National Ransom - November 2010

[And No Coffee Table]

Ha! The REAL cover's got you guys beat!

http://www.directcurrentmusic.com/dc-mu ... ealed.html



That's going to look amazing on the vinyl cover!

Wow.

[FAVEHOUR]

Cool! Looks like another Tony Millionaire special, which is a little surprising and certainly gives the impression that this is in the same vein as SP & S. (which is fine by me)

Dave

[sweetest punch]

[Ypsilanti]

That's gorgeous! Wow!

[wordnat]

The only thing I didn't love about SP&S was the cover -- looks like this trend will continue with NR....

[scamp]

Damn! I really liked the vaudevillians idea.

[Top balcony]

Cool! Looks like another Tony Millionaire special, which is a little surprising and certainly gives the impression that this is in the same vein as SP & S. (which is fine by me)

Dave

and by me...

Colin Top Balcony

[migdd]

I really like the image for the anger, the aggression and for the message it evokes. In contrast to the rather pastoral cover for SP&SC, this one really lights a fire under my ass. I'm hoping the cover is a proper reflection of the music therein.

[sulky lad]

Elvis must be going back in time if £50 is about the same value as $1000 !!!

[The Gentleman]

I'm totally at peace with the idea of Tony Millionaire doing all of EC's album covers going forward.

[sulky lad]

The Gentleman says

I'm totally at peace with the idea of Tony Millionaire doing all of EC's album covers going forward.

Couldn't agree more - and lets face it, EC isn't totally photogenic even slimmed down !

[Neil.]

Sulky, I beg to differ! I've always thought Elvis is one of the most photogenic rock stars of them all.

The cover of This Year's Model is a classic image in rock, and King of America, though less well known, is another of The Great Album Covers (before it was colourised for the CD reissue, of course).

You don't have to be classically good-looking to be photogenic - but that's not to say that he isn't good-looking - he is! I think he's really grown into his looks, and looks amazing for his age. I hope I look as good as he does when I'm in my fifties - he looks great in the Penny Lane/White House video.

[Ypsilanti]

I'm totally at peace with the idea of Tony Millionaire doing all of EC's album covers going forward.

I have a wild fantasy that someday I might get to do one. I'm sort of half-kidding when I say this, because it is, of course, impossible. Still, I think my artwork might look pretty cool on a children's album, should one ever come to be. Maybe if I'm a good girl and work hard to develop my reputation as an artist...and then I write a letter to Santa...and then Hell freezes over...
http://heidisanna.com/artwork4.html

[Poor Deportee]

That's a phenomenal album cover. Terrific mix of myth and fable with cynical commentary. One of his best covers ever.

Neil, I agree that EC is visually charismatic despite not being conventionally good-looking. What EC always understood brilliantly the wisdom of playing up his eccentricities rather than trying to smother them: the spasdic moves of his early videos, the gap teeth, the exaggerrated leers, the classic image of 'Napoleon Dynamite' (maybe the perfect crystalization of the absurdity of his line of work), and yeah, those great album covers of TYM and KOA. (I always dug the KOA image in particular- he looks so comically bagged out). The man understands that showmanship needn't mean self-serving slickness. (This subject puts me in mind of a Nick Lowe interview, where he said that Elvis 'was a musician and wanted to be good, but also understood that there are thousands of great musicians you wouldn't bother crossing the street to go see.' Just so).

[Neil.]

That big bad wolf is carrying a carpet bag! Reckon he's going to include 'Carpetbaggers' on the album, for the Elvis fans who didn't want to buy an entire Jenny Lewis album? (Though of course, people can download singly.... but for those averse to the 'net?)

[migdd]

I'd like to hear EC and the Imposters take on Carpetbaggers but I doubt we'll hear it on American Ransom. Not sure that would be the right place for it. You never know, though.

[Ypsilanti]

It's a great illustration--I love the pelican-headed walking stick.
I'm dying to see it bigger, though. There's probably tons of amazing little details not visible at this tiny size.

