Elvis gets it wrong - an exercise in sacrilege!

Pretty self-explanatory
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Otis Westinghouse
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Post by Otis Westinghouse »

I love all of Punch The Clock, by the way.
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Jackson Monk
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Post by Jackson Monk »

Yep. So do I. I don't know if it says a lot about my age and profession at that time (P/T DJ), but I probably played PTC more than any other EC album in the 6 months after release.
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Neil.
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Post by Neil. »

Totally agreed about the boring Eisenhower Blues. I can't stand The Blues at the best of times, even though I know pop/rock is based on it. And just as you think the torture is over, the song comes back again!

Joe Porterhouse is pretty boring, but I remember Tracie doing the reworked version, I Love You When You Sleep, with different lyrics, and it was a lot better. I can imagine Elvis rescuing it as a live acoustic solo number.
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King Hoarse
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Post by King Hoarse »

The stiff, numb Attractions playing on most of GCW made it hard for me to appreciate a lot of the songs for a long time, even the lyrics that are really great in places, like some of Joe Porterhouse. "Now what is left of me/Among the broken branches of the family tree" is worth quoting before a good novel or something. Plus it reminds me of Wayne Rayney's slightly less serious "Family Tree Musta Fell On Me"
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SweetPear
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Post by SweetPear »

Ah! I can't believe what I'm reading! The Delivery Man? The Delivery Man? And Let Him Dangle?? Good Gosh!

King of Thieves is one of my favs and I LOVE his cover of Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood.

Broken has got to be his all time stinker and Days isn't far behind, but the song I really can't stand is What's Her Name Today? Along with The Imposter....I always skip that one.
Add to the list 7 Day Weekend and Baby's Got a Brand New Hairdo.
I'm not angry anymore....
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so lacklustre
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Post by so lacklustre »

I don't like Peace Love and Understanding.

Or I Wanna Be Loved
signed with love and vicious kisses
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Otis Westinghouse
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Post by Otis Westinghouse »

so lacklustre wrote:I don't like Peace Love and Understanding.
Now that really and truly is sacrilege. Your membership card should be stripped. I suggest that your general misanthropy means you have a problem with such a title.
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MOJO
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Post by MOJO »

A scary thing happened today when I turned the Pandora music service and selected my "Elvis Costello" radio station. It matched and mixed Barry Manilow and Cook, Dixon & Young tracks with Elvis Costello tracks. What the %$%? That is so wrong.
manoutoftime
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Post by manoutoftime »

definite skippage -

Different Finger
Stranger in The House
The Stamping Ground
The Great unknown
Broken
My Science Fiction Twin
Starting to come to me
What's Her Name Today
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Boy With A Problem
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Post by Boy With A Problem »

Different Finger
Stranger in The House

I love these two.
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Otis Westinghouse
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Post by Otis Westinghouse »

I'm surprised by the prevalence of dislike for What's Her Name Today? It's not the best song on the LP, but for me it's far from worst. Easily mid-ranking, to speak Hoarse. Why do you all dislike it so?
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Jackson Monk
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Post by Jackson Monk »

Boy With A Problem wrote:
Different Finger
Stranger in The House

I love these two.
And me....and I like 'Starting to Come to Me' as well
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alexv
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Post by alexv »

Otis, I love PFM, and I don't remember where I ended up ranking this song, but the thing I don't like about it is his singing of "What's her name today" over and over again. He goes all operatic on those words, louder and louder, more and more adenoidal and out of tune, and I just want it to stop. I have similar a similar reaction to his belting out the "I Still Have that Other Girl" part of that other song. The Grammy people liked that one, though, since that's his Grammy.

I too like Stranger in the House and Different Fingers. They are country Elvis from back in the day.
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Post by Mechanical Grace »

so lacklustre wrote:I don't like Peace Love and Understanding.

Or I Wanna Be Loved
Well he didn't write either of 'em, so I suppose there's some justice to that. However I love both very dearly. The again you're talking to someone who doesn't hate BROKEN nearly as much as some of the throw away blues-rockers already cited above.
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Post by invisible Pole »

alexv wrote:..... the thing I don't like about it is his singing of "What's her name today" over and over again. He goes all operatic on those words, louder and louder, more and more adenoidal and out of tune, and I just want it to stop. ........
Same thing. Couldn't say it better.
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The imposter
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Post by The imposter »

When thinking about my least favourite tracks I found most of them to be covers. Not bad then if he's not responsible for them, maybe they were just unsuitable for his voice or whatever. I refer to stuff like Neat,Neat,Neat,Room nobody lives in, Night Time and other B sides. However they are only extras or B sides or whatever and should be regarded as such and are therefore welcome.

