I've been a fan of Elvis Costello for well over ten years now, but for some incredibly stupid reason, I passed up on most of the Rhino reissues back in the day (and I remember seeing Get Happy!!, Punch The Clock, and Blood And Chocolate!) and I currently only own his first three on Rhino. Recently, I've been taken to collecting again, and due to the 2007 Hip-O reissue campaign, the remaining Rhino CDs have skyrocketed far out of my price range. However, my digital music collection* only contains the original albums - as much as I like the bonus material, I prefer collecting solely based on the original albums. Because of this, the 2007 Hip-O reissues seemed very enticing. High-quality artwork and packaging, the lyrics to his cover songs, covers the era I'm interested in collecting - it seemed like a dream come true. In the end, the biggest reason I was interested in the Rhinos was because of the liner notes, which are available online. For the most part, the Hip-O albums were close enough to my price range (currently $0.00) to be achievable, and since they're still in print, I shouldn't have a hard time collecting them. Right? So I spent the day scouring Amazon, eBay, FYE, and other online record stores searching for these and comparing prices. For the most part, they all hover at about $10, which seems fair to me. But I did stumble across a few anomalies, and I couldn't uncover anything about them. For some reason, at least three of the albums are mysteriously unavailable. A site like Amazon will list every album in the series except for Trust, Punch The Clock, and Goodbye Cruel World. The sites that do list them have them at ridiculous prices, ranging from $30 to $57. I've been able to find Goodbye Cruel World on a few sites for $17 or less, but that doesn't explain why it and the others are so hard to find. I would assume that, as the current holders of his catalog, Universal would have continued production of these albums. Does anyone know if they were halted for some reason? I don't understand why a sealed Ryko Trust should sell for less than a used Hip-O one. Was the production of these three albums halted or discontinued? Or were the sales of those albums sluggish and no store chose to sell them? Does anybody have any idea? * By this I mean the CDs that I have burned to my computer. I'm not looking for the digital downloads of these albums.
It's certainly not uncommon for labels to allow titles that don't meet a yearly sales quota (1,000 or 2,500 or whatever) to go out of print. Punch the Clock and Goodbye Cruel World are the most lightly regarded of all the original EC Columbia albums. And Trust, while terrific in my book, tends to get lost in the shuffle between the great first four and Imperial Bedroom.
"Goodbye Cruel World," obviously, I can understand, but "Punch" was a big album for Costello and a lot of people hold it in high regard - if only for the 1980's nostalgia trip of "Everyday I Write The Book." My question to the OP is why not get the available and/or cheaper reissues and just rip the original album tracks? I can understand the desire for the purity of the original albums, but, I gotta say, Costello's bonus material is some of the best, most worthwhile bonus material I've ever heard - and that's not just my avatar speaking. Many of the bonus cuts are better than what's on some of the post-1990's albums, imo. The demos for "Punch" and "Goodbye" are phenomenal. If the price is right, they're really worth hearing. Just a thought.
Agree, I have all the Rhinos - MAIT through Imperial Bedroom, and the quality and quantity of bonus material really makes it seem like whole additional albums. My EC interest drops significantly after Imperial Bedroom, but I am no reconsidering Punch and Goodbye based on your comment. I may end liking that bonus stuff more than the actual albums....
Really? I don't know anyone who holds Punch the Clock (or Goodbye Cruel World) in high regard. They were the first two blights on what had been, up to that point, a pretty spectacular career. And he would soon recover, at least artistically. The Rhinos actually redeemed both albums with some very interesting bonus material. But as original albums? I don't think history has been all that kind.
Punch the Clock has solid songs, but production that's a bit over the top. Goodbye Cruel World has much lesser songs and the same bad production. The alts and outtakes from both are very good, especially the acoustic version of The Deportee Club -- an alltime favorite for me, as well as the demo of The Comedians he recorded for Roy Orbison.
I collected all the Ryko's and Rhinos and a few of the Columbia issues (I already owned) a few years back. I don't own one Hip-O CD. The market was weird then it seems a different climate now. Going to look at them tonight and reevaluate why I need to keep them all.
Well, there's at least one person who holds Punch the Clock in high regard--everything about it connects with me: songs, production, the TKO Horns. Goodbye Cruel World is another story, alas--it's the album that reminded me that EC was mortal after all.
IIRC, didn't Costello refer to 'Goodbye Cruel World' in the reissue notes as "the worst album we ever made"?
Punch and Goodbye have the same bad production, but the songs on Punch are much better (to my ears). The only one I like on Goodbye is "Love Field". I also agree the bonus/unreleased stuff is more interesting in a lot of cases.
