Crimpshrine: Sleep, What's That?/Duct Tape Soup/The Sound of a New World Being Born

Crimpshrine: Sleep, What's That?

1988

Lookout Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: 1. Bricks   2. In My Mind   3.Sleep, What's That?  4. Tomorrow




Jens and I went to Eastside Records recently after they had advertised on their facebook page that they got some Crimpshrine vinyl in...

We went straight from work to the record store and as we were paying for the albums, Jens asked the owner if they ever got any albums by Fifteen (Jeff Ott's band after Crimpshrine). The owner smiled and pointed at the guy ringing up our purchase and said, "No, but he used to be in Fifteen!" We were pretty floored, apparently the guy had played on two of their albums, and now here he was selling us Crimpshrine albums...No shit...

Crimpshrine and Fifteen were huge bands for me...I can remember one night I was driving around Michigan and a cop pulled me over to inquire about the meaning of the Fifteen sticker on my back window...Wha-?

Anyway, "Sleep, What's That?" is a 4 song EP that was one of the Eastside purchases that day...Classic Lookout Records release...Righteous, ragged punk with socially conscious lyrics, but really no words do it justice...You have to hear Aaron Cometbus' tumbling drums and hear Jeff Ott's heartfelt growl for it to really mean anything...But trust me, these guy's had something special...

I love the cover on this...Printed on yellow paper and it includes a big, fat book (indicating it's the eight pressing) containing lyrics, art, and tips on helping homeless folks...

Boy, I miss shit like this...Substantial inserts...I think I'm going to do this type of thing with our next record...I almost did it on the last one, but didn't go through w/ the idea...Oh yea, I should probably mention the Chef guy on the cover appears to be some variation of the mascot for Biff's Coffee Shop...

 I've never been there, or anything...I just know that cos I read it on the cover...God...I just realized how lame and boring these posts are...I usually just talk about other people doing stuff...Why don't I do anything? You know what? I'm gonna change all that! I'm going to do something about my life right now...

"WHEEEE!!! Lookit me! I'm skydiving! Nothing makes me feel more alive than when I'm about to die!!!"

"LOOKIT MEEE!!! I'm on toppa the world!! Can you see me giving the world the middle finger?!?!! They said I couldn't do it and I did it so the haters can SUCK IT!! Y'now, "it?!?!!!" (grabs groin)

The Tao of eating a simple Strawberry...

There, I virtually did something today...Can I talk about records now?

"Sleep, What's That?" is a 7 inch by Crimpshrine...This is where "In My Mind" first appeared, which is a flat-ass classic...If you ever run into someone who's heard it, just sing that strained, raspy "AM I A WHITE MAAAAAAAN?!?!" and they'll have no choice but to shout, "NO!!!!" back at you...It's just punk rock etiquette...What a song! Everything you need to know about Crimpshrine is here...The optimistic, yet realistic lyrics that try to make the world a better place, the tripped-up playing that wins you over with its raw passion...Get into this stuff and all that radio punk starts to sound awfully inconsequential and hollow...

This ep also has the excellent "Tomorrow" where the boys put on their frizzy red wigs and let some of their inner Broadway out, which is a good thing to do from time to time...

All four of the songs on this release also appear on "The Sound of a New World Being Born" compilation, which we'll get to later down this page...

In the meantime, here's "In My Mind" by Crimpshrine...Enjoy...

Crimpshrine:  Duct Tape Soup

1992

Lookout Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl and Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. Trying Too Hard   2. Summertime  3. Caught Up   4. Left Outside Again  5. Safely Wasting Away   6. Wake Up   7. Pick Up The Pieces   8. RDC   9. Construction   10. Closed Doors, Closed Minds   11. Pretty Mess   12. WNWSFK   13. Can You Feel That?   14. Along The Way   15. Free Will   16. Fucked Up Kid 

A 1992 compilation from Lookout Records, compiling a bunch of tracks from various sources...More gritty, grainy, xeroxed East Bay punk...This was another one of the Eastside Records purchases and contains a couple of my favorite tracks by the band...

