Bulldog's Armchair Guide To Elvis Costello

Bulldog · 06-26-2009, 04:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JayJamJah

What a phenomenal job you've done with this thread. The best on the entire Web.

Oh garsh

There are a few changes I'd make to some reviews if I could, it's just a bit annoying that you can't edit posts in this forum. Otherwise I've done my bit when it comes to hyping the bloke.

Good luck with finishing your Van Morrison thread too. I must remember to give Astral Weeks a good listen soon - I'll let you know what I think of it in your thread.

Son of JayJamJah · 06-26-2009, 08:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bulldog

Oh garsh

There are a few changes I'd make to some reviews if I could, it's just a bit annoying that you can't edit posts in this forum. Otherwise I've done my bit when it comes to hyping the bloke.

Good luck with finishing your Van Morrison thread too. I must remember to give Astral Weeks a good listen soon - I'll let you know what I think of it in your thread.

One think I would like to see (although I don't think it's possible) is a way for each person to have moderator privileges within their own members journal. When I was moderating I made lots of corrections to my thread that I wouldn't want to trouble the other mods with.

Anyway, I am looking forward to finishing my Van thread soon too. 36 albums takes forever when you've committed to such lengthy reviews. It's a pleasure, but they literally take at least 3 hours each.

Mirrorball95 · 06-26-2009, 05:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bulldog

Hey, welcome back

As I said earlier, by the sound of it Costello's someone you plain don't like (I'm the same with some very highly-regarded acts myself, REM and Muse for example). If you're up for giving the album a try, try the download link I posted a few pages back - just 3 choice tracks from the album for any curious readers.

Yeah I guess Ive done my best getting a good few albums and all, but Im not against giving him one last shot with the 'This Years Model' album. Also, I really do admire the passion and work ethic you guys put into threads like these. I may even one day do my own on my beloved Neil Young. Damn that would be fun, but Im not up for it right now.

Bulldog · 06-26-2009, 05:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JayJamJah

One think I would like to see (although I don't think it's possible) is a way for each person to have moderator privileges within their own members journal. When I was moderating I made lots of corrections to my thread that I wouldn't want to trouble the other mods with.

Anyway, I am looking forward to finishing my Van thread soon too. 36 albums takes forever when you've committed to such lengthy reviews. It's a pleasure, but they literally take at least 3 hours each.

I know the feeling. A lot of reviews I've done on these boards have taken me an age or two, especially if you wanna go into detail about every song.

So mods can edit posts here then? I wouldn't even think about pestering one of them about it, but there are a ton of video and picture links that need replacing, not to mention all these typos I keep spotting too. Oh well.

Gavin B. · 06-27-2009, 07:21 AM

Get Happy has always been my favorite Costello album. There something magical about the low-fi production, the Attraction's stripped down garage band sound and the paranoid themes of the songs.

When Trust and Imperial Bedroom came out I played them to death like no other Costello albums, I loved them so much. Both are near perfect pop albums, in the Beatles sense of the word "pop."

Bulldog · 06-30-2009, 06:40 AM

Get Happy's a keeper. I just think the hybrid of new wave and blue-eyed soul makes for such an interesting sound, particularly with tunes like Possession, Secondary Modern and High Fidelity. There's even a tiny bit of reggae and ska on there too, so it's a reasonably diverse-sounding album. It's not quite among his absolute best (those'd be Spike, Trust and Imperial Bedroom), as there is a tiny bit of filler on there in my opinion.

Bulldog · 07-08-2009, 04:30 PM

The Bootleg Corner
#4

Right, I'm bored and I don't particularly feel like going to sleep, so I'm bringing this section back. Basically, after a good round of spring cleaning, I found a few more old bootlegs like this one.

This one being a quintessential live, superb quality soundboard recording of Elvis Costello and the Attractions on the 5 Live Stiffs Tour of (I believe so anyway) 1978. This was basically the guys touring with their Stiff Records labelmates, among them Ian Dury and the Blockheads and the Damned (which is why you see covers of Neat Neat Neat and Roadette Song on the setlist). One of my personal favourites this - help yourself (again, click the picture for the link).

