Elvis & Imposters play Beacon, NYC 11/6

Pretty self-explanatory
bronxapostle
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Elvis & Imposters play Beacon, NYC 11/6

Post by bronxapostle »

Guess I'll start two separate NYC threads right now. Main reason being, Doc and I have a stellar second row center balcony seat at face value now available...bad news, YOU SIT NEXT TO ME
stricttime81
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Re: Elvis & Imposters play Beacon, NYC 11/6

Post by stricttime81 »

I'm too spoiled, it has to be in the first 5 rows!
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jmm
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Re: Elvis & Imposters play Beacon, NYC 11/6

Post by jmm »

Already have mine BA, but sounds like the opportunity of a lifetime!!!
I too am a limited, primitive kind of man
blureu
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Re: Elvis & Imposters play Beacon, NYC 11/6

Post by blureu »

http://www.wfuv.org/content/elvis-costello-0


The spring of 2017 will mark the 40th anniversary of the release of Elvis Costello's "Less Than Zero," his first single for Stiff Records. Nearly 25 albums later (not counting his collaborative releases with The Roots, Burt Bacharach, Allen Toussaint and others), Costello's cerebral, crafty lyrics, whiplashed pop rage, acerbic humor, reedy croon and ferocious bark have traveled a full spectrum of love and life conflicts.

Although Costello, born Declan MacManus in London, is more of an avuncular presence these days than the furious, bespectacled, gap-toothed punk of the late Seventies (memorably banned by "Saturday Night Live" for over a decade after playing "Radio Radio" against producer Lorne Michael's wishes), he has always skittered away from a mundane mainstream path. Costello intuitively follows his own restless muse, flinging himself far beyond the caustic New Wave pop hits of his early career to bruising political commentary ("Tramp the Dirt Down" from 1989's Spike), classical sojourns (1993's The Juliet Letters), and albums devoted to old country music covers (1981's Almost Blue) or jazz-steeped ballads (2003's North).

Accompanying this restless provacateur has been a league of gifted musicians populating his backing bands over the years — like the Attractions, the Imposters, the Brodsky Quartet — and longtime compadres, notably keyboardist Steve Nieve. In addition to Costello's work with Bacharach and Toussaint, his many other collaborators have included Paul McCartney, Aimee Mann, Jenny Lewis, Larkin Poe, and T-Bone Burnett's New Basement Tapes.

It's not surprising that Costello's acumen as a lyricist translated easily to his strength as an author — his excellent 2015 autobiography, Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink, revealed an elusive, driven man, as seduced and beguiled by words as music.

Elvis Costello is back on the road with the Imposters in 2016 and arriving in New York for two shows at the Beacon Theatre on November 6 and 7. It seemed as fine a time as any to salute this gifted man — an erudite, cheeky icon sporting a straw hat (or fedora) and chunky, black-framed glasses — who is unquestionably an FUV Essentials artist.
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Re: Elvis & Imposters play Beacon, NYC 11/6

Post by johnfoyle »

Nice visuals with this radio campaign.

http://www.wfuv.org/content/elvis-costello-1

http://www.wfuv.org

https://twitter.com/wfuv/status/793497848079941632

Our #FUVEssentials artist this week is @ElvisCostello ! Request your fave Elvis for today's #FUVMixtape, coming up at Noon w. @carmelholt

Image

Image
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Re: Elvis & Imposters play Beacon, NYC 11/6

Post by sulky lad »

What, no Get Happy ?!! :shock:
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And No Coffee Table
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Re: Elvis & Imposters play Beacon, NYC 11/6

Post by And No Coffee Table »

Periscope link with first seven songs: https://www.periscope.tv/scottwired/1vOxwevDlAEGB

01. The Town Where Time Stood Still
02. Lipstick Vogue
03. On Your Way Down
04. The Loved Ones
05. Accidents Will Happen
06. You'll Never Be A Man
07. Tears Before Bedtime
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And No Coffee Table
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Re: Elvis & Imposters play Beacon, NYC 11/6

