Elvis Costello Fan Forum

As for their merits, I come down in defence of a specific U2 period - i.e., the one from "Achtung Baby" (surely a spectacular pop album, if any is, and clearly their masterpiece), "Zooropa," and "Pop." Those three records seem to me to leaven the bombast with a good do...

U2 are funny--for being one of the biggest bands on Planet Earth, I think I've met one person other than myself who likes them. That the remainder not only doesn't like them but seems to reserve epic volumes of hatred for them does make me wonder on occasion who exactly all these people are who are ...

I prefer SP&S by some distance. National Ransom has a couple decent tracks, and I have really tried to let it grow on me, but it just won't. It has a nice buried spot on my CD rack next to il Songno. Wow, such different perceptions. I thought 'Ransom' was, front-to-back, Elvis's most appealing ...

I really liked the version of "All I Gotta Do" that he played a while back. I'd shell for a studio version of that.

In 2012 it will be 35 years since the release of his first album. Maybe it's the right time for a retrospective box or a new Best Of? Apologies if this is common knowledge here, but has there been any talk of further installments of the "Costello Show" live series? As archival stuff goes,...

I've not noticed anything particularly muddy about National Ransom - but I haven't listened to it for quite a while. And I forgot to mention how much I like the sound of Get Happy - echoey, bouncy, warm - and I love the shouty, unhinged vocals on many of the tracks. The rock tracks have kind of a s...

It's a lovely song; those KOA acoustic demos make a great little album on their own. Beautifully intimate. I've also got a soft spot for that Johnny Cash-ish take on "I Hope You're Happy Now."

Least faves are the Langer/WInstanley albums. Such a shame that their production, which had provided HUGE hits for Dexy's and Madness, just didn't pay off for Elvis. This was his last chance for mass appeal, and it just didn't work. His incredibly idiosyncratic voice just doesn't sit well among tho...

I've always liked Costello's self-harmonizing. Like Waits and Dylan, he has a distinct timbre to his voice that can make it difficult for harmony singers to lock in with him; he either overpowers them or they sound like they're just singing an independent melody on a different sonic wavelength, prod...