"Pretty Mess" being their all-time best...A sweet, punk love song where the narrator falls in love with a homeless, drug-dealing girl:

"On the fire escape while the junkies inside
worry about their next fix.
Chewing gum and holding hands,
My friends would never understand
Why I fell for you..."

Is it sung in tune? No. Does the band stay in time? No...It's all over the place, but Christ almighty, that shit doesn't really matter...Does it make you feel happy to be alive? Yes. Does it hit you right in the guts? Yes. Is the guitar playing brilliant? Yes. The verdict is, it rules...

Pow!  Case closed. 

My other favorite  is "Summertime" and if you've heard the album, this choice probably isn't too surprising...It's just a great song...From that intro that always sucks you in, to Jeff Ott's trademark guitar harmonics, and that moment it breaks into that joyous, chorus:

"I'll be back in the summertime
With a handful of flowers and a bottle of cheap wine..."

The rest of the album is high quality, but those are definitely the stand-outs..A lot of the songs on here had the tendency to run together for me, but over time, a few others revealed themselves to be gems ("Free Will," "Safely Wasting Away," "Caught Up")...

Still, I'd check out "The Sound of a New World Being Born" compilation first, and when you've taken that in (and frothing at the mouth for more) then pick up "Duct Tape Soup"...

Here's "Summertime" by Crimpshrine...Enjoy...

Crimpshrine: The Sound of a New World Being Born

1998

Lookout Records

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1.  Another Day   2.  Rearranged   3. Over The Years   4. Walk Away   5. Bricks   6.  Sleep, What's That?   7. MSFMB   8. Second Generation Junkies  9.  In My Mind   10.  Tomorrow   11.  Butterflies   12.  Situation   13.  Direction Of Things To Come   14.  Sanctuary  15.  My Friend   16.  Tour   17. Easy Answers   18. Inspiration
 
If you're looking to get into Crimpshrine, this is the place to start...It's another compilation of songs from various sources, and you'd think the second trip to the well would be second rate, but it's the exact opposite...All of their best stuff (minus "Pretty Mess" and "Summertime" ) is here..

I don't even know where to start with highlights...It's really anthem after anthem here..."Another Day" gets your blood pumping immediately, and you think it can't get any better, then "Rearranged" comes on and so forth...Plus,  this has "Direction of Things to Come," which is on my short-list of the best punk songs ever written...The vocals are so perfect on the track...The high, strained "Where's"  set against the out of tune backing vocals is what makes the song for me...It sounds like they're straining as hard as they can against a world that just doesn't care...If you're a punk aficionado, you need this immediately...Especially if Operation Ivy has ever had a heavy place in your rotation...

The raw recording quality might be a bit too much for some, but those people are wussies anyway and have plenty of fine Good Charlotte albums to choose from...



Like their classic "Greatest Remixes" album, for example...I'm sure this is one is a real treat! It's got a skull on it, though! Watch out!

Readers Comments: 

Showing (1 of -5):

Wussy Punkington (5 Minutes ago): "Just because you like Crimpshrine doesn't mean you have to put down Good Charlotte! There's plenty of room in the world for both bands! It just makes you look bitter and close-minded."

As long as what I'm being bitter and close-minded about is Good Charlotte, I think I can live with myself..


Mr. Here and Now: (0 minutes ago): "Why are your panties still in a twist about Good Charlotte? Isn't that an old reference? They don't even exist anymore!"

I believe I've already established elsewhere that this blog is being written in the year 1998 on a magic iMac that's transmitting the information into the distant future world of 2014..."The Sound of a New World Being Born" was just released yesterday and I'm the first guy online to review it...And Good Charlotte is still an up and coming band who hasn't even released their first album yet! So if you think about it, I'm actually quite cutting edge...

Here's check this out!


















So, go to your local Tape World, go straight to the "New Releases" section and purchase a copy of "The Sound of a New World Being Born." I can't imagine a decent punk collection without "Walk Away" "Direction of Things to Come" or "Situation" in it...(While you're there you might want to pick up the first two Fifteen albums too)...