Yes--the Rykodisc reissue liner notes open with "Congratulations! You've just bought our worst record." Always pithy, our man Elvis. Truthful, too!
As I've long said, the bonus disc included on Rhino's Goodbye Cruel World is incredible and completely changed my impression of that record. I feel the GCW songs are a much better-written lot than those on Punch The Clock. The GCW bonus disc alone justifies the Rhino reissue series; not that it needs justification. Now, it's off to see Elvis at the Palace Theatre, Cleveland.
The Rhinos are essential--each and every title--and mostly make any other issue unnecessary. That said, there are a few trinkets on the Rykos that you might want to hold on to those for...No reason to keep the Columbias and no reason at all to get the anemic Hip-Os.
That's what I'm trying to do. The problem is that I don't own the albums at all. The only available albums are the Hip-O reissues, and they're significantly cheaper than the Rhino versions. I can flag down a copy of each album for under $12 each. But, for some reason, Trust and especially Punch The Clock are nearly impossible to find. I know I must sound insane, opting to choose the bare-bones reissues over the Rhino catalog, but currently I can't afford very much. The cheapest I've seen a Rhino I don't own go for is well above $50, and as I've stated before, my main concern is simply owning the albums as they were released on record. I know that the bonus material is great (I've burned my own copy of Taking Liberties using the first three Rhinos and a Ryko Get Happy!!) but I will be able to survive without it (although I am very interested in the original version of "Man Out Of Time"). The biggest reason I wanted them was for the liner notes until I realized that they were available on the official Elvis Costello website. Plus, I haven't even heard the original albums at all, and I want a cost-efficient place to start. I also place emphasis on consistency within my CD collection, and aside from that stupid banner on the left of the cover that obscures the image (can that be removed/peeled off? I've seen images where a corner is folded) they look and feel the best. I've seen an Imperial Bedroom and I really do like the style of it. I'd like to collect them - it's just that I've hit a roadblock in that two of the albums seem to be impossible to find. I know there's a lot of hate toward the Hip-O releases, and for the longest time I insisted on hating them too. But then I faced reality and decided that it was either these or nothing. Aside from that obstructive banner on the cover, I like the style more than the Rhinos and they look better on a shelf since I listen from a computer anyway. Plus, I rarely break out those bonus discs anyway. Once I have a steady source of income I'll start picking off the Rhinos - right now I just want to hear the albums for what they are without going bankrupt. Thank you to everyone who responded, also.
No reason to get the single disc Hip-Os, but the 2CD Hip-O My Aim Is True is essential, and the 2CD Hip-O This Year's Model is pretty good.
Does anyone here even have the Hip-O CDs to offer comparisons? I'm aware that the mastering is mostly the same as the Rhino CDs, and since I'm not interested in the bonus content, it seems like it would make sense to go for the Hip-Os instead.
Same here--I love Punch the Clock. Greil Marcus holds it in high regard, and the Trouser Press guide calls it a "tour de force."
At some point the Rhino bonus material is going to have to be re-released in some form, even if only as downloads. It's strange to think that Elvis played "Poison Moon" in concert last week, when the song has been out of print (and not even available as a legal download) for seven years.
I assume Steve meant the original UK releases, the first remaster series also appeared on Demon in the UK. The original UK releases certainly beat any of the remasters hands down in terms of sound quality.
There's a Rhino Punch The Clock on right now for $30 and I've got nothing. Maybe I should just save up some money and grab whichever versions I can. It will ruin the consistency but at least it will get me the albums.
Just a few nights ago I saw the 2013 BBC documentary "Mystery Dance" and he performed it there during the segment where he was discussing his early demos and the pre-fame part of his career. Maybe he realized it was a good old song that deserved to have another life. If so, I agree. Along with what some have said earlier....the Rhino reissues are essential for me. I also love "Punch The Clock".
This justifies Goodbye Cruel World (though admittedly not much on the LP does) ... EC making himself unpopular with a second NBC franchise:
You can get the original CBS "Punch" for $4 on ebay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Elvis-Coste...111309273926?pt=Music_CDs&hash=item19ea8cbb46 "Trust" is pricier, though. Not sure where you live, but you could try used CD shops. I see virtually all EC albums in used stores on a reasonably frequent basis...
I also like "PTC" quite a lot. I semi-shunned it for years but in the 90s came to like it and I've not changed my mind since then. "GCW" is the opposite. I LOVED it in the mid-80s but soured on it as time passed. I still think it's better than its reputation claims, but I don't find myself with an urge to listen to it much...
