There are remarkably few Elvis Costello recordings that, at least on some level, I don’t enjoy (perhaps testament to my appalling lack of discrimination) but I must confess I grit my teeth whenever “Gigi” comes on. I find it an off-putting combination of cloying, creepy and over emoted and would much rather listen instead to “Party Party,” You Stole My Bell,” or, really, most anything else in his catalogue.
I've always enjoyed Poor Napoleon from Meltdown/Frissell. Don't really know that it fits in with the theoretical TLJ theme here, but, as stated, some included content seems a bit nebulous, thematically...
Elvis said that when he performed w/ the Brodsky Quartet, "God Only Knows" was the show-stopper w/ audiences. you can see why on this c.d., it's great. I really like "King of the Unknown Sea" and "Skeleton" too.
Totally agreed. “King of The Unknown Sea” (the latest in his long running series of “King Of” songs!) is one that doesn’t really impress me that much when I just read the lyrics but when I hear them sung here with The Brodskies the overall effect is beguiling.
“She Moves Through The Fair” is a very strong start to the disc. It’s as gorgeous here as when he recorded a starkly austere rendition years earlier during the King of America sessions (sadly still unreleased— yet another reason a King of America Super Deluxe Edition is desperately needed). It’s no insult to say that neither of EC’s interpretations of this traditional song quite scale the same heights as Fairport Convention’s transcendent take as sung by the amazing Sandy Denny:
A bit off topic, but could Elvis be teasing a Super Deluxe edition of one of the Attractions acclaimed albums? Elvis Costello Talks Awesome 2019 + Teases 2020 Plans “Watch this space for the imminent announcement of an unprecedented new release based on one of Elvis Costello and the Attractions most celebrated albums.” I’m leaning more to the theory it’s a re-recording of Imperial Bedroom material based on the arrangements from the recent tour. But neither a SDE or a re-recording of a classic album is truly “unprecedented”— at least not by other artists. Either would be new territory for him though.
If their definition of “celebrated” is simply whichever EC&A album was most beloved by Chris Cornell, then yes, quite possibly.
BRUTAL YOUTH BONUS DISC (49:49) Life Shrinks (3:27) Favourite Hour (Church Studios version) (3:32) This Is Hell (Church Studios version) (4:10) Idiophone (1:56) Abandon Words (2:54) Poisoned Letter (3:46) A Drunken Man's Praise Of Sobriety (1:06) Pony St. (Bonaparte Rooms version) (3:34) Just About Glad (Bonaparte Rooms version) (3:39) Clown Strike (Bonaparte Rooms version) (4:17) Rocking Horse Road (demo) (3:15) 13 Steps Lead Down (demo) (2:04) All The Rage (demo) (3:36) Sulky Girl (demo) (4:29) You Tripped At Every Step (Church Studios version) (3:25) Read more at: Brutal Youth
I was blown away by this disc when it came out early in the Rhino campaign, but I have to admit I haven’t listened to it as much in the years that followed. The previously unreleased Pathway Studio outtakes are both great (better, in my opinion, than the other two Pathway outtakes which were used as b-sides for “Sulky Girl”). “Abandon Words,” like “New Rhythm Method” and “Just Another Mystery,” is particularly welcome as a previously unknown original. True it’s mostly just a “list song” but it’s built on a far more, dare I say, funky beat than I can recall hearing from him before or since (though let’s face it, Prince he ain’t). It’s also great fun to finally hear “Poisoned Letter” for myself after reading EC describe it during early interviews about the album. Given that “All The Rage” became such a fan favorite, it’s hard to second guess his decision to rework “Poisoned Letter, “ sometimes I think I prefer the blunt force assault of this early draft.
The instrumental “Idiophone” enjoyed a strange second life as the theme music for EC’s fantastic music-themed talk show Spectacle. As a side note, I’ve long been disappointed the show didn’t generate a soundtrack that collected both EC and his guests performances from the show’s two seasons. Easily enough great material for a terrific 2CD set.
The Church Studios outtakes are also quite solid (the excellent full band “Favourite Hour” was reportedly one of Gary Stewart’s *ahem* favorite tracks they unearthed) though the Bonaparte Rooms recordings sound a bit shrill to me and EC stumbles thru the lyrics in the “Just About Glad” bridge. In each case, I’d prefer if they went with solo demos for these three songs. The demos might not be very hi-fi, but they’re scrappy and spirited with “Sulky Girl” a particular delight to hear in this minimalist manner.
The biggest omission here (indeed, the entire Rhino campaign) must surely be the 10 Wendy James demos. Their absence is so glaring I have to imagine that either EC vetoed them (perhaps in reaction to his then recent separation with wife and co-songwriter Cait O’Riordan) or that Rhino had other plans for them that somehow went unrealized. In any case, at just under fifty minutes, the relatively short running time suggests there may have been room on the Brutal Youth bonus disc for all 10 of the demos— and maybe even the terrific live b-side of “Basement Kiss” (even if EC inverts a couple lines in the bridge). I remember hoping we’d get a Rhino Handmade “Gwendolyn Letters” CD but alas it never came to pass.
Another significant omission is the Brutal Youth outtake of “Distorted Angel.” It was the first song the reunited Attractions lineup attempted recording during these sessions, and apparently was such a struggle it almost derailed the reunion. In the years that followed, a recording of the song that is presumably this very performance leaked out and turns out to be pretty solid. EC is usually a very good judge of his own work but my theory is perhaps feelings over Bruce Thomas’ acrimonious departure from the band in ‘96 might still have been a bit raw when this set was assembled, making it harder to be objective about his relatively recent work with him. This would explain some equally puzzling omissions from the All This Useless Beauty bonus disc, though that discussion will have to wait until we get to that album.
