Elvis Costello Archives - Ramblin' with Roger

Musician Elvis Costello is 70

Spike

The musician Elvis Costello, born Declan Patrick MacManus, was considered one of those “angry young men” in the pop scene that straddled the 1970s and 1980s. I first heard his music on WQBK-FM, Q 104 in the Albany area, a station I listened to constantly for about a decade.

I saw Elvis perform in Albany in 2008. Opening was Amos Lee, then Elvis, who was quite good, and Bob Dylan, more indecipherable than usual.

I bought a few of his earlier albums on vinyl and many of the latter on CD. Here are some of his songs.

Radio Sweetheart – Taking Liberties (1980). B-side of Less Than Zero single, 1977

Watch Your Step – Trust (1981)

20% Amnesia – Brutal Youth (1994)

Everyday I Write The Book – Punch The Clock (1983)

Miss Macbeth -Spike (1989). I love this album so much. Sometimes, you and a piece of music hit the same wavelength.

Remove This Doubt – Kojak Variety (1995). This is a cover of a song on The Supremes Sing-Holland-Dozier album. I love the original.

Accidents Will Happen – Armed Forces (1979)

Man Out Of Time – Imperial Bedroom (1982)

Last Boat Leaving –Spike (1989). The album is quite eclectic.

Ship Of Fools– Deadicated: A Tribute to the Grateful Dead (1991), a GREAT compilation album.

Love and romance

Let Me Tell You About Her – North (2003). The album was “partially inspired by the dissolution of his marriage to wife Cait O’Riordan and his burgeoning relationship with Diana Krall.” This song is about the latter. It is the only EC album my wife, a big DK fan, ever bought for me.

Wise Up Ghost– Wise Up Ghost (2013) is an album EC did with Questlove. The opening strings are lifted from Can You Be True? from EC’s North album.

A Slow Drag With Josephine – National Ransom (2010). I need to listen to this album more often.

Deep Dark Truthful Mirror – Spike (1989)

National Ransom – National Ransom (2010)

Veronica – Spike (1989). This represents not only Paul McCartney’s contribution to Spike but Elvis’ to Paul’s Flowers In the Dirt album the same year

Pump It Up – This Year’s Model (1978)

Chewing Gum – Spike (1989) – I know people who hate this song with the Dirty Dozen Brass Band.

All This Useless Beauty – All This Useless Beauty (1996)

Watching The Detectives – My Aim Is True (1977). The UK single was added to the US release.

(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding – Armed Forces (1979). The American release of the album omitted “Sunday’s Best” and added Costello’s cover of Nick Lowe’s classic.

Coverville 1500: The Elvis Costello Cover Story V

Elvis Costello turns 70 today.

My top 5 rock albums

1966 to 1989

There was a question on Quora asking for people’s top 5 rock albums. What an inane question! How can anyone pick just five? So I decided to do it anyway.

First, some guidelines. I am not going to get into the definition of what is “rock.” I hear this every year when an ABBA, Nina Simone, or Joan Baez enters the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Nor will I address the “best” albums because “best” has become an increasingly elusive term for me.

I could have picked Blue by either Miles Davis or Joni Mitchell, Who’s Next, the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds, Abraxas by Santana, k.d. lang’s Ingenue, or approximately a zillion more, including at least three by Stevie Wonder.

I’m not selecting a greatest hits album; Sly and the Family Stone would otherwise be on the podium. There are no soundtracks, Broadway cast albums or compilations, so no The Harder They Come, Hamilton, or West Side Story. And if I do this in five years, three of these might be different.

The Eclectics

I decided on three of these because they are so eclectic.

Spike – Elvis Costello, which I mentioned back in 2009 in my 25 most influential albums. The All Music review calls it “maddeningly diffuse.” Its diffuseness may be why I like it because I don’t find it maddening at all.

Veronica, Chewing Gum, Last Boat Leaving

That’s A Plenty – the Pointer Sisters. I first wrote about this album in 2006. Then in 2014; unfortunately, only the links to Little Pony, Fairytale, and Black Coffee still work.

Salt Peanuts; Love In Them There Hills

Revolver – The Beatles. I picked this one over other Beatles albums because I hate Run For Your Life (Rubber Soul). Abbey Road has Octopus’s Garden, which is too much in the Yellow Submarine vein. I may as well pick the album with Yellow Sub. It’s not my favorite song, but it fascinated me because the single, in the last verse, has “As we live a life of ease (a life of ease),” but the echo doesn’t happen on the album version I had.

