National Ransom - November 2010

Pretty self-explanatory
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verbal gymnastics
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Re: National Ransom - New Album Due Nov. 2

Post by verbal gymnastics »

Pigalle wrote:Mine arrived in the UK today; posted out on Monday, therefore, five days to get here; less than excellent job by Royal Mail (it used to take just two days to get CDs from CD Japan to me). At least no import duties, though :D
I ordered from CD Japan on Sunday, got an email on Monday to say it had been posted and received it today. And no import duties for me this time either. :D

I am on yet another long driving journey on Monday so I'll have plenty of time to get properly acquainted with it.

I Hope will be the first track I play though because the live version was so beautiful.

I've just come back from a long journey and played the 2 CD King of America, the 2nd CD of My Flame Burns Blue, The River in Reverse, Momofuku and Secret, Profane and Sugarcane in the car. Sometimes you just need to!
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Re: National Ransom - New Album Due Nov. 2

Post by Otis Westinghouse »

I can't easily find out if National Ransack only comes if you order from nationalransom.com. It does say 'exclusive to this offer', so it would seem so, but maybe that's just to get you to buy it there. You don't get it if you buy the CD in a shop, correct? Sounds like a must-have.

Why buy the Japan edition? What else does that have.

The LP sounds interesting. There does seem to be a policy among the papers I read (basically Observer and Guardian) to not bother reviewing his new stuff, same as Lloyd Cole. I'm pretty much expecting to find any new Costello 50% not bad at all and 50% pretty tedious, and I'm struggling to think of anything since The Delivery Man I really want to play more than a few times, but this one does seem like he's got more on offer.

I quite enjoyed his Later performance - particularly the close-up moment where he looked like a cartoon of himself, shaking his face with raised eyebrows and a funny expression. I like his demeanour and suits these days.
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Re: National Ransom - New Album Due Nov. 2

Post by verbal gymnastics »

The Japanese edition has I Hope on it although you can buy this track as a standalone on iTunes.

National Ransack is currently only available to buy as a download although we suspect it will be released as a CD in December.
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Re: National Ransom - New Album Due Nov. 2

Post by johnfoyle »

cwr
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Re: National Ransom - New Album Due Nov. 2

Post by cwr »

Stephen Thomas Erlewine finally chimes in with his review at Allmusic.com:
Elvis Costello has worn willful eclecticism as a badge of honor for so long that his decision to retain the same essential support and sound for 2010’s National Ransom as he did for its 2009 predecessor Secret, Profane & Sugarcane means something. Building upon a foundation instead of beginning another journey suggests that he knows he has a fruitful collaboration with producer T-Bone Burnett and a good band with the Sugarcanes, who are now melded with the Imposters to give this Americana -- equal parts roots-rock, country, and pre-war balladry -- some serious kick. Secret, Profane and National Ransom share some superficial sonic characteristics, but the former played as a clearinghouse of odds and ends, while National Ransom is a purposeful album, its themes elegantly meshing together and carrying considerable momentum. Costello deliberately stays in familiar territory, often recalling his first Burnett-produced record, King of America, but he’s not churning out familiar songs -- complacency is anathema to him, of course -- he’s using the familiar sounds to provide context for the present. In a conceit that’s a shade too clever, he’s presented a year where each song takes place, but that’s a bit of misdirection, too, because modern-day tales sound ancient and vice-versa, not unlike Dylan's latter-day albums. Costello shares a similar love of Tin Pan Alley songcraft as Dylan, but he favors bluegrass to blues and betrays a little bit of artful affectation when he writes a ‘20s shuffle like “A Slow Drag with Josephine” or a ballad like “You Hung the Moon,” but that’s part of his charm: a Costello album without such punning tricks is a bit of a drag. And while National Ransom doesn’t rage like This Year's Model, it does tap into that same sense of rage on its title track, and Costello gives guitarist Marc Ribot plenty of room to strangle out notes, giving this a far less stuffy feel than Secret, Profane & Sugarcane. Ribot’s manic fretwork ties this to Costello’s dense turn-of-the-‘90s albums for Warner, so the album winds up with trace echoes of all eras of Costello, but that’s only a reflection of how National Ransom is a masterwork in the traditional sense: he’s summoned all his skills to deliver an album that summarizes his world view.
Erlewine is one of those critics whose opinion I don't always agree with, but I'm always curious to read what he has to say-- he's actually paid attention to ALL of Costello's output, and is less prone to the kinds of lazy dismissals that too many music writers give to latter day EC records. He's clearly a fan but rarely goes easy on Costello, so when he refers to NR as a "masterwork" it's significant.
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Re: National Ransom - New Album Due Nov. 2

Post by Otis Westinghouse »

verbal gymnastics wrote:The Japanese edition has I Hope on it although you can buy this track as a standalone on iTunes.