Elvis Costello & the Attractions - 5 Live Stiffs Tour, 1978

01. Love Comes In Spurts
02. No Action
03. (The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes
04. Blame It On Cain
05. The Beat
06. Dr. Luthers Assistant
07. This Year's Girl
08. (I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea
09. Less Than Zero
10. Whole Wide World
11. Roadette Song
12. Neat Neat Neat
13. Little Triggers
14. Radio Radio
15. You Belong To Me
16. Miracle Man

Depending on whether I have the time/energy, I'll upload at least a couple more over the next few days or so.

Bulldog · 08-10-2009, 02:44 PM

The Bootleg Corner
#5

OK, after all this time here's bootleg number five. This one's from the promotional tour for Costello's wishy-washy Punch the Clock album of 1983, featuring the Attractions augmented with the TKO Horns and the Afrodiziak backing singers in an attempt to bring the glossy, chirpy, early-80s pop vibes over to the stage.

Sound awful? Actually, it isn't. The horn section really does do the setlist a lot of good, giving them a punchy, brassy kind of swing and therefore a new edge to them. That said, for this tour the TKO Horns and Afrodiziak would only play at the beginnings and ends of shows, leaving the middle of the setlist for Costello and the Attractions to do their work. Also, a lot of the songs from Punch the Clock are very much improved on through live performance.

So, that's tracks 1-5 and 11-15 which feature the TKO Horns and Afrodiziak and, of course, tracks 6-10 with the Attractions unaccompanied. Tracks 16 and 17 were recorded elsewhere and were basically thrown into the tracklisting here at the bootlegger's whim to make up space.

Again, click the picture for the link (and no, it's not the CD cover, just the most relevant picture - using a scanner takes up far too much time that I'd otherwise spend sitting on my arse)...

Riot Act - 17/10/83

1. Let Them All Talk
2. Possession
3. Watch Your Step
4. The Greatest Thing
5. Man Out Of Time
6. Shabby Doll
7. From Head To Toe
8. Charm School
9. Oliver's Army
10. Shipbuilding
11. The World and His Wife
12. Alison
13. Clowntime Is Over
14. Everyday I Write the Book
15. TKO (Boxing Day)
16. Psycho [1/6/81]
17. Backstabbers/King Horse [7/9/83]

Personnel
Elvis Costello: vocals, guitar
Steve Nieve: keyboards
Bruce Thomas: bass
Pete Thomas: drums
Jim Paterson: trombone
Jeff Blythe: alto sax
Paul Speare: tenor sax
Dave Plews: trumpet
Caron Wheeler: backing vocals
Claudia Fontaine: backing vocals

NumberNineDream · 08-10-2009, 06:43 PM

I've been meaning to get some albums of Costello since I've seen his cameo appearance on 200 cigarettes ... he seemed like a cool guy ... great thread

Bulldog · 08-11-2009, 04:01 AM

I'm yet to see 200 Cigarettes myself. Wanted to for a while though.

There's an index with samplers for each album I've reviewed over on page 10 so, by all means, help yourself

06-27-2009, 07:21 AM	#105 (permalink)
Gavin B. Model Worker Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 1,248	Get Happy has always been my favorite Costello album. There something magical about the low-fi production, the Attraction's stripped down garage band sound and the paranoid themes of the songs. When Trust and Imperial Bedroom came out I played them to death like no other Costello albums, I loved them so much. Both are near perfect pop albums, in the Beatles sense of the word "pop." __________________ There are two types of music: the first type is the blues and the second type is all the other stuff. Townes Van Zandt

08-10-2009, 06:43 PM	#109 (permalink)
NumberNineDream Blue Bleezin' Blind Drunk Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: The land of the largest wine glass (aka Lebanon) Posts: 2,200	I've been meaning to get some albums of Costello since I've seen his cameo appearance on 200 cigarettes ... he seemed like a cool guy ... great thread __________________ Do cats eat bats? Do cats eat bats?Do cats eat bats? Do cats eat bats? Do cats eat bats? Do cats eat bats? Do cats eat bats?Do cats eat bats? Do cats eat bats?Do bats eat cats? Do bats eat cats? Do bats eat cats? Do bats eat cats? Do bats eat cats?Do bats eat cats?Do bats eat cats?Do bats eat cats? Do bats eat cats? Do bats eat cats? Do bats eat cats?Do bats eat cats?Do bats eat cats? Do bats eat cats? Do bats eat cats? Welcome to the Black Lodge

06-30-2009, 06:40 AM	#106 (permalink)
Bulldog why bother? Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: UK Posts: 4,840	Get Happy's a keeper. I just think the hybrid of new wave and blue-eyed soul makes for such an interesting sound, particularly with tunes like Possession, Secondary Modern and High Fidelity. There's even a tiny bit of reggae and ska on there too, so it's a reasonably diverse-sounding album. It's not quite among his absolute best (those'd be Spike, Trust and Imperial Bedroom), as there is a tiny bit of filler on there in my opinion.