 Here's "Direction Of Things To Come" by Crimpshrine...Check it out...

 

Cream: Disraeli Gears/Wheels of Fire

Cream: Disraeli Gears/Wheels of Fire

1967

Atco Records
Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: 1.Strange Brew  2. Sunshine of Your Love  3. World of Pain  4. Dance the Night Away  5. Blue Condition  6. Tales of Brave Ulysses  7. SWLABR  8. We're Going Wrong  9. Outside Woman Blues  10. Take It Back  11.Mother's Lament

 "THAT ALBUM COVER IS BLOWIN' MY FREAKIN' MIND!!!  I THINK I SEE THE WINGS FLAPPING!! I DON'T FEEL SO GOOD, MAN! I JUST DRANK A RED BULL AND MY HEART IS BEATING SO FAST!! I THINK A FROG IS SITTING ON TOP OF MY HEAD!! WHY DOES THE RAINBOW HAVE A BEARD?!?!?!?!!"

"Relazzz, Maaaan...Take a hit of this grass and calm down...We'll play some Cream, take it easy and just watch that river floooowww into the ocean, man...It just floooowwwws into the ocean..."

"Yeaaa...Yea...I think I'd like that, man...pfffffft... 'tiny purple fishes run laughing through your fingers'...It all makes sense, now..."  (takes a deep pull on the joint)..."Hey...I think your aura is getting brighter, man!"

"Oh yea?"

 "YEA!! I THINK IT'S CLAPTON, MAN!!! THE MORE FAR OUT HIS SOLOING, THE BRIGHTER YOUR AURA GETS!!! IT'S KIND OF FREAKIN' ME OUT MAN!!!!"

 "OHHH YEEEEAAAA?!?!?!??!?????"

 "I...I...think I've finally become...one with the universe...I fell love...but I also feel...cold...so cold...I don't think I was mean to know all of this, man!! I DON'T THINK I WAS MEANT TO KNOW ALL OF THIS!!!"

KAAA-BOOOOOOOMMMM!!!!!!!

 "Relax, my son...You are safe...You are now a being of pure light..Your life-seed surges through the cosmos as your mind expands wider and wider, filling the void with Raw Thought...Can you hear the children singing? Can you feel the harlequin's tears? But do not worry, my son, for they are weeping tears of joy..."

 "...The joy of creation..."

Thank you very much for tuning in to Disraeli Gears Theater...We're glad you enjoyed today's presentation...

Look, I'm not going to waste tons of your time extolling the virtues of this album, especially on a Friday...Everybody already knows it inside and out and everyone agrees it's great....You get three virtuosos (Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker), teaming up to produce what everybody expected to be the greatest blues-rock band of all time, but it turned out to be more than that...They psychedelicized it, turned white blues-rock into art and come up with some of the most colossal riffs ever written in the process ("Sunshine of Your Love," "Strange Brew," "Tales of Brave Ulysses.")...They made it so much cooler and deeper than it had to be...I swear I saw the carpet swirl during "We're Going Wrong"...

"Disraeli Gears" is also one of the few  overplayed Classic Rock radio albums that I haven't even gotten remotely sick of..Which is more than I can say for my copies of "Led Zeppelin 4," "Back in Black," "Are You Experienced?" or "Paranoid." Hell, I gave away my copy of "Dark Side of the Moon" eons ago, but I've held onto this...So that must say something...Any fan of far-out 60's music has gotta have this...Fans of heavy music should dig it too...

Here's "Tales of Brave Ulysses" by Cream...

Cream:Wheels of Fire

1968

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: Disc 1: 1.White Room  2. Sitting on Top of the World  3. Passing the Time  4. As You Said  5. Pressed Rat and Warthog  6. Politician  7. Those Were the Days  8. Born Under a Bad Sign  9. Deserted Cities of the Heart

Disc 2:  1. Crossroads   2. Spoonful  3. Traintime  4. Toad


I used to have this one on vinyl in Highs School, but I just can't find a vinyl copy of this now, so in a fit of nostalgia, I caved and picked up a used CD copy...But vinyl is the way to go on this...The big shiny, foil cover is amazing in the 12X12 format...The CD is small and they don't even attempt the foil...The graphics are just printed on a plain, gray piece of paper, sigh...

