National Ransom - November 2010

[pophead2k]

I know I'm in the minority here, but I relish going on these sonic/concept/genre excursions with EC. I totally get where everyone else is coming from, but more and more I look at EC's albums as additions to his overall canon as opposed to a 'selection of songs'. Part of the appeal for me as a fan of over twenty years now is that I'm never disappointed, although of course I like some stuff more than other stuff.

[bronxapostle]

I know I'm in the minority here, but I relish going on these sonic/concept/genre excursions with EC. I totally get where everyone else is coming from, but more and more I look at EC's albums as additions to his overall canon as opposed to a 'selection of songs'. Part of the appeal for me as a fan of over twenty years now is that I'm never disappointed, although of course I like some stuff more than other stuff.

not at all in the minority pophead. i'm right there with you and so are many. whatever he elects to send our way is ALWAYS a cut above the other things released by other artists! whatever we get, i dig happily! 33 years now!

[the_platypus]

I for one am glad EC doesn't take his cues from online message boards.

He should do whatever he wants. Satisfy whatever creative itch he's feeling at any particular moment. He's earned it.

[taramasalata]

I'm with you 3, the_playtypus, bronxapostle and pophead2k
I'm happy with nearly everything EC has done and I'd be happy with another SP&S as well (I'm surprised that even EC fans don't seem to be able to JUST LISTEN to the songs of that record without fuzzing around of that "concept album" label that musis crictics so obstinately indulge in!), except for not wishing for another North, that was the only time, when I really thought of him being self-indulgent and, of even greater importance, musically quite uninspired.

[Lester Burnham]

As indifferent as I was toward SP&SC (I thought it was good, but not great), just the fact that EC is still recording instead of taking years between albums is amazing to me. This'll be his third studio album in three years, and if he's doing an Imposters/Sugarcanes amalgam lineup, then it'll be even more interesting to me.

[Poor Deportee]

Yes, EC is absolutely entitled to do whatever he wants. And he would be the first to concede, I'm sure, that his listeners are equally entitled to formulate their own views about it. In that spirit, I'll say that SP&S is a pleasant record with wonderful playing, too much rehashed mediocre material, and a fair bit of middling writing that lacks the creative dynamism of his best work. I think people are confusing sophistication with inspiration, frankly. (This may be the essential dilemma of the musical scholasticism of Elvis's later work).

Good that some of you just loooove everything he does, or are just grateful that he's still around and busy. As for me - hey, I respect nearly everything Elvis does and usually find something to enjoy on most of his releases, but nonetheless find a lot of his later work frustrating for reasons that Christopher Sjoholm and I toss around on the "Spike Demo Revisited" thread: http://www.elviscostellofans.com/phpBB3 ... f=2&t=8184

[Jeremy Dylan]

There has, so far, not been a single thing to suggest that the new record with the Sugarcanes is a concept album - in fact, the opposite seems to be indicated. So I don't get what everyone's afraid of. People seem to be saying they liked the sound of SP&S, just not the Jenny Lind aborted concept album stuff. Well, all reports are suggesting that he's essentially gone in and recorded a bunch of new Elvis Costello songs with the Sugarcanes and they'll put together a record out of that. Which seems to be what people want. So why are we all getting depressed?

[Neil.]

I don't know why lots of people think it's going to be a concept album - it'll just be a load of new songs and maybe a couple of covers, with the Sugarcanes on backing - and possibly the Imposters, too. Fab - possibly better than Secret Profane!

[Poor Deportee]

I don't know why lots of people think it's going to be a concept album - it'll just be a load of new songs and maybe a couple of covers, with the Sugarcanes on backing - and possibly the Imposters, too. Fab - possibly better than Secret Profane!

Hey, if that's really what it is, then great!

[And No Coffee Table]

http://twitter.com/MusicTAP/status/10933971196

Hear Music has an Elvis Costello album expected on September 7. Long ways off so things might change. But still...new EC coming!

[blureu]

Direct Music chimes-in with a sample of Jimmy.


http://www.directcurrentmusic.com/dc-mu ... -song.html

Elvis Costello will return this fall with a new as-yet-untitled album, his second for the Concord/Hear Music label and first since last summer's Americana-flavored, Nashville-recorded album Secret Profane and Sugarcane. A release schedule has the album set for a tentative September 7 street date.

Costello has had a particularly busy year, touring behind his last album, overseeing the release of some rare live albums (most recently January street of the Live At Hollywood High recordings from 1978) and wrapping up his second (and it would appear final) season of his "Spectacle" music/interview series on The Sundance Channel. He also recently debuted a new song "Jimmie Standing In the Rain" during a four-song performance on The Prairie Home Companion.

[Jeremy Dylan]

What are the odds that 'Five Small Words' will make it onto the new album?

[Lester Burnham]

Judging by the songs Elvis has been cranking out in concert since last year, it's looking like we're going to get:
'Jimmie Standing In The Rain'
'Five Small Words'
'You Hung The Moon'
'One Bell Ringing'
'Poor Borrowed Dress'
'I've Lost You'
'That's Not The Part Of Him You're Leaving'
'Condemned Man'
And an untitled song that he played somewhere in Australia earlier this year, I believe.

Then again, when I posited potential songs for Momofuku, I guessed that 'Wine and Spirits' and 'Crooked Line' would be on there, and I was waaaaay off on those!