Post by And No Coffee Table »

The guy who posted the video above has since tweeted that he was kicked out of the show after it was discovered he had bought a counterfeit ticket!
blureu
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Re: Elvis & Imposters play Beacon, NYC 11/6

Post by blureu »

Yikes!
And No Coffee Table wrote:The guy who posted the video above has since tweeted that he was kicked out of the show after it was discovered he had bought a counterfeit ticket!
MOJO
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Re: Elvis & Imposters play Beacon, NYC 11/6

Post by MOJO »

That scope sounded great.
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And No Coffee Table
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Re: Elvis & Imposters play Beacon, NYC 11/6

Post by And No Coffee Table »

Setlist from JohnO:

7:48
Town where time stood still
Lipstick Vogue
On Your Way Down
The Loved Ones
Accidents Will Happen
You'll Never Be A Man
Tears Before Bedtime (NA)
Moods For Moderns
Shabby Doll
Green Shirt
Human Hands
Watching The Detectives
The Long Honeymoon
This House is Empty Now
Kid About It
Pills and Soup
King Horse
High Fidelity
You Little Fool
Pidgin English
ENCORE
Alison EC Solo guitar e/singers
Little Savage (NA) EC on piano
Shot With His Own Gun (One line of Boy With a Problem) (Steve Piano, EC vocals only)
Almost Blue (Steve and EC)
...And In Every Home
Beyond Belief
Man Out of Time
2nd ENCORE
Town Cryer
Everyday I Write The Book
3rd Encore
Blood and Hot Sauce (EC solo on piano)
American Mirror (w/band, on piano)
Pump It Up
(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love & Understanding
Finished 10:30
stricttime81
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Re: Elvis & Imposters play Beacon, NYC 11/6

Post by stricttime81 »

Just got back, this was a great great show. Awesome set list. Highlight for me was a beautiful version of Kid About It, one of my favorite songs. And the Face In The Crowd songs are just so, so good, I really hope he makes an album of them one day. Got excited when he went into Boy With a Problem, but it was only a snippet (I feel like a boy with a problem. I can't believe that we've forgotten).

I'm sure BA will have more details.
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bronxapostle
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Re: Elvis & Imposters play Beacon, NYC 11/6

Post by bronxapostle »

Ace Ono was there for last three songs of the night. And he sang a tidbit before Shabby Doll. Went by so fast missed if it was HAPPINESS IS A WARM GUN like last night. Tapes will tell. Fantastic show. Pidgin English kicked ass as set closer. Lots of punky guitar tonight. A++++ I can happily miss tomorrow as I got such a great show tonight.
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Re: Elvis & Imposters play Beacon, NYC 11/6

Post by Arbogast »

One of the best shows I've seen him do with the Imposters...and I've seen A LOT of them. And very different than any other show, which was cool. For the first half hour or 45 minutes he was rocking out, playing almost metal-like guitar. Then it turned into a kind of "Young Americans"-esque R&B groove ("Tears Before Bedtime" might have been my fave) for the second third of the show.

But, damn...Lipstick Vogue, You'll Never Be a Man, High Fidelity, King Horse! Terrific surprises.

I'm a very satisfied customer....can't wait for tomorrow night.
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Re: Elvis & Imposters play Beacon, NYC 11/6

Post by Eugene »

The tour "book" was $35(I was under the impression it was $25), and hand-signed by EC on the first interior page. SSIA if this has been mentioned.

I compared sigs between two different ones and the placement and loops of letters were different.
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Re: Elvis & Imposters play Beacon, NYC 11/6

Post by verbal gymnastics »

Eugene wrote:The tour "book" was $35(I was under the impression it was $25), and hand-signed by EC on the first interior page. SSIA if this has been mentioned.