This was Cream's 3rd album. and this time they made it a double...With one studio disc and one live disc...I love the studio disc to pieces...It's scattered as hell, and nowhere near as obviously "great" as "Disraeli Gears" but I prefer it because of its quirks...And you can still listen to prime album tracks like "Sitting on Top of the World" and "Politician" without radio and TV spoiling their natural beauty for you...

The whole thing kicks off with "White Room," which I'm sure you've all heard a zillion times, but stop for a second  and appreciate how grand this sounds for just three guys...For some reason, it scans in my mind as being as huge and lush as the Moody Blues...But yea, I agree, it's played out... Radio killed it, I have a hard time hearing it anymore...It was probably the highpoint of the album at some point in time, though...

 To me this album is all about "Politician." I love that fuzzball riff! I used to just play that track over and over as a teenager...It seemed as heavy as Sabbath at the time, but with a witty, knowing quality that put it over the top...Goddamn, Clapton used to be the fucking man...His tone is killer on this one, and his tangle of dueling leads in the solo is cool as hell...

 My other favorites might be odd choices...No, I'm not going to say "Pressed Rat and Warthog," that song is just retarded as hell...But I did spend many a cold, Michigan winter night sitting alone in my bedroom, staring out the window and spinning "Passing the Time."  The contented, yet slightly melancholy mood seemed to soundtrack those nights so brilliantly...As much as I'm drawn to the monotonous vocals, I think it's the glockenspiel that sells it..

 "As You Said," reminds me of the more mystical, Eastern-influenced side of Led Zeppelin...Fans of "Led Zeppelin III" should check this out, since it sounds like a lost track from that album (although this precedes it by a few years)...

Also be sure to check out "Born Under a Bad Sign," for a glimpse of Clapton playing the blues while he still had a spark of life...Before he decided to use the genre as a form of weaponized boredom...

So yea, "Pressed Rat and Warthog" aside, Disc One is almost all aces...Disc Two however, ugh...

To be honest it's very hard for me to sit through the entirely thing...As a kid, I maybe played disc two in its entirety once, mostly using it to stripmine "Toad" for drum loops...As an adult, I'll put this on at work, when I'm tired of all my other albums...And even then it only really works as background music...I just can't focus all my attention to it...Sure, sure, the playing is technically amazing, but damn...

You first put it on and think it's going to be awesome, because the opening cover of Robert Johnson's "Crossroads" is fantastic...It just barrels ahead at full steam and every second of it is exciting, so when "Spoonful" starts, you crack open a beer and sit back for a nice evening of live music...

"Spoonful" sounds like a pretty decent track...A much more laid-back blues...You start nodding your head, then without knowing it, you nod off and wake up startled 15 minutes later and the song is still playing!!

"BOODLE DA DOODLE DA DOODLE DA DOODLE..." Clapton's still noodling away like there's no tomorrow...I'm sure this was riveting stuff if you were there, but...

Anyway, flip over the vinyl and there's a long harmonica blues called "Traintime," which is okay-ish...At least it only runs 7-some minutes...Although by the end of it, I'm not really in the mood to ever hear a harmonica again anytime soon...

Then we're onto the real endurance test...A 16 minute drum solo entitled "Toad"...Hey!  I like drum solos just as much as the next guy, and if anyone can craft a worthwhile drum solo, it's Ginger Baker, but I find my attention seriously going in and out...Every once in awhile something will catch my ear for a minute or so and I'll think, "Man, that's some serious drumming" but eventually 5 or so minutes will pass and I'll forget I'm even listening to it...It kind of becomes a sort of distant, dull, pounding headache...For major drumheads only...Or for kids looking for a plethora of drum fills to load into pro-tools...

