Elvis Costello Fan Forum

Very much immersed in poetry these days, in particular, the glorious new translation of The Divine Comedy done by Clive James. But I have found time to finish this- Soul Mining - by Daniel Lanois, his memoirs as provided by a friend to me over the holidays. Not near as muscular or atmospheric as ma...

But this sort of pricing structure combined with a cumbersome apparatus is just another example of getting "new" technology wrong. Sure, a chunk of the audience will always rip you off. But I think another, significant chunk will not do that IF they feel they're being treated fairly and no...

No tumbleweeds on my screen! I appreciate the reviews, Chris. Unfortunately your review of HH suggests that it's heavy on Springsteen's Evil Twin Bruuuuuuce!!! - the one I don't like. I might buy it anyway just to hear for myself, because when he IS on he's definitely worth heeding, but any optimism...

I'll probably buy this...

http://music.cbc.ca/#/blogs/2014/1/Firs ... High-Hopes

I swear I can hear a Tom Waits influence on some of these cuts. Strange but true. Or maybe I just hear Tom Waits everywhere (you could do worse! )

Courtest of one Mr. Parades, I am presently digging Nick Lowe's Quality Street , a seasonal treat if ever there was. The star attraction is the hilarious "Christmas at the Airport," but "I Was Born in Bethlehem" is probably a more signifcant entry into the canon of Christmas musi...

Oops- double post. Deleted this. Sorry for that - my profound insights can be found directly below

That one is on my radar for a holiday cinema visit- now more so thanks to your review even if it is a tired trope- that cast is killer 8) Harleson alone was worth the price of admission for me, in full-bore Natural Born Killers psychopath mode and inhabiting the role with unspeakable relish :mrgreen:

Out of the Furnace with Christian Bale, Casey Affleck and Woody Harrelson. An entertaining movie that brings riveting performances from Bale and Harrelson in particular (and Forest Whitakker is remarkably squirm-inducing as the archetypical weasely fat-assed small-town police chief, wearing the wor...

PD- I am so happy we have it in November. Boston is special this year as the weather has a nip to it and all the family is here. That photo is sad of me as we had not even started the meal yet and it would appear I have already consumed more than my alloted portions. Did you spot the owl perched up...

"Santa" requires nothing. Enjoy and have a warm, safe Thanksgiving holiday with your family and the great Horned owl in the neighborhood[Minerva's messenger and celebrated nicely on that Gillian Welsh album cover with David Rawlings]. Off to Boston to celebrate with mine. 8) And if Facebo...

Quality Street by Nick Lowe. My annual Christmas album purchase and this one is an unqualified winner. Funny, never winsome or mawkish, this album puts an understated swing and sweetness into the holiday album format. Sticking to the 'mature' bent of his recordings over the last decade Nick gives l...

Quality Street by Nick Lowe. My annual Christmas album purchase and this one is an unqualified winner. Funny, never winsome or mawkish, this album puts an understated swing and sweetness into the holiday album format. Sticking to the 'mature' bent of his recordings over the last decade Nick gives l...

"Live Oak" vies with Vampire Weekend's "Step" for Song of the Year in my book. Very different songs, but both absolutely outstanding. I can't add to Jack's list (I was going to nominate AC Newman's Shut Down the Streets , but a quick search reveals that it was actually released i...

Another ABBA fan here. :-) I think one of the things that attracted Elvis to ABBA was how quite often "serious" lyrics dealing with the break-up of relationships was married with upbeat, enjoyable tunes. Knowing Me, Knowing You is a perfect example. Elvis himself is no stranger to similar...

Love that- one of my guilty pleasures from the past few years was the ABBA infused musical film that featured Meryl Streep :mrgreen: Besides no less than EC enjoys them[witness For the Stars , not that we need his validation to enjoy the music. :wink: As we know from Bruno's terrific book, Armed Fo...

Some of you may find this amusing. In cleaning out my garage, I discovered a stash of old CDs long stored away, including "ABBA's Greatest Hits." A band I really haven't paid attention to since I was a kid. I started playing this as I made the long drive downtown to my daughter's practices...

Not from me, old chum, I was dying to love this record and when the first songs were aired and a journalist pronounced it a future classic, I was salivating. I also enjoyed hearing Brooklyn Bowl a lot ahead of the album. My objection to the insertion of those lines from Nat Ran into SOYT is not so ...

Can't claim to be an aficionado, but "Rumour and Sigh" is a winner for sure. Plus it has one of the great anti-Thatcher songs on it. Can't go wrong.

This record is a triumph. Fully agree with you, the_playtypus What' most annoying to me about WUG is that lukewarm complaining about this fabulous record on this board. I don't get it, EC is once again heading for new land and delivering such wonderful gems as Walk us uptown, Sugar won't work, Trip...

I still don't get the lukewarm response hereabouts. Perhaps there is an impatience with the 'reworked" tracks. To my ear, "Refuse to Be Saved" and "Wake Me Up" are like revelations, so vastly superior to the original cuts as to practically be new songs. By contrast, "St...

Otis Westinghouse wrote:WUG wouldn't be in my top 5, for sure.

Well, penury leads me to be fairly sparse in my music gathering, so I'm not one to judge on this question...but I will say that I can't fathom ranking Bowie's serviceable album ahead of WUG, that fabulous record. Just my two cents.

I'd say that, as a rule, humour is not a requirement of great music (though it helps); but humourless ness is incompatible with it. Of course, this rule isn't absolute. Sometimes dire anger or naked woe are just what the doctor ordered. It's more that a sustained exercise - e.g., a whole album or bo...

I love nothing more than experiencing the sensation that we are mere tiny specs of matter adrift in a vast eternity of nothingness. Can't beat a bit of persepctive. Dying to see this film. Essential to do so in 3D? Finally saw this last night. However, the experience was compromised by the fact tha...

This piece that appeared in Slate this week gets at my growing frustration with the new Arcade Fire album: http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/music_box/2013/11/arcade_fire_s_reflektor_reviewed.html Interesting review (is it - vaguely but intentionally? - reminiscent of Greil Marcus's "What is ...

Congrats to Boston. As much as I'd like to see their hockey team run over repeatedly by a fleet of Zamobnis, it's hard to hate the Red Sox IMHO. No World Series at home since 1918 - I think they're due!