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

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

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Otis Westinghouse wrote: Has anyone been checking out The Roots back catalogue? Maybe this is discussed elsewhere... I hadn't, but was listening to a bit of Phrenology, and one of the tracks off the John Legend collaboration and both sounded great. I love their sound overall.
Yeah, I've been going back to my Roots albums in the past week and revisited some of my favorites. Their last two albums, Undun and How I Got Over are probably some of their best.

How I Got Over includes some great sampling of songs by Joanna Newsom and Monsters of Folk.

But along with The Seed 2.0, off Phrenology, this might be one of my favorite things they've ever done:

Part one:

Part two:

It's the Roots version of Masters of War with Captain Kirk on vocals and a little bit of Machine Gun. I'm pretty thankful I got to see this and The Seed performed live.
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Re: New album for 2013: "Wise Up Ghost" (with The Roots!)

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Otis Westinghouse wrote:Nearly caved in and went for the WOWHD 13% off for Friday 13th and then had a vision of Fopp going out of business and a guilt attack and held out.
Popped into Fopp today and their bloody list of what's out on 16th makes no sodding mention of the most significant release of the day by a few miles. Tempted to go for the WOWHD extended offer (till Sunday night) for fear that Fopp won't have the Deluxe.
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Re: New album for 2013: "Wise Up Ghost" (with The Roots!)

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jardine wrote:I'm so glad that he seems to have shaken off or incorporated the last couple of years of hesitation, disappointment and mourning and produced something quite beautiful.
For me the last couple of years, or 16 months, since I saw the Spinning Songbook, have been characterised by some very exuberant performances. He seems to be enjoying himself more than ever up there (|and there's a quote somewhere above re the Imposters playing the best live shows of their lives), so it seems fitting that this should transfer across to a positive collab. Mourning, get that, but where are the hesitation and disappointment?
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Re: New album for 2013: "Wise Up Ghost" (with The Roots!)

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strangerinthehouse wrote:It's the Roots version of Masters of War with Captain Kirk on vocals and a little bit of Machine Gun. I'm pretty thankful I got to see this and The Seed performed live.
Well it does say 'Drum Off' at the back! Brilliantly original. And Captain Kirk has a great voice as well as guitar skills (lovely Epiphone with a great, pure sound, reminds me in places of Jeff Buckley on Grace). Gotta love ?uestlove's drumming. Beautiful machine gun fire snare sound. I've spent the day obsessing over the drumming on Walk Us Uptown, wishing I could have a fraction of that groove. Interesting to note he's micing it from above and below - gives the snare that real dominance in his sound.

The Seed was the thing that stood for me earlier. Great stuff. I also noted that Joanna Newsom was in there too - great sampling from The Book of Right On.

So if I was to take a punt on one of their albums to start off, which?
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Re: New album for 2013: "Wise Up Ghost" (with The Roots!)

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Here's a very nice Roots/John Legend cover of Dancing In The Dark:

https://vimeo.com/65439864

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

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Simply fantastic. Great version of a great song. They're an amazing house band to have on your show.
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Re: New album for 2013: "Wise Up Ghost" (with The Roots!)

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

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http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/ ... 2tl9q.html

Wise Up Ghost review: Elvis Costello and The Roots a harmonious pairing

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

This album walks a very fine line, and it walks it very finely, indeed. That line isn't the presumed one between the Roots' background as the best live band in hip-hop and Elvis Costello's longer career as a great pop song writer. For a start, both sides of that equation are far more broadly interested and skilled than cliches would allow.

Chief Roots, Ahmir ''Questlove'' Thompson, and his band can handle shades of jazz, funk, R&B, rock, pop and soul, all of which Costello has worked into his material since 1977. What's more, while the grooves here are spread from rhythm section to brass to chopped-up electronics, the tunes are plucked from pop history, jazz backgrounds and a Kanye world.

Nor is the line something between old and new, because several tracks incorporate parts of earlier Costello songs. They're either reimagined, lyrically and musically, or they suggest a continuing context for the partnership that stretches back to the early '80s.

The line walked is between the angry and bleak and the remnants of the hopeful. Between, you can narrow it down to two songs. The bitter ideological truth of Refuse to Be Saved (''they're hunting us down with Liberty's light/A handshaking double-talking procession of the mighty'') is couched in something from the war-and-drugs-affected late period of Sly and the Family Stone. On the other hand is the blend of discomfit and Latin sway in Cinco Minutos Con Vos.

Putting the Roots and Costello together has ended up as far from a mongrel amalgamation as you could get, with Wise Up Ghost a hybrid show pony. Dig the new breed.

LIKE THIS? TRY THESE Sly and the Family Stone, There's a Riot Goin' On; Elvis Costello, My Flame Burns Blue.
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Re: New album for 2013: "Wise Up Ghost" (with The Roots!)

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http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/Living/201 ... n-new-CD/1

Elvis Costello, The Roots team up in new CD

At the outset, the thought of Elvis Costello making a record with The Roots struck me as somewhat odd.

But the more I thought about it the less odd it seemed.

Both, after all, have a reputation for innovation and experimentation, for taking big bold steps forward.

Both have collaborated with other artists in past with varying degrees of success.

Both like a challenge.

So it was with an open mind that I eventually queued up an advance copy of the much-rumoured Costello/Roots collaboration Wise Up Ghost, which officially hits the streets next week.

Don’t know what I expected to find here.

Something a little heavier, a little more out there, a little more in your face perhaps.

