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

Pretty self-explanatory
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cwr
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40 DAYS OF ELVIS COSTELLO: A Countdown To WISE UP GHOST

Post by cwr »

So there are 40 days left until the release of WISE UP GHOST.

I'm going to be devoting each day to a different album/event/or song, going in chronological order through EC's career.

DAY ONE: Rusty/Flip City/& The "Pre-Professional" Days!

http://connorratliff.tumblr.com/post/57 ... to-wise-up
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migdd
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Re: 40 DAYS OF ELVIS COSTELLO: A Countdown To WISE UP GHOST

Post by migdd »

Excellent work, cwr. I'll be checking in daily to re-live history with you. Still miss Bright Blue Times, btw!
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Re: 40 DAYS OF ELVIS COSTELLO: A Countdown To WISE UP GHOST

Post by cwr »

Thanks, migdd!

And thanks for fondly remembering Bright Blue Times. I still miss Bodayle and Perry's Beyond Belief fanzine!

I've always intended to do a mass re-listening project prior to a new album's release but I've never had the discipline to do it until now. It's fun so far.

It's amazing (and startling) to realize that when I became a Costello fan (1993), it had only been 16 years since his debut and now it's TWENTY years later. I'm glad it's still fun being a fan of his, and that it's still exciting to look forward to a new Costello album, and that I haven't gotten sick of the albums that I've listened to a thousand times already.

I hope you enjoy the 40 DAYS project! I'm sure I'll repeat a lot of the things I used to write about on BBT, apologies in advance...
Poor Deportee
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Re: 40 DAYS OF ELVIS COSTELLO: A Countdown To WISE UP GHOST

Post by Poor Deportee »

This is fun! Just the sort of thing the internet was made for. Don't worry about repeating yourself or anything like that - enjoy yourself, and we, your readers, surely will. :wink:
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bronxapostle
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Re: 40 DAYS OF ELVIS COSTELLO: A Countdown To WISE UP GHOST

Post by bronxapostle »

this looks like a killer concept cwr...keep up the good work, and BOY does it look like work. WE APPRECIATE IT! :wink: :wink:
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Jack of All Parades
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Re: 40 DAYS OF ELVIS COSTELLO: A Countdown To WISE UP GHOST

Post by Jack of All Parades »

I have enjoyed what I have seen to date. I think this idea will be in capable hands. I look forward to future daily installments.
"....there's a merry song that starts in 'I' and ends in 'You', as many famous pop songs do....'
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docinwestchester
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Re: 40 DAYS OF ELVIS COSTELLO: A Countdown To WISE UP GHOST

Post by docinwestchester »

Interesting to note that Elvis is now in his 40th year of performing, more or less:

http://www.elviscostello.info/wiki/inde ... _1969-1974

So the number 40 has some significance here.
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Re: 40 DAYS OF ELVIS COSTELLO: A Countdown To WISE UP GHOST

Post by bronxapostle »

get away from the computer and get to Port Chester doc. you have a date with box office staff there soon. :lol: :lol: :lol: brother apostle is in Englewood, NJ and i can tell he's weakening as he has inquired about why we have not discussed Friday night in that Ivy League town of New Haven. we should have gotten those first row mezz on the presale. i wonder if they remain. talk later. best of luck, ba
cwr
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Re: 40 DAYS OF ELVIS COSTELLO: A Countdown To WISE UP GHOST

Post by cwr »

I knew there was a reason I picked 40!

It just felt like the right number, and also felt kind of ominous in a biblical sense...
chickendinna
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Re: 40 DAYS OF ELVIS COSTELLO: A Countdown To WISE UP GHOST

Post by chickendinna »

Wow, has it been that long already ? I remember buying a MAIT on the first day of it's release in the states because I was intrigued by the cover. That plus the positive buzz I had heard about him and the album from the Brit music press.
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Re: 40 DAYS OF ELVIS COSTELLO: A Countdown To WISE UP GHOST

Post by bronxapostle »

chickendinna wrote:Wow, has it been that long already ? I remember buying a MAIT on the first day of it's release in the states because I was intrigued by the cover. That plus the positive buzz I had heard about him and the album from the Brit music press.
cool story chickendinna! long time no hear from you. i recall you once stating how you LOVED my analog recording(s)...i forget now if it was any one particular show. well, the good news: thusly, you have THREE new ba recordings (with God's good grace) to await. 11-4 Englewood, NJ; 11-11 Port Chester, NY and 11-14 Kingston, NY. i somehow got a feeling there will be ONE more on my itinerary for a GRAND SLAM. maybe 11-8 New Haven, CT for a tri-state TRIFECTA or the 11-26 (final show?) Morristown, NJ appearance. stay tuned ANALOG LOVERS OF THE WORLD! best to you chickendinna, ba
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Re: 40 DAYS OF ELVIS COSTELLO: A Countdown To WISE UP GHOST

Post by jmm »

BA, let me know if you need help on morristown. Can't afford you not being there like when I was on stage 2nd night at the wellmont

We are planning on the 2nd port Chester night too. Away for Bergen co. Date

Hoping for those stacked NYC dates with the roots too!!
I too am a limited, primitive kind of man
bronxapostle
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Re: 40 DAYS OF ELVIS COSTELLO: A Countdown To WISE UP GHOST

