Elvis Costello: When I Was Cruel/The Delivery Man

Elvis Costello: When I Was Cruel

2002

Island Records

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. 45  2. Spooky Girlfriend  3. Tear Off Your Own Head (It's a Doll Revolution)  4. When I Was Cruel No. 2  5. Soul for Hire  6. 15 Petals  7. Tart  8. Dust 2..  9. Dissolve  10. Alibi  11. ...Dust  12. Daddy Can I Turn This?  13. My Little Blue Window  14. Episode of Blonde  15. Radio Silence

And just as quickly as Elvis had recaptured me with "Brutal Youth," he immediately lost me again with an endless array of albums that I just couldn't bring myself to purchase...Collaborations with all sort of folks I don't listen to, cover albums, a cover album of songs he wrote for other people, classical works...To this day I still don't know how to navigate that period of his discography...Is any of it any good? What post-"Brutal Youth" pre-"When I Was Cruel" albums are worthwhile? I have no idea?

I tell ya, those marketing guys are good...I saw one "ELVIS IS BACK!" ad and I was down at the record store...One spin of the album convinced me that the hype might have been earned this time around...

Although the production and sound were different, this sounded exactly like the Elvis Costello I wanted...Loud guitars (louder than ever actually...This is overall much more distorted than any tone he utilized on the "classic" Attractions albums), trebly synthesizers, and a snarling, yet smirking delivery...It's not too hard to imagine "45" or "My Little Blue Window" appearing on one of his first two albums...On the other hand, the bulk of the album doesn't resemble the old stuff at all...There's probably some obvious reference point, but I can't think of it right now...Maybe a cross between Angelo Badalamenti and 90's trip hop, maybe? A very close relative of previous murky, atmospheric tracks like "So Like Candy" and "Sulky Girl"...Except much drier and clankier than before...

Alright, here are my favey-waveys; first off the opener "45" is incredible...Elvis sounds a lot mellower than he did in his heyday, but there's no mistaking the tense, wired, energy...This is a clear attempt at Attractions style new wave...Oh yea, I should probably mention that his band, the Imposters, are just the Attractions without bassist Bruce Thomas, whom Elvis had been feuding with for a loooong time at this point, apparently leading to his firing after Bruce wrote a book in 1990 called "The Big Wheel" that rubbed Elvis the wrong way...

I don't really know what's in the book...I haven't read it...Anyway, I like the muted, chuggy quality of "45" and it's great to hear Steve Nieve's signature Farfisa tone at the end...

"When I Was Cruel No. 2" is an unlikely favorite of mine..It's slow, overlong (over 7 minutes!!!) but it could take up the entire album and I'd be okay with it...I find the constant "Un" sample mesmerizing for some reason...Apparently, it's from the song  "Un Bacio è Troppo Poco" by Mina...

Oh yea...That was a pretty good listen..."When I Was Cruel No. 2" sounds just like this except louder, more rumbling and with Elvis singing about how things were a lot easier when he was cruel...I don't know, he still sounds pretty cruel to me...

We get an ABBA reference too!

My other jam is "My Little Blue Window," which is good, loud acoustic-based pop...It kind of reminds me of the type of thing you might have found on side two of "Blood & Chocolate," although he sounds more contented than he did on that particular album...It somehow made me nostalgic the first time I heard it, which was a good sign I think...

I like this album a lot, and re-listening to it has been a great big joy (that part where "Tart" suddenly GETS ALL LOUD  ruled my world today)...This may not be the best place to enter the Elvis Costello discography, since he's pretty set in his idiosyncrasies at this point, but it's also not a bad place to start...And to old, rock-lovin' Elvis fans like myself, this thing was manna from heaven (or foodcake from hell, depending on your religious affiliation)...There might be a song or two that I usually skip ("15 Petals," "...Dust") but the number of hits here is staggering... There's no way around it...This is easily the best Elvis Costello record since "Blood & Chocolate" (Unless one of those albums I skipped from 1994 to 2002 beats it...I dunno...Maybe "Kojak Variety" is the greatest album I've never heard...Hard to say...).


