EC's Discography: Top to Bottom

[cwr]

That's a great collection of underrated EC picks. "Sleep Of The Just" is a truly underrated song-- when's the last time he even played this in concert?

As for Il Sogno, I didn't even include it in my listing. I know that Elvis would argue that "it's all music", but I think it's really apples and oranges, and it's sort of impossible to rank it up against his "proper" albums of songs with lyrics. If we're going to include it, it almost feels like we should throw in "G.B.H.", "Jake's Progress" and the Rabbit Ears audiobook of "Tom Thumb" read by John Cleese with music by EC...

[Lester Burnham]

I love lists like these.

I should preface this by saying that King of America is tops for me. Always has been, always will be. It takes me back to a very particular time in my life a few years ago, and it was almost like EC knew exactly what I was going through and was singing the songs to me. It will always be my #1 album of his, no matter what, but for the sake of this argument, and in context with the remainder of his discography, I'm going to be a little more subjective/objective (I can never remember which is which).

1. Imperial Bedroom
2. This Year's Model
3. Trust
4. Blood & Chocolate
5. King of America
6. Get Happy!!
7. All This Useless Beauty
8. Momofuku
9. The Delivery Man
10. When I Was Cruel
11. North
12. Armed Forces
13. Brutal Youth
14. The Juliet Letters
15. Punch the Clock
16. Mighty Like a Rose
17. Secret, Profane & Sugarcane
18. My Aim is True
19. The River in Reverse
20. Spike
21. Goodbye Cruel World
22. Kojak Variety
23. Painted from Memory
24. Almost Blue
25. Il Sogno
26. My Flame Burns Blue

#22-26 are really interchangeable; I place 'Kojak Variety' so high because of 'Days' alone, but nothing else. In terms of original rock music, 'Goodbye Cruel World' is the absolute depths, but I see I'm not alone in that assessment

[And No Coffee Table]

"Sleep Of The Just" is a truly underrated song-- when's the last time he even played this in concert?

Last night in Winnipeg, apparently.

[Unexpected No.4]

1. mighty like a rose
2. brutal youth
3. imperial bedroom
4. get happy
5. punch the clock
6. all this useless beauty
7. trust
8. the delivery man
9. armed forces
10. momofuku
11. goodbye cruel world
12. this years model
13. when i was cruel
14. blood & chocolate
15. spike
16. king of america
17. secret, profane & sugarcane
18. the juliet letters
19. painted from memory
20. my aim is true
21. north
22. river in reverse
23. kojak variety
24. for the stars
25. almost blue
26. deep dead blue

[DeathWearsABigHat]

The true greats, the ones I go back to time & time again, hardly ever skip a track.

1. Blood & Chocolate
2. Get Happy!!
3. Trust
4. Imperial Bedroom
5. King of America
6. Painted from Memory

Almost there, but there a few tracks I skip on these ones.

7. All This Useless Beauty
8. This Year's Model
9. The River in Reverse
10. Spike
11. When I Was Cruel
12. Armed Forces
13. Brutal Youth
14. North
15 Mighty Like a Rose
16. Punch the Clock
17. Almost Blue
18. My Aim is True
19. Momofuku

Skippng quite a few tracks on these ones.

20. The Juliet Letters
21. Secret, Profane & Sugarcane (in fairness, haven't listened to this one that much)
22. Goodbye Cruel World

Only like a handful of the songs on these ones

23. The Delivery Man
21.Deep Dead Blue
25. Kojak Variety

Bought it, listened a couple of times, not got any plans to listen again

26. Il Sogno
27. My Flame Burns Blue

Overall, that's still 19 albums that I absolutely love. I don't think there's any other artist out there who's made that many albums that I love.

[sulky lad]

I suppose my introduction to Elvis was always going to have an influence on tastes and playing bass means I favour the early albums for the ingenuity of many of Bruce's best lines. For example, I wore out my freebie single from Armed Forces and had to resort to a record fair (remember those|) to get a second copy just for the awesome performance from Hollywood High (and would that have been an astounding concert to have put out on the re-issue of Armed Forces which never came out ?)
List one
Awesome, I couldn't imagine life without these, like my nearest and dearest

1. Get Happy -by some margin - the most wonderful ensemble playing and the quality of song writing and performance from Opportunity to High Fidelity has never been consistently matched .
2. Blood And Chocolate - I've always said this was a bastard of an album - playing along with this will lift the evilest of moods for me
3. Armed Forces - an album I've come back to again and again and always felt refreshed with
4. Brutal Youth - I give a huge sigh of relief when they play 13 Steps and know The Attractions are back
5. Mighty Like A Rose - some wonderful songwriting here too which can make me forgive the hobo beard
6. Punch The Clock - nearly every tune is hummable and surprisingly catchy for EC