And while there are some tracks where they colour outside the lines Wise Up Ghost is, for the most part, a pretty accessible record, one that artfully mixes elements of pop, soul, R&B, hip-hop and jazz to create something that is fresh, genuinely interesting and engaging throughout.

The arrangements are cool and the production, entrusted to longtime Roots associate Steven Mandel, together with Costello and The Roots’ Ahmir “?uestlove” Thompson, serves the music very well, never overwhelming you with too much of this or too much of that.

There’s great chemistry between Costello and The Roots. You get the sense that they genuinely enjoy working together and that both have learned something from each other in the process of making this record.

But that should come as no surprise to anyone who saw them perform Brilliant Disguise and Fire together last year on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon as part of Fallon’s Springsteen tribute.

The seed for the Wise Up Ghost set was apparently planted that night.

This record was recorded in secret for the most part, some of it at Feliz Habitat Studios, the rest at Costello’s Hookery Crookery Studios.

Costello has described the record as “the shortest distance between here and there” and said it contained “both rhythm and what is read.”

Take from that what you will.

Thompson’s description of the record is a little more direct and to the point.

“It’s a moody, brooding affair, cathartic rhythms and dissonant lullabies,” Thompson said.

“I went stark and dark on the music....”

I would certainly agree with Thompson about it being stark and dark.

But there are moments on the record as well that have a raw beauty and a gentleness about them.

No, it’s not a record that you’ll throw on when Nana comes by for tea, but there are several tracks on Wise Up Ghost that will grow on you, tracks like Viceroy’s Row, Sugar Won’t Work and the title track.

I’m also partial to the quirky Walk Us Uptown and (She Might Be A) Grenade.

Great lyrics, some serious grooves and great performances by both Costello and The Roots.

In addition to Costello, the members of the Roots and some of their associates, Wise Up Ghost also features the vocals of La Marisoul, lead singer of La Santa Cecilia. on Cinco Minutos Con Vos.

This record serves both acts well and should find favour with fans on both sides of the fence.

(Rating 3 ½ out of 5 stars)
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Re: New album for 2013: "Wise Up Ghost" (with The Roots!)

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http://ultimateclassicrock.com/elvis-co ... -up-ghost/

Elvis Costello and the Roots, ‘Wise Up Ghost’ – Album Review

Elvis Costello has been down this path before. New collaborators. New sounds. Old songs approached in new directions. On ‘Wise Up Ghost,’ an album recorded with hip-hop crew the Roots, he slips into a new groove, for him at least, that adds some fresh texture to his old style.

‘Wise Up Ghost’ isn’t a revolutionary record, not even by Costello’s standards. The Roots — one of the finest live bands in America — bend more to the Englishman than he does to them. It sounds like a Costello album and falls in line with his most recent records — 2009 and 2010′s Nashville excursions ‘Secret, Profane & Sugar Cane’ and ‘National Ransom,’ the 2006 album he made with New Orleans great Allen Toussaint, ‘The River in Reverse.’ It’s just another stop on his tour of American music.

Because the Roots rarely play by hip-hop’s rules, their contributions as backing band don’t take on the usual genre connotations. The band’s leader and drummer, ?uestlove, is a stickler for R&B tradition, so ‘Wise Up Ghost’ is more ’70s funk than ’80s B-boy. The production — by Costello, ?love and longtime Roots associate Steven Mandel — doesn’t overemphasize the seams. This is Costello’s most natural sounding album in years.

But it’s a groove record and not one always suited to Costello’s barbed songwriting and occasionally clipped vocal delivery. Plus, it goes on a little too long. As far as songs go, ‘Wise Up Ghost’ doesn’t have too many memorable ones. Those days are long gone for Costello. But there’s a renewed toughness in his voice pulled out by the Roots’ solid backing. The rhythms nudge him along on songs like the opening ‘Walk Us Uptown,’ the sweet-thick ‘Wake Me Up’ and ‘Stick Out Your Tongue,’ which reworks his 1983 cut ‘Pills and Soap.’

The textures driving the music — from the warm, climbing keys underlining the biting ’Refuse to Be Saved’ to the undercurrent of horns gliding through ‘(She Might Be A) Grenade’ — may be ‘Wise Up Ghost”s real stars. By running alongside, on top of and beneath Costello, they direct and steer the Roots toward the singer-songwriter’s center. In the end, they all come together for an album short on actual songs but long on genuine groove. And for all involved, that’s a sizable step.

7 out of 10
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Re: New album for 2013: "Wise Up Ghost" (with The Roots!)

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http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-enter ... 15194.html

Album review: Elvis Costello & the Roots, Wise Up Ghost (Blue Note/Decca)
4 stars (out of 5)

Neither Elvis Costello nor Questlove (of US hip-hop/soul combo The Roots) is anybody’s fool, so there was no chance this project would have proceeded if things hadn’t felt quite, like, right.

But it still required some cojones to pull it off. And lo, it is good: a brooding, dark, clicketty snarl of eloquent badness, not half as shouty and cluttered as you might fear. Twisted voice channels fluent word in a bower of uptown beats.

Search out “Refuse to be Saved” if you want to hear just how effective it can be; “Tripwire”, if you want to feel the oddness. There’s something artificial and experimental in the project’s very DNA, but that need not be a bad thing, and it isn’t.
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Re: New album for 2013: "Wise Up Ghost" (with The Roots!)

