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

[johnfoyle]

[docinwestchester]

http://wuky.org/post/rock-roots-feature ... wise-ghost

Rock & Roots Featured Album of the Week (Aug 26-30): Elvis Costello & The Roots "Wise Up Ghost"

Listen Monday - Friday at 10:50, 12:50 and 2:50 for songs from the CD and your chance to WIN A COPY.

10:50 - Refuse To Be Saved
12:50 - If I Could Believe

[And No Coffee Table]

10:50 - Refuse To Be Saved
12:50 - If I Could Believe

And "Sugar Won't Work" again at 2:50. Oh well. At least the first two days were exciting.

[docinwestchester]

10:50 - Refuse To Be Saved
12:50 - If I Could Believe

And "Sugar Won't Work" again at 2:50. Oh well. At least the first two days were exciting.

8 out of 12 (15 counting bonus songs) ain't bad...

[Otis Westinghouse]

What is all this? What's wrong with waiting a couple of weeks to get and play the CD?

[And No Coffee Table]

What is all this? What's wrong with waiting a couple of weeks to get and play the CD?

What's wrong with enjoying hearing some of the new songs now?

[Poor Deportee]

What is all this? What's wrong with waiting a couple of weeks to get and play the CD?

What's wrong with enjoying hearing some of the new songs now?

Nothing at all, but to me it feels like creeping downstairs a week before Christmas and unwrapping all the presents.

[Otis Westinghouse]

Exactly. My in-laws have a habit of opening presents the moment they arrive in the post rather than waiting for the day they arrive. I swear you will love the album more if you encounter it properly as a whole. Your choice, but I always loved the magic of the Christmas present ritual.

[docinwestchester]

I'll enjoy buying the CD on Sept 17th, but I'm loving hearing new music now.

Typical impatient American, I guess.

[Man out of Time]

Just to prove that you cannot please all the people all the time, here is a negative review at Rock NYC live and recorded:

COSTELLO AND THE ROOTS “WALK US UPTOWN” REVIEWED
WRITTEN BY IMAN LABABEDI
THURSDAY, 25 JULY 2013

So here we go, folks, the dream we all dream of: Elvis Costello and the Roots (aka Questlove aka the guy with the huge Afro) have united for an album on Blue Note (aka Universal) Records Wise Up Ghost and have released a video for the first song “Walk Us Uptown” for it and so with no further ado, this kinda sucks.

Costello always sounds like Costello and here he sounds like like Costello singing something off Trust with the Roots backing up. Maybe “Clubland” with a hip hop blues band, the most overrated hip hop blues band on earth.

This is just not very good and it is part of Costello’s problem that he thinks he is a Renaissance man, a jack off of all trades, when what he is is a rock and roll singer songwriter who can’t write good songs any more.

And if that is too harsh will somebody please tell me where I have made my mistake, where the last good (not even great) Costello album is because you can go back as far as 2001′s For the Stars, or MAYBE 2003′s North. That would make ten years.

I haven’t much cared for the Roots ever, except maybe bits of 2002′s Phrenology. One thing is for sure, Doc Severinsen is not waking in the night in a cold sweat. Neither is Paul Shaffer come to that.

The song us a nightmare vision of some non-existent Uptown, as two New Yorkers are singing it, one would guess they mean the Bronx and somewhere there is a racial uptown,but the concept is too sketchy so it is just just a jitter jutting nightmare of a song. It is like a caffeine jag or a bad dream but it doesn’t really sound good, certainly doesn’t sound original and at least I expected. The lyric, once Costello’s calling card, is all dirt in mouth and bodies buried upright. You know they’re gonna tour, right? God help us all.

PS: Pitchfork got the exclusive video so just wait for the rave review.

Grade: C

Of course those of you who have already heard the album, in whole or in part, may disagree..

MOOT

[verbal gymnastics]

The last great album was For the Stars and the artist admittedly doesn't like The Roots...all the makings of a balanced and knowledgeable review

Jack off of all trades

[Otis Westinghouse]

Some Costello articles in this listing but only for subscribers:

http://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/W ... n-lababedi

An experienced writer? I love the bit about hating typos, and yet he couldn't be arsed to re-read his own shoddy copy. Check out that last para! It reads like one of the google translate reviews we see when Elvis hits mainland Europe. Mind you, I can understand the not wanting to be arsed. Drivel.

[docinwestchester]

Some Costello articles in this listing but only for subscribers:

http://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/W ... n-lababedi

An experienced writer? I love the bit about hating typos, and yet he couldn't be arsed to re-read his own shoddy copy. Check out that last para! It reads like one of the google translate reviews we see when Elvis hits mainland Europe. Mind you, I can understand the not wanting to be arsed. Drivel.

Exactly what I was thinking when I read it. Awful writing!

[johnfoyle]

http://b-metro.com/festival-season/12083/

Metro Birmingham Living

Sunday, September 1st, 2013.

John D

(extract)


Wise Up Ghost, a collaborative album between Elvis Costello and The Roots, will be out on September 17th, but thanks to an advance copy, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed this collaboration. Odds are you know Elvis Costello, but you may be less familiar with The Roots, or may know them as the house band for Jimmy Fallon. The Roots, a hip hop band, are unique in that they actually play instruments and pull from hip hop, soul, jazz, and sometimes alternative. They met when Costello performed on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon and something clicked. They decided to work together on an album and not tell anyone (including their respective labels). There was no label input and no deadlines set and it appears to have worked. The album is at times funky, while at others has a smooth jazz feel (but in a good way). The lead single, “Walk Us Uptown,” has crisp drums and jangly guitars paired with Costello’s distinctive wail, and is definitely a catchy song. “Tripwire,”the fifth track on the album, can be best described as bluesy ballad, while the very next track “Stick Out Your Tongue” is downright funky.

