The Elvis Costello album-by-album thread, part 2

this was vaunted as a 'return to form' for Elvis at the time, and i did see him on this tour (which was great); I seem to remember this album got a lot of comparisons to 'this year's model' though this record recalls 'blood and chocolate' more to me. but the point of both comparisons is that this album hearkens to those records; ie: this record seems like an 'apology' record for people turned off by the bacharach and van otter and brodskey stuff. It's not the most startlingly original Elvis record and in fact, I can't really listen to it now. It's not bad, but everything sounds a bit warmed over and there's really a sense of 'been there done that' about the whole thing.

 

Both of these albums are what brought me back to listening to Elvis after the Bacharach episode (I still can't listen to that one!). The album proper and it's companion disc have some of Elvis' best writing, and performing, in many years (he has that reputation for not being much of an instrumentalist, but his guitar playing on this album is some of his best in a rock context). I even liked the cover! Great, great album. Alibi is so vicious, so classic Elvis!

 

EC's When I Was Cruel is one of my all-time favorite records of his. My favorite of his this decade. I really like Episode of Blonde. And just about everything else.

 

The best EC show I've ever seen was on this tour in Boston. "Episode Of Blonde" was so exciting live. I was still buzzing from this show days later.

A lot of the bass on this record sound a bit hot to me, which only slightly bugs me.

I went for the UK single disc (had to have "Oh Well" and the video of "When I Was Cruel No. 2" - that video is not on the U.S. edition, is it?) and the Japanese Cruel Smile (had to have the acoustic "Tart"). Picked up the vinyl, too.

The U.S. edition of Cruel Smile also has a video for "45". The U.K. CD single for "45" has an alternate video for the same song.

When EC toured ahead of this album he played "Soul For Hire" and "Oh Well" back to back. I believe both were supposed to be in some film but didn't make it.

Cool little sounds all over this record. Even songs that may not seem all that gripping are fun to hear. Still, playing "Dissolve" now, I remember skipping past it on previous plays.

I'd love for EC to someday put out the live solo treatment he gave "Alibi" when it was a new song. I like the one here, too, but it's a little different.

"Radio Silence" reminds me of EC's "My Dark Life". Great album.

 

The all-ballads North from 2003 seems to be one of the more divisive albums in the Costello catalog.



1. You Left Me In The Dark (3:28)
2. Someone Took The Words Away (4:35)
3. When Did I Stop Dreaming? (5:21)
4. You Turned To Me (2:30)
5. Fallen (3:11)
6. When It Sings (3:55)
7. Still (2:24)
8. Let Me Tell You About Her (4:22)
9. Can You Be True? (3:45)
10. When Green Eyes Turn Blue (4:16)
11. I'm In The Mood Again (2:35)

The package included a code to download the non-album title track.

The UK CD (and maybe some other markets?) adds the bonus track "Impatience." The Japanese CD includes both "Impatience" and "Too Blue." Neither track has been released in the US.

A 5.1 mix of the album is available on SACD.

 

this is the point where I stopped being a costello completist; something about the whole concept just turned me off and I never bought it. I've heard it since and it's.....really dull, any charm that the bacharach collabs had didn't seem present.

 

this is another good album in Elvis' recent hot streak, so much better than the bacharach one, and it has Lee Konitz!!!

 

To me, North illustrated the limits of Costello's skills of musical impersonation. He's able to construct sophisticated songs in this kind of torchy style, but none of the songs really have the memorable and seemingly effortless melodies or lyrics of real standards. There are some nice things on the record -- the set of songs from "You Turned to Me" to "Still" is quite beautiful, I think. But too often they just seem like exercises, even if they are very personal to Costello. It's clearly an important record to him -- in a recent Uncut feature he claims this is one of his greatest achievements, even if no one else likes it.

 

Re: When I Was Cruel, I think this is quite a strong record. I like the heavy bass on some of the tracks -- I think Costello is right that Davey Faragher gives the band a bit more groove than they had with Bruce Thomas's busier playing. Costello tries some relatively way-out ideas on this record and they mostly work -- I love the crazy horn arrangements on "15 Petals," and the sample from the Italian pop record on "When I Was Cruel" (with the stray syllable of the singer's voice left in). I knew "Tart" would be good just from the title, and "Alibi" is a little tour-de-force of vocal performance. I don't think either version of "Dust" adds anything to the album, and songs like "Daddy Can I Turn This" and "My Little Blue Window" aren't much more than enjoyable throwaways, but this is still a good album -- -- one that I'm surprised people who say Costello hasn't recorded anything good since 1979 can't get into.