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http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertain ... 699.column

Costello, Roots an uneasy alliance

3 stars (out of 4)

Serial collaborators Elvis Costello and the Roots join forces on "Wise Up Ghost" (Blue Note), an album that plays it scrappy and loose – as if neither had anything to lose. It's also a pointed and chilling state-of-the-world album. In a world in which government surveillance, chemical weapons and citizen revolts are ascendant, "Wise Up Ghost" provides an appropriately nerve-racking soundtrack with a desperate message: Indifference is death.

The unlikely collaboration was forged by Costello's frequent appearances on the "Late Show with Jimmy Fallon," where the Roots are the house band. Costello, Roots drummer Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson and Roots producer Steven Mandel do most of the heavy lifting; they write and produce the entire album. They've made what sounds like a noir song cycle that borrows from hip-hop, neo-soul and dark-night-of-the-soul singer-songwriter concept albums without fully embracing any of those genres. The stylistic ambiguity is precisely the point – it gives the project an instability rare for veteran artists with distinctive voices to project and loyal fans to satisfy.

Costello can come off as a dilettante in some of his genre-bending projects, but with Questlove he revels in sparse, edgy shadowplay and his understatement as a vocalist is matched by the musicianship. A masterful drummer, Questlove dials everything back and leaves plenty of space. The songs are on constant edge, a state of tension without release, as if anticipating a detonation that never arrives but is always a threat.

"She's pulling out the pin," Costello sings, the movie-script-worthy opening line for "(She Might Be A) Grenade." Strings bend and recede around him, keyboards stab and Questlove navigates, as the singer turns a femme fatale into a terrorist. In an album full of paranoid narrators, trouble drifts like nerve gas. "Don't open the door cause they're coming/Don't open the door because they're here" becomes the fearful mantra on the deceptive lullaby "Tripwire," with its chiming bells and lulling vocals.

The flair for disorientation flags in the second half. Tempos drag in the Latin-flavored "Cinco Minutos Con Vos" and the static "Viceroy's Row," and the title track is a mood piece that never climbs out of neutral. But even these misfires feel like experiments that fell short, while the rest of "Wise Up Ghost" revels in its uneasiness.
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Re: New album for 2013: "Wise Up Ghost" (with The Roots!)

Post by John »

Otis Westinghouse wrote:
jardine wrote:I'm so glad that he seems to have shaken off or incorporated the last couple of years of hesitation, disappointment and mourning and produced something quite beautiful.
For me the last couple of years, or 16 months, since I saw the Spinning Songbook, have been characterised by some very exuberant performances. He seems to be enjoying himself more than ever up there (|and there's a quote somewhere above re the Imposters playing the best live shows of their lives), so it seems fitting that this should transfer across to a positive collab. Mourning, get that, but where are the hesitation and disappointment?
There was certainly hesitation and disappointment following the commercial failure of National Ransom. I desperately hope history is not repeated.
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Re: New album for 2013: "Wise Up Ghost" (with The Roots!)

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Another positive review

http://www.sfgate.com/music/article/Alb ... 809581.php

Elvis Costello's musical restlessness has resulted in collaborations both awesome (Burt Bacharach, Paul McCartney) and awful (Brodsky Quartet, Wendy James). His latest, "Wise Up Ghost," finds him in the studio with Grammy-winning hip-hop outfit the Roots featuring Ahmir Questlove, above right, best known as the house band for "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon." It doesn't look like the most promising prospect on paper, but both parties bring great enthusiasm to the project. Even though it doesn't sound retro, the album feels like a conscious throwback to the London that Costello arose from in 1977 - a dark, heady mix of punk, funk and dub more commonly associated with the Clash and the Specials. While the songs knowingly reference his older material, the music crackles with a spontaneous energy as both collaborators revel in their differences on tunes such as "Stick Out Your Tongue" and "Walk Us Uptown."
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Re: New album for 2013: "Wise Up Ghost" (with The Roots!)

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John wrote:There was certainly hesitation and disappointment following the commercial failure of National Ransom. I desperately hope history is not repeated.
Was there? Where was that expressed? I thought Costello was well passed caring about sales as a measure of anything. He has a big enough fan base to keep his live audiences coming back for more, he isn't too bothered about having to making or not having to make records, he's a wealthy and acclaimed man. I'm sure he likes to be appreciated for his efforts, but I see only a happy man with huge energy and talent to do whatever he wishes and loving every second of it. have I missed something?
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Re: New album for 2013: "Wise Up Ghost" (with The Roots!)

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"There was certainly hesitation and disappointment following the commercial failure of National Ransom. I desperately hope history is not repeated." Yes, John, that's basically what I was thinking. And that has always cast, for me, a bit of a pall over the exuberance of the Spinning Songbook that followed, at least at the beginning. It seemed (and this is from a great distance and this is, of course, sheer speculation) that the early parts of that SS venture were a bit of a despairing attempt to burn off something and forget (and make some good cash). It seems to have turned out to be exactly the right thing to have done, because he seems to have found his footing again out from under the troubles. Of course, this is likely more about my own pathologies than about his.

That is why it is so good to hear how deep and settled EC seems in interviews this round about WUG. The petulance and defensiveness isn't there in the same way. The talk seems more serious and generous, more enjoyed and enjoyable and exploratory. And the love affair with the QL and the Roots seems made to order--immersion in new/old sounds and in his back catalog in wonderful and reviving ways, not just a greatest hits parade. It really is a joy to see how he has stepped up into something new and venturous. This is what I've always loved about him and his work since the beginning.

Given the nature and extent of the reviews so far, I would be surprised if history repeated, but then again, I was surprised and pained over what happened to NR.
Last edited by jardine on Sun Sep 15, 2013 7:20 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: New album for 2013: "Wise Up Ghost" (with The Roots!)

