New album for 2013: "Wise Up Ghost" (with The Roots!)

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sweetest punch
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Re: New album for 2013: "Wise Up Ghost" (with The Roots!)

Post by sweetest punch »

FAVEHOUR wrote:track by track preview:

http://drownedinsound.com/in_depth/4146 ... e-up-ghost

Dave
In case it disappears from the "Drowned in Sound" website:

First Listen: Elvis Costello & The Roots – Wise Up Ghost

This writer's parents, friends and various acquaintances have all told him on various occasions that he looks like a lot of different famous people, none of whom look alike and none of whom really look like him. Justin Timberlake, Jeff Tweedy, David Lynch, Jacques Villeneuve, Pete Doherty, Jarvis Cocker, Rivers Cuomo, New Zealand slow left arm bowler Daniel Vettori, a meerkat, and two fifths of Radiohead have all been mentioned by folks of varying sobriety. The one that comes up most often though is “Hey Dan, you ever been told you look a bit like Elvis Costello?”

Yeah, I have, and moreover I’ve always felt some kind of affinity with the guy. Perhaps he’s not as revered as the likes of Dylan, Morrissey, or the bloke out of Bright Eyes, but the one from DiS who looks a bit like him will always belong to that small part of British society that considers Costello’s acerbic songwriting to be the zenith of the craft. So heading down to a neat Soho hotel for a couple of beers and a playback of Wise Up Ghost – an intriguing sounding collaboration between Elvis and The Roots – and a brief Q&A with our hero, DiS was so excited he even managed to tear himself away from The Ashes, where Australia were nine down on the brink of an embarrassingly massive first innings deficit.

When the guy, looking every bit the elegant rock star clad in navy pinstripe suit, horn-rimmed glasses and Panama hat, shook DiS' hand and we spoke briefly at the end of the day, we might have gone into gushing fanboy mode. Fortunately, before that, I managed to write down a few initial track-by-track thoughts on the album. As Larry David would put it, it’s prett-ay, prett-ay good.

1. ‘Walk Us Uptown’

The Roots’ scuzzy, lo-fi production is all over this. The music is noisy and discordant, whilst the keyboards sound a lot like The Specials. Elvis sounds angry and vitriolic, which is great. Huh, this took up a lot more space in my notebook.

2. ‘Singer Won’t Work’

This one’s a lot smoother. The whole song is built around a very funky bass line, with the odd keyboard thrown in purely for colour. On the vocals, Elvis appears to be channeling Motown. Again, I thought my notes would fill more space than this. Could be a short blog.

3. ‘Refuse to be Saved’

I know I used the word “funky” in the previous blurb, but I’m short on synonyms. This might be the funkiest Elvis has ever been, with chopped up drums, spiky industrial guitars and sporadic ascending and descending keyboard fills making this one a little bit disco. I’m liking the way the instruments get progressively busier, until it sounds like Chic-goes-new wave (as far as I remember).

You know what? This is the most ambitious he’s been in years. Certainly it sounds like he’s having a shitload of fun. Although weirdly these first few songs have all been joined up by this strange, Disney string interlude thing.

4. ‘Wake Me Up’

Ahh this one’s slowed down a bit. A low, bluesy number with Elvis adopting his deep and soulful voice for the first time on the album, this one has some very cool jagged guitars intersecting neatly with the horns. In fact with these gloriously dirty production values it has a Tom Waits feel to it.

5. ‘Tripwire’

The key words for this album I reckon are “lo-fi”, “scuzzy” and “dirty”. Somehow even the mellow fairy chimes that sparkle on this track have that kind of feel to them. They kind of remind me of one of those mobile things you’d hang above a kid’s cot at night, and are neatly backed up by a choir on the chorus. Sad sounding vocal is a little bit safe though, which is disappointing.

6. ‘Stick Out Your Tongue’

Ahh this is ‘Pills and Soap’! The combination of subdued, sawing guitars playing funky licks and keyboards that sound a bit like Brian Eno circa My Life in the Bush of Ghosts probably shouldn’t work, but it’s pretty neat actually. Elvis’s voice has been lightly computerised too, and the multitracking is great.

7. ‘Come the Meantimes’

A title that makes as little sense as my scrawled note: “Speaker-shredding guitar feedback then cuts into what sounds like a hip-hop take on a New Orleans funeral march.”