National Ransack is currently only available to buy as a download although we suspect it will be released as a CD in December.
Ta. Ordered the CD from the site - download all works nicely, cool to have Ransack. just over £10 with delivery, and it's shipped quick enough. Downloaded I Hope too. Haven't had a second to play NR, and I'm tempted to hold out until the CD arives and hear it properly first, as is my wont, but I Hope sounds like a decent track.
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Re: National Ransom - New Album Due Nov. 2

Post by strangerinthehouse »

Got my vinyl copy yesterday. Tony Millionaire's artwork looks so much better in an LP. The inside is just the lyrics and album credits. No second picture of EC, like in the CD.

With four tracks a side, I think i'm already enjoying this better than listening to National Ransom on my Ipod all the way through.

Just finished the first spin, now to start it all over again.
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Re: National Ransom - New Album Due Nov. 2

Post by verbal gymnastics »

The beauty and detail of the sleeve is definitely better on the vinyl edition.
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Re: National Ransom - New Album Due Nov. 2

Post by johnfoyle »

With four tracks a side,
So it's -

LP One

Side One -

1. National Ransom
2. Jimmie Standing In The Rain
3. Stations Of The Cross
4. A Slow Drag With Josephine

Side Two -

1. Five Small Words
2. Church Underground
3. You Hung The Moon
4. Bullets For The New-Born King

LP Two

Side One -
1. I Lost You
2. Dr. Watson, I Presume
3. One Bell Ringing
4. The Spell That You Cast

Side Two -

1. That's Not The Part Of Him You're Leaving
2. My Lovely Jezebel
3. All These Strangers
4. A Voice In The Dark

It may seem silly to to look for that clarification but I seem to remember something about bassy tracks on vinyl having to be nearer the centre of the disc , or somethng like that. If that is evident in this release it merely serves to emphasise how Elvis wasn't being flip in his recent comments about how he sees this as being , primarily, a double album.
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Re: National Ransom - New Album Due Nov. 2

Post by johnfoyle »

Mark Perry, long time Costello fan , permits me to share this from listserv-



Peter
raged, with full force, on 8th November:

> Well, I'm just pleased to hear some more from you all, whether I agree
with you or not. It's been very quiet considering.



This sharp and well-timed rap across the knuckles from the estimable Mr.
Gale made me chuckle. It put me in mind of my old school reports, where the
masters would queue up to find different ways of complaining that I hardly
ever said anything in class. (Hey, Teacher, who needs quadratic equations,
or Gladstone and Disraeli, when I've got T.Rex?)

You're quite right, Peter. Many of us were late handing in our homework on
this one. Your remark at least succeeded in prompting me to concentrate
properly on listening to National Ransom as a whole, instead of picking away
at the odd track or two here and there like a feckless teenager. And, yes,
I'm aware that having owned a copy of this album for several weeks, and
never made it all the way through in one sitting, is a terrible thing to
admit. I mourn the passing of that rabid excitement I once felt the moment a
freshly-minted Costello album was pressed into my sweaty paw. Me and Elvis -
what happened?

So, anyway, I must have heard National Ransom in its entirety around a dozen
or so times over the past few days. My main impression is that it's a record
which doesn't part its thighs so willingly as that cheap tramp Momofuku and
that it will yield further treasure for some time to come. This is indeed a
blessing.

Other blessings:


The album is superbly arranged, produced and recorded. It has been given the
full T-Bone Burnett paint-job and reeks of loving care and attention to
detail throughout.

The musicianship is impeccable and often takes my breath away.

Elvis has upped his song-writing game considerably after the shoddy Momofuku
and the uneven Secret, Profane & Sugarcane. Stations Of The Cross is the
best song he has written for years. Fact (as Mr Gale so succinctly notes).
Other happening sounds which I am truly digging, man, are: All These
Strangers, One Bell Ringing and That's Not The Part Of Him You're Leaving.