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Record Collector, Oct. '13. Terry Staunton also recycles some of his epic Quietus feature.
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Re: New album for 2013: "Wise Up Ghost" (with The Roots!)

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Amazon Canada now says estimated ship date is September 30 (for vinyl) :(
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Re: New album for 2013: "Wise Up Ghost" (with The Roots!)

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John wrote:Amazon in the US seem only to be selling the deluxe version of the cd and have increased its price in the last couple of days which doesn't seem like clever promotion to me.
I've been hearing a lot of complaints about Amazon on other releases. They seem to be doing this a lot. The price of Wise Up Ghost alone has changed a lot in the past few days. I per-orderded it when it was 11.99 for the deluxe version but I have seen it go up to 15.99 and now 14.99 which seems weird.
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Re: New album for 2013: "Wise Up Ghost" (with The Roots!)

Post by strangerinthehouse »

Otis Westinghouse wrote:
strangerinthehouse wrote:It's the Roots version of Masters of War with Captain Kirk on vocals and a little bit of Machine Gun. I'm pretty thankful I got to see this and The Seed performed live.
Well it does say 'Drum Off' at the back! Brilliantly original. And Captain Kirk has a great voice as well as guitar skills (lovely Epiphone with a great, pure sound, reminds me in places of Jeff Buckley on Grace). Gotta love ?uestlove's drumming. Beautiful machine gun fire snare sound. I've spent the day obsessing over the drumming on Walk Us Uptown, wishing I could have a fraction of that groove. Interesting to note he's micing it from above and below - gives the snare that real dominance in his sound.

The Seed was the thing that stood for me earlier. Great stuff. I also noted that Joanna Newsom was in there too - great sampling from The Book of Right On.

So if I was to take a punt on one of their albums to start off, which?
Otis, Phrenology is a good one - It was the first Roots album I bought, just because of The Seed but it's a good mix.

How I Got Over - the one with Joanna Newsom, is probably their most accessible though - there a lots of great hooks and melodies in that one. Radio Daze is a great, catchy tune.

Steven Mandel did some work on that album and you can tell he's really good in the recording process but it's nothing compared to his work on Wise Up Ghost. I think it's one of the best sounding albums EC has ever released.
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Re: New album for 2013: "Wise Up Ghost" (with The Roots!)

Post by John »

I wonder if we will see a second "single". I seem to recall ?uestlove saying something about letting a couple of songs sneak out before the album release. Only Walk Us Uptown so far.
Sugar Won't Work would seem a candidate especially looking at the timings.
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Re: New album for 2013: "Wise Up Ghost" (with The Roots!)

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Was there? Where was that expressed? I thought Costello was well passed caring about sales as a measure of anything. He has a big enough fan base to keep his live audiences coming back for more, he isn't too bothered about having to making or not having to make records, he's a wealthy and acclaimed man. I'm sure he likes to be appreciated for his efforts, but I see only a happy man with huge energy and talent to do whatever he wishes and loving every second of it. have I missed something?
I can't point to a particular quote, but there was definitely a sense of disappointment for Costello after National Ransom.

SP&SC had done so unexpectedly well, in part because it was actively displayed on pretty much every counter at Starbucks. NR was still on the Starbucks Hear Music label but for some unexplained reason didn't receive the same push.

I think Costello went out of his way to make NR something special, and he promoted the hell out of it, only to have it get a kind of shrug-- the usual mix of good and bad reviews that pretty much every Costello record gets now, but no lingering energy keeping it in the conversation, and poor sales. Six months later, in one of his Spinning Songbook posts, he referred to it as "the recently deleted album, National Ransom."

I think it stung. He went through a similar thing when ATUB fared poorly, but I think in that case there was a whole stew of other disappointing stuff going on in his life. With NR, I think it was sort of a moment where he made the record, put it out and pushed it and was stunned when it didn't get a very big reaction. I mean, even critically, it got a lot of good reviews but very little in terms of people remembering it a few months later in their "Best Of 2010" features.

And he went right into The Spinning Songbook and more talk of how he was through making records. I mean, he's recently made light of the fact that he's said that at many different points in his career, but I think this time it WAS a little different in that it coincided with the "Record Industry" kind of dying and him reaching a point where he'd made enough records that he could take-it-or-leave-it.

I think if The Roots thing hadn't happened, it would have been something else that would heave eventually brought him back to making another record, but the failure of NR did take away the urge to "make another record." If it hadn't been The Roots, it would have been something else, but it was basically going to take something special to get him to go to the trouble of putting out another album.

Thankfully, it seems like Questlove is so enthusiastic about working with him that it may serve to keep him going even if Wise Up GHOST turns out to be a commercial disappointment (which I hope doesn't happen. It would be nice for this record to get some amount of validation in terms of record sales.)
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Re: New album for 2013: "Wise Up Ghost" (with The Roots!)

Post by the_platypus »

It sounds to me like the reviews have been largely positive, yes? Someone said something about "mixed reviews" earlier in this thread but it doesn't look that way to me.
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Re: New album for 2013: "Wise Up Ghost" (with The Roots!)

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http://www.sueddeutsche.de/kultur/elvis ... -1.1769521

Der Wink in die Zukunft

Auf seinem neuen Album "Wise Up Ghost" arbeitet Elvis Costello mit den Hip-Hoppern von The Roots zusammen. Ein Etikettenschwindel?

