An Elvis Costello promo CD featuring an in-depth interview about his career up to 1986 came in this morning's post and proved to be as entertaining as I'd hoped it would be. Costello is not a man to humour an interviewer, nor to say what is expected simply because it is easy. Listening to him throwing in afterthoughts across the interviewer's next question and replying bluntly to questions that he considers incredibly wide of the mark is a delight. I can fully understand why this assertiveness (arrogance?) puts people off EC, but for me it's just another part of his appeal.
While listening, I was shuffling through the singles boxsets from a few years back, that covered the same period. Why on earth I thought I needed these in addition to the 2CD remasters of the original albums I'm not sure, but they're delightful items with the odd track that hasn't appeared elsewhere. Not that they necessarily deserve to have done so. Anyway, it got me to thinking about how Costello's is the one autobiography above all others that I'd love to read. As it stands, collecting together the essays in the booklets accompanying all of the 2CD reissues does a reasonable job of it, but they're on such a small scale compared to the likely delights of Costello in full flight. He's not one to mince his words, nor to be tactful for tact's sake. He does seem to always strive to be fair in his assessment of things. For example, he's quite happy to point out that a record like 'Goodbye Cruel World' is, well, a bit shit. I point you in the direction of the Elvis Costello Fan Forums if you'd like to read these booklets to give you a sense of what I'm on about.
A bit more Costello musing to come over the next few days, along with some prolonged focus on the Super Furries, who have once again been shafted by the record buying public, getting to 46, 46?!! with 'Show Your Hand'. Hence my decision to, er, decorate the site a bit for the time being.
While listening, I was shuffling through the singles boxsets from a few years back, that covered the same period. Why on earth I thought I needed these in addition to the 2CD remasters of the original albums I'm not sure, but they're delightful items with the odd track that hasn't appeared elsewhere. Not that they necessarily deserve to have done so. Anyway, it got me to thinking about how Costello's is the one autobiography above all others that I'd love to read. As it stands, collecting together the essays in the booklets accompanying all of the 2CD reissues does a reasonable job of it, but they're on such a small scale compared to the likely delights of Costello in full flight. He's not one to mince his words, nor to be tactful for tact's sake. He does seem to always strive to be fair in his assessment of things. For example, he's quite happy to point out that a record like 'Goodbye Cruel World' is, well, a bit shit. I point you in the direction of the Elvis Costello Fan Forums if you'd like to read these booklets to give you a sense of what I'm on about.
A bit more Costello musing to come over the next few days, along with some prolonged focus on the Super Furries, who have once again been shafted by the record buying public, getting to 46, 46?!! with 'Show Your Hand'. Hence my decision to, er, decorate the site a bit for the time being.
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