Oh yea, I saw Elvis on this tour...I really wanted to go but the tickets were too expensive for me...I just won't pay $50.00 to see a show...I'll go $35.00 tops..But my wife was kind enough to buy the tickets for me as a birthday present...Thanks to the internet, I can even look up the exact details of the show...

For example it was on October 2, 2002, at the Dodge Theater and this was the setlist:

Setlist

01. I Hope You're Happy Now
02. Tear Off Your Own Head (It's A Doll Revolution)
03. Clubland
04. Shabby Doll
05. Party Girl
06. Spooky Girlfriend
07. Honey, Are You Straight Or Are You Blind?
08. 45
09. Alibi
10. The Judgement
11. I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down
12. High Fidelity
13. Uncomplicated
14. Beyond Belief
15. Watching The Detectives
16. Radio, Radio
17. Pump It Up
Encore 1
18. Indoor Fireworks
19. Tart
20. Deep Dark Truthful Mirror / You've Really Got A Hold On Me
21. Shipbuilding
Encore 2
22. My Mood Swings
23. When I Was Cruel No. 2
24. Alison - including Suspicious Minds
Encore 3
25. No Action
26. I Want You
27. Almost Blue


 Here's my memory of the show...ahem...First off the Dodge Theater is the lamest place on Planet Earth to host a rock n' roll show...It's the type of place that usually hosts concerts by Il Divo or maybe if they're felling edgy they might do a Gaither Gospel Hour or something...They literally put bouncers in folding chairs at either end of each row, so you can't leave the row to run up to the front of the stage or anything...You have to say, "Pardon me, may I please leave this aisle so I may visit the men's room, Good sir?" and then they might let you out...Lame...

I had also wondered who exactly listened to Elvis Costello...In all my years of fandom I had never met a single other Elvis Costello fan...

Well, I found them all...They were all snooty middle aged yuppies...There were a handful of kids and the odd punk rocker snarling at the tasteful chandeliers here and there, but for the most part it was the Cabernet Sauvignon crowd...I remember making the mistake of standing up for a split second to applaud and a bunch of khaki-wearing stuffed-shirts got their man-panties in a bunch and yelled, "Down in front!"

I sat back down and whispered to Amy, "Maaaaan, this place sucks..." Then he started playing, "I Can't Stand Up for Falling Down" and we both agreed there was no way we were sitting down, we were going to make a break for it, jump over the guards in the folding chairs and run to the front of the stage and actually rock out...And as soon as we jumped up and started running, Elvis yells into the microphone, "Everybody get up and come on down here!" And suddenly everybody with a pulse got up and started running! There was no way the Security Guards could stop us all, besides, Elvis told us to do it, and his name was written in the big lights after all...

Amy and I got right to the front of the stage and suddenly the whole concert was a zillion times better! The only exception being this incredibly obnoxious guy who kept incessantly bellerin' "WAATCHING THE DETECTIIIIIIVES!!!" in the loudest, most booming voice I've ever heard...Cut right through the music every time...The next day on the Elvis Costello website, this guy was what everybody was talking about...The nadir being when the place went quiet as Elvis sat down at a grand piano and played the hushed, delicate opening lines to "Shipbuilding" and the guy went, "OH, PFFFFFFFFFTTTT!!!" Oh yea, I also remember the band playing "I Want You" during one of the encores and some girl was loudly orgasming next to us the entire song...These are the reasons I won't pay more than $35.00 for a show...

But I was thrilled we went, Amy and I had a lovely night out, and I guess if any show is worth $50.00 it's Elvis on the "When I Was Cruel" tour...


Here's "My Little Blue Window" by Elvis Costello...Enjoy...

Elvis Costello & the Imposters: The Delivery Mana

2004

Lost Highway Records

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

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




...and as soon as Elvis had me again, he almost lost me with 2003's "North."