Ein Drummer, der von einem Schlagzeughersteller seinen eigenen Signature Stick gewidmet bekommt, hat es geschafft. So wie Ahmir Thompson, Rufname "Questlove", von der Band "The Roots": Die US-Firma "Vic Firth" fertigt seit einiger Zeit einen Stock nach seinen Wünschen - natürlich auch, um mit seinem Namen ein paar Exemplare an diejenigen zu verkaufen, die dem 1-Meter-93-Riesen und Soul-Hip-Hop-Superstar nacheifern.

Der Wuchtigkeit des Mannes entsprechen die Hölzer übrigens nicht ganz, es sind eher leichtere Modelle. Am Griff-Ende haben sie die spezielle Anti-Rutsch-Beschichtung, die einer wie Questlove auch benötigt. Damit die Sticks ihm nicht aus den Händen gleiten, wenn er sie beim Trommeln mit nur drei Fingerspitzen hält.

Der 42-jährige Drummer, DJ, Produzent und Buchautor tanzt nur so über die Felle und Becken. Und hat so einen Stil etabliert, der - so genau er auf den Punkt gespielt auch ist - immer auch einen Hauch von Schlampigkeit evoziert. Es ist ein Groove, der seit der Jahrtausendwende ganz neue R'n'B-Helden wie D'Angelo und Erykah Badu ebenso trug wie ganz alte - dem großen Al Green gelang 2008 mit Questlove und "Lay It Down" sein bestes Album seit Ewigkeiten. Es ist ein Beat, an dem jetzt auch Elvis Costello nicht vorbeikommt, auf "Wise Up Ghost", seinem neuen Album mit The Roots. Oder ist die Kennzeichnung schon ein Etikettenschwindel?

Überraschend kann diese Kollaboration nur finden, wer einerseits das abenteuerlich breit gestreute Werk des 59-jährigen Costello - der gerade bei Apple in Cupertino zur Präsentation des neuen iPhone auftrat - immer noch auf New-Wave-Renitenz reduziert. Und andererseits die Band aus Philadelphia für irgendeine Hip-Hop-Truppe hält, die zufällig auch ein paar Instrumente ganz passabel spielen kann.

Ein Zweifler und Mahner

2011 jedenfalls saß Questlove beim Costello-Konzert im New Yorker Beacon Theatre als Gast hinterm Schlagzeug für "Black And White World", einem Song vom Album "Get Happy!!", mit dem der Engländer 1980 erstmals klassische Soulmusik an sich gerissen hatte - damals noch eher als Fan und noch nicht mit dem zuweilen etwas anstrengenden Musikologen-Gestus, der seine späteren Genre-Reisen prägte. Schon 2009 hatten The Roots ihm assistiert, als Hausband in Jimmy Fallons Late-Night-Show, als Costello dort seinen, tja, New-Wave-Kracher "I Don't Want To Go To Chelsea" vortrug. Der freilich schon 1978 verschlungener groovte als fast alles andere damals.

Questlove, gemeinsam mit Roots-Sounddesigner Steven Mandel die treibende Kraft und ordnende Hand hinter "Wise Up Ghost", hatte zuerst nur nach Costellos Okay für einen Roots-Remix älterer Elvis-Songs angefragt. Was die perfekte Ouvertüre war, da der Sänger in der daraus erwachsenden Zusammenarbeit immer wieder nach der Wiederentdeckung und Fortschreibung seiner eigenen Geschichte zu suchen schien.

Man findet sie gleich auf dem fertigen Album: So nimmt das dunkle "Stick Your Tongue" den Refrain von "Pills & Soap" auf, das 1983 im Original von Grandmaster Flashs Rap-Pionierstreich "The Message" inspiriert war. Und "Cinco Minutos Con Vos", mit einer Gastrolle für die Latin-Sängerin La Marisoul, spiegelt in einer Geschichte um Entführung und Tod eines argentinischen Vaters unmittelbar den Costello-Klassiker "Shipbuilding" wider, der 1982 die Working-Class-Agonie nach dem britischen Falkland-Krieg in eine seiner elegischsten Melodien goss.

Die Quintessenz dieses Zeitsprungs nach England ist, dass auch nach dem Tod Thatchers, jener Frau, die Costello 1989 zu seinem bis heute schönsten Hass-Lied "Tramp The Dirt Down" inspirierte, vieles, wenn nicht alles gleich geblieben ist.

"There must be something better than this", grummelt er in "Wake Me Up" und pflanzt dazu ein paar spitze Riffs in den relaxten Groove. Der Part des eher zurückgenommenen Zweiflers und Mahners steht Costello gut - und erstickt im Bezugsgeflecht von Dub- und Jazz-Schnipseln, Philly-Soul-Flair, Streichern und Siebziger-Funk auch sein gefürchtetes Stimm-Tremolo. Selbst "Tripwire", eine einzige, großartig vergossene Träne über die (Beziehungs-)Apokalypse, verkneift sich jeden Manierismus. Fast so, als wolle der Sänger dem Backbeat nicht in die Quere kommen.

Als Hommage an Allen Ginsbergs Gedichtband "Howl And Other Poems" aus dem Jahre 1956 holt auch das typografisch-schlichte Schwarzweiß-Cover von "Wise Up Ghost" historisch weit aus. Was dann auch wie ein rührender Versuch anmutet, der Musik wieder eine Relevanz zu geben, die sie vermeintlich eingebüßt hat. Ein neues "What's Going On", Marvin Gayes Soul-Widerstandsruf von 1971, ist "Wise Up Ghost" bei allem soziopolitischen Gestus aber nicht geworden.