If you're a 60-something who likes to smoke joints while staring at their stereo speakers, this is probably mind-blowing...But as a 30-something who likes to drink beer while staring at his stereo-speakers, this is definitely mind-numbing...  

So that's it..."Wheels of Fire" is one disc of stunning, moody, playful, psychedlic blues, and one disc of pure abject zone-out...Anyway, here's "As You Said" by Cream...Enjoy...

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...

Elvis Costello: Mighty Like a Rose/Brutal Youth

Elvis Costello: Mighty Like a Rose

1991

Warner Bros Records

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. The Other Side of Summer  2. Hurry Down Doomsday (The Bugs Are Taking Over)  3. How to Be Dumb  4. All Grown Up  5. Invasion Hit Parade  6. Harpies Bizarre  7. After the Fall  8. Georgie and Her Rival  9. So Like Candy  10. Interlude: Couldn't Call It Unexpected No. 2  11. Playboy to A Man  12. Sweet Pear  13. Broken  14. Couldn't Call It Unexpected No. 4

Bonus Disc: 1. Just Another Mystery  2. Sweet Pear  3. Couldn't Call It Unexpected No. 4  4. Mischievous Ghost  5. St. Stephen's Day Murders  6. The Other Side of Summer  (MTV Unplugged)  7. Deep Dark Truthful Mirror (MTV Unplugged)  8. Hurry Down Doomsday (The Bugs Are Taking Over)   (MTV Unplugged)   9. All Grown Up  10. Georgie and Her Rival  11. Forgive Her Anything  12. It Started to Come to Me  13. I Still Miss Someone/The Last Town I Painted  14. Put Your Big Toe in the Milk of Human Kindness  15. Invasion Hit Parade  16. Just Another Mystery  17. Broken




Elvis Costello's beard album...

Bristling with a beardy, byzantine weirdness...Lots of mature, mannered pop with bitter-ass lyrics...This is often dismissed as being one of Elvis' worst albums (I don't know if I've ever read a good review of it...), being overly complicated and dense, but I actually consider it my favorite Elvis Costello album of the post-"Spike" era...Sure, there's definitely a few skippers, but shave a little of this long beard and there's some respectable undergrowth beneath...

 "The Other Side of Summer," for instance is a modern (keep in mind, I still live in the 90's...) update of Brian Wilson's finest, bearded work...A big, lush wall of sound where even the bells and whistles are double (possibly triple) tracked...It's a lot of fun to hear Elvis playing the dark cloud over the state of California...Sun, fun, girls & surf? Bah!

"The dancing was desperate, the music was worse,
They bury your dreams and dig up the worthless,
Goodnight, God bless and kiss "goodbye" to the earth..."

Again,  with lyrics like those, it wasn't a big surprise this was such a big hit for me when I was about 14 or 15 year's old...

"Hurry Down Doomsday (The Bugs Are Taking Over)" seems to be a song that divides people, but I'm all for it...It's the kind of clanky, apocalyptic junkyard music that I usually equate with "Bone Machine"- era Tom Waits...Weird as hell, but I like weird shit sometimes...But I can see how some middle-aged guy (loosening his tie  after a long day of work) might be annoyed after turning on the hi-fi to hear some relaxing Perry Como, but is instead greeted by the song's dissonant insect-locust-rock...

"WHICH ONE OF THE DAMN KIDS LEFT THAT ELVIS COSTELLO CD IN THE BOSE AGAIN?!?!"

"CLICK CLACK!!!"

"THEY KNOW I DON'T ALLOW THAT RAP SHIT IN MY HOUSE!!!"

Then "How to Be Dumb" comes on and it's perfect anger-pop! I love this song! What a great, catchy chorus...It's weird because I don't think I've ever heard a good word about it, but to me, it's one of his best...I feel the same about "Georgie and Her Rival," which seems to be a close relative of "Veronica"... Oh yea, speaking of "Veronica," there's a couple of McCartney co-writes on this album too! The strongest being "So Like Candy"...I can't help but think if "A Hard Day's Night" was recorded in Twin Peaks, Washington it might sound something like "So Like Candy"...