Not sure of the rules here do I have to pick 1 from each album or is that best of the worst or whatever...? Anyway here are 30 songs from main album releases, in no particular order,which I dislike. perhaps we could call them the most overrated.

I'm not angry, The Beat, Sunday's Best, Beaten to the punch, Luxembourg,Brown To Blue,Little Savage, King of thieves, TKO, Joe porterhouse, Whisper to a scream, Distorted angel, I stand Accused, Invasion hit parade, Hurry down doomsday, Oh Well, Pony St, Clown strike, Payday, Days, Science fiction twin, North, Room with out a number, Shallow Grave, 20% Amnesia, Coal train robberies, Swine, This song is unrepeatable, Why..? When did I stop Sleeping..
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SweetPear
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Post by SweetPear »

Quite respectfully, The Imposter, I say to you AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!! :lol:

I have to say that most of the songs you listed are some of my EC favorites.....I'm Not Angry, The Beat, King of Thieves, Beaten to the Punch, I Stand Accused, Distorted Angel, Room With No Number, Clown Strike.....all of them great!
I also like Shallow Grave and Oh Well.

Oh well :D
I'm not angry anymore....
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Post by Hank »

so lacklustre wrote:I don't like Peace Love and Understanding.
The song or just the abstract concepts?
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Otis Westinghouse
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Post by Otis Westinghouse »

Otis Westinghouse wrote:I suggest that your general misanthropy means you have a problem with such a title.
Both!
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Neil.
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Post by Neil. »

I love Oh Well! Great atmosphere, weary lyric, and that great sonic moment around the lyric about the astronaut! The vocal is fantastic too. To the bloke who said he didn't like it - give it another listen on headphones.
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verbal gymnastics
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Post by verbal gymnastics »

Hank wrote:
so lacklustre wrote:I don't like Peace Love and Understanding.
The song or just the abstract concepts?
:lol:

Spoken like a man who's never met him!

Whilst he gives the impression of being a curmudgeon in real life he is like a cuddly fluffy bunny rabbit.
Who’s this kid with his mumbo jumbo?
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so lacklustre
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Post by so lacklustre »

verbal gymnastics wrote:
Hank wrote:
so lacklustre wrote:I don't like Peace Love and Understanding.
The song or just the abstract concepts?
:lol:

Spoken like a man who's never met him!

Whilst he gives the impression of being a curmudgeon in real life he is like a cuddly fluffy bunny rabbit.
Yeah yeah yeah, and you're the king of moldova, right? I eat cuddly fluffy bunny wabbits for breakfast (although I spit out the fluff).
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The imposter
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Post by The imposter »

That's what makes life interesting.It would be boring if we all felt the same. I must say that I'm probably too close to the songs to judge being that I usually listen to Costello A LOT.
The other day I was trying to think of my top 100 and it was too difficult. ( there's an idea for a new poll, this could run and run...)It should be said that apart from the songs I mentioned, I pretty much love the rest, so there you have it.

Oh forgot to mention, I'm not keen on Miss Macbeth, North and TKO.
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Jackson Monk
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Post by Jackson Monk »

SweetPear wrote:Quite respectfully, The Imposter, I say to you AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!! :lol:

I have to say that most of the songs you listed are some of my EC favorites.....I'm Not Angry, The Beat, King of Thieves, Beaten to the Punch, I Stand Accused, Distorted Angel, Room With No Number, Clown Strike.....all of them great!
I also like Shallow Grave and Oh Well.

Oh well :D
Ditto to that...The Beat??? The Beat???? Are you crazy?????!!!! :lol:

Distorted Angel???? Madness!!!........well, I did start this damn thread I suppose.
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martin
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Post by martin »

I'm another disliker of PL&U i dont like the gutteral nature of the singing n i don't think the lyrics fit together as well as in his own songs, I think they are clumsy.In fact when he plays it in concert, that's when i go to the bog.
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