I compared sigs between two different ones and the placement and loops of letters were different.
I saw the book on a photo of another gig's merchandise table which had the book at $25. Maybe they've been signed since then. I did joke that the price may increase to $50 by the time of the New York shows. But it was only a joke!
Who’s this kid with his mumbo jumbo?
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Re: Elvis & Imposters play Beacon, NYC 11/6

Post by docinwestchester »

Always nice to hear Elvis with the band, and especially with Steve, who's so important to the IB sound. Good audience, a bit tame, but that's better than too rowdy. The female singers add a nice layer of sound. The new arrangement of Tears Before Bedtime is excellent. The segue from Shot With His Own Gun into Boy With A Problem was seamless, but he should have done the whole song! EC gave a nice shout out to Bruce Thomas, saying that he played some "fucking good" bass parts. The tour closer tonight should be interesting. Hope he pulls out all the stops.
bronxapostle
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Re: Elvis & Imposters play Beacon, NYC 11/6

Post by bronxapostle »

Enjoy doc...did u notice THE BELLS snippet during Town Cryer. Check your memory bank.... :lol: :lol: :lol:
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Re: Elvis & Imposters play Beacon, NYC 11/6

Post by sulky lad »

"Elvis gave a shout to Bruce Thomas, saying that he played some "fucking good" bass parts."
Great, looking forward to The Attractions playing the UK version of this :shock:
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Re: Elvis & Imposters play Beacon, NYC 11/6

Post by bronxapostle »

Nooooo, he said NOTHING about Bruce bvox or vocal arrangement talents.
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Re: Elvis & Imposters play Beacon, NYC 11/6

Post by elvicos01 »

This was my 2nd show of this short tour, having seen them in Atlantic City to start it. As I mentioned in my review of that show, I was interested to see where this set would go. While 1/3 of the set list changed (12 songs different between AC and here) it was the performances of these songs that have grown exponentially.

Highlights
- Tears Before Bedtime – This song has really come together since AC.
- Shabby Doll – Always one of my live favorites, taken to different level.
- Green Shirt – Elvis playing to the crowd, while Steve and Pete played off of him.
- Closing of the main set - King Horse – unexpected and brilliant, follow by a slightly different variation on High Fidelity, into a brilliant ‘You Little Fool’ and closing with a spectacular ‘Pidgin English’.
- Little Savage – Elvis and the girls nailed this. I liked the song sheets brought out onto the stage
- Boy with a Problem – well at least we got one line of the song.
- Beyond Belief – Also one of my live favorites.
Noteworthy
- Intro to ‘This House is Empty Now’, Elvis discussed his writing with Burt Bacharach (nothing new here) and references the musical ‘Painted from Memory’. Also vocal issues began to arise.
- His vocals were also an issue during Alison.
- During Alison, the amount of cell phones either taking pictures or videos was incredible. I was sitting last row in the Loge (great seats BTW) so I had a decent view of the orchestra seats
- Sound was better the AC, and apparently better than at other shows, but during Town Cryer and Everyday I Write the Book, either Elvis’s mic cut out or his voice was an issue.
- American Mirror – I didn’t like this at ‘Town Hall’, but it was better with the band. I enjoyed Steve and Pete intently reading off of Elvis for the entry cues. I believe this was the 1st time he played it with the band.
- Long Honeymoon. I think back to the show at the Paramount in Huntington during the songbook tour, where Elvis and band were playing softly, but the crown noise was so loud you couldn’t hear the song. The opposite tonight. The theater was silent during this song, as well as Alison, This House is Empty, Blood & Hot Sauce
- During the Detour, the intros into songs became redundant. I haven’t listened to any of the great recordings from this tour, so all of the intro’s were new to me, but they were also different than Atlantic City.
- Elvis gave a shout out to Bruce Thomas, though he didn’t mention him by name. It was along the lines of “that bassist back then (during the recording of Imperial Bedroom) really knocked it out of the park, but our newbie (Davey) hits a home run as well”.
- On Your Way Day – thought there might be a reference to Alan Toussaint, as we approach the anniversary of his passing.