The 2012 post has lots of bad links.

Taxman, For No One, Got To Get You Into My Life, Tomorrow Never Knows

Two more

Still Crazy After All These Years – Paul Simon. As I noted here in 2016. “Inextricably tied to the Okie in my mind.”

I Do It For Your Love, Have A Good Time, Title song.

Peter Gabriel (melt)- Peter Gabriel. I mentioned Gabriel in 2011 and 2020. In this post, also from 2020, I listed my favorite Gabriel songs, and the links still work! The ones from Melt have a 3 after the title because they are on the third eponymous PG album.

Musical discovery in 2022

Francis Albert Sinatra

There’s a blogger who does this EOY thing. I’m going just to pick off the music categories right now.

What was your greatest musical discovery in 2022?

It was weird. I bought more music than in the previous two years combined. Almost none were from artists who first started recording in the 21st century.

I just received this. Janis Joplin and Jorma Kaukonen – The Legendary Typewriter Tape: 6/25/64 at Jorma’s House. Haven’t given it a sufficient listen, but I will.
Nobody Loves You When You’re Down And Out

One item I got was a boxed set. Twelve CDs of Steeleye Span. I think I MIGHT have one LP of theirs. But it was the fact that it was relatively inexpensive (c. $60) that sealed the deal.
Gaudete
Thomas The Rhymer

I bought a new Elvis Costello album, The Boy Named If. This is another one with the Imposters. I have about a third of Elvis’ 30-odd albums. It’s always hard to hear old music by older artists without comparing them with other works in their oeuvre. I’ll need to listen to it some more.
The Death Of Magic Thinking

The same is largely true of Bonnie Raitt’s first album in six years, Just Like That… It’s never less than solid, but it’ll need a few more spins.
Down The Hall

Perhaps the most interesting album I listened to was from a guy who died in 1998. Frank Sinatra put out Watertown, a concept album, in late 1969. The main composer of the album is Bob Gaudio of Four Seasons fame. It was re-released in 2022 with additional tracks. I think it works.
Watertown

I did get SOME newer music. I enjoyed Jon Batiste’s 2022 Grammy Award-winning album, WE ARE. Cry

Older tunes

And there are some other older albums I picked up. After seeing the Broadway production of David Byrne’s American Utopia on television, I bought the Broadway Original Cast Recording. While not as good as viewing it, it was mighty fine.
I Should Watch TV

The 1992 album Partners by accordion player Flaco Jimenez features a lot of guests, including Stephen Stills, Dwight Yoakam, Emmylou Harris, and Linda Ronstadt
Don’t Worry Baby, featuring Los Lobos

Of course, I listened to a lot of extant music. Recently, my wife asked me how many CDs I had. I guesstimated about 2000. Then I counted them. And by counting, I tabulated the number in a drawer and multiplied because math. It’s closer to 3000. And if you HAVE that many CDs, you ought to PLAY them. And I do.

Every generation throws a hero up the pop charts

Quote a song lyric that sums up your year

First, a story that I might have told before in part. After the Paul Simon album Graceland came out, there was a 12-inch version of Boy In The Bubble that came out. I heard it on the radio, probably the local Q104, and I loved it. So I ran to my nearest record store and asked to order it. For whatever reason, it never arrived. I did record my friend Rocco’s vinyl onto a cassette, which is probably still in my attic somewhere.

I bought the Paul Simon box set at some point, hoping it would be on there. No luck. Then after 2011, I bought the 25th-anniversary version; surely, IT would contain the track I sought. Alas, no. BTW, I sent my old copy of the CD to some blogger who wasn’t familiar with Graceland.

Finally, this year, Rocco downloaded the track and burned me a CD.
Boy In The Bubble (12-inch)
Some lyrics:

The way we look to a distant constellation
That’s dying in a corner of the sky…
Staccato signals of constant information
A loose affiliation of millionaires
And billionaires and baby
These are the days of miracle and wonder
This is the long-distance call
The way the camera follows us in slo-mo
The way we look to us all, oh yeah

Ersatz title songs of albums #3

Go ask Alice

Here are more ersatz title songs of albums. They are not the actual title songs. But because they contain the title in the lyrics, they are ersatz title songs.