8. ‘She Might Be a Grenade’

Elvis is apparently very fond of chanting the odd line repeatedly; by my count this is the third song on the album where he does this. It’s probably the most minimal track on the album, the keys and acoustic guitar struggle against choppy, cracking* drums. I’d guess this one is about 90% ?uestlove.

*Take either meaning of “cracking”, both work

9. ‘Cinco Minutos Con Vos’

Apparently this one is revisiting ‘Shipbuilding’, only from an Argentinean perspective. Despite this, it's perhaps the most “British” sounding thing on here: it could have been written in Bristol circa 1994. What with the whole trip-hop thing here, the Spanish vocals from La Marisoul do seem a little out of place, although they obviously fit the theme of the song.

10. ‘Viceroy’s Row’

Ooh this is nice, a kind of smooth, coked up, lounge jazz thing. In a way it’s oddly reminiscent of Wilco’s masterpiece ‘Jesus Etc.’ with the production preventing Elvis’s vocal from dominating. I like the neat little ghostly, fluctuating sirens in the background of this one.

11. ‘Wise Up Ghost’

There are some very theatrical, operatic strings that open this one, which I guess is kind of a nod back to those Disney string interludes I mentioned earlier (they’ve stopped now). Actually these string arrangements are taking on a very John Paul Jones quality now, added to pounding polyrhythms and bluesy guitars it almost sounds like Zeppelin. I like the way it builds a sense of dread but keeps the vocals grounded.

12. ‘If I Could Believe’

Ah the hopeful yet sorrowful climax (shut up). I guess this is a quintessential Costello ballad: the emotional vocal, the sad cynicism in the lyrics. Oddly it’s just a piano track, with no obvious input from ?uestlove (dear god I hate typing that out). Still, from a thematic perspective it’s a great closer... and hey, that Disney motif thing is back!

All in all it’s a lot of fun. The hip hop influence on the veteran rock star isn’t anything like the disaster you might fear, and in fact helps him sound fresher than he has in years. It’s a very politicised, angry record too, and the ramshackle production gives it a Tom Waits kind of sound on more than one track. It’s certainly one to look out for later this year anyway.

Right now back to the crick... aw fuck.
Since you put me down, it seems i've been very gloomy. You may laugh but pretty girls look right through me.
sweetest punch
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Re: New album for 2013: "Wise Up Ghost" (with The Roots!)

Post by sweetest punch »

This website streams a lot of concerts from the North Sea Jazz Festival in Rotterdam (The Netherlands): http://www.radio6.nl/nsj13_concerten.html , including this The Roots concert: http://player.ntr.nl/nsj/?id=2013_video_the_roots
Since you put me down, it seems i've been very gloomy. You may laugh but pretty girls look right through me.
cwr
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Re: New album for 2013: "Wise Up Ghost" (with The Roots!)

Post by cwr »

Really looking forward to WUG.

I wonder if there'll be any kind of deluxe package or if the Spinning Songbook Deluxe fiasco was the end of the line for such things. (By the way, there are two of these on sale on Amazon right now for $111, the cheapest I've seen these available...)

http://www.amazon.com/Return-Spectacula ... B005O607UI

ALSO: are we days or weeks away from actually hearing the first single from WUG?
sweetest punch
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Re: New album for 2013: "Wise Up Ghost" (with The Roots!)

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Since you put me down, it seems i've been very gloomy. You may laugh but pretty girls look right through me.
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Re: New album for 2013: "Wise Up Ghost" (with The Roots!)

Post by Otis Westinghouse »

Only showing on import on Amazon UK.
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sweetest punch
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Re: New album for 2013: "Wise Up Ghost" (with The Roots!)

Post by sweetest punch »

Just heard the new single on Belgian Radio 1!!

Hope it is available abroad: http://apps.vrt.be/radioplayer/player.h ... 11sona.xml at about 2h32 in the programme.
Since you put me down, it seems i've been very gloomy. You may laugh but pretty girls look right through me.
sweetest punch
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Re: New album for 2013: "Wise Up Ghost" (with The Roots!)

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The new single is on You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lfhafgiONU !!
Since you put me down, it seems i've been very gloomy. You may laugh but pretty girls look right through me.
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Lester Burnham
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Re: New album for 2013: "Wise Up Ghost" (with The Roots!)