Just an absolute wonderful night to conclude 3 shows in 7 weeks, with each one topping the previous.
Why are we racing to be so old?
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Re: Elvis & Imposters play Beacon, NYC 11/6

Post by jmm »

Was at the Bethlehem show. Enjoyed it a lot and even more as I thought about it after

Last night easily topped it and reached a different level. The IB songs interwoven with others was just great. It sure seemed like they found a groove along the way and that they were all having fun with it

Highlights for me were human hands, high fidelity and on your way down ( with projected pic of ATs rolls as the background)

I missed almost blue the first go around and was happy to hear it along with the others not played at earlier shows, even if only a fragment of boy with a problem

Hearing these shows makes me appreciate all of the music down the years all the more. And it was nice to have some new stuff too as we look forward
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Re: Elvis & Imposters play Beacon, NYC 11/6

Post by Eugene »

verbal gymnastics wrote:
Eugene wrote:The tour "book" was $35(I was under the impression it was $25), and hand-signed by EC on the first interior page. SSIA if this has been mentioned.

I compared sigs between two different ones and the placement and loops of letters were different.
I saw the book on a photo of another gig's merchandise table which had the book at $25. Maybe they've been signed since then. I did joke that the price may increase to $50 by the time of the New York shows. But it was only a joke!
Yes, thanks for the reminder regarding the price; I use the term "booK" very loosely-it's a stapled pamphlet at best.
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Re: Elvis & Imposters play Beacon, NYC 11/6

Post by johnfoyle »

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http://rocknycliveandrecorded.com/elvis ... -2016.html

Elvis Costello And The Imposters’ Imperial Bedroom & Other Chambers, Sunday, November 6th, 2016

Written by Iman Lababedi

November 7, 2016

Before we disagree about Elvis Costello And The Imposter’s performance at the Beacon Theatre last night, let’s all agree that the background slides playing variations on Costello EP and album sleeves in the style of Barney Bubbles, was a terrific tribute to the late artist. Bubbles painted the cover art for Imperial Bedroom, “Snake Charmer And Reclining Octopus”, and the slides doubled nicely as an introduction to the various “trap door in the third verse” love stories we were here to hear. Lest we forget, because Elvis Costello certainly hasn’t, Stiff Records resident designer and art director Bubbles, was the man for that original fold out, postcard ridden, sleeve within sleeve, Armed Forces vinyl art -to name one, just about randomly. Good for Elvis, a man who has an eye for honor and honoring, it was a pitch perfect complement to a set that I found bewildering.

When Imperial Bedroom was first released I called it the 26 year old rock star’s divorce album (in the East Village Eye), now I would call it his songs of intense intransigent transformations: where the flux meets the wheel, Costello, with producer Geoff Emerick, performed chamber pop of emotional devastation. If rock is happy songs about sad things, Imperial Bedroom is beautiful songs about terrible things. Elvis could have brought out an orchestra, or rearranged it with his buddies from the Brodsky Quartet. Instead he stuck keyboardist Steve Nieve right on top, drummer Pete Thomas on the bottom, bassist Davey Faragher solidifies it all and little hands of concrete himself Elvis -who played loud and fast and sometimes very skilfully, got his rock star on. Two backup singers filled in behind him. The result was not consorts but concessions: I’d seen Elvis perform a fine “Watching The Detectives” just a month before at Town Hall, last night’s version was too fast, the song is almost tactile in its encroaching horror: it’s a song that needs to be stopped and savored, that needs to wait patiently for its moment and then pounce. Costello bulldozes his way through it, he less rushes it and more directs it hard and fast, he rams it down our throats. Inexcusable except there is one excuse, he follows it with one of the most fascinating questions I’ve heard: “what happens to the people in songs after the songs are over?” Then he imagines that the girl who was watching the detectives is now the woman with her baby waiting for her husband to come home in “The Long Honeymoon” (a nice take but his voice seemed a little hoarse).