Curses:

At over an hour it's waaaaay too long. Albums which last for more than 40
minutes or so are downright impertinent if you ask me. I just don't have the
time. And there's no excuse for it here. Although there are no outright
clunkers, there are a number of so-so songs which don't really bring
anything extra to the party. (Yes, My Lovely Jezebel, I Lost You and Five
Small Words, I'm looking at you.) Any of these could easily have been kept
back for use as bonus cuts on the Six-month Anniversary Deluxe Reissue
Limited Edition Hand-tooled Filigree Box Set or whatever.

EC could stand to cut down on his use of that overwrought I-who-have-
suffered-so-much-and-seen-such-horror singing voice a little.

The whistling. It's simply not on. Please leave this sort of thing to Bob
Mitchum.

A blessing and a curse:

Um, the lyrics. He's moved on since the chainsaw-running-through-a-
dictionary days and straightforward can often be better. The opening to
That's Not The Part Of Him You're Leaving is devastating in its simplicity.
But ... I miss the smart-arse Elvis. Not all of the time, but a lot. There,
I've said it. It all started to go downhill when a butterfly drank a
turtle's tears. Later, he got a fatal whiff of that heady South Bank air and
decided he wanted to be Poet Laureate to the Chattering Classes. Sadly, the
harder he tries to be "literate", the less I seem to enjoy his words.
National Ransom could use a lot more old-school Elvis "Fists like pistons /
Face like meat spoiling" moments.

Additionally, the subject matter of his songs is often failing to grab me
these days, or else I'm failing to grasp it. I've no problem with
impressionistic writing, but there are a number of tracks on National Ransom
where I either don't understand what he's getting at, or where I simply
don't care. (A Jimmie Rodgers impersonator in Accrington? Really? That's,
er, fascinating, but could you please shut up? I'm trying to watch Mad Men
here.) When you feel the need of a few explanatory notes to give you a way
in, then something is clearly going wrong.

That's all I got for now.


Mark (still reticent in class)

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Re: National Ransom - New Album Due Nov. 2

Post by Otis Westinghouse »

Haven't heard it yet apart from a track or two off the download (CD still in post), but I love that review!
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Re: National Ransom - New Album Due Nov. 2

Post by charliestumpy »

I hope that all receive their albums PDQ so they can review themselves.
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Re: National Ransom - New Album Due Nov. 2

Post by Bad Ambassador »

Is it me or is the vinyl a poor pressing? It sounds like the maxed out CD master pressed straight to vinyl without being mastered specifically. It often sounds muffled and the opening track has a very distorting, crunchy sound. Is it possible they skimped on quality control because of the unexpected demand for the vinyl?
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Re: National Ransom - New Album Due Nov. 2

Post by verbal gymnastics »

johnfoyle wrote:Peter raged, with full force, on 8th November

My main impression is that it's a record
which doesn't part its thighs so much as that cheap tramp Momofuku
Superb!
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Re: National Ransom - New Album Due Nov. 2

Post by johnfoyle »

That 'thighs' stuff is by Mark Perry. He's a dirty, dirty boy.......as I keep telling him.
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Re: National Ransom - New Album Due Nov. 2

Post by Neil. »

OOf! Interesting review from listerv bloke, and I agree about the rocker filler tracks (apart from I Lost You, which I still love), and I agree that the anguished grief that Elvis puts into some of his vocals can seem overwrought. But I have to say, generally, the lyrics (and tunes, generally) are wonderful. It doesn't matter whether you understand them or not - they have a rich vibe that you can just wallow in, without knowing what it all means.

Also, it doesn't matter whether you 'care' or not about the character in 'Jimmie Standing in the Rain' - I didn't know it was about Jimmie Rogers impersonators the first few times I heard it, but it still evokes, wonderfully, an atmosphere of defeated, low-grade showbiz failure. It doesn't matter whether you care about the character in that song, because there are hundreds of other Elvis songs to choose from - you can't love 'em all, it's not a valid criticism: it's impossible that you should 'care' about every character (I don't 'care' about the impenetrable situations in Beyond Belief or Man Out of Time, but I still love those songs, and respond to the swirling kaleidoscope of images and hinted-at betrayals they evoke).
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Re: National Ransom - New Album Due Nov. 2

Post by LessThanZero »

My favorite song so far is "That's not the part of him you're leaving". Unfortunately, I think it's because it sounds like it would have fit on The Delivery Man. Fortunately, it seems like some of the other songs are finally growing on me. Soon they all will...I Hope.
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Re: National Ransom - New Album Due Nov. 2