There are, I’ve now discovered, LOTS of these. Expect, over the course of the year, several more of these lists.

Closing Time – The Cardigans. Album: Life. Lyrics: “It’s closing time, and a well-known fact Is that life is very short.”
03.45: No Sleep – The Cardigans. Album: Long Gone Before Daylight. Lyrics: “The comfort of fireflies Long gone before daylight.”
Holy Love – The Cardigans. Album: SUPER EXTRA GRAVITY. Lyrics: “Love makes me feel the super extra gravity of God.”

Invocation, and Benediction – Carpenters. Album: Offering, their 1969 debut album which was reissued as “Ticket to Ride”. Lyrics: “Nothing can impair the perfect love I bring In a simple offering” and “Through the song we sing an offering.”
I Can Dream, Can’t I – Carpenters. Album: Horizon. Lyrics: “As we eye the blue horizon’s bend”

Chasing What’s Already Gone – Mary Chapin Carpenter. Album: Ashes and Roses. Lyrics: “It’s ashes and roses and time that burns When you’re chasing what’s already gone”

A Different Kind Of Love Song – Cher. Album: Living Proof Lyrics: “We have living proof There is some kind of light that flows through everything”
I Walk Alone – Cher. Album: Closer To The Truth. Lyrics: “And there’s an anger as I get closer to the truth.”

Vincent Furnier

Del Gato – Gene Clark and Carla Olson. Album: So Rebellious A Lover. Lyrics: “So rebellious a lover Don Juan as my cover

Washington Bullets – the Clash. Album: Sandinista! Lyrics: “With no Washington bullets what else could he do? Sandinista.” Whoever put this on a list ONLY noted the album title. No group, no song. Fortunately, I bought this LP when it was brand new.

Minotaur – Clutch. Album: Strange Cousins From The West. Lyrics: “Strange cousins from the West Overstay their welcome.”

Long Way To Go – Alice Cooper. Album: Love it to death. Lyrics: “I guess I love it. I love it to death.”
Freedom – Alice Cooper. Album: Raise Your Fist And Yell. Lyrics: “Freedom, raise your fist and yell”
Who Do You Think We Are – Alice Cooper. Album: Special Forces. Lyrics: “Who do you think we are, Special forces in an armoured car.”
I Better Be Good – Alice Cooper. Album: Zipper Catches Skin: Lyrics: “If zipper grabs skin.” [Close enough]

Talk On Corners – the Corrs. Album: Talk On Corners. Lyrics: “And her friends they talk on corners.”
Give Me A Reason – the Corrs. Album: In Blue. Lyrics: “It’s not romantic here in blue. Swimming, swimming in blue.”

Declan MacManus

The Greatest Thing – Elvis Costello and The Attractions. Album: Punch the Clock. Lyrics: “Punch the clock and in time you’ll get pulled apart.”
Crawling To The U.S.A. – Elvis Costello. album: Taking Liberties. Lyrics: “She said, ‘I catch you taking liberties and they do not impress me.'”
Brilliant Mistake – Elvis Costello. Album: King Of America. Lyrics: “He thought he was the King of America.”
Uncomplicated – Elvis Costello. Album: Blood and Chocolate. Lyrics: “Blood and chocolate. I hope you`re satisfied what you have done.”
Favourite Hour – Elvis Costello. Album: Brutal Youth. Lyrics: “Now there’s a tragic waste of brutal youth.”
I Don’t Want To Go To Chelsea – Elvis Costello and the Attractions. Album: This Year’s Model. Lyrics: ” Capital punishment, she’s last year’s model.” [Close enough] Alison – Elvis Costello. Album: My Aim Is True. Lyrics: “Oh, Alison, my aim is true.” I own King of America and Brutal Youth on CD, and a number of early albums on vinyl.

High Life – Counting Crows. Album: This Desert Life. Lyrics: “But oh, this desert life, this high life. Here at the dying end of the day.”

Lots more!

November Rambling: Eddie, the Renaissance Geek, turns 50; Jaquandor’s book now available for purchase

The official video for Cuts Like a Winter by Rebecca Jade and the Cold Fact

John Oliver’s Complicated Fun Connects for HBO. Perhaps John Oliver Is Outdoing The Daily Show and Colbert. In any case, Yet Another Study Shows US Satire Programs Do A Better Job Informing Viewers Than Actual News Outlets.

