Elvis Costello Fan Forum

Never liked the Dusty version - he wrote it for the classic Dusty sound, and I can just imagine it working like that, but by this time Dusty was in her pre-Pet Shop Boys wilderness, toying with early 80s sounds. It takes all the yearning out of what I think is one of Elvis's best ballads.

Hi - glad you enjoyed the show, guys. Verbal, we have the same taste! I too felt that Just A Memory and Sleep of the Just were the highlights. Wonderful performances - but they all were. Lou's hubby was excellent, too - it's fab to hear someone else doing All Grown Up - and Gladstone, the pianist, w...

One of the things I'm baffled by is the tendency for people to describe My Three Sons as "sentimental" - as if "sentiment" is a dirty word. An open, unashamed loved song to his sons? How is this shameful? "Sentimental"? Is "I'll Wear It Proudly" sentimental? I...

LOL, Verbal! Cheeky young whippersnapper!

Have a great time on Saturday!

Hi guys,

I went to see the show last night - I won't give any spoilers for those who're going on Saturday, but it was a great.

I made a bit of a tit of myself afterwards I think, blithering on to Lou and her fellow musicians, but that's what you get when there's a bar in the theatre!

Nx

There's a snippet of Ronan's version here:

http://swisscharts.com/showitem.asp?int ... 0Now&cat=s

Sounds like his usual barked delivery manages to quell all the longing needed for this song.

Nx

True about the poppiness! I remember this being Melody Maker's album of the year that year - I seriously doubt it was the best album of that year - but they were right in their choice of putting Blood And Chocolate as album of the year in '86 - much to the chagrin of Smiths fans (this was the year o...

I'm slightly embarrassed to be asking this, but... what exactly is GTTM?

Yes, unfortunate choice of words, Elvis!

Okay, albums dead - but keep recording, Elv!

My thoughts exactly! I was wondering this only the other day. Such a dramatic number. I love the gossiping townsfolk feel of the line "Look at her now: my, how things have changed."

This is totally not in the spirit of the question, being 'who that he HASN'T already worked with', but... I would like him to do a whole album with Macca - some duets, some where the other is just backing. A rough, warm, soulful album. I think their voices fitted so well on the demos for Flowers in ...

Woo, anyone know if the Hot Chocolate version available to listen to anywhere? The original link seems to have gone.

My mother's done it again. I was playing 'The Crooked Line', and she started singing 'What a Friend We Have In Jesus' over the chorus - and she has a point!

Agree with all this - the 'new' fans around the time of SP&SC would have been put off by that album's largely 'difficult' songs (God bless Elv for doing difficult stuff, I say, but it's not going to hook casual passers-by). I think, as I've said before, that the best chance of him breaking throu...

Ypsilanti wrote: MFBB

I've drawn a blank on this, Yps - which album are you talking about?

My 100%ers are

Model, Get Happy, Trust, Blood Choc, Brutal Youth.

But I love so many others so much that the odd skippable track hardly feels worth mentioning! (and I usually still let 'em play through, anyway)

Yeah, Chris, I reckon you're right - unconscious steal, I reckon. It's so in the style of all those happy songs from the 30s/40s, that it's just bubbled up in Elvis's song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyUPtKTOWS8 Which other songs does it remind you of? Its happy, cheery tone reminds me of 'Let's...

Blimey! At home for Christmas holidays, and I was whistling 'A Voice in the Dark' to myself. My mother pipes up with "Ooh, that's the song 'A Lovely Day' with Donald O'Connor from that film!" I said "No, it's Elvis Costello". I whistled it again and she said "No, it's 'A Lov...

Jardine, thanks so much for these chords! I'm going to be practising this one over Christmas. Brilliant!

One of the very greatest things he's ever done? I kinda think so! I don't know anyone else in the rock/pop songwriter pantheon who could've pulled off something like this. The way the energy builds - ach, I'm so thrilled he's still able to surprise us this late into his career: this is an outrageous...

Ruddy brilliant version of Voice In The Dark! Fantastic!

Yeah, it does sound like 'Tracks of My Years'. LOL! Poor Elvis - he doesn't realise they really don't want people with interesting choices - they want instantly recognisable stuff for an audience of thick people who are not particularly intersested in music - they just want familiarity. Ken Bruce is...

'Baby Plays Around' at the start of this clip!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/beinghuman/2 ... cting.html

Gah! I have to say, this appears to stink to high heaven! The man who gave us that wonderful, passionate album, National Ransom, playing to a roomful of bankers. Ugh! But, as there are two sides to every story... Elvis has two kids whose future he has in mind. If this gig nets him a few thousand, th...

pophead2k wrote:Couldn't Call It Unexpected No. 4 is one of my all time fave songs, and my second favorite EC song.

Which begs the question - what's your favourite Elvis song? I could never choose - but am fascinated by the decisions of those who can. What is it, and why?!

Jeremy, "that's the closest I've ever come to enjoying Beyond Belief"?! Wow, you've really put the cat among the pigeons with that one! I love BB! Swirling, sinister/beautiful dizzying soundscape with a torrent of kaleidoscopic, fragmented imagery and phrasemaking, all adding up to a puzzl...