Not the only nice take either, it wasn’t all shock and awe, the best moment of the evening was a perfect arrangement of “Shot With His Own Gun” , it took me right back to the Palladium in the early 80s, where it was lost on Trust before emerging live as a devastating showstopper. The best use of Steve Nieve all night. Elvis treated Steve like he was Joe Torre and Steve was Mariano Rivera, he overused him, pushed too hard on synths and keyboards because Elvis chose not to give the songs what they required. The song was only topped by a terrific “Almost Blue” -Elvis mentioned going to see a jazz singer performing in London, who encored with it. The woman is now his wife. These are exceptional songs, most of the set were exceptional songs only “Mood For Moderns” was second tier). But these were exceptional versions as well, light years ahead of what should have been a triple shot, “…And In Every Home”, “Beyond Belief”, “Man Out Of Time”. How could that not be perfect, why is it all such a vicious little run through? Intoxicated in its breathlessness, songs he seldom performs live were taken as though he was terrified of nostalgia. Why play “Beyond Belief” as though it was “Pump It Up” -does it add to his understanding, or ours, of the song, to take a sledgehammer to it? If you’re going to perform the greatest melodies of your career, play it, don’t dick it.

I’m not even entirely comfortable with the song selection itself, why “Pills And Soap” (not a great take either) and not “Imperial Bedroom” itself? I’d have loved to hear “The Stamping Ground” for one… If there was a concept why not include “Black Sails In The Sunset” (remember that one: “all the money in the world will never bring your body back”) from around that time. And what is the concept? It is so nebulous as to be nonexistent and falls apart late with two songs off his eagerly anticipated musical “Face In The Crowd”…. speaking of which: I dubbed “American Mirror” his best song in decades last month (here), unadorned by anything but Larkin Poe singing backup and a piano, it stopped the show. He has rearranged it into this towering edifice of ego and it now blows. Stop messing about with your damn songs. Maybe that’s his problem, the man doesn’t know when to say OK this is done.

My significant other Ellen Bach considered this same set , when she caught it on Saturday in Connecticut, the greatest live performance she has ever seen, for former rock nyc scribe Mike Nessing it was “epic” and the audience adored it, but they can’t hear what it should sound like, and it shouldn’t sound like this. There is a grace under firing squad about the album; the sloths and sisters, louts and lovers, who abound are given a life beyond their life through the intricacies of creation and it is a coming to life that Costello didn’t breathe into his creation last night. In August 1995, I saw Elvis perform an “Accidents Will Happen” with an extended coda, Elvis and the audience trading back and forth on “I know” and if he had kept going, I’d be there right this second still singing it: it made time stand still. The version last night was both fast and furious, and a drag.

I’m not claiming last night was bad, he saved “Alison” from the a capella version we had been hearing, helped immensely by two backup singers. “Blood And Hot Sauce” has improved. “This House Is Empty Now” was superb. While his voice seemed to go on him half way through, he remained completely committed to his vision for over two and a half hours of extremely high energy rock em and sock em. But that “Little Savage” -it got a standing O but why? “Tears Before Bedtime”? Those boo hoo hoos made me want to cry. And when you are playing “Human Hands” -I first heard “Human Hand” at Costello’s New Year’s Eve “Almost Blue, Almost 1982” concert (reviewed it for Creem), before it was released, and flipped for it then, just give yourself up to it. Soft, sweet, a gorgeous if obtuse (what’s with the girls in the Reeperbahn?) song of devotion. And if you have written a song so great that it defies simple answers or simple questions, a song so empathic, every search for an answer is a mirror, just sing it. It’s easy. Play the damn song the way you wrote it. I am referring to “Man Out Of Town” -if you are a man and you don’t see yourself in “Man Out Of Time”, you’re not listening hard enough. Imperial Bedroom took an idea, miniature Chekhovian stories of romance and life on the downward staircase and into jail, and performed them as though they were pop classicism dreamscape greatest moments. The entire album is as complete an artistic vision as you can possibly get, it is, simply, enough alone for Costello to have rested his career on. What the hell, man, sing the damn songs.