[Jeremy Dylan]

I'm still waiting for him to cut a studio version of this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c45BVv5tINI

In retrospect, it seems inevitable that Costello and Jim Lauderdale would collaborate eventually. Jim's the only man I know who dresses as well as EC does.

[The imposter]

Judging by the songs Elvis has been cranking out in concert since last year, it's looking like we're going to get:

'Five Small Words'

Then again, when I posited potential songs for Momofuku, I guessed that 'Wine and Spirits' and 'Crooked Line' would be on there, and I was waaaaay off on those!

Not so far off. Both albums were recorded around the same time.

Reckon "5 small words" would sound good with drums. Actually the few times I've heard The Imposters play the Sugarcanes material it has a different feel (obviously) and sounds interesting.

"Friend of the Devil" is great the way Jim sings it. Hope that turns up. Don't suppose the fact it is a cover will prevent that??

[Jeremy Dylan]

"Friend of the Devil" is great the way Jim sings it. Hope that turns up. Don't suppose the fact it is a cover will prevent that??

We might get it as a bonus track ala Femme Fatale.

[Jeremy Dylan]

Judging by the songs Elvis has been cranking out in concert since last year, it's looking like we're going to get:
'Jimmie Standing In The Rain'
'Five Small Words'
'You Hung The Moon'
'One Bell Ringing'
'Poor Borrowed Dress'
'I've Lost You'
'That's Not The Part Of Him You're Leaving'
'Condemned Man'
And an untitled song that he played somewhere in Australia earlier this year, I believe.

Then again, when I posited potential songs for Momofuku, I guessed that 'Wine and Spirits' and 'Crooked Line' would be on there, and I was waaaaay off on those!

So, perhaps:

ELVIS COSTELLO & THE SUGARCANES (I imagine they'll be credited this time around if sticks to the touring lineup)
CONDEMNED MAN
1. Five Small Words
2. I've Lost You
3. You Hung The Moon
4. One Bell Ringing
5. He's Got You
6. Poor Borrowed Dress
7. That's Not The Part of Him You're Leaving
8. A Slow Drag With Josephine
9. Condemned Man
10. Jimmie Standing In The Rain
11. Friend of the Devil (iTunes Bonus Track)
12. High Timberline (Vinyl Bonus Track)

I'd be pretty happy with that record.

[Lester Burnham]

There's also 'Bullets For The New-Born King', 'The Spell That You Cast', and 'Lucky Dog', but the first two haven't yet circulated, and it seems like they've been reserved for his solo shows. I've kind of come up with my own little compilation of 11 songs, assuming all originals will be on the album (and that 'Lucky Dog' is a new composition, and not a cover as Elvis has apparently joked):

1. Jimmie Standing In The Rain
2. Slow Drag With Josephine
3. The Part Of Him You're Leaving
4. Poor Borrowed Dress
5. I've Lost You
6. Stations Of The Cross
7. Five Small Words
8. One Bell Ringing
9. Lucky Dog
10. Condemned Man
11. You Hung The Moon

[sweetest punch]

There's also 'Bullets For The New-Born King', 'The Spell That You Cast', and 'Lucky Dog', but the first two haven't yet circulated, and it seems like they've been reserved for his solo shows. I've kind of come up with my own little compilation of 11 songs, assuming all originals will be on the album (and that 'Lucky Dog' is a new composition, and not a cover as Elvis has apparently joked):

1. Jimmie Standing In The Rain
2. Slow Drag With Josephine
3. The Part Of Him You're Leaving
4. Poor Borrowed Dress
5. I've Lost You
6. Stations Of The Cross
7. Five Small Words
8. One Bell Ringing
9. Lucky Dog
10. Condemned Man
11. You Hung The Moon

Let's not forget "Dr. Watson, I Presume".

[Lester Burnham]

Ah! Right, of course. I do hope that ends up on the new album, that's a good one.

[blureu]

Is there a sample of Dr. Watson available?

[And No Coffee Table]

Is there a sample of Dr. Watson available?

http://www.mediafire.com/?jqjyfzxjzeo

[wordnat]

I think a stripped down, RetroCountry disc would be sweet. 10 songs in under 40 minutes:

Five Small Words
I've Lost You
Poor Borrowed Dress
Slow Drag with Josephine
The Part of Him You're Leaving

Stations of the Cross
Bullets for the New-Born King
Jimmie Standing in the Rain
Lucky Dog
Doctor Watson, I Presume (I think this is a MAJOR song. Hope it's on the new LP.)

[sweetest punch]

I find a lot of the new songs amazing: Stations To The Cross, Dr. Watson, I Presume, Jimmy Standing In The Rain, A Slow Drag With Josephine, A Condemned Man, The Part Of Him You're Leaving,...
Anyone agrees?

[johnfoyle]

Jimmy Standing In The Rain keeps reminding me the film Brief Encounter. As wikipedia helpfully tells us ' The film is based on Noël Coward's one-act play Still Life (1936), one of ten short plays in the cycle Tonight at 8:30, designed for Gertrude Lawrence and Coward himself to be performed in various combinations as triple bills. All scenes of Still Life are set in the refreshment room of a railway station (the fictional Milford Junction).' ' Jimmy' and his floosy could be just across the platform from the film's couple.