Elvis Costello Fan Forum

I don't understand why the whistling is controversial. I find that sort of reaction very constipated. "Oh no, he's doing something that's not 'cool!'" The whistling works perfectly both as a tribute to an era where whistling was an option in song (a norm for some reason abandoned), and as ...

That review is intelligent, but I'm somewhat irked by it. This is a long album ('double album'). Some 'filler' is almost a necessity - you need light fare to go with the plover's eggs. The only real duds on here for me are the title track, 'Stations of the Cross' - neither meant as filler - and 'The...

Ypsilanti, one must tread on egg shells around you- the key word is possible. If you reread the post referred to by Alexv he simply notes that one might give a psychological reading to the lyric that works off a Jimmie/EC dynamic. Within the New Yorker profile EC as much as acknowledges that his ca...

Splendid analysis, Chris. Glad to hear that you weren't arguing for 'Five Small Words' as a truly major composition. As for 'Jimmie,' you are absolutely right to identify this as a great song - one of the very finest songs of EC's entire career. I'll merely add that I believe Jimmie just might be me...

"Five Small Words" Elvis Costello Maybe you'll recognize in time Maybe one day you will discover All the pain that lies behind You and your unfortunate love Somebody might be more Unsuitable and strange With eyes that offer everything And are capable of danger My mind turns over lies you ...

i'm with you--costello and krall christmas. with some they've/he's/she's written, and her doing joni mitchell's river (a la spectacle performance, and which is already full of ice and winter and a minor key quotation of "jingle bells"), etc. i think it could be seriously good and beautifu...

I didn't like SP & S at first. But when, after a while, I returned to the second half of that CD, I suddenly 'got' what EC was doing with those historically-minded story songs, and I remember posting somewhere on here that I felt Elvis, building on the hints contained in TDL, had discovered a po...

Well, nursery rhyme is part of the folk tradition of making music out of 'found' elements. Just look at Froggie Went a-Courtin with its unsettling reflections on predation inserted in the midst of Wind in the Willows -type whimsy. I loved 'Dr Watson' from the get-go - perhaps because I have enough o...

Got my CD today finally via amazon.com I've given it a couple spins and can't say that I'm fond of it. Kinda bummed. I'll give it more time, but nothing stands out and grabs me. Anyone else have a similar letdown? Well, no :lol: And for the record, I'm not one of those who automatically buys into w...

I just got the album yesterday and I've listened to the first 10 songs twice - haven't got to the rest yet. A couple of tracks leave me cold (the title track, Stations of the Cross) but all I can say is: HOLY MACKAREL. This is it ! - this is Elvis at his absolute, breathtaking, heart-catching peak. ...

That photo is really great, but the key to its appeal is his weight loss - for the first time I can remember, he really does look exactly like the 50-year-old incarnation of the 20-year-old spindly kid from the cover of My Aim Is True . Elvis is at a very interesting juncture in his career. He seems...

I'm not into vinyl, mostly for reasons of pocketbook - I do think much was lost as well as gained in the lurch to CDs and beyond - but I'd actually defend the shorter running-times of the albums of yesteryear. There is something to said for the contraint imposed upon artists by the old-time limits o...

PD, most perceptive, particularly as you have picked up on my genetic distaste for bluegrass[and Polka for that matter, although I think there is little danger that EC will venture into that genre]. That aside will go with a winning percentage of 2 out of 3 or .633[pardon my numbers but I am so rap...

"Almost Blue" is that important song for me. However over the years I have come to feel that EC has veered from his original intent as a songwriter. The lines have expanded to bloat; the subjects have become more remote and artificially crafted and impersonal and have lost a great deal of...

Well, I find those 'interviews' to be a lark. An 'independent Catholic journal' called 'The Inquisitor' - :lol: There certainly are tobacconists in Canada, even in health-crazy Vancouver, whose environs both EC and I inhabit. I suspect it was just a whimsically Victorian reference, though. :wink: As...

The real question is...where does Elvis get his clothes, and how much does he pay for them?

Both very good works, just different. IB is rarely in my rotation these days though, vs. KOA, especially the 2-disc version of KOA has a LOT more to offer than IB's fairly similar group of songs and explores far more than just folk (elements of New Orleans jazz, some blues, folk and country, yes, b...

Well, I like IB. It contains two of his very finest moments in 'Beyond Belief' and 'Almost Blue' - the former being something akin to his 'Strawberry Fields Forever,' inasmuch as it represents a fascinating kind of musical tone poem totally unlike anything else, the latter possibly being his most po...

Christopher, I think you're too hard on McCartney - at least, if we just focus on his Beatles stuff. Even his sillier songs with the Beatles show what Ian MacDonald called 'an exuberant interest in life, dispersing self-absorption.' Take Lovely Rita Meter Maid, When I'm 64, Honey Pie, or even Anothe...

Sorry if this has already been mentioned, but I noticed this on Nick Lowe's website: http://www.nicklowe.net/tourdates.php On 10/01/2010 at The Great American Music Hall in San Francisco, Nick Lowe and EC with apparently play each others' repetoire. If there was ever a case for a live recording, it'...

Hmmm. Not to dump on anybody's beloved treasures, but that song, like several on ATUB, always left me somewhat cold. I agree that the "ribbon" line is great, as is the whole first verse and chorus, but the second verse always struck me as pretentious. Whenever you get lyrics, especially e...

I think that from a lyrical stand point I would say that Shipbuilding might just be his best song or something off of ATUB like Poor Fractured Atlas, the reason Atlas is just such a beautiful song while being mysterious, it has character, it's playable, intelligent, emotion filled, and not to menti...

Bizarre as it sounds, I just might have to pick the Christy Moore version of 'The Deportees Club.' Truly, a neglected and incontestable masterpiece. In terms of EC's own recordings of his songs, I always favoured 'Suit of Lights.' What a devastating expression of contempt for the culture of mass med...

Interesting thread. I always felt that 'Trust' was a very underrated album - one of those records that would be considered the high point of most other artists' careers. What I like most about it musically is that it's basically a very confident pop record in the vein of the later Beatles: informed ...

EC is right about 'Yes It Is.' A killer song, with subtly unhinged lyrics, that is simultaneusly gentle, and yet explosive in the middle eight. And he is right about the indisputable greatness of The Beatles...but of course everyone here knows that. I've always thought EC's most defining trick as a ...