When the tense atmosphere finally breaks it's pretty stunning...The other McCartney joint "Playboy to a Man," is notable for the silly, nasally vocals that kind of remind of Cameo or something...

It's not the greatest song on Planet Earth or anything, but it helps inject some much-needed uptempo fun into an album that sometimes gets bogged down in soggy balladry at times ("Sweet Pear" being the breaking point for me)...I should mention that album-closer "Couldn't Call It Unexpected No. 4" is probably the most underrated song in Elvis' discography...It's a little weird at first and it took me about 10 years to fully fall in love with it, but goddamn...I get it now...Basically, Elvis finds himself losing faith in religion and his resulting mood falls somewhere between heart-break and triumph...A few of his best lines appear here:

"Please don't let me fear anything I cannot explain,
I can't believe, I'll never believe in anything again..."

Really, I could just reprint the entire set of lyrics here...They're all that perfect...

Again, cut a few songs off this it and it has the potential to be one of my all-time favorite Elvis Costello albums...Here's what my re-programmed version would look like...

1. The Other Side of Summer
2. Hurry Down Doomsday (The Bugs Are Taking Over)
3. How to Be Dumb
4. So Like Candy
5. After the Fall
6. Georgie and Her Rival 
7. Playboy to A Man
8. Invasion Hit Parade       
9. Broken
10. Couldn't Call It Unexpected No. 4

Even cut down to ten tracks this would still run about 43 minutes or so...Which is a much more manageable running time...Try it in this configuration and you'll find it's not too difficult an album at all..Just challenging enough to keep things interesting and it'd blow away the condensed "Spike"...

Here's "The Other Side of Summer" by Abbot Costello...Enjoi-oi-oi...

 

Elvis Costello: Brutal Youth

1994

Warner Bros Records

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. Pony St  2. Kinder Murder  3. 13 Steps Lead Down  4. This Is Hell  5. Clown Strike  6. You Tripped at Every Step  7. Still Too Soon to Know  8. 20% Amnesia  9. Sulky Girl  10. London's Brilliant Parade  11. My Science Fiction Twin  12. Rocking Horse Road  13. Just About Glad  14. All the Rage  15. Favourite Hour

Disc 2 (2002 Rhino Records Reissue): 1. Life Shrinks  2. Favourite Hour (Church Studios Version)  3. This Is Hell (Church Studios Version)  4. Idiophone  5. Abandon Words  6. Poisoned Letter  7. A drunken man's praise of sobriety  8. Pony St. (Bonaparte Rooms Version)  9. Just About Glad (Bonaparte Rooms Version)  10. Clown Strike (Bonaparte Rooms Version)  11. Clown Strike (Bonaparte Rooms Version)  12. 13 Steps Lead Down (Demo)  13. All the Rage (Demo)  14. Sulky Girl (Demo) 15. You Tripped at Every Step (Church Studios Version)

I can remember what a relief this album was at the time...Like I said before, I came into Elvis through "Spike" and "Mighty Like a Rose," so I was alright with difficult albums, but he kind of lost me for the first time with 1993's "The Juliet Letters"... 

 I know "The Juliet Letters" definitely has its followers, and I don't think it's a bad album by any means, it's just that it's not for me...I kind of felt like an uncultured barbarian listening to it...the delicate, brittle teacup handle breaking in-between my clumsy fingers, revealing me for the fraud I am...The viking in a fine, tailored suit...I can't help it...String quartets don't do a thing for me...I just can't blast the Brodsky Quartet on a Friday Night and pound a few beers...I need loud, crashing drums and distorted guitars before something will register in my brain...

At the time I hadn't quite got a grip on Elvis' new mode of operation...I didn't realize that every album released after "Mighty Like a Rose" would sound absolutely nothing like the album preceding it...It had seriously crossed my mind that the Brodsky quartet were the new Attractions and the next 10 albums would be nothing but cellos and violins and violas and violaronies...So when I started reading the advance press stating that he was reuniting with Nick Lowe and the Attractions and making a "return to form" album, I was ecstatic...