[verbal gymnastics]

The Roots are playing Bestival in the Isle of Wight

http://2013.bestival.net/line-up

[Azmuda]

Another promo popped up on ebay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Elvis-Costello- ... 1208309415

[John]

Good prices here - £6.79 for cd, £8.49 for deluxe version. Just not sure how long you would have to wait.

http://www.wowhd.co.uk/search?q=wise+up+ghost&t=all

[Otis Westinghouse]

When I got the Bowie deluxe on a very good price there this year it arrived a day or two after shop release.

Good prices indeed - the standard edition price is less than half the absurd £14.99 on Amazon UK. No sign of the deluxe edition.

I like to support shops where possible, but in general I believe if online is cheaper, then the irresistible laws of the market place dictate you shouldn't feel bad about saving. In this case, though, I will be supporting Fopp.

[jardine]

Trivia as it may be, this seems quite something: top twenty!

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #19 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

#12 in Music > Rock
#19 in Music > Pop

[And No Coffee Table]

Wall Street Journal article:

Elvis Costello Explores His Roots
By JOHN JURGENSEN

When the Roots took a job as the house band on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" in 2009, one of their biggest incentives was to share a stage with their musical heroes, as they have with Herbie Hancock, the Beastie Boys and more. With guest performer Elvis Costello, the band also got to make a record with one of those heroes.

Their collaborative album, "Wise Up Ghost," melds Mr. Costello's jagged vocals and deep catalog of songs with the Roots' taut rhythms and inventive funk. Pieces of Mr. Costello's old songs were diced up and spliced with new songs that the acts co-wrote, with seasoning by a hip-hop group whose past collaborators range from Jay Z to Al Green. It's a pairing that may never have occurred to their respective fans, but the results make sense.

The musicians' courtship began with Mr. Costello's first performance on "Fallon" in 2009, where he was backed by the Roots, a rap collective formed in 1987 in Philadelphia. They surprised him with canny suggestions for his songs such as "High Fidelity," reworking the biting original into a bottom-heavy jam.

His encyclopedic approach to music history clicked with the band's, especially that of drummer and band leader Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson. "Over the three appearances I made over as many years, we worked out a methodology for this record without even realizing we were doing it," Mr. Costello says.

In fact, it was all part of Mr. Thompson's plan. He says he and longtime producer Steven Mandel strategized about how to win Mr. Costello's confidence and ease him into an artistic relationship. "I was concerned that if he knew the level of fandom that Steve and I had for him, he'd get a restraining order on us," says Mr. Thompson, whose fixation has a lot to do with Mr. Costello's role at the epicenter of his favorite era of music, circa 1977.

Their rapport developed during Mr. Costello's routine after-hours visits to the band's NBC studio, where they often played together past midnight. After about a year of such experimentation and recording, Mr. Thompson recalls, "He popped the question: 'Is this an album?' "

Sometimes the collaborators worked separately, with Mr. Costello recording some early parts at a studio near his home on Vancouver Island. Often they worked together in the New York studio, building off Mr. Costello's lyrics, or his melodic sketches in reaction to beats by Mr. Thompson. Songs took shape as Mr. Mandel rearranged, erased or accentuated various parts.

They used a hip-hop methodology, deconstructing existing Costello songs and then using the fragments to build new ones. The title track, "Wise Up Ghost," begins with a descending orchestral phrase lifted directly from Mr. Costello's 2003 song "Can You Be True?" As that sample repeats, additional layers pile on, including brand new lyrics and the squalling electric guitar and backing vocals of Roots member "Captain" Kirk Douglas.

For his 2004 album with the Imposters, "The Delivery Man," Mr. Costello recorded a song called "Bedlam," singing about biblical matters at a headlong pace. The Roots set a more languid tempo with Mr. Thompson's snare drum and vamps by a horn section, giving the singer more room to stretch out. With his old verses grafted to the chorus from his 2006 song "The River in Reverse," the result is essentially a new song, called "Wake Me Up."

To the delight of Mr. Costello, who has worked with everyone from Burt Bacharach to the Royal Danish Opera, his trademark lyrical style was well suited to a hip-hop structure. "I know how to put a lot of words in a small space," he says, adding, "These are verses that I've sung before to much more frenetic music, but here I have the space to make those images all count. I'm quite prepared to explore another way to say it, with a more spacious groove."

[charliestumpy]

My amazon now-uk order for about £17 Deluxe version CD with extra tracks is still on order.

I know that I should cancel it, but despite my preference for super Elvis Costello I am still holding-out to buy it/listen twice.

[johnanderson]

My amazon now-uk order for about £17 Deluxe version CD with extra tracks is still on order.

I know that I should cancel it, but despite my preference for super Elvis Costello I am still holding-out to buy it/listen twice.

Save yourself a fiver:

http://www.wowhd.co.uk/CD/elvis-costell ... ctCarousel

The price is varying on CD wow. I got the Deluxe pre-order for £9.99

[Fishfinger king]

Quote from IMAN LABABEDI:

This is just not very good and it is part of Costello’s problem that he thinks he is a Renaissance man, a jack off of all trades, when what he is is a rock and roll singer songwriter who can’t write good songs any more.

And if that is too harsh will somebody please tell me where I have made my mistake, where the last good (not even great) Costello album is because you can go back as far as 2001′s For the Stars, or MAYBE 2003′s North. That would make ten years

I'll just say what everyone is thinking - what a fucking idiot.

[cwr]

I'll bet T Bone Burnett feels pretty embarassed about producing those last two albums now that IMAN LABABEDI has weighed in!

[Azmuda]

for what it's worth, he liked Blood & Chocolate.