Post by verbal gymnastics »

Funnily enough I think this song would have been better with Allen Toussaint as part of the River in Reverse CD.
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Re: National Ransom - New Album Due Nov. 2

Post by Poor Deportee »

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 Spell that You Cast,' which I just don't find exciting enough. Other than that, my only criticisms are quibbles (e.g., the intrusive vocals on the astonishing Church Underground). The simple fact is that this is a great record, overflowing with EC's gifts of melody and lyricism, a throwback to days when brilliance seemed to pour from him in crazy profusion. He doesn't like the whistling? Really? Jimmie is weak? Mmm-hmmm. 'fess up, the album's basically a stunner, especially from a songwriting perspective.

I will say that I find that sound a bit 'off' at times. I'm talking the CD version here. It seems to lack to sharp sonic clarity of SP & S. Am I the only one with this impression? Having said that, the tunes and the playing are almost uniformly great. I'm talking about the way they seem to have been recorded.
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Re: National Ransom - New Album Due Nov. 2

Post by thepopeofpop »

The album of the week on Australia's ABC Radio National this week is (drumroll) National Ransom:

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/breakfast/stor ... 067729.htm

The presenters discussed the album for a few minutes, concentrating on Elvis' sylistic changes over the years, and the angst this has caused some of his fans. The featured track was "That's Not The Part Of Him You're Leaving".
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Re: National Ransom - New Album Due Nov. 2

Post by alexv »

FAVEHOUR
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Re: National Ransom - New Album Due Nov. 2

Post by FAVEHOUR »

Didn't this review already appear somewhere else? Some of the observations are familiar.

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Re: National Ransom - New Album Due Nov. 2

Post by Otis Westinghouse »

Is it just me or is this, yet again, the sort of Costello album which you play the whole way through and think 'I suppose it will get more interesting/memorable [part its thighs?] after a few listens, but it all seems like such hard work'? Maybe I should just stick to Joanna Newsom, Lloyd Cole, Arcade Fire, Ron Sexsmith, Wilco, et al, cos a listen the whole way through indicates, as Mark Perry says, it's way too long - it could easily have had 20 dull minutes culled from it; it's got some immediately impressive stuff but very little that says 'wow! play me again'. I think I've just lost interest because my overall response is 'Why play this any more than the 2-3 times I could be arsed to listen to the last one?' and, with a nod to LTZ above, a certain nostalgia for, erm, The Delivery Man.

Talking of the wonderful Joanna, one thing that would definitely have been a good idea would be to take her 3 x shorter CDs cue on her last and deliver this as two CDs, one for each vinyl slab. 16 songs over one hour is like a sea of stodge. I have a psychological barrier with it. 8 apiece would have given me less indigestion. These things matter.

I'll see if a few listens make any difference, if I get that far.
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Re: National Ransom - New Album Due Nov. 2

Post by cwr »

Well, certainly the way people listen to music has changed over the years-- personally, I believe there is something great about a well-sequenced album, but the number of times I listen to any LP in order from start to finish pales in comparison to the number of times I'll listen to my favorite tracks from said album, often as they pop up in "shuffle mode" or as part of a playlist on my iPod.

While I'd agree that there are high points on NR and a few songs I'm less interested in-- "The Spell That You Cast" and "My Lovely Jezebel" are two songs that still haven't clicked with me-- I personally prefer it when Costello errs on the side of too many songs rather than two few. I don't think he's a guy who should be making 40-minute albums. The risk, when he does that, is that he only ends up leaving off a handful of songs that might end up being your favorite (case in point-- All This Useless Beauty clocks in around 48 minutes, but it means "Almost Ideal Eyes" doesn't make the cut and we never hear an Attractions' version of "God Give Me Strength.")

My "ideal" version of National Ransom is probably at least 4 or 5 songs shorter, just clipping the ones that I don't care for as much, and I'll probably listen to those a lot less. (I rarely ever listen to "Still Too Soon To Know" or "Just About Glad" off Brutal Youth, either.) But I'm still glad those songs are out there--- I don't dislike any of them. And when I put the vinyl edition on to listen from start to finish, I even enjoy the hearing the ones that don't pop up on my iPod, and hearing how they affect the flow of one song to the next in the way that EC intended...
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Re: National Ransom - New Album Due Nov. 2

Post by the_platypus »

"Too many tracks" just seems like such a strange thing to complain about.
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