I think ultimately the press oversold it..."...and the Attractions" isn't written anywhere on the cover...Nick Lowe functions as a bass player, rather than producer, and this is undeniably the Elvis of 1994...It doesn't even seem to have crossed his mind to recapture the past glories of "This Year's Model," which probably would have been an impossible task anyhow...In the end, I think this was the right move...It's a clearer, uncluttered version of the past few albums...Replacing the bells and whistles for guitar, drums and piano, but keeping the sophisticated songwriting style he had acquired...

Sure, it's suffers from a bloated running time (this was the 90's) and there's maybe a song or two that I don't much care for (the showtune-ish "This is Hell" being the biggest offender, nearly killing the momentum of the album with its early placement..."Still Too Soon to Know" isn't too exciting either...) and "Favourite Hour" would have made a bigger impact if it wasn't butted against the draggy (but enjoyable) "All the Rage." But there's no denying this was his most breezy and enjoyable album in quite some time...

I can still recall the smile that was glued to my face when I popped in the cassette and heard "Pony St." for the first time..."The tinkling piano could lead anywhere," I thought to myself nervously as the album started, but then the lively lead vocal and crashing guitars and cymbals come in and I'm sure I pumped my fist in the air...Oh, and the bass guitar! It's actually moving this time around...Throwing off rapid-succession triplets and slippery fills... It's Rock....I like Rock!

"Kinder Murder," "13 Steps Lead Down," and "Just About Glad" are just the kind of boppy, bitter, guitar-pop that Elvis built his name on! And as an added bonus we also get those hazy, atmospheric, but ultimately cathartic ballads that he started acing during the "Spike" and "Mighty Like a Rose" period ("Sulky Girl" being an especially welcome entry into the canon, although the sparse demo version on the bonus disc does make me consider the virtues of a more stripped-down arrangement)...

Oddly enough, my favorite track falls into neither category..."Clown Strike" is sort of jazzy R&B, but he doesn't use jazz to bore us for a change...This comes off like a mature version of the "Get Happy!!" style to me and I love it...He should do some more of these...

"We demand bigger cars and longer seltzer breaks! Ha-honk!!"

So I'd say get this if you're into "Spike" or "Mighty Like a Rose," but don't skip those ones thinking that "Brutal Youth" is going to be a return to the Attractions-era recordings...He's pretty far removed from all that at this point, but it's a hell of a good album once your expectations are on straight...Still, you can't shake the feeling that if they'd pulled Nick Lowe from the bass guitar and threw him in the producer's chair instead, that this could have been a home-run...

Oh yea, if you have the Rhino reissue with the bonus disc, make sure you don't overlook "Poisoned Letter" and "A drunken man's praise of sobriety" (his callabo with Canadian tween sensation William Butler Yeats)...Those two tracks smoke a lot of the material that appeared on the final album...

Here's "Just About Glad" by Elvis Costello...Enjoy...

Elvis Costello: Spike

Elvis Costello: Spike

1989

Warner Bros Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: 1. ...This Town...  2. Let Him Dangle  3. Deep Dark Truthful Mirror  4. Veronica  5. God's Comic  6. Chewing Gum  7. Tramp the Dirt Down  8. Stalin Malone  9. Satellite  10.  Pads, Paws and Claws  11. Baby Plays Around  12. Miss Macbeth  13. Any King's Shilling  14. Coal-Train Robberies  15. Last Boat Leaving


This album (along with "Mighty Like a Rose") is the reason I got into Elvis Costello back in Junior High School...I remembering rescuing the cassette from a K-Mart cut-out bin...Cut-out bins used to be pretty fuckin' cool, by the way...That's where you'd find all the fringe major-label artists who made records that not surprisingly, didn't sell a gazillion copies as expected...Full of Robyn Hitchcock, Lou Reed, Dead Milkmen and Elvis Costello  albums, and as a kid looking for "out-there" music, but not having much money, I always made a bee-line straight to the cut-outs...