07-08-2009, 04:30 PM	#107 (permalink)
Bulldog why bother? Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: UK Posts: 4,840	The Bootleg Corner #4 Right, I'm bored and I don't particularly feel like going to sleep, so I'm bringing this section back. Basically, after a good round of spring cleaning, I found a few more old bootlegs like this one. This one being a quintessential live, superb quality soundboard recording of Elvis Costello and the Attractions on the 5 Live Stiffs Tour of (I believe so anyway) 1978. This was basically the guys touring with their Stiff Records labelmates, among them Ian Dury and the Blockheads and the Damned (which is why you see covers of Neat Neat Neat and Roadette Song on the setlist). One of my personal favourites this - help yourself (again, click the picture for the link). Elvis Costello & the Attractions - 5 Live Stiffs Tour, 1978 01. Love Comes In Spurts 02. No Action 03. (The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes 04. Blame It On Cain 05. The Beat 06. Dr. Luthers Assistant 07. This Year's Girl 08. (I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea 09. Less Than Zero 10. Whole Wide World 11. Roadette Song 12. Neat Neat Neat 13. Little Triggers 14. Radio Radio 15. You Belong To Me 16. Miracle Man Depending on whether I have the time/energy, I'll upload at least a couple more over the next few days or so.

08-10-2009, 02:44 PM	#108 (permalink)
Bulldog why bother? Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: UK Posts: 4,840	The Bootleg Corner #5 OK, after all this time here's bootleg number five. This one's from the promotional tour for Costello's wishy-washy Punch the Clock album of 1983, featuring the Attractions augmented with the TKO Horns and the Afrodiziak backing singers in an attempt to bring the glossy, chirpy, early-80s pop vibes over to the stage. Sound awful? Actually, it isn't. The horn section really does do the setlist a lot of good, giving them a punchy, brassy kind of swing and therefore a new edge to them. That said, for this tour the TKO Horns and Afrodiziak would only play at the beginnings and ends of shows, leaving the middle of the setlist for Costello and the Attractions to do their work. Also, a lot of the songs from Punch the Clock are very much improved on through live performance. So, that's tracks 1-5 and 11-15 which feature the TKO Horns and Afrodiziak and, of course, tracks 6-10 with the Attractions unaccompanied. Tracks 16 and 17 were recorded elsewhere and were basically thrown into the tracklisting here at the bootlegger's whim to make up space. Again, click the picture for the link (and no, it's not the CD cover, just the most relevant picture - using a scanner takes up far too much time that I'd otherwise spend sitting on my arse)... Riot Act - 17/10/83 1. Let Them All Talk 2. Possession 3. Watch Your Step 4. The Greatest Thing 5. Man Out Of Time 6. Shabby Doll 7. From Head To Toe 8. Charm School 9. Oliver's Army 10. Shipbuilding 11. The World and His Wife 12. Alison 13. Clowntime Is Over 14. Everyday I Write the Book 15. TKO (Boxing Day) 16. Psycho [1/6/81] 17. Backstabbers/King Horse [7/9/83] Personnel Elvis Costello: vocals, guitar Steve Nieve: keyboards Bruce Thomas: bass Pete Thomas: drums Jim Paterson: trombone Jeff Blythe: alto sax Paul Speare: tenor sax Dave Plews: trumpet Caron Wheeler: backing vocals Claudia Fontaine: backing vocals

08-11-2009, 04:01 AM	#110 (permalink)
Bulldog why bother? Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: UK Posts: 4,840	I'm yet to see 200 Cigarettes myself. Wanted to for a while though. There's an index with samplers for each album I've reviewed over on page 10 so, by all means, help yourself