Was heute so läuft, das ist ja einerseits kaum noch die Frage wert, die Gaye damals stellte - und dennoch, trotz Transparenzgeschwafels, undurchsichtiger denn je. So ist das Großartige an "Wise Up Ghost", dass sich Costello nicht scheut, auch geballte Ohnmacht zu formulieren, wie im leisen Finale von "If I Could Believe". Im schlimmsten Fall spricht auch nichts dagegen, die ganze Skepsis auch einfach mal wegzutanzen mit dem ansteckenden Off-Beat des Lead-Tracks "Walk Us Uptown".

Und was war da mit dem Etikettenschwindel? Nun, den eingefleischten Fans behagt es nicht unbedingt, dass auf der Platte zwar The Roots draufsteht, aber die essenzielle Stimme der Band, der Rapper Taric "Black Thought" Trotter, gar nicht dabei ist. Während sich Elvis Costello hingegen mit "Refuse To Be Saved" auch mal als Halb-Rapper versucht. Und was steht rechts unten auf dem Cover? Genau: "Number One".

Denn "Wise Up Ghost" ist bei allem Vergangenheitsbezug auch ein work in progress, ein Wink in die Zukunft. Vielleicht spielt Questlove bei Nummer zwei dann ja auch das neue, nach ihm benannte Drumkit. Das wurde ihm gerade von der Traditionsmarke Ludwig spendiert. Es ist genauso zierlich wie seine Sticks.

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Google translation:

The nod to the future

On his new album " Ghost Wise Up " Elvis Costello is working with the hip- hoppers of The Roots. A misnomer ?

A drummer who gets paid by a drum manufacturer has his own signature stick , done it. Just as Ahmir Thompson, nickname " Questlove " by the band " The Roots ": The U.S. company " Vic Firth " made ​​for some time a stick according to his wishes - of course , to his name to sell a few copies to those that emulate the 1 -meter 93- giants and Soul Hip -hop superstar.

The massiveness of the man correspond to the woods by the way not all , there are more lighter models . At the handle end they have the special anti -slip coating , such as the one Questlove also needed . So the sticks do not slip from his hands when he holds them in drums with only three fingers .

The 42 -year-old drummer , DJ, producer and author dances just as the skins and cymbals . And so has established a style that - exactly as it is played to perfection too - always evokes an air of shabbiness . There is a groove that was just since the turn of the millennium all new R & B heroes like D' Angelo and Erykah Badu as very old - the great Al Green came in 2008 with Questlove and " Lay It Down " his best album in ages . It is a beat where now Elvis Costello not get past , to " Wise Up Ghost" , his new album with The Roots. Or is the labeling already a misnomer ?

Surprisingly, this collaboration can only find out who on the one hand , the widespread adventurous work of the 59 -year-old Costello - still reduced to New Wave recalcitrance - who just appeared at Apple in Cupertino for the presentation of the new iPhone . And on the other hand keeps the band from Philadelphia for any hip-hop troupe , which can randomly play a few instruments passable.

A double minded and admonisher

2011 anyway sat Questlove at Costello concert at New York's Beacon Theatre as a guest on drums for " Black and White World" , a song from the album, with the English 1980 Classic soul music had usurped first " Get Happy ! " - Then yet . rather as a fan and not with the times somewhat hard - musicologists gesture that influenced his later genre Travel Already in 2009, had The Roots assisted him as the house band at Jimmy Fallon's late-night show, as there Costello 's , well, new-wave -cracker " I Do not Want To Go To Chelsea " recited . The tortuous course in 1978 grooving than almost anything else at that time .

Questlove , Roots together with sound designer Steven Almond , the driving force behind organizing hand and " Wise Up Ghost ," had first requested only after Costello's OK for a Roots Remix older Elvis songs . What was the perfect overture because the singer seemed to search for the rediscovery and updating its own story again and again in the ensuing cooperation .

One finds the same on the finished album : So does the dark " Stick Your Tongue " the chorus of " Pills & Soap ", which in 1983 was "The Message" inspired originally by Grandmaster Flash's rap pioneer prank. And " Cinco Minutos Con Vos ," with a guest role for the Latin singer La Marisoul , reflected in a story about kidnapping and death of an Argentine father directly to Costello 's classic " Shipbuilding " resist , in 1982 , the working -class agony after British Falklands War elegischsten poured into one of his tunes.

The bottom line this time jump to England is that even after the death of Thatcher , the woman who inspired Costello in 1989 for his still hate most beautiful song " Tramp The Dirt Down," much , if not everything is the same.

" There must be something better than this ," he grumbles in " Wake Me Up" and planted to a few great riffs in the relaxed groove. The part of the more withdrawn doubter and admonisher Costello is good - and nipped in the reference network of dub and jazz snippets , Philly -soul flair , strings and Seventies radio also feared his voice tremolo. Even " Tripwire " , a single, great shed tears over the ( Relationship ) Apocalypse , every mannerism itself denies . Almost as if the singer does not get in the way of the backbeat .

As a tribute to Allen Ginsberg's poems " Howl And Other Poems " in 1956 and the typographically - simple black and white cover of " Wise Up Ghost" brings out historically far . What then seems like a pathetic attempt to give the music back a relevance that it has lost supposedly . A new " What's Going On," Marvin Gaye's soul Widerstandsruf of 1971 , " Wise Up Ghost" at all socio- political gesture but did not become .