 At the time I had some vague notion of who Elvis Costello was..I'd caught a TV appearance or two, saw the "Veronica" video...Anyway, I brought the tape home and loved it, which is pretty weird in retrospect..."Spike" is a pretty grown-up album for a metal/punk kid to latch onto, and I honestly can't think of many worse entry points into his catalog than this...I think what probably resonated with me was his snide, bitter lyrical attitude..I had no problem wrapping my mind around such sentiments as, "You're nobody till everybody in this town thinks you're poison..."  I do recall being bored out of my mind during "God's Comic" though...

Right around 2001 or so, I found a vinyl copy at PDQ Records in Tucson and decided to get reacquainted with my ol' pal "Spike," only to find we had both changed a lot over the years...God,  I now realize this album is a damn mess...I honestly wouldn't recommend it to anybody, but despite our differences, I still like ol' "Spike"...Sure he tries too hard, he's all over the place and he certainly doesn't know when to quit, but those aren't deal-breakers to me (by the way, I'm gonna stop talking about this record as if it were a real person now, since I'm even starting to creep myself out)...

 Take album-opener "...This Town..." which I loved growing up...I used to rewind it and listen to it over and over, but now I hear a pretty significant flaw...Mainly those fake drums.  I think there's a time and place for everything, even fake drums...But this song would be a drop-dead classic if it wasn't for that slight lapse in taste, but sometimes it's hard to tell when you're using the latest cutting-edge technology...

 The album plays like a portable eclectic record collection...It veers between disparate genres with no warning...You go from soul ("Deep Dark Truthful Mirror") to Stay Cats rockabilly ("Pads, Paws & Claws") to big band instrumentals ("Stalin Malone"), so it seems like it should be a little more exciting than it actually is...Unfortunately,  torch songs, New Orleans jazz  and melancholy showtunes aren't among my favorite genres...Still, there's some good tunes here...

Take "Veronica" for instance! I love this song! Everybody does! I remember it being a pretty sizable hit, thanks to a memorable video and a ridiculously catchy melody co-written with bleedin' pip-pop chappie Paul McCartney...You'd think that a dramatist like Elvis would make a song about a loved one suffering from Alzheimer's disease a morose affair, but it's so happy and poppy sounding...Making the bitter pill of the lyrics much easier too swallow...See? It's one of those yummy pills!

Like a prescription bottle full of Good & Plenty's!

I've also always had a soft spot for "Deep Dark Truthful Mirror." It's got a very adult, late night soul feel...Compare this to his earlier blue-eyed soul attempts on "Punch the Clock" and "Goodbye Cruel World" and you can really appreciate how far he came along in this style...Yea, I can see myself hangin' out at 3 am, scotch and cigars in hand nodding my head to this....

Yea, see what I mean? Adult stuff...You've got to be comfortable and secure in your life to put on a song like "Any King's Shilling" and say,"Y'know what? I don't care who knows that I like to listen to medieval lute music with mandolins and shit...It feels good on my bald spot! Y'hear me world?!?!?! I LIKE ALBUMS PRODUCED BY T-BONE BURNETT!!"

Y'know, I'm starting to think I was too harsh in my criticism of "...This Town...". It really is a good song, and certainly one of the highlights here...I just wouldn't listen to it right after "(I Don't Want to Go to) Chelsea" or anything, or your head might explode...And I think that sums up my feelings about this album, in general...I wouldn't jump into this one right away...I have a feeling if I were somehow able to push my nostalgia aside, this would probably be my, like, 16th favorite Elvis Costello album...Tracks like "God's Comic," "Chewing Gum" and "Stalin Malone" are incredibly tough for me to sit through...Shave about 20 minutes off this and it'd be a pretty solid listen, I suspect...

But let's not dwell on the negatives...It's Friday, isn't it? Here's "Deep Dark Truthful Mirror"...You might want to save this one until about 3 am, though...Enjoy....