40 DAYS OF ELVIS COSTELLO: A Countdown To WISE UP GHOST

[Poor Deportee]

A tremendous record - quite the best, I think, of his "collaborative" pieces. Connor makes a good point when he notes that despite its superficially restrictive concept, the album is surprisingly varied in subject matter and tone; really a highly distinctive and polymorphous world onto itself. By contrast, PFM and North are in fact very narrowly constrained (and I think this is a major reason why I like them less).

And it's also a sharp observation that the songs have so seldom been covered as pop songs rather than as "classical" pieces. People automatically categorize "classical" at some vast remove from popular song (while usually associating it with dignified people in tuxes, etc.). Although I myself am no authority on the classics at all, I've always heard, say, Beethoven's sonatas, as being on a direct continuum with hook-laden popular song. Ironic that the work of EC and the Brodskys has itself fallen victim to this false idea of a categorical distinction.

I wish he'd work more with the Brodksys, myself. It would be great if they'd become a sort of rotating band for him, the source of an ongoing collaboration over years. Putting out several and varied albums with them, just as he would with the Imposters, might achieve the desired demystification. Ah well.

Final thought: the album suffers somewhat (as did MLAR before it, to a lesser degree) from Costello's vocal overreach. He has many good moments, but there are cases here of reach exceeding grasp - a sign of things to come. That's my one reservation about this record and the one thing that makes it hard for me to recommend it without qualification to people coming at it cold.

[cwr]

I think the fact that TJL was my introduction to Elvis Costello immunized me somewhat from being bothered by the vocal overreach!

It's definitely there-- I can feel it more when I listen to Costello with someone who isn't a fan or isn't familiar-- their reaction to his nasal belting lets me know that, for most people, this is not normal singing...

TJL is so good, and Elvis and the Brodskys get along so well that I thought for certain that they would have another album out within a few years. Hopefully it will happen at some point.

It would also be pretty amazing to hear him throw in one or two of these songs into his upcoming solo tour. Only "The Birds Will Still Be Singing" made his recent "Top 100" list, right?

[Jack of All Parades]

This one is always safely nestled in my top ten. I would argue that this is not classical music but 'pop' music of a most sophisticated nature. After all, what were the lieder of Schubert, etc but the sophisticated 'pop' music of their day. It joyfully covers a broad spectrum of musical textures and it does so with assurance and brio. A memorable show that year at Town Hall, as well. Clearly, his vocal limitations were exposed with this record. I remember being seated in the audience and cringing when he would too frequently 'strive' for a particular note or try to navigate his voice through a particularly difficult progression of notes. 'God Give Him Strength' for trying, though.

[Otis Westinghouse]

Interesting. I've never really got on with it. I love string quartet music with a passion, but not this stuff. I just don't find it a pleasant experience overall to listen to, only certain bits in small doses. I'm not sure I've even listened to the CD reissue, I originally had it on cassette. I bought it for completism, quite like God Only Knows on the bonus, but the only thing I can muster any enthusiasm for on the main album is Jacksons, Monk and Rowe, and I suppose The Birds..., but not enough to want to sit down and hear it. Partly it's Elvis singing stuff his voice wasn't designed to sing, partly it's not liking the compositions and partly it's the same feeling of being left cold that the vast majority of classical singing gives me. I find I'm incredibly selective on this front, so if it's Fischer Diskau singing Winterreise, yes please, but very little else (and certainly none of that opera stuff). I'd take PTC over TJL any day of the week, and GCW for that matter too. In my bottom 3 or 4 of his efforts.

[verbal gymnastics]

I pretty much agree with Otis. Not an album I play.

I didn't know The birds will still be singing story about Elvis wrecking his car just after passing his driving test.

[invisible Pole]

Would probably be in my Top 10.
Elvis’ voice does strain at times, but I loved most of the songs from day one and thought they were just great pop songs.
I wish I had seen Elvis do the songs live.
Excellent job again, Connor!

[Neil.]

From Connor's excellent appraisal of The Juliet Letters
http://connorratliff.tumblr.com/post/59 ... n-1993-the:

This was the first Elvis Costello record I ever listened to. The day after it was released, my friend Jeff Falzone loaned me his newly-purchased CD because he had a feeling that I would like it. All I knew of Costello was that I had enjoyed the single “Veronica” when it was a hit on MTV. I listened to The Juliet Letters and immediately went over to Jeff’s house and demanded that he loan me his entire collection of Costello CDs.

Wow, this must be quite a rare thing - to get into Elvis via The Juliet Letters! Amazed to hear it grabbed you instantly! What was it particularly, Connor, that grabbed you?

Much as I like the album, it takes a lot of getting into - and I would never introduce anyone to Elvis with it.