The cover of SP&S was tied very specifically to the songs. It looks like that might not be the case this time. Although...who knows? There could be a song about carpetbagging wolves and burning oil wells which is unknown to all of us.

How much input do you think Elvis has regarding the content of the drawing? None? Some? A lot? Does he tell Tony Millionaire, "I want a wolf wearing a top hat"?

[migdd]

I
How much input do you think Elvis has regarding the content of the drawing? None? Some? A lot? Does he tell Tony Millionaire, "I want a wolf wearing a top hat"?

I would guess quite a bit.

[cwr]

I think the cover photo for TRUST is one of his very best.

Having said that, I want at LEAST one more Tony Millionaire album cover. Now that he's done a second one, it simply demands a third T-Bone-produced album with Millionaire cover art to complete the trilogy...

[Poor Deportee]

I think the cover photo for TRUST is one of his very best.

Having said that, I want at LEAST one more Tony Millionaire album cover. Now that he's done a second one, it simply demands a third T-Bone-produced album with Millionaire cover art to complete the trilogy...

One thing about this site: it doesn't have nearly the range of eccentric topics that characterizes, say, Expectingrain.com, the leading Dylan fan site (It also doesn't have nearly the same quantity of trolls, but that's another matter). Why no thread, for instance, on your favourite EC album covers? Off the top of my head (not to make a pun) I'd have to go with the gaudy glory that is Spike.

[migdd]

One thing about this site: it doesn't have nearly the range of eccentric topics that characterizes, say, Expectingrain.com, the leading Dylan fan site (It also doesn't have nearly the same quantity of trolls, but that's another matter). Why no thread, for instance, on your favourite EC album covers? Off the top of my head (not to make a pun) I'd have to go with the gaudy glory that is Spike.

Well, back in the day (5 or so years ago) the "General Discussion" forum was host to dozens and dozens of threads with topics like "favorite album cover", "favorite song from the new album", "favorite EC haircut", etc. There was a time when every day brought a new poll or thread intended to spark discussion (and sometimes nasty arguments - we were a stout bunch).

Then came Facebook and Twitter.

By the way, my favorite EC album cover is still KOA.

[Jeremy Dylan]

I'd like to hear EC and the Imposters take on Carpetbaggers but I doubt we'll hear it on American Ransom. Not sure that would be the right place for it. You never know, though.

Personally, I'd love to hear a 'Canes version of it. I'd guess it wouldn't sound a million miles away from Don't Lie To Me.

[Ypsilanti]

Well, back in the day (5 or so years ago) the "General Discussion" forum was host to dozens and dozens of threads with topics like "favorite album cover", "favorite song from the new album", "favorite EC haircut", etc. There was a time when every day brought a new poll or thread intended to spark discussion (and sometimes nasty arguments - we were a stout bunch).

I sometimes search back in this forum a few years, just to see what you all were talking about way back when. I've frequently been tempted to revive one of these old threads, but I hesitate because I feel it would be tedious and annoying for the members who have been around for few years--and after all, you guys got here first. Seems like you've earned the right to guide the discussion. But, OK. At the risk of being a newbie pain in the ass, I think I'll do it...
http://www.elviscostellofans.com/phpBB2 ... 22&start=0
I hope it doesn't just lay there like a turd.

[migdd]

Here's a link to a slightly larger image of the cover. Tony Millionaire's signature is in the lower left corner.:

http://www.universalmusic.no/News/newsp ... l_ransom_1

[migdd]

Details of the new album have been posted at http://www.elviscostello.com. Release date has been pushed back to Nov. 2 in the US.




