Rank The Delivery Man

[VonOfterdingen]

There's really a wide diversity of opinion about TDM. Nothing clings like ivy and The Judgement seems to divide people the most. Guess TDM got something for every taste

[Copenhagen Fan]

JESUS!!! I can't believe that some of the songs with the most interesting melodies and tones, not too mention singing are put down at the bottom of the list by some posters, (like IVY, JUDGEMENT and EITHER SIDE) while MONKEY is held in high esteem. MONKEY is a throw away of a song. Maybe that's because I saw the lousy video and it scarred me for life!!!!!!

MONKEY IS JUNKY

[Copenhagen Fan]

ooooooooh I just got it. I have had IVY on the brain and couldn't remember where I had heard the chord progression before. Now I recall.....The Beatles SHE's LEAVING HOME. Of course it's only the part where Elvis slips into an A minor, "frieghtened in the dark".

Maybe I'm just going insane...but does anyone else hear the same?

[normabuel]

What do I know, I like Glitter Gultch. . . .

I have to say, Ivy does kinda, well, grow on you. I really like the guitar solo. If I re-ranked TDM again in a month, I may put Ivy higher. (I'm pretty sure TDM would stay dead last, though.) For me, anyway, some of these songs sound better after having heard them a few times (see my comment about Either Side above). And Monkey may be a throw away, I think the lyric is pretty interesting. (EC says Everyday I Write the Book was a throw away, too, and that's a pretty good song.)

[John]

1 -Nothing Clings Like Ivy
2 -She's Pulling Out The Pin
3 -The Scarlet Tide
4 -Monkey To Man
5 -Country Darkness
6 -Needle Time
7 -The Delivery Man
8 -Bedlam
9 -Heart Shaped Bruise
11 -Either Side Of The Same Town
12 -The Name Of This Thing Is Not Love
13 -The Judgment
14 -There's A Story In Your Voice
15 -Button My Lip

Laughingcrow, have you retired the no 10 shirt in honour of somebody?

[wehitandrun]

What do I know, I like Glitter Gultch. . . .

You and me both. Incredible song.

[wardo68]

I only have the US version, so:

1. Either side of the same town
2. There's a story in your voice
3. Country darkness
4. The judgement
5. Nothing clings like ivy
6. The scarlet tide
7. Heart shaped bruise
8. Button my lip
9. Bedlam
10. The delivery man
11. Monkey to man
12. The name of this thing is not love
13. Needle time

[VonOfterdingen]

Isn't 'Bedlam' like a hardcore version of The Stones' 'Loving Cup'? I think the instruments like the drums and piano/keyboards got an improvised feel in both songs.

[King Hoarse]

Classic:
1. Heart-Shaped Bruise (Best Elvis country feel ever? And I love the way his very loud guide vocal leaks out of Emmylou's headphones and into the defenseless mike)

Very good and captured in fine form:
2. Country Darkness (very soulful)
3. There's A Story In Your Voice (Great fun. Elvis' high harmony in particular is hilarious)
4. Needle Time (Mean blues with tempo change inspired by Dylan's Cry A While from Love & Theft?)
5. Either Side Of The Same Town (very Dan Penny, needs to be covered by Solomon Burke or other)

Fine songs with finer live versions:
6. The Judgement (much prefer said Burke's version)
7. Button My Lip (great 15petallyafricana jam, but crap opener)
8. The Scarlet Tide (I thought Loudon Wainwright III was the only ukulele revivalist around)
9. Nothing Clings Like Ivy (nice solo)

Almost Bored:
10. The Name Of This Thing Is Not Love
11. Monkey To Man
12. Bedlam (like the lyric and groove, don't like the tune)
13. The Delivery Man (This just makes me wish it was more of a straight concept album. With this as title track and a very loose plot the album feels halfbaked to me. I'd hoped he would include some of the other songs from the cycle live, for example Episode Of Blonde, to make out some sort of chronology, but I guess it's not gonna happen. Sure he plays Blame It On Cain again, but still...)

Haven't heard She's Pulling Out The Pin.
I hope it's great, 'cause I'm still a little disappointed by the album.

Oh, and now that I'm back on the boards with a brand new computer and a new record finished and about to be released, you're gonna see some serious ranking very soon. I believe Imperial Bedroom is up next.

[bambooneedle]

I had a mini panic attack the other day -- I wanted to play TDM in the car, and couldn't find it! For 20 minutes, the implications of not being able to hear it for the first time in weeks were most disturbing...

I then found it and it sounded AWESOME.

