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artifact Elvis Costello, "King of America" (Rhino, 1986/2005) and "Club Date: Live in Memphis" (Eagle Vision, 2005)
04/28/05
As a Liverpudlian, Elvis Costello grew up on the banks of the Mersey, not the Mississippi. But his ear has long been attuned to the river-deep strains of the American South. Costello and his Attractions sought to inject the sound of Southern soul into such albums as Get Happy, and they collided with country on Almost Blue. Costello crowned his early Americana fixation with 1986's King of America, produced by T-Bone Burnett and featuring such players as ex-Elvis Presley guitarist James Burton. The album now comes remastered and refurbished with a 21-track bonus disc as the latest in Rhino's Costello reissue series. As usual, the deluxe package includes a revealing booklet essay by the artist himself. King of America leads with one of Costello's most soulful, singular tracks, "Brilliant Mistake." Its wordplay is at the service of aching regret: "He thought he was the king of America/Where they pour Coca-Cola just like vintage wine/Now I try hard not to become hysterical/But I'm not sure if I'm laughing or crying/I wish I could push a button/And talk in the past and not the present tense/And watch this hurtin' feeling disappear/Like it was common sense." Other highlights are "Indoor Fireworks," a ballad of a burst couple, and the hangover rave-up "The Big Light," later covered by Johnny Cash. Burnett's gorgeous spin on vintage production techniques makes the slow-burning Baroque drama in "Jack of All Parades" sonically on par with anything from Costello's 1982 studio marvel, Imperial Bedroom. Burnett also helps put the moody blues into the cover of the Animals' "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood," even if a tired Costello sings -- as he concedes in his notes -- with a voice "that Tom Waits might have rejected as too hoarse." King of America has its dreary stretches, marked by the sour-milk choruses of "Little Palaces" and a wasted-energy cover of J.B. Lenoir's "Eisenhower Blues." But the bonus tracks add luster. Both sides of the irony-pumping single that Costello cut with Burnett as the Coward Brothers are relatively familiar, as are seven tracks from a live-wire New York gig that Costello, Burton and company played in 1986. The tracks new to Rhino's reissue include solo acoustic demos Costello cut after a bout with the bottle. Prime among them is a vastly superior "Poisoned Rose" that makes it less of a formalized torch song and more of a burning cry from the heart. Among the outtakes is an early, sad-sack version of "I Hope You're Happy Now" that will surprise those who know the song as the knives-out electric rocker from Blood & Chocolate. Costello's tour on behalf of his latest album with a Southern accent, The Delivery Man (recorded in Mississippi), is documented by a new DVD-Video, Club Date: Live in Memphis. Since much of Costello's recent work has been done in a penguin suit, it's great to see the singer and his Imposters sweat it out in the tiny Hi Tone Café, bracingly shot and recorded in surround sound. Costello wrenches quite a racket from his guitar, backed by erstwhile Attractions Steve Nieve (keyboards) and Pete Thomas (drums), with Dave Farragher on bass. The singer exhibits his knowledge of Southern arcana by juxtaposing "The Monkey" by New Orleans sage Dave Bartholomew with his new companion song, "Monkey to Man." Such open-veined Costello classics as "High Fidelity" also get a bruising, while Emmylou Harris drops by to add her silver voice to several duets. The DVD's charming bonus follows Costello and Pete Thomas on a Cadillac tour of musical Memphis and Helena, Ark. En route, they recall being youths in thrall with the sounds made in area recording studios and radio stations. Although British to the core, they show a love for the byways of this country's culture to shame most natives.
Posted by bradley bambarger
at 04:12:09 am
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