List two
Like familiar family members, welcome to visit frequently

7. Secret, Profane and Sugarcane - a real surprise to me and a relief to hear EC sing without that awful vibrato
8. Trust - sometimes seems a bit dense lyrically but wowed me at the time with the range of styles
9. North - a definite mood record - brilliant to listen to late at night in a certain mood and amazing live on the Costello/Nieve tour of 2003 but I find the need to listen to it seems to have diminished with time
10. This Year's Model - just seems a little too new wave - I much prefer El Mocambo as a live version of the album
11. King Of America - never really lit my candle as just to be awkward, I love Eisenhower Blues Little Palaces also was a welcome change in style
12. Painted From Memory - liked it a lot to begin with but the 1999 tour with Steve emphasised how beautiful the songs were without the extensive Burt production style and now some seem overblown
13. The Delivery Man - saw The Imposters several times in 2005 but never tired of their performances of these songs
14. Almost Blue - loved the exuberance which started off the album but felt there were too many slow songs
15. Imperial Bedroom - I never got the "Masterpiece ?" thing here though I loved You Little Fool for its 60s references and Bruce's bass playing on Human Hands and Shabby Doll
16. All This Useless Beauty - some of the threads re London 1996 sum up my feelings about this album - I wouldn't call it the last great EC album by a long chalk but sometimes it feels quite majestic until I get to Little Atoms, Atlas and Why Can't A Man
17. Momofuku - several enterprising nuggets

List 3
The charmless relations who always manage to put some sort of spoke in just when you hoped to get to adore them

17. The River In Reverse - a little too "polite" for me, again put into context by the amazing live performance at The Picket in Liverpool
18. When I Was Cruel - I was so desperate for this album after nearly 7 barren years but it's been surpassed by several noughties albums - still love Episode oF Blonde and My Little Blue Window
19. The Juliet Letters - some moving pieces but the start of the dreaded vibrato
20. My Aim Is True - my first EC album purchase and would possibly have been my last had I not been taken to see The Attractions at the Roundhouse in 1978 - too 70s singer songwriter at times
21 Goodbye Cruel World - had to reconcile myself in 1984 that every artist is allowed one flawed album though I did
love Great Unknown and Joe Porterhouse then though maybe not now anywhere near as much
22. Kojak Variety - again, live performances of many of these songs put the album into a different context - they sounded wonderful live but never transferred the same feeling in the studio
23. Spike - overblown and overproduced - like a kiddie raiding a sweetshop and unable to resist trying everything available
I sill find it hard to single out anything that touches me from this album
24. Il Sogno - I play this only when I'm working alone on nights and it fills the room with some lovely orchestral flourishes but serves only as background music and I'd never contemplate sitting and concentrating on it as I would other EC albums
25. For The Stars - seemed like EC was just trying to be all thing to all people ion this and not succeeding very well

Honourable mention must go to Taking Liberties which is pretty close to being in my elite group if only because of Ghost Train and Dr. Luther's Assistant - when Elvis songs "she's gone with the wind" and slurs those lines, I still get goose bumps and I'm very fond of Terror And Magnificence - although I probably prefer Sarah Leonard's contribution. in fact my sister-in-law sang Since First I Saw Your Face at my wedding this year

I'm sure this list is pretty fluid and would struggle to produce the same order in 6 weeks time except for the top 2 and having always been a huge fan of EC live performances, there are many times when songs that have disappointed in the studio have come up sparkling live. Perhaps we need a list of the best 10 EC gigs !!

[InvisibleMan]

23. Spike - overblown and overproduced - like a kiddie raiding a sweetshop and unable to resist trying everything available
I sill find it hard to single out anything that touches me from this album

veronica?

[sulky lad]

Yeh, I probably feel more guilty about ignoring Veronica and I adore Deep Dark Truthful Mirror (as I can play a very shaky version on the piano) but the "bad" songs drag the album down heavily for me (IMHO Let him Dangle, God's Comic, Chewing Gum,Satellite, Pads Paws And Claws, Baby Plays Around, Miss MacBeth and even dare I say it Any king's Shilling - much preferred his solo version of that)

[The imposter]

Yeh, I probably feel more guilty about ignoring Veronica and I adore Deep Dark Truthful Mirror (as I can play a very shaky version on the piano) but the "bad" songs drag the album down heavily for me (IMHO Let him Dangle, God's Comic, Chewing Gum,Satellite, Pads Paws And Claws, Baby Plays Around, Miss MacBeth and even dare I say it Any king's Shilling - much preferred his solo version of that)

While we're on Spike, I think Satellite is a wonderful song, surprised to learn that he has NEVER played it live! Probably cos of no female backing singer at that time..Could have done it solo though.

[pophead2k]

"Sleep Of The Just" is a truly underrated song-- when's the last time he even played this in concert?

Last night in Winnipeg, apparently.

EC and the I's played this during the 30 years tour I saw in Washington DC a year or two ago.

[And No Coffee Table]

While we're on Spike, I think Satellite is a wonderful song, surprised to learn that he has NEVER played it live!

He actually did play it once. Unfortunately, the recording I've heard has a gap in that song.

[The imposter]

While we're on Spike, I think Satellite is a wonderful song, surprised to learn that he has NEVER played it live!

He actually did play it once. Unfortunately, the recording I've heard has a gap in that song.

Oh yeah! Forgot about that one. Elvis solo on piano.Thanks

Just dug out my copy and I don't hear any dropout. I'd be happy to give you a complete version, should you need it.

[wolfcat]

1. All This Useless Beauty
2. Imperial Bedroom
3. King of America
4. My Aim is True
5. This Year's Model
6. Blood & Chocolate
7. Armed Forces
8. When I Was Cruel
9. Brutal Youth
10. The Delivery Man
11. The River in Reverse
12. Get Happy!!
13. Trust
14. Punch the Clock
15. Spike
16. Mighty Like a Rose
17. Secret, Profane & Sugarcane
18. Goodbye Cruel World
19. Momofuku
20. My Flame Burns Blue
21. The Juliet Letters
22. Kojack Variety
23. Painted from Memory
24. Almost Blue
25. North
26. Il Sogno