Still, it's a passionate, humane record - I like it a lot! I haven't listened to it in a long time, and this has made me want to revisit it. For Other Eyes, Romeo's Seance, I Thought I'd Write to Juliet, Taking My Life and Almost Had A Weakness are highlights for me. In live gigs, the latter always make the audience laugh with its hilarious lyrics.

[cwr]

I vividly remember my first listen...

"For Other Eyes" was very clear to me, especially the sequence:

And we don't know each other anymore
And when we touch our lips feel sore
I question the longing left in his sighs
For other eyes

I remember thinking that was a devastating ending to that song, especially the tone of his voice, the way he san it.

Then "Swine" was such a full-on performance. "I Almost Had A Weakness" was funny, as was "This Offer Is Unrepeatable."

And I think the emotion of "Taking My Life In Your Hands" and "The Birds Will Still Be Singing" made a big impression on me.

I remember the way his voice breaks at the end of "This Sad Burlesque" and thinking it was cool that he left it that way, and I remember thinking "Romeo's Seance" was goddamn delightful. (I still do. That song is an unheralded one, really terrific and fun! "Jacksons, Monk and Rowe" gets all the credit for being the fun, accessible track on TJL, but I'd say "Romeo's Seance" should be right up there with it!)

I just remember thinking "this should be really artsy and pretentious, but it's really heartfelt and easy to get into the emotion and the storytelling of it."

It was weird to hear the other albums, but I could hear the connective link to the way he tells stories even on the records where the stories are in code or deliberately obtuse. But I could hear the link to songs like "I Want You" and "I'm Not Angry" and "The Long Honeymoon" and "King Of Thieves" and so on and so forth.

It was a really good gateway, because I was always expecting him to be doing something different. I knew he wasn't a "classically trained" singer and that working with a string quartet was a surprise move for him, so I went into it always thinking he'd be making the unpredictable move or doing the thing that no one expects... Also, I went in LIKING the big belting vibrato voice, although if I have one complaint vocally it's that he stopped relying on the multi-tracked harmonies so much from 1997 on. (I do think that Painted From Memory, for instance, could have used some well-placed multi-tracked Costello vocals in places to help sweeten the sound a bit.)

I don't return to TJL as frequently as I do some other albums, but when I do I always get lost in it. I think it's a great, great record.

[cwr]

DAY 22: THE GWENDOLYN LETTERS

http://connorratliff.tumblr.com/post/59 ... ters-after

[Neil.]

Cheers, Connor. It certainly is bursting with humanity - a great work of art in that respect. I think the samey string quartet sound will be a barrier for many, but once you get past that, you appreciate what great players they are.

[Jack of All Parades]

Of all of them "Basement Kiss" has stayed the deepest in my musical memory.

It is difficult to understand why he has chosen to never release this again or enhance it with a full studio treatment. As it exists I am intrigued with its interlocutory lyric. It is a very sophisticated play upon that style of composition that saw its golden period in the middle sixties with Dylan and Lennon/McCartney. It's narrative style is refreshing and the clean lines and rhymes flow sweetly in contrast to the sentiment within the lyric. The contrast of the 'spoiled' little rich girl conceit with the spoiling [or bruising] of the emotion of 'love' is playful and intelligent and cutting in the best "Leopard Skin Pill Box Hat" mode. The spread of the bruise[its darkening effect] throughout the stanzas is evocative and a nice touch. The accompanying jingle/jangle guitar sounds Elvis adds to the melody serve to ably enhance the words and provide a thinly veiled 'cynical' counterpoint to the pointed words. Would again welcome a full workup of this song in the future.

Thank you for further drawing attention to the song.

[Poor Deportee]

This is great! I've never heard most of this material - Connor, you continue to work wonders.

Poor Wendy James, in a way Not only is she universally agreed to have made a hash out of the astonishing opportunity of having Elvis Costello purpose-build an album for her, but everybody quickly moves on to automatically dismissing her versions and wanting to hear EC's badly-recorded versions! That's what happens when a gnat tries to go tag-team with a rhino, I suppose.

Frustrating that this material sits there unreleased. I think we're in a different era now, where the wise musician puts it all out there in some format or other; you just look like an ass withholding stuff that the people want. As someone else around here pointed out, he is leaving money on the table by not releasing these demos that cost him nothing to the 100 000 or so hard-core fans who would pay for them. Sigh.

[Azmuda]

Melody Maker interview with Wendy James.

http://www.elviscostello.info/wiki/inde ... ry_6,_1993

Couldn't bother to transcribe it. (but if anyone else can, send me a note.)