Having claimed all the above, I did enjoy the set. I just can imagine what Ellen Bach heard, the greatest live concert ever.

Grade: B+
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Re: Elvis & Imposters play Beacon, NYC 11/6

Post by johnfoyle »

http://emscee.com/foolsparadise/?p=3312


the great imposter

By Mitchell Cohen

November 7, 2016

In 1977 I got my hands on an import copy of My Aim Is True and raved about it for Creem, and that began a nearly forty year off-and-on conversation with Elvis Costello, where he did most of the talking, except when I would chime in with an occasional album review. There were shows at the start (Bottom Line) and end (Ukranian Ballroom) of the first U.S. tour, and over the decades quite a number of times when I’d check on what he was up to: shows with Burt Bacharach in NYC and London, a post-Katrina benefit with Allen Toussaint, solo shows along the way, the great Spinning Wheel parties where anything was up for grabs. It’s crazy to think about how long this has been going on, because when he made himself known, there was something so urgent and immediate about it that it felt like a brushfire that might flame out before too long. It was a breathless sprint – This Year’s Model felt dashed off on a vitriolic bender – and yet not long after that (four full-tilt albums in between in three years, plus enough random songs to make up another one) came 1981’s Imperial Bedroom, and if anyone hadn’t already been convinced that Costello had long-distance potential, this was an album that you would think was undeniable: thoughtful, impassioned, maybe a little fussier than the first couple of LPs, but impressive in a different way. It was his grown-up album, written in his mid-twenties, recorded under more professional conditions with a new producer, and the collection of songs – “Man Out of Time,” “Shabby Doll,” “…And In Every Home,” a dozen more – made a decisive leap forward from his previous albums of originals, Trust (the next pre-Imperial Bedroom album, Almost Blue, was a batch of country covers, so who knew whether Costello had simply exhausted himself or not?).

Elvis brought his band the Imposters back to New York for shows at the Beacon that focused on Imperial Bedroom, but unlike the last album-centric gig I saw there, Brian Wilson doing Pet Sounds, and unlike every other recent show I’ve attended with the same basic premise (Springsteen doing The River, Stevie Wonder recreating Songs in the Key of Life), there was no attempt to treat the album in question as a text that needed to be adhered to, a sequential concert that takes away the element of surprise but lets the audience settle in on a familiar ride. With Springsteen, after a few shows, you felt as though he’d gotten himself in a trap: it was billed as a River-in-its-entirety show, and it’s a long fucking album, and once he’d done five or six songs from it, there was a mood shift in the room: Oh, this is really what we’re doing, there’s no turning back now, and the track listing lodged itself in your head. There was no reason for it. He could have announced shows that were River-intensive, and done concerts that were like the actual concerts from that 1980-1981 tour. After a while, everyone realized it was an idea that worked better in theory than in front of big, diverse crowds, so Springsteen chucked it out the car window.

That’s why the Elvis Imperial Bedroom show was such a triumph, why it should serve as a blueprint for anyone figuring out how to do the “album” show without locking in fifteen or twenty songs in an exact order (Pet Sounds is short, and flows beautifully, so it’s not as much of a commitment). Elvis stopped a few times during the set to talk about how Imperial Bedroom evolved, where the songs came from, what the recording experience was like, but he wove those songs into a broader picture, made space (the show was called Imperial Bedroom & Other Chambers) for a song from the collaboration with Bacharach, for “hits” (“Watching the Detectives,” “Every Day I Write the Book,” “Accidents Will Happen”), for Toussaint’s “On Your Way Down” and a couple of songs from This Year’s Model. You can imagine other artists doing this kind of thing, Randy Newman, Tom Waits, Neil Young, artists who aren’t so much burdened by a cluster of hit songs that they need to do (although I can’t imagine that Costello thinks he can leave a venue without singing “Alison” and “Pump It Up”), have decades of great songs, and might like the idea of the album show where the album is just a central idea, a planet around which the rest of the repertoire orbits.
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