Is it too far fetched a thought to think that this album can still be huge? Once they really get touring they could get an unprecendented amount publicity, especially if EC does a lot of interviews in those southern states.

My initial criticism was that the TDM story had failed to intrigue... looking at the songs and at whole album now that doesn't seem to matter. The other thing was, that I thought it's sense of story might have been better without the political statements in Button My Lip and so on; they sort of clashed with any right-brained sense of story you try to imagine. But, there are so many small statements and ideas along the way despite the apparent non-eventfulness of 'the story'. A couple of examples: the crowd sounds at the beginning of The Judgment (what's going on?), and the "wooo-ooooh" ending ESOTST mirroring the immediately preceding one on TASIYV from Lucinda, only more sedately. Looking at BML as if it in no way were referencing current events makes it sound so damn sinister-- could it really the voice of the delivery man?-- "I am the mighty and the magnificent" with the echo is chilling. Bedlam is still up there as a firm favourite from it, and so now is the album. I like it more at this moment than Brutal Youth and All This Useless Beauty. Elvis at the top of his game as a 50 year old. It may not be his best collection of songs (if there was a criteria to apply) but the potency in TDM is no more evident in any other EC album. It seeps in the way it does on Blood and Chocolate, trancey and so devoid of the sense that he's handing out punchlines in his writing.

[MegJS]

I like the album very much. When I bought it I wanted to hear another WIWC...so I was disappointed. But after more listens I really got to like it. It has its charm. When I hear Needle Time I imagine him playing in a small american pub late at night, the air is so smoked it almost makes me cough, the people hardly pay attention to what he is playing, they drink beer, smoke and laugh, there's a small drunken punchup...The Delivery Man - it's a summer evening, something has gone wrong with the car and we're stuck on some highway with a sandy road. The sun is going down and the wind is blowing ....well I'd better stop...

1. The Delivery Man
2. Bedlam
3. The Name Of This Thing Is Not Love
4. Button My Lip
5. Needle Time
6. Either Side Of The Same Town
7. Monkey To Man
8. There's A Story In Your Voice
9. The Scarlet Tide
10. Nothing Clings Like Ivy
11. Country Darkness
12. Heart Shaped Bruise
13. The Judgement

[MegJS]

Wow, what a wonderful song She's Pulling Out The Pin is! I didn't expect that... And The Monkey is....lovely:)))

here's my updated list:

1. The Delivery Man
2. Bedlam
3. The Name Of This Thing Is Not Love
4. She's Pulling Out The Pin
5. Button My Lip
6. Needle Time
7. Either Side Of The Same Town
8. Monkey To Man
9. There's A Story In Your Voice
10. The Scarlet Tide
11. The Monkey
12. Nothing Clings Like Ivy
13. Country Darkness
14. Heart Shaped Bruise
15. The Judgement

[millen]

My list would differ every time I'd think about it.

The only steady place would be Button my lip which I would place at the bottom of the list. Why I don't know, because every time I put it on, I like it.

[Mr. Average]

Button My Lip is such an intriguing song because there is so much going on instrumentally. Some very strange collisions of sound that are not typically heard in a Costello composition. It gets more interesting to me with repeated plays. Unlike Bedlam, Needle Time, and Monkey to Man, which are the other primary rockers on the record, it has extra facets that seem to keep popping up.

[wolfcat]

So far..keeps changing!

1. Either Side of the Same Town 10/10
2. Bedlam 10/10
3. Monkey to Man 10/10
4. The Delivery Man 9/10
5. Country Darkness 9/10
6. The Judgement 9/10
7. Nothing Clings Like Ivy 8/10
8. Heart Shaped Bruise 8/10
9. Scarlet Tide 8/10 (new band version much better!)
10. The Name of this Thing is Not Love 8/10
11. There's a Story in Your Voice 7/10
12. Needle Time 6/10
13. Button My Lip 5/10[/list]

[MistakenForLilies]

1. Monkey To Man
2. The Name of This Thing is Not Love
3. Bedlam
4. The Delivery Man
5. Scarlet Tide
6. Needle Time
7. She's Pulling Out the Pin
8. The Monkey
9. Button My Lip
10. The Judgement
11. Country Darkness
12. Nothing Clings Like Ivy
13. Either Side of the Same Town
14. Heart-shaped Bruise
15. There's a Story in Your Voice

It took me a while to like Button My Lip. That happens to me whenever an album's first track is not exactly melodic-- like Uncomplicated.

When playing the album for non-fans I've found that they only start to get into it after Monkey to Man, Ivy, and The Name of this Thing have played.