Post by bronxapostle »

mr & mrs jmm....hope you both AND those wonderfully named twins are GREAT! sadly, looks like we will be attending ENTIRELY different shows this go round. MORRISTOWN prices are WAY overboard (tho' potential LAST night is intriguing!) and night one Port Chester will be the one i attend there as i have the Kingston ticket for thursday....so old man ba does not imagine mon. tues thurs will be too easy for decrepit old me!!! englewood is my other and sorry to hear you will pass on that one. guess we must keep the faith that november will NOT be our next shows, rather september with the roots somewhere or other indeed. i had a hunch that the capitol would be where they might do a show or two as THE ROOTS had done what i think was a THREE night new years run last december. let's hope and see. thanks, benny
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Re: 40 DAYS OF ELVIS COSTELLO: A Countdown To WISE UP GHOST

Post by Poor Deportee »

"It's infuriating to note that Elvis was still in his early twenties when he made this record" :lol: :lol:

Classic observation, that!
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cwr
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Re: 40 DAYS OF ELVIS COSTELLO: A Countdown To WISE UP GHOST

Post by cwr »

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

Post by Jack of All Parades »

That undertone of the 'unconscious portion of the mind that processes psycho-sexual content unacceptable to rational cognition' so cogently brought to light by Franklin Bruno consistently haunts me when I play this record- and play it I do with a frequency that is relative to its merit as a strong and lasting piece of pop art. Its one of the major statements about male/female interaction in Pop- right up there with Pet Sounds, Rubber Soul and Blonde on Blonde.
"....there's a merry song that starts in 'I' and ends in 'You', as many famous pop songs do....'
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Re: 40 DAYS OF ELVIS COSTELLO: A Countdown To WISE UP GHOST

Post by Poor Deportee »

Interesting to compare the works within this Holy Trilogy. Sacrilige it may be, but I tend to rate both MAIT and AF higher than TYM. The latter album is of course a career-defining classic; but I personally prefer both the looser, less ego-driven tone of the debut and the more mature, sophisticated work of AF. Model wowed me mightily in my misanthropic, frustrated youth, but playing it back in middle-age I find it does relatively little for me. The musicianship and intensity are phenomenal - it's the songs themselves that leave me comparatively unmoved. Now in a way that's just to say that TYM is truly a young person's record, a twisted post-adolescent rave-up; but most of EC's work hasn't detached itself from me with time the way this one has, and so I think that has to be counted as a limitation.

What's interesting is that EC's debut was in many respects more "mature" in both content and style - more relaxed, less hysterically obsessed with projecting an image, more reliant on craft and less on sheer attitude. As for AF, it was a clear step forward on what had gone before - a bit like Revolver relative to Rubber Soul - and stands up mightily as a superb piece of pop art, to take Chris's apt term. The only thing about that album is that, if EC hadn't snuck "What's So Funny" onto the American pressing, it probably wouldn't hold up quite so well. The album really needs that closing statement - it opens the record outward, and relieves it of any suffocating nihilism or bleakness. A brilliant move by the young man. :wink:
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cwr
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Re: 40 DAYS OF ELVIS COSTELLO: A Countdown To WISE UP GHOST

Post by cwr »

DAY FIVE! GET HAPPY!!
(Everybody loves Get Happy!!, right?)
http://connorratliff.tumblr.com/post/58 ... t-into-the
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Re: 40 DAYS OF ELVIS COSTELLO: A Countdown To WISE UP GHOST

Post by Jack of All Parades »

What is not to like about that record? A repentant's glorius mea culpa! Good point out by you that this album serves as a direct connection to The Roots with your examples of covers.
"....there's a merry song that starts in 'I' and ends in 'You', as many famous pop songs do....'
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Re: 40 DAYS OF ELVIS COSTELLO: A Countdown To WISE UP GHOST

Post by Poor Deportee »

My God, this album is fantastic. Brilliant, speed-fuelled pop tunecraft from start to finish. The mind boggles that gems like "Possession" or "New Amsterdam" weren't top-10 hits. It is impossible to ask for more in the idiom of the two-minute miracle than this record supplies.

Those videos are priceless. They really show the gift for comedy by all concerned - The Attractions steal the show with their preposterous "dancing" on "I Can't Stand Up" (the weakest cut on that record, in my opinion), the whole conceit of "Possession" is most amusing, and "High Fidelity" displays EC in full-bore "front man" mode, deploying every stunt and trick at his disposal to get the song over. The only dud here is "New Amsterdam," where the dismal setting is unredeemed by EC's unusually static self-presentation, and Lady Liberty is presented at the end with all the subtlety of a bag of hammers. I like the bit showing the flower caught in the chain-link fence against that abysmal industrial backdrop, though.

Another thing that's clear from this is that EC has always and consistently dressed with style. Nice.
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Lester Burnham
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Re: 40 DAYS OF ELVIS COSTELLO: A Countdown To WISE UP GHOST

Post by Lester Burnham »

Except for that horrendous purple-and-black-striped sweater in 'High Fidelity'.
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Re: 40 DAYS OF ELVIS COSTELLO: A Countdown To WISE UP GHOST

Post by docinwestchester »

Poor Deportee wrote:Another thing that's clear from this is that EC has always and consistently dressed with style. Nice.
This look from a 1983 Swedish TV appearance was a rare misstep fashion-wise:

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

Post by migdd »

'82 - '84 were not kind to EC as far as fashion goes.
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Re: 40 DAYS OF ELVIS COSTELLO: A Countdown To WISE UP GHOST

Post by Poor Deportee »

migdd wrote:'82 - '84 were not kind to EC as far as fashion goes.
Were they kind to anybody?? :lol:

I think the occasional retroactive embarassment is part and parcel of being a bit stylin'. Occasionally the fashions of the day will steer you wrong, but overall his instincts have been good.
When man has destroyed what he thinks he owns
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