Perhaps the influence of Elvis' elusive eldest son Matthew, whose other collaboration with his father was "The Bridge I Burned," which has a more direct Prince connection?
Which inspires me to wonder if Prince’s estate would be more inclined to authorize the release of the “Pop Life” version of TBIB than Prince was?
With the demos and alternate sessions and released b-sides, this disc really sticks to the script and lacks surprises . . . So it's a real testament to how great this disc and Brutal Youth are because this is an f'ing great disc.
“Brutal Youth” is one of my favorite and most-played EC albums, so the bonus disc needn’t try too hard to win me over. As was mentioned, “Poisoned Letter” is very cool to hear, and “Abandoned Words” has a nice groove. Irrelevant aside - before finally swapping out my 2007 CD player and 160 gb ipod that went with it, the “default” song when I turned the car on was Dylan’s “Abandoned Love” or EC’s “Abandoned Words” - clearly an alphabetical thing. So those two songs got more play than the other 20,000. ;-)
I know that phenomenon well. When I plug my phone into my car’s USB, the song that automatically pops up is Richard Thompson’s cover of “A-11.” I must have heard the first few seconds of it a thousand times or more. Knowing you, “Abandoned Love” would have probably gotten more play than most any other song anyways. Especially if it’s the live version.
Well, it’s going to be different than you think. I’m not quite sure it’s literally unprecedented in recorded history, though perhaps this particular combination of methodology is. I can say it’s very entertaining.
Andrew Sandoval just posted on Facebook this fantastic look back at his involvement in the EC reissues: January 2020 marks my 30th year as a record producer. For the next 30 days, I will post one of the albums I have worked on over the past three decades. Here is day #8. Today: Elvis Costello - 2 CD versions of all of his albums from My Aim Is True (1977/2001) to All This Useless Beauty (1997/2001) for Rhino, as well as Demon/Edsel (My Aim Is True through Blood And Chocolate only). Joseph Satlin said: "Quantity has a quality all of its own." And proving this musically, Elvis Costello struck a deal with Rhino in 2001 to reissue his voluminous catalog of albums and make them even more voluminous. It was my job to add the bonus material, and from 2001 - 2006 my aim was, shall we say, true. I was variously listed as Sound Producer (with Bill Inglot) and on the last title in the series, The Juliet Letters, top billed Reissue Producer (alongside Val Jennings and the late Gary Stewart). I mention this only because Gary (who, along with Bill, gave me my first break as a producer/compiler/liner notes writer) made quite a big deal about it. After five years, I was dealing with Elvis Costello directly in picking out the bonus tracks. I am not sure if Elvis felt this an improvement or signpost that it was time to move on! On this series, I did the tape research as well as a lot of mixes for the second discs with Brian Kehew. I can genuinely say we used the original masters for these sets, but that involved shipping a lot of tapes to Los Angeles and weeding out a ton of material. Elvis has, besides the Beach Boys (whose catalog I worked on from 1997-2000), one of the deepest archives of recordings I had seen up to that stage. The process for these was that I would order in tapes, do transfers and mixes where there were no mixes. I would then compile my dream bonus disc. Gary Stewart would listen to it and ask me to make any changes he wanted and then it would go to Elvis for review. Costello is the only artist I have ever worked with who added more material rather than take things off. And let's be honest, his material is all pretty great. The only things he did not like were Geoff Emerick's rough mixes for All This Useless Beauty (which Gary and I loved), as well as a hilaious radio spot for The Juliet Letters done in the style of a motorcross demolition commercial. Val Jennings penned the liner notes by doing lengthy interviews with EC and then having them edited by him. The CD's themselves were matched to original UK LP's, but we took a couple of left turns with Get Happy and Imperial Bedroom because the original masters were so dark (EQ wise) by comparison. It was really amazing doing these albums. I had grown up listening and buying them and getting to hear the session reels was a thrilling adventure. These editions are now out of print and it was Gary who suggested to Universal (when they took over the catalog in 2007) to issue their versions with zero bonus material. I always wondered if that was to make the Rhino ones special. When Gary passed away, I thought of many things. Only one thing was clear to me: I could not bring myself to go to his estate sale. My friend Jim Laspesa went and bought me one thing left behind in a random box. It was a homemade CDR I had done for Gary of my ideas for the Juliet Letters bonus tracks. Despite the fact that we kept in regular contact, that was the last physical CD I ever worked on with Gary.
Favorites from the Brutal Youth Bonus disc: Life Shrinks, a great, classic-sounding EC song. Some interesting production choices there... This is Hell is always nice, but I do prefer the album version... Idiophone, wacky in the best ways. Exactly the sort of weirdness one hopes for in a disc like this. Short enough not to wear out its welcome. You Tripped at Every Step demo is nice. I played the heck out of that single when it came out. It's nice to hear another version of it. I don't know the lore and don't have the actual disc handy: what's the story with the Bonaparte Rooms and the Church Studios sessions -- are either of these related to the Wendy James work (three tracks of which, I believe we see on the 13 Steps Lead Down single, if I'm not mistaken...)?
On Twitter, Charlie Sedarka asked the big unresolved question: “What happened to Rhino’s plans to issue the Wendy James demos?” His answer was quick and to the point: “We ran out of time.” We got a few cool things out of EC moving the catalog to Universal, but not for the first time I find myself wishing he’d stayed with Rhino. Rhino’s team *got* him. Charlie Sedarka on Twitter
I think five of the ten Wendy James demos did get official releases as b sides etc. Four of the missing five circulate, and ECs voice was clearly struggling as the session went on, barely a croak at the end. Maybe that’s why those cuts remain officially unreleased?