Post by Lester Burnham »

Oh man, this album is gonna be amazing.
johnfoyle
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Re: New album for 2013: "Wise Up Ghost" (with The Roots!)

Post by johnfoyle »

http://www.elviscostello.com/news/elvis ... -roots/444


Image

(extract)

Today, the artists also revealed the cover art for Wise Up Ghost,. The
design was inspired by that of the legendary City Lights Pocket Poets
Series, conceived by poet and publisher Lawrence Ferlinghetti and
specifically it’s an homage to the cover of “Howl and Other Poems” by
Allen Ginsberg, published in 1956.
The genesis of this idea began with
Blue Note Records president Don Was who saw the connection between
Costello’s lyrics and the presentation of the poetry of Ginsberg,
Ferlinghetti and Corso by City Lights who graciously supported the use
of their celebrated design.


Image
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Re: New album for 2013: "Wise Up Ghost" (with The Roots!)

Post by Jack of All Parades »

johnfoyle wrote:http://www.elviscostello.com/news/elvis ... -roots/444


Image

(extract)

Today, the artists also revealed the cover art for Wise Up Ghost,. The
design was inspired by that of the legendary City Lights Pocket Poets
Series, conceived by poet and publisher Lawrence Ferlinghetti and
specifically it’s an homage to the cover of “Howl and Other Poems” by
Allen Ginsberg, published in 1956.
The genesis of this idea began with
Blue Note Records president Don Was who saw the connection between
Costello’s lyrics and the presentation of the poetry of Ginsberg,
Ferlinghetti and Corso by City Lights who graciously supported the use
of their celebrated design.


Image
Neat- I was sceptical at first with the off the cuff comments from Questlove of EC having gone all Ezra Pound in his lyrical line for this new album. This gives me some hope that EC may have gone back to the shelves and dusted off a volume or two of Allen's and gone to 'school' on a new variation for his lyrical line. In a way it will fit with the strong element of 'Apocolyptical' tone that is flowing through so much of popular culture these days- Allen and his take on Mammon and the stultifying culture he saw back in the late forties and fifties.
"....there's a merry song that starts in 'I' and ends in 'You', as many famous pop songs do....'
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Re: New album for 2013: "Wise Up Ghost" (with The Roots!)

Post by Jocko Wainwright »

The cover art has landed my head back in college, when I had a shelf filled with those things. Love the song. Love the lyrics. I've been playing it for about 45 minutes straight, which I think is the proper amount of obsession for a new Elvis Costello song.
when i was cruel
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Re: New album for 2013: "Wise Up Ghost" (with The Roots!)

Post by when i was cruel »

Even though I have over 800 songs of his (different versions, demos, etc) I, with regret, hate this song. I don't know if Elvis is trying to channel some Brutal Youth feel here but it just sounds awkward and disjointed.
It's not the days when you leave me, but all I fear are the nights.
cwr
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Re: New album for 2013: "Wise Up Ghost" (with The Roots!)

Post by cwr »

Hmm.

I don't hear any attempt at the varied sounds of Brutal Youth-- if anything, I heard a kinship with both versions of "Dust" from WIWC.

Personally, I think it's a pretty groovy opening track. I like it!

(Not liking one in 800 isn't bad! I think there are only 2 or 3 EC tracks I truly dislike, a big chunk I'm indifferent to, and then a sweeping majority in the like-it/LOVE-it range.)

I was fooled by a sound in the song's opening where they included the noise Apple computers make when you increase or decrease the volume.
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Re: New album for 2013: "Wise Up Ghost" (with The Roots!)

Post by when i was cruel »

Yeah also that song 'playboy to a man' joins it. Ok so the song has slightly grown on me after my massage this morning lol (my poor back). Thanks for picking up on the apple noise hahha
It's not the days when you leave me, but all I fear are the nights.
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Re: New album for 2013: "Wise Up Ghost" (with The Roots!)

Post by docinwestchester »

A very good single. Can't wait to hear the rest.
cwr
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Re: New album for 2013: "Wise Up Ghost" (with The Roots!)

Post by cwr »

For the record, I also like "Playboy To A Man." (Actually don't really like the McCartney/MacManus demo of it, but really dig the way it was recorded on MLAR.)

