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

[docinwestchester]

we are very likely to see some kind of "Elvis Costello Week" on Jimmy Fallon when the record comes out!

This will happen. And it will be amazing.

(how cool if they get Bruce and some E Street Band buddies on to sing an Elvis song?!)

[Poor Deportee]

Only thing is, does this mean EC is now officially a 'charity case' for younger, hipper artists to promote? Surely a mixed blessing, that.

[Lester Burnham]

As long as he continues to hitch his star to celebrated musicians like the Roots then he's doing the right thing!

[migdd]

PD, I understand your hesitancy but are Burt Bacharach, Allen Toussaint and Anne Sofie Von Otter charity cases? EC has graduated to the position of elder statesman. Being celebrated by a uber-hot, trend-setting band is not such a bad thing, one might think. There's a real and honest chemistry between Elvis and the Roots and I find it exciting that there's an opportunity to explore that chemistry.

Anything that gets Elvis off his stubborn ass and into the studio with new songs is a good thing. The Roots are a magnificent group of musicians. Really looking forward to this collaboration.

[cwr]

I wouldn't think of EC as a charity case-- certainly not creatively-- but he has reached the point where he can put out an excellent album like National Ransom, promote it like crazy and have it be forgotten in a matter of weeks. (How many year end "best of" lists did NR end up on? Not as many as it should have.)

Johnny Cash wasn't a charity case when Rick Rubin decided that people needed to be paying more attention to Johnny Cash records, but he was a person who knew what would help Cash be better appreciated at a time when he could have been forgotten or become a nostalgia act.

Costello has avoided the fate of most recording artists in that he has never really had a period where he stopped making good records, but he has suffered from putting out so MANY records that even when he puts out a great one, the reaction can often be a shrug. "Oh, ANOTHER great Elvis Costello record."

Working with The Roots is something that will add some extra excitement to the prospect of a new Costello album, and the fact that The Roots themselves are the ones talking about Grammys and how great the new record is means that this may be a chance for new people to hear what EC can do, and for people who stopped paying attention years ago to maybe perk up and see what he's offering now.

[verbal gymnastics]

Let's not forget that this album will open up both artists to new fans/markets.

[Poor Deportee]

Well, I didn't really mean all that much by my 'charity case' remark. It is an interesting way to think about how far his commercial stock has fallen, that from here on in he's more likely to be the commercial beneficiary of other artists' reverential intervention than the reverse. It doesn't matter much to me, really.

I'm inclined to think that, sooner or later, Elvis will experience some sort of commercial revival - whether it be a freak hit single or a comeback album of some other such thing. These sorts of late-career resurgences do seem to be in the cards for many Legends of Popular Music, and EC has laid a lot of groundwork by shedding his spiky Irritant persona and become a (fairly) affable man about town. Whether this work with The Roots will be the trigger for that, I don't know.

[verbal gymnastics]

The release of She certainly helped his case back in the day but even that song should have been released earlier.

I think the likelihood of another hit will come by the way of a film.

[And No Coffee Table]

Steven Mandel has linked to a new Twitter account, ImposterSpeaks, which has not yet posted anything but may be worth keeping an eye on.

http://twitter.com/ImposterSpeaks

[And No Coffee Table]

I notice ImposterSpeaks is following five other Twitter accounts: Elvis Costello, Diana Krall, Questlove, Steven Mandel, and — here's the interesting one — Blue Note Records.

Questlove said in a recent interview (already posted in this thread) that he wants the new album to be on Blue Note.

Questlove: More likely, it’s going to go to some subsidiary of Universal, like Def Jam or Blue Note.

NYU Local: It would be so cool if it’s on Blue Note.

Questlove: Yeah, I want it to go on Blue Note.

[migdd]

And the story unfolds . . .

[johnfoyle]

Tony Millionaire tell me , via Facebook , that the Twitter drawing isn't his & and that he isn't doing the cover of the EC/Roots album.

[And No Coffee Table]

Steven Mandel has linked to a new Twitter account, ImposterSpeaks, which has not yet posted anything but may be worth keeping an eye on.

http://twitter.com/ImposterSpeaks

The Imposter began speaking Sunday. His most interesting message so far is this:

Follow @imposterspeaks for all the news from the yellow press. Look out Wednesday @elviscostello @imposterspeaks http://pic.twitter.com/J0Jtr1qjE9

I hope that means the new album will be announced Wednesday.

He's also posted this three times:

Sirenas lamentan
La Plaga que encuentran
Las balas caen
Y te haran desaparecer
El faro oscurece hay poca esperanza...

[bambooneedle]

He's also posted this three times:

Sirenas lamentan
La Plaga que encuentran
Las balas caen
Y te haran desaparecer
El faro oscurece hay poca esperanza...

mermaids lament
The Plage they find
the bullets fall
and will make you disappear
the light becomes dim there's little hope

[FAVEHOUR]

Looks like Elvis is actually tweeting this time, and conversing with the public....looks like maybe some folks from this forum engaged him on Twitter

[monkey2man]

saw this just now on twitter from @questlove:

"Wise Up Ghost" by Elvis Costello & The Roots in Sept 2013 RT: @Doctor_J_ Hi! Wondering when's the ETA on the Costello/Roots album. Thanks!

[Lester Burnham]

Here's the announcement on his site.

[And No Coffee Table]

Here's the announcement on his site.

It looks more like an unfinished draft of the announcement. It does explain the recently tweeted Spanish lyrics though.

[docinwestchester]

Here's the announcement on his site.

It looks more like an unfinished draft of the announcement. It does explain the recently tweeted Spanish lyrics though.

A small number of test pressings were distributed as white labels on Record Store Day on the 20th of April.

Who has one?

[Jack of All Parades]

I am equally excited at the prospect of seeing The Roots back up Jim James this summer on 6/18/13 at the Celebrate Brooklyn festival in Prospect Park. That, and Robert Plant and the Sensational Space Shifters on July 27th at the same venue, should be fun.

[sweetest punch]

The announcement seems to be removed from his website???
What was the announcement?

[monkey2man]

The announcement seems to be removed from his website???

yeah, not seeing it either.

Here's the announcement on his site.

It looks more like an unfinished draft of the announcement. It does explain the recently tweeted Spanish lyrics though.

A small number of test pressings were distributed as white labels on Record Store Day on the 20th of April.

Who has one?

Dang! I called around to almost every NYC record store to see if they had any Costello/Roots stuff coming in for RSD. I wonder where they were distributed. I'd kill for one of those!

[And No Coffee Table]

The announcement seems to be removed from his website???
What was the announcement?

That doesn't surprise me, since it was clearly posted prematurely.

There actually wasn't a lot of new information. It included the line (quoted by Doc above) about test pressings distributed on Record Store Day. It said La Marisoul appears on the album as guest vocalist on the song "Cinco Minutos Con Vos."

Steven Mandel tweets:

Something about a press release?

(Insert quote here) ‪@ImposterSpeaks‬ ‪@questlove‬

(The unfinished press release had a quote from Elvis followed by "INSERT QUEST QUOTE HERE?")

[And No Coffee Table]

And now the Imposter tweets:

So, (???????)? Hackers stole my megaphone ‪@stevenmandel‬

People REALLY want to know about this alleged platter

[docinwestchester]

And now the Imposter tweets:

So, (???????)? Hackers stole my megaphone ‪@stevenmandel‬

People REALLY want to know about this alleged platter

How cool is it that EC is tweeting!