The Motion Picture Academy chose to bestow a special award to Harry Belafonte, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. “Belafonte’s remarks offer both a pointed and powerful rebuke of Hollywood’s past and a stirring inducement to continue the industry’s more recent progress on human rights issues.”

Re the Ferguson protests, which I saw described as “mind-bogglingly incomprehensible”: It’s Incredibly Rare For A Grand Jury To Do What Ferguson’s Just Did, as even Antonin Scalia could tell you. So Mark Evanier’s thoughts largely echo mine. Related: video showing the moments leading up to the fatal shooting by police of a 22-year-old Saratoga Springs, Utah man, Darrien Hunt.

6 Things You Might Not Think Are Harassment But Definitely Are (BECAUSE APPARENTLY WE NEED TO CLEAR A FEW THINGS UP).

Eddie, the Renaissance Geek turns 50 this month and deals with melanoma on his birthday AND a disappointing Election Day with amazing good humor. No brain cancer, but there is cancer in the liver. Here’s a piece about the Purple Power Port. Insight into how Eddie’s brain works.

Why your brain loves rewards and how playing an instrument benefits your brain.

Jaquandor’s book STARDANCER is available for purchase. Now he’s off working on the next one. Please note, the book will NOT be available in all of these formats!

The Unbelievable Skepticism of the Amazing Randi, Uri Geller’s archrival.

I thought the Grimm fairy tales I own were rather grim, but the Grimm brothers’ fairytales have blood and horror restored in new translation. Also, fairy tale truths revealed.

Rise of the “Dones” at church.

Dustbury notes Kickstarter duds and password rules.

8 things you should never feed to cats and dogs. Such as chocolate, which we’re running out of, anyway.

Stamping Out Danger and a spy needed a perfect passport — down to the staples.

On Veterans Day, Marvel Comics saluted Jack Kirby… for his military service.

New Bill Watterson comic because we can’t have enough Bill Watterson.

Someone was doing a search for sources of vinyl records and discovered this image. “Damn, if Sonny Rollins doesn’t have a doppelganger right here at Corporate Woods.”

The Science Behind Why Some People Can Sing And Others Can’t.

Nice piece about Grace, who sings in my church choir.

The song Boy in the Bubble irritates me. More correctly, the fact that the 12″ version [LISTEN] hasn’t appeared on any Paul Simon album that I’m aware of bugs me. The only version I have I copied onto a cassette from a friend’s 12″.

The official video for Cuts Like a Winter by Rebecca Jade and the Cold Fact. Also, Bang Bang (Jessie J, Ariana Grande, Nicki Minaj) cover by Siren’s Crush, featuring Rebecca Jade (the first niece).

Music by Jayne Mansfield, backed by Jimi Hendrix.

When some network news program comes back from the break playing some old song, there’s a good chance the artist has died. Such was the case for Jimmy Ruffin.

To the surprise of absolutely no one, Dolly Parton has long been an icon to the gay community.

You know it’s All About That Baste and All About That Base (No Acid). This has become a cottage industry!

Elvis Costello goes grocery shopping, 1978.

Elvis Presley is dead, but how did he die?

Fans of music who like to flatly say U2 is no longer relevant need to define what they mean by that.

The Crosby, Stills and Nash cover photo. As opposed to Famous Album Cover Photos Uncropped to Reveal ‘The Bigger Picture’.

Remembering the pugilistic power of Rod Serling on the Twilight Zone.

A story about Welcome Back, Kotter’s John Sylvester-White who played the cranky school principal, Mr. Woodman.

Noel Neill is 95. Here are pictures from an earlier time.

It’s a floor wax AND a credit card.

Muppet galore: Quongo and Roosevelt Franklin (who I LOVED) and Frazzle and Gonzo’s enlightenment and Cookie Monster and John Oliver and clap, clap, clap. Also, “Sesame Street has a series online called Welcome to the Furchester Hotel, which is British but also features Elmo and Cookie Monster. It’s cute, and there’s a new 11-minute episode each Friday.”

Unlock the Secrets of your Poop.

GOOGLE ALERT (me)

A whale of a tale. Hat tip to Mr. Frog.

GOOGLE ALERT (not me)

Hanceville to seek a $160K grant for firefighter equipment. “Fire Chief Roger Green asked the council to approve applying for $159,547.76 through the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) program. The Cullman County Economic Development agency will write the grant for the fire department, Green said.” This is in Alabama, BTW.