The two EC songs I don't really like off the top of my head are actually "The Long Division" off PFM and "International Echo" off TRIR. I don't know why those two stick out in my head, I've just never warmed to them at all.

"Walk Us Uptown" feels like a good start and I enjoy the lyric video. I'm curious to hear them go into detail about the making of the album in interviews!
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Re: New album for 2013: "Wise Up Ghost" (with The Roots!)

Post by Top balcony »

In homage to Juke Box Jury, please read this in a strong West Midlands accent:



..................................." I'll give it FIVE"

Colin Top Balcony
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Re: New album for 2013: "Wise Up Ghost" (with The Roots!)

Post by FAVEHOUR »

I like this very much! It reminds me of the first time I heard Pills and Soap, when I bought the Imp 45 in 1983.

Very anxious to hear the rest. And love the cover art. I have one of those "Howl" books somewhere too.


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Re: New album for 2013: "Wise Up Ghost" (with The Roots!)

Post by Neil. »

I LOVE IT! YES!!!!!
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Re: New album for 2013: "Wise Up Ghost" (with The Roots!)

Post by migdd »

Great track! Doesn't really remind me of anything EC has done before. Ahhhhh . . .some new unfamiliar territory - that's what it's all about! Can't wait to hear the rest.
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Re: New album for 2013: "Wise Up Ghost" (with The Roots!)

Post by FAVEHOUR »

migdd wrote:Great track! Doesn't really remind me of anything EC has done before. Ahhhhh . . .some new unfamiliar territory - that's what it's all about! Can't wait to hear the rest.

Right, that's what I was trying to get at. I felt that way with Pills and Soap in 1983, a different sound, a different atmosphere for Elvis. Very cool!!
Last edited by FAVEHOUR on Mon Jul 22, 2013 7:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: New album for 2013: "Wise Up Ghost" (with The Roots!)

Post by Jack of All Parades »

First few listens and it has already established itself within my aural and cerebral senses as a more accomplished track of 'social' protest than its predecessor "National Ransom". That book jacket cover is more than a red herring. This song's lyric catches that deep miasma Ginsberg too felt over 60 years ago- that urban undercurrent of stultification and disenfranchisement that periodically needs to be addressed by our better selves. 8)
"....there's a merry song that starts in 'I' and ends in 'You', as many famous pop songs do....'
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Re: New album for 2013: "Wise Up Ghost" (with The Roots!)

Post by Poor Deportee »

A quick listen to this track suggests this album has the potential to redeem the sonic debacle of When I Was Cruel - hitting the mark where that one missed it nearly entirely. My one quibble is that EC's pitch seems off in places - intentionally? - but the main thing is that he's conveying attitude without going totally over the top (like he did on 'Church Underground'). Great cut, it really whets the appetite for more.

Probably I'm wrong...but I have a gut feeling that this is going to be EC's most commerically successful effort in years, a feeling that none of his other 'commercial comeback' releases (BY, WIWC, Delivery Man, Momofuku) gave me. It just feels like a sound for this moment: contemporary yet retro, rock-solid groove, a collision of different kinds of cool, lyrics that don't intrude and yet are pointed and sharp for those who want them. The video further consolidates the feeling (what's cooler these days than a turntable?). In terms of sales and public profile, this could indeed be The Big One - whatever that means in this age of dwindling sales.
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migdd
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Re: New album for 2013: "Wise Up Ghost" (with The Roots!)

Post by migdd »

FAVEHOUR wrote:
migdd wrote:Great track! Doesn't really remind me of anything EC has done before. Ahhhhh . . .some new unfamiliar territory - that's what it's all about! Can't wait to hear the rest.

Right, that's what I was trying to get at. I felt that way with Pills and Soap in 1983, a different sound, a different atmosphere for Elvis. Very cool!!
I knew that was what you were getting at, Dave, and I agree wholeheartedly. This is definitely something new.
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Re: New album for 2013: "Wise Up Ghost" (with The Roots!)

Post by eduardopaulo »

This is a fantastic tune -- the arrangement, the lyrics, everything about it works. I can't wait to listen to the rest of the record. Sounds a bit like some tracks off of WIWC/Cruel Smile. High expectations for this one.
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