What passes as today , that's hardly the one hand , the question worth the time put Gaye - and yet, despite Transparenzgeschwafels , opaque than ever. So the great thing about " Wise Up Ghost" that Costello is not afraid to formulate concentrated fainting, as in the quiet finale of " If I Could Believe" . In the worst case, nothing prevents the whole skepticism simply wegzutanzen times with the infectious beat of the lead - off track "Walk Uptown Us " .

And what was with the misnomer ? Well, the die-hard fans it pleases not necessarily mean that on the plate while The Roots is on it, but the essential voice of the band , the rapper Taric " Black Thought " Trotter , is not it. While Elvis Costello , however, also tried a half - rapper with " Refuse To Be Saved " . And what is the bottom right of the cover? Exactly: " Number One" .

Because " Wise Up Ghost" is also a reference in all past work in progress, a nod to the future. Maybe Questlove plays at number two then also the new drum kit named after him . That was just donated to him by the traditional brand Louis . It's just as gracefully as his sticks.

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

Post by sweetest punch »

http://www.laut.de/Elvis-Costello-The-R ... host-91183

Eine aufwühlende Reise, düster und ohne Grenzen.

Mit Kollaborationen ist das so eine Sache. Im laut.de-Interview äußert sich der ehemalige Kraftwerk-Musiker Karl Bartos dementsprechend skeptisch. "Wenn ein Musiker erfolgreich ist, dann braucht er das nicht. Kollaborationen, die gut waren, haben sich die Künstler nicht überlegt, sondern die Plattenfirmen. Da sitzt dann Irgendeiner im Verlag oder in der Chefetage von so einer Plattenfirma und denkt: 'Wen können wir nehmen, was können wir denn jetzt mal machen und zusammenstopfen?' Da wird dann Lou Reed zusammen gestellt mit Metallica, und das ist alles scheiße. Aber der hat das nur gemacht, weil er da Kohle für gesehen hat. Er hat doch keinen Bock, ernsthaft mit Metallica zu arbeiten. Es ist einfach nur ein Geschäft. Meistens ist der Vater des Gedankens der wirtschaftliche Ansatz und nicht der künstlerische."

Ein eher desillusionierender Keim für das Zusammentreffen von Elvis Costello und The Roots namens "Wise Up Ghost". Schließlich leben beide auf den ersten Blick auf ähnlich weit entfernten Planeten wie Metallica und Lou Reed auf dem gescheiterten "Lulu". Doch anstatt sich auf ein krampfhaft künstliches Gebilde zu stürzen, einigen sich die Musiker als erstes auf den Herzschlag ihres Longplayers. Ein düsterer Groove, über dem sie sich alle erdenklichen Freiheiten gönnen.

Laut Legendenbildung beruht ihre Zusammenarbeit auf einem gemeinsamen Auftritt in der Jimmy Fallon Show, in der The Roots den Moderator seit 2009 als Hausband unterstützen. Doch eigentlich bildet sie nur die logische Konsequenz aus dem bisherigen Arbeiten des Londoner Hunzelmännchens mit Brille und der allgegenwärtigen Hip Hop- und Neo-Soul-Crew. Die Liste der Musiker, mit denen beide bereits zusammen gearbeitet haben, ist lang. John Legend ("Wake Up!"), Paul McCartney, Betty Wright, Burt Bacharach, Erykah Badu, das Brodsky Quartet, Allen Toussaint, Nelly Furtado und viele, viele mehr. Früher oder später mussten sich die Wege von The Roots und dem einzig wahren Elvis einfach kreuzen.

Costello beansprucht den Platz am Mikro und der Feder ganz für sich allein. Er singt von Verrat, Machtmissbrauch, dunkler Begierde und zerschmetterten Idealen. "Wake Me Up" kombiniert seinen "Bedlam"-Text mit dem von "The River In Reverse", während er in "Stick Out Your Tongue" immer wieder "Pills And Soap" zitiert. Black Thought muss zu Hause bleiben und mit Opal Trotter spielen. The Roots, allen voran ?uestlove, zeichnen sich ausschließlich für den Sound der Platte zuständig.

Der hat es aber mit seinen Anleihen an den Funk der 1970er (Curtis Mayfield, Isaac Hayes), 2-tone (The Specials, The Clashs "Sandinista") und dem frühen Costello selbst in sich. "Es ist eine launische, grüblerische Angelegenheit geworden, mit kathartischen Rhythmen und dissonanten Wiegenliedern", schwärmt ?uestlove.

"And we’ll stand in the light of your new killing ground and we won’t make a sound." Mit Mark Kelleys pulsierendem Dub-Bass, Ahmirs hart angeschlagenener Snare und dem an den zähneklappernden Ghost Town-Ska der Specials erinnernden Background legt der Opener "Walk Us Uptown" die Latte schwindelerregend hoch. Kein Problem für "Refuse To Be Saved", das selbige ohne auch nur Anlauf zu nehmen überspringt. Ein dreckiges Funk-Monster, dessen Superstition-Keyboards lautstark gegen Bläser, Gitarren und einem Streicher-Outro, das wie für einen neuen Godzilla-Film gemacht scheint, Front beziehen. Trotzdem vergisst der Track niemals seinen wütenden Hauptdarsteller und bietet genug Platz für Costello. "There's no name for the pain I will cause you again and again."

"Cinco Minutos Con Vos", in dem die La Santa Cecilia-Sängerin La Marisoul das Team ergänzt, fröstelt Angst einflößend durch die Nacht. Im Unheil verkündenden "Come The Meantimes" suhlt sich Mayfield neben Timbaland und einer überlauten Rezeptionsglocke. Bing.