[invisible Pole]

Good songs as, imho, they are, I doubt if he'll ever find time to record Gwendolyn Letters properly with a band.
All in all, that's what I miss from Elvis - a dozen or so deceptively simple pop songs written over a weekend or two.

[Poor Deportee]

Good songs as, imho, they are, I doubt if he'll ever find time to record Gwendolyn Letters properly with a band.
All in all, that's what I miss from Elvis - a dozen or so deceptively simple pop songs written over a weekend or two.

Well, we have Momofuku, but I second that emotion. Being largely indifferent to "proper recordings" I find these demos very close to all he really needs...his singing is very relaxed, the playing is straightforward and allows the plangent progressions to shine through - they show the benefit of not having time to overthink what you're doing. It's too bad he had a cold or this would be an absolutely perfect "bootleg series" style release. As it is it's only 95% perfect. Neat stuff.

[cwr]

Yeah-- although I think a couple of these songs were in the running to be included on All This Useless Beauty, I can't imagine that he would ever want to return to these songs in terms of recording new versions of them.

I've always sort of thought that they were complete as a kind of "warts & all"-type deal.

Besides, there are a lot more unrecorded Costello songs like "Burnt Sugar Is So Bitter" that still cry out for a proper studio version to be released!

[docinwestchester]

Earthbound was one of the top highlights of the Revolver shows for me. Interestingly, the audience video (ahem....mine...thanks for including that one, Connor) captures the rawness of the song so much better than the official DVD version with its soundboard audio. Either way, EC is clearly channeling his inner guitar hero personality to great effect!

[Neil.]

I absolutely *love* Earthbound! Elvis's tribute to Hendrix! Great lyrics too.

And I would love to hear Elvis do a big production number on 'I Wanna Stand Forever' - also Basement Kiss.

[Harry Lime]

I think it would be a great project for some young upstart band to record these songs as they were intended.

And I liked seeing the Attractions playing Puppet Girl on their reunion tour back in the day.

[bronxapostle]

Earthbound was one of the top highlights of the Revolver shows for me. Interestingly, the audience video (ahem....mine...thanks for including that one, Connor) captures the rawness of the song so much better than the official DVD version with its soundboard audio. Either way, EC is clearly channeling his inner guitar hero personality to great effect!

but cwr video up for EARTHBOUND must be from official doc as it is a 3 or 4 camera shot!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ts6ivx-pP-U

[docinwestchester]

Earthbound was one of the top highlights of the Revolver shows for me. Interestingly, the audience video (ahem....mine...thanks for including that one, Connor) captures the rawness of the song so much better than the official DVD version with its soundboard audio. Either way, EC is clearly channeling his inner guitar hero personality to great effect!

but cwr video up for EARTHBOUND must be from official doc as it is a 3 or 4 camera shot!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ts6ivx-pP-U

There is another link to the Beacon show:

Strangely, one of the “unreleased” songs, “Earthbound,” managed to earn a coveted slot on Costello’s Spectacular Spinning Songbook wheel almost two decades later. It’s a safe bet that a lot of big fans in the audience had never even heard of it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8x6QU-BUqq4

[bronxapostle]

ahhh, i see: the old DOUBLE LINK trick...cool! your video is GREAT too doc!


[quote=] It’s a safe bet that a lot of big fans in the audience had never even heard of it.[/quote]

not THIS audience member!! i had loved that song for about 18 years the night of this last BEACON spinning show in 2011. and i couldn't believe the luck of the draw that night for me. getting EARTHBOUND, BLACK AND WHITE WORLD with Questlove and Pete SINGING!, LET ME ROLL IT (another LONG adored song!). LICENSE TO KILL and AND YOUR BIRD CAN SING: FIVE songs played so very infrequently. alongside the rest of the great setlist. WHAT A SHOW THAT WAS....thanks for all the videos doc!

[grantprobst]

The intimate nature of these recordings are really beautiful [The Gwendolyn Letters].
I never even knew this collection of songs even existed.

And on, "I Want To Stand Forever"...
those words sound so tender and sweet coming from that scratchy sore throat. lol
It adds an extra sense of mortality to the mix.

(don't want to sound too much like the town beggar around here,
but can someone help me find a copy of "I want To Stand Forever" to download or buy?)

[cwr]

DAY 23: BRUTAL YOUTH

http://connorratliff.tumblr.com/post/59 ... ording-the

[Jack of All Parades]

A top 10 record for me but firmly at the bottom- I never was one for the 'old band' is back together again nostalgia. Rather liked that he had struck off on his own in 1986. What I have always appreciated about the record is the full blown maturation of the song writing and as CWR specifically notes the general vocal excellence that fills the songs. Tomorrow is where the fun begins!