Elvis Costello's National Ransom Set For Release October 25th International & November 2nd U.S.A
From Hear Music/Concord Music Group;
Produced By T Bone Burnett

All members of The Imposters and The Sugarcanes feature in a wide variety of groovy new combos with guests Vince Gill, Marc Ribot, Buddy Miller and Leon Russell

"Around the time the killing stopped on Wall St.
You couldn't hold me, baby, with anything but contempt"

The record is led off by the loud electric guitar of Marc Ribot in the left channel and the lap-steel of Jerry Douglas in the right channel. Steve Nieve enters on the Vox Continental organ, while the rhythm section consists of Dennis Crouch on double bass and Pete Thomas on drums. National Ransom (Hear Music/Concord Music Group) is the name of the album and also a rock and roll song, "For the bankrupt times, whenever they may be," as Costello recently described it.

National Ransom, recorded in a total of eleven days at Sound Emporium, Nashville and Village Recorders, Los Angeles was produced by T Bone Burnett and engineered and mixed by Michael Piersante at Electromagetic, Los Angeles.

All of these songs are newly composed by Costello with the exception of "I Lost You," co-written with Jim Lauderdale and "All These Strangers," for which Costello and T Bone Burnett collaborated on the lyrics. Costello and Burnett also provide the lyrics for "My Lovely Jezebel," a Leon Russell rock and roll tune and he leads Thomas/Crouch/Ribot combo from the piano.

"Loose change lonely, not the right amount"

The album’s second track, "Jimmie Standing In The Rain," recalls the misfortunes of a cowboy singer playing the northern English musical halls in 1937. The music owes a little something to that time. The ensemble for this song includes: the acoustic guitar of Marc Ribot, violinist Stuart Duncan, Dennis Crouch on double bass and The Sugarcanes' accordionist Jeff Taylor playing piano. Darrell Leonard adds the trumpet commentary.

"Farewell my little ballyhooo, you broke my heart in two"

"A Slow Drag With Josephine" described by Costello as "rock and roll, as it sounded in 1921" has been a highlight of recent Costello live shows. Mandolinist, Mike Compton sings the close vocal harmony. On "Five Small Words," The Imposters rhythm section – Davey Faragher and Pete Thomas – combine with the twin electric guitars of The Coward Brothers. Howard Coward also plays Farfisa organ, while Mike Compton once again provides the vocal harmony.

"Turn up the music just to turn it down.
The trivial secrets buried with the profound"

Despite the presence of lap-steel, mandolin, dobro and fiddle throughout the record, the music probably owes more to the rhythms and harmonies of R&B, or even Gospel music, than to Bluegrass. Vince Gill adds a beautiful vocal harmony part to the chorus of a string-band tune, "Dr. Watson, I Presume," on which the Sugarcanes full instrumental line-up is heard together with Pete Thomas, Marc Ribot and the baritone guitar of Buddy Miller, who also sings on the title cut.

The ballad accompaniments range from a single acoustic guitar and double bass on "Bullets For The New-Born King" - a song in the voice of a regretful assassin - to a hushed 21-piece ensemble for, "You Hung The Moon" - a song about a séance held in 1919 as a family struggle with the loss of a soldier executed for desertion in the First World War.

"Lower the hood on his last lament, dash him down on the cold cement"

"One Bell Ringing," in which a man has dreams of his own interrogation and demise is set in 2007. The song hears Costello's finger-picked guitar and Dennis Crouch's double bass augmented by singer's own arrangement for bass trumpet, alto flute and bass clarinet.

Asked if National Ransom’s songs and their characters were set in specific times and places, Costello said, "Yes but I'd be happy if you imagine them any time you want."

Tony Millionaire once again provides the ink illustration for the cover.

National Ransom Track List
1. National Ransom
2. Jimmie Standing in the Rain
3. Stations of the Cross
4. A Slow Drag With Josephine
5. Five Small Words
6. Church Underground
7. You Hung the Moon
8. Bullets for the New-Born King
9. I Lost You
10. Dr Watson, I Presume
11. One Bell Ringing
12. The Spell That You Cast
13. That's Not The Part of Him You're Leaving
14. My Lovely Jezebel
15. All These Strangers