Mit "If I Could Believe" und "Tripwire", das auf einem Sample von Costellos "Satellite" basiert, finden zudem typische herzzerreißende Costello-Schunkelballaden ihren Weg auf "Wise Up Ghost". Kitsch funktioniert am Besten, wenn er in einem Moment des Gegensatzes auftritt. Doch mit dem siedenden Einsatz der Roots könnte Costello auch den "Kitty Song" singen und es würde ordentlich Rabatz machen. "Soft kitty, warm kitty / Little ball of fur / Happy kitty, sleepy kitty / Purr purr purr."

Von zwei gegenüberliegenden Orten machen sich die Organic Hip Hopper The Roots und der geifernde Costello auf den Weg auf eine aufwühlende Reise, deren Wege noch nicht endgültig vermessen sind. "Wise Up Ghost" mag nicht das beste Roots-Abum sein. Gleichzeitig treibt der dynamische Rahmen Elvis Costello, der sich von seinem gemütlichen Altenteil erhebt, zu seiner fokussiertesten und gegenwärtigsten Arbeit seit Jahren.

Am Ende steht nicht mehr die Frage, warum diese Kollaboration zustande kam im Zentrum des Interesses. Viel mehr rückt das Cover mit seinem Vermerk "Number One" und die mit ihm einhergehende Hoffnung auf baldigen Nachschub in den Mittelpunkt.

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Google translation:

A stirring journey , dark and without limits.

With the collaboration is such a thing. In laut.de interview , the former power plant musician Karl Bartos expressed accordingly skeptical . " When a musician is successful, then he does not need the collaborations that were good , the artists have not considered , but the record companies since then sits Someone in publishing or in the executive office of such a record company and think . . ' Who can we take what we can do now times together and stuff ? ' As Lou Reed will be provided along with Metallica, and that's all shit . , But has this just because he has to seen as coal . Yet He has no desire to work seriously with Metallica . It's just a business. most often father to the thought of the economic approach , and not the artist . "

A rather disillusioning seed for the meeting of Elvis Costello and The Roots called " Wise Up Ghost ." Finally, both live at first glance similar to distant planets such as Metallica and Lou Reed on the failed "Lulu" . But rather than to pounce on a convulsive artificial construct , the first few musicians to the heartbeat of their long player . A dark groove, over which they indulge in all kinds of freedoms.

According to legends based their cooperation on a joint appearance in the Jimmy Fallon show in which The Roots support the moderator since 2009 as a house band . But actually it is only the logical consequence of the previous work of the London Hunzelmännchens with glasses and the ubiquitous hip-hop and neo-soul crew . The list of musicians with whom both have worked together is long. John Legend ( "Wake Up " ), Paul McCartney, Betty Wright , Burt Bacharach , Erykah Badu , the Brodsky Quartet , Allen Toussaint , Nelly Furtado and many, many more . Sooner or later the paths of The Roots and the one and only Elvis had just crossed .

Costello claimed a place at the micro and the spring all to themselves . He sings of betrayal , abuse of power , dark desire and shattered ideals. " Wake Me Up " combines his " Bedlam " with the text of "The River In Reverse " as he repeatedly cites " Pills And Soap" in " Stick Out Your Tongue" . Black Thought has to stay home and play with Opal Trotter . The Roots , above all ? Uestlove , distinguished solely responsible for the sound of the record .

But it has with its bonds to the radio in the 1970s (Curtis Mayfield, Isaac Hayes ) , 2-tone ( The Specials , The Clash's " Sandinista " ) and the early Costello himself in it. " It has become a moody , brooding affair , with cathartic rhythms and dissonant lullabies ," raves ? Uestlove .

" And we'll stand in the light of your new killing ground and we will not make a sound . " With Mark Kelley pulsating dub bass , snare and the Ahmirs hard angeschlagenener reminiscent of the teeth - rattling ghost town the specials ska background of opener " Walk Uptown Us " sets the bar dizzyingly high. No problem for " Refuse To Be Saved ", which skips selbige without even having to take a run . A dirty spark - monster whose Superstition keyboards loudly against wind instruments, guitars and strings outro, which seems made ​​for a new Godzilla movie , Front relate . Nevertheless, the track never forgets his leading man raging and offers enough space for Costello . " There's no name for the pain cause I want you again and again . "

" Cinco Minutos Con Vos ," in which the singer La Santa Cecilia La Marisoul joins the team , instilling fear shivering through the night. In announcing disaster " Come The Mean Times" wallows in addition to Mayfield and Timbaland on a noisy reception bell. Bing.

With " If I Could Believe" and " Tripwire ," based on a sample of Costello's " Satellite", also find typical heart-wrenching ballads Costello swaying their way to " Wise Up Ghost ." Kitsch works best when it occurs in a moment of opposition . However, with the use of boiling Roots Costello could also sing " Kitty Song" and it would be neat ruckus . "Soft kitty , warm kitty / Little ball of fur / Happy kitty , sleepy kitty / purr purr purr . "

Of two opposite places , the Organic hip hoppers The Roots and drooling Costello make their way on a disturbing journey whose paths have not yet been measured. " Wise Up Ghost" may not be the best Roots Abum . Simultaneously drives the dynamic framework Elvis Costello, who rises from his cozy old part to its most focused and most current work for years.

The end result is no longer the question of why this collaboration came about in the center of attention. Much more engaged with the cover of his words " Number One" and associated with him in the hope of speedy supply center .
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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