I bought the album, listened to it many, many times and it was nice and pleasant and all, but I just can't get into Diana Krall/Starbucks music...They don't make coffee strong enough to keep me awake for the duration of the average jazz-pop album...Again, I'll admit I'm the uncouth heathen...It wasn't horribly done or anything...The fact that I even made it to a second (let alone a 50th) listen is a minor miracle, since I usually hate the genre...So whatever, "North" eventually ended up at the used record store...Not too long afterwards "Delivery Man" came out and I decided to give Elvis another shot anyway, since my burning love for "When I Was Cruel" still raged...

 And I'm glad I did...I don't think it's a knock-out classic or anything but it's a very pleasurable listen...I saw the "Lost Highway" label and the back cover showing Elvis hanging out with his pick-up truck and acoustic guitar and figured this might be Elvis giving the alt-country thing a shot, but when I put it on and heard the scruffy rhumba "Button My Lip" I didn't know what to think, really..It kind of reminded me of something off "Trust"...A backwoods "Strict Time" maybe...But on the second track ("Country Darkness") the true nature of the album becomes clear...  It's Elvis revisiting the Americana/roots genre that he nailed on "King of America," only this time imbuing it with a rougher feel...It doesn't feel as exquisitely crafted, which is a plus sometimes and a minus at others...When he really commits to cutting loose, he sounds unbeatable...Most notably on "There's a Story in Your Voice," a rowdy duet with Lucinda Williams...

I'd never heard Lucinda Williams before, and honestly haven't listened to her since...I really don't know what to think of her...She sounds like a female version of 70's Keith Richards...Where the words she's singing don't always appear to be the complete words, if that makes sense...Various consonants and sometimes whole syllables go missing....It's a pretty out of control performance and some days I listen to it and I say, "Fuck yea!" and then other days it get on my nerves in about .5 seconds...I just did a shot of Jim Beam, so it sounds pretty good to me right now...

Oh yea, there's also a handful of duets with Emmylou Harris...I'm not real familiar with country music, so I don't really know who she is, outside of the fact that she sang on some of the Neil Young albums I love...Most notably "Star of Bethlehem," which is my song...I never fail to get on my good foot for that one...



The best of the Emmylou Harris duets has gotta be "The Scarlet Tide"...I didn't know he wrote this for Alison Krauss, who recorded it for the "Cold Mountain" soundtrack, but that's not real surprising, since I have no idea who Alison Krauss is or what Cold Mountain is...



Oh yea, there's no way I'm watching this.. I can tell just by looking at the cover that there's no robots or laser guns in it...Anyway, I was in the mood to hear "The Scarlet Tide" but was too lazy to go fetch my copy so I youtubed it and ran across the Alison Krauss version...

 I listened to it, but it wasn't my thing...A little too light for my tastes, but the Elvis/Emmylou version is the best! It's not as moist as the Krauss version...Elvis and Emmylou sound really strong and stoic, like they're ready to face down anything...It's definitely worth a listen...

 So get ready to bust out your air-accordion and rock out to  "The Scarlet Tide"...

To be honest, this album kind of went in one ear and out the other when I got it...Elvis' fussy, polished lyrics and delivery seemed to clash with the  loose, country setting (although, I have to say, the Imposters really take to this style, like it was second nature...You really do forget you're listening to the what is essentially the Attractions...They're that accurate ). It languished on my shelf for years, only getting pulled for a quick listen to the single, "From Monkey to Man" (which is sounding more and more like the weak spot as time goes on), but nowadays I can't get enough...I consider it the third stop on the "Almost Blue"/"King of America" route...Which is a lovely route indeed...Lots of pedal steels, country tempos and swampy atmosphere...If you find it cheap, I say go for it...

BTW, this album marks the most recent Elvis Costello album I own...He kind of lost me again with the next album, the live orchestral jazzer "My Flame Burns Blue," and I've just never gone back...I was gonna check out the Roots collaboration, but I haven't found a copy for a reasonable price yet (for some reason all the stores around here want to sell it for $17.99), again, I don't really know how to navigate this part of his discography...If anyone knows which post-"Delivery Man" albums are worthwhile, let me know! 

Here's "Country Darkness" by Elvis Costello...Enjoy...