North (2003): I've always had trouble warming to to this near oppressively quiet album. Still, it is ultimately a rewarding if very demanding experience.
Favorite Tracks: "Still", "I'm In The Mood Again"


19. The River In Reverse (2006): I'll be honest and say that I simply haven't played this one enough so it very well might rank higher for me one day.
Favorite Tracks: "The River In Reverse", "Broken Promise Land"


20. Almost Blue (1981): Still a disappointing listen but damn you gotta love the sheer nerve of the guy. Here he is essentially still known as a British punker travelling to Nashville to record an album of drunken country classics...what could be more punk than that?
Favorite Tracks: "Tonight The Bottle Let Me Down", "Too Far Gone"

Limited to twenty, I am forced to leave out works like The Juliet Letters and The Kojak Variety as well as intriguing collections like G.B.H. and Cruel Smile. Costello's newest album, Momofuku, is getting ready to land and I can't wait to hear it.
I'll be posting a full report of tonight's show later this week.

Elvis Costello At The Ryman (The Last Of The Good Old Fashioned Steam Powered Trains)

Elvis Costello’s performance at Nashville’s historic Ryman Auditorium last night was one of the most powerful and strangest gigs I have ever seen…a mesmerizing high wire act that had a blazing Costello powering through a two hour plus performance of songs covering his entire career as well as pretty much his entire new album.
I’ve seen a lot of shows where artists seem almost hesitant about debuting new material but Costello dove into his fresh album last night with a ferocious confidence that I know probably left a lot of the near capacity audience stunned, but which I found positively thrilling.
I haven’t been able to get the, as of right now, vinyl exclusive Momofuku but if last night’s presentation of the songs off of it are any sign then the album will end up as one of Costello’s classics…savagely raw, subversive and sonically jam like at times, the new songs are go for the throat stunners with special note going to the furious and lengthy tracks “Turpentine” and “Go Away” as well as The Kinks “Something Else” era sounding “Harry Worth” and “Mr. Feathers”. After hearing Costello and The Imposters roar through these tracks last night, the new album is at the top of my must buy list.
The gig itself started out with a spirited and well played mostly acoustic opening set from June Carter Cash’s daughter Carlene. I’m certainly not an authority on modern country music, but Carter is clearly incredibly talented and her opening set consisting of songs from her new album as well as older tracks by herself and her family was very engaging and at times quite moving. She shared quite a few stories concerning her family and her own personal problems she has been having and she came across as a very genuine and honest person…it was a very enjoyable opening set that lasted just past the fifty minute mark.
Costello’s set and his whopping three encores was played with such a wild abandon that I am actually having trouble remembering everything he played. I am looking forward to seeing the final set list but highlights that have stuck with me were two tracks off Imperial Bedroom, “Beyond Belief” and “Man Out Of Time”, the surprising choices “Clown Strike” and “Indoor Fireworks” and an angry reading of “The River In Reverse” which was downright savage in its delivery.
Fan favorites ranging from “Pump It Up” (actually someone at the Elvis Costello Forum which is linked to the right was nice enough to point out this was a lapse in my memory as it was "Radio, Radio" and not "Pump It Up" that was played...sorry about the error, this was an overwhelming show) “Alison” to “What’s So Funny about Peace Love and Understanding” were also played to great effect and snatches of The Jam’s “In The City” and The Who’s “The Kids Are Alright” were heard as well, which made me feel like I was getting a neat listen as to what songs were rushing through Costello’s consciousness as he was pounding out this bruising set.
The highlight of the main set before the encores was a lovely reading of The Velvet Undergrounds “Femme Fatale” which garnered a standing ovation and shouts of “Lou!!!” from much of the audience. Seeing Costello perform a track by my other favorite songwriting was downright haunting and I’ll not forget it anytime soon.
The encores are where things got really intense. Joining Costello and The Imposters on stage were Farmer Dave Scher from Beachwood Sparks on Steel Guitar and California guitar players Johnathan Rice and Jonathan Wilson. These three players added an intense cosmic hippie vibe to the evening that Costello was clearly getting a kick out of and the sound this band along with The Imposters made proved absolutely massive, with “Turpentine” feeling like it was going to make The Ryman collapse in on itself. Of all of Costello’s musical influences, the ones that are most rarely mentioned are the many free form Psychedelic groups from the mid sixties to the early seventies who inspired him (Costello did after all include several Grateful Dead albums and Jefferson Airplane’s searing Crown Of Creation on his list of essential works a few years back) and seeing him on stage with these younger musicians really brought that part of him out and it was mind-blowing to watch…


I am a bit exhausted from the show (so excuse the sloppier than usual writing here) and am going on just a few hours sleep but I will include the final set list here as well as review links when they start to pop up. Of the several times I have seen Costello live, this show was the most thrilling in just how daring it was. Like The Kinks “Last Of The Steam Powered Trains” (a song that kept occurring to me as I was watching this last night), this isn’t an artist who is going run out of steam anytime soon…totally reenergized and still vital, the Elvis Costello of 2008 appears to be at his absolute peak although I wouldn’t put it past him to somehow get even better.

Note: These two shots are from the Memphis gig that took place two nights ago.

The Setlist just popped up online...here it is for those interested.
01. intro
02. Stella Hurt
03. (I Don't Want to Go To (Chelsea)
04. Clown Strike
05. Wonder Woman
06. Either Side Of The Same Town
07. Everyday I Write The Book
08. Song With Rose
09. Accidents Will Happen
10. Harry Worth
11. Drum & Bone
12. Flutter & Wow
13. Femme Fatale (with Jim Lauderdale)
14. Pardon Me, Madam, My Name Is Eve
15. The River In Reverse
16. American Gangster Time
17. Beyond Belief
18. You Belong To Me
19. The Imposter
20. Radio Radio
21. My Three Sons
22. Indoor Fireworks
23. Man Out Of Time
24. No Hiding Place
25. Turpentine
26. Go Away
27. Mr. Feathers
28. Alison
29. (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love & Understanding