Category Archives: elvis costello

Elvis has returned to the building

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How do you keep writing fresh, relevant music after 30+ years in the business? I’m not quite sure, but Elvis Costello has it down.

Since 1978’s My Aim Is True Elvis (wasn’t there another guy with that name once?) has been releasing edgy, intelligently irreverent music. I have a feeling he would have been relegated completely to the underground if he didn’t write such catchy tunes. Instead, he has managed to sneak the occasional mainstream hit in over the years while he’s busy cranking out great pop-rock albums, delving into jazz music (most notably in collaborations with his wife Diana Krall), and even working up a chamber opera. Sadly that last one never quite came to fruition.

Costello’s new album, National Ransom, is a solid release. It’s got plenty of the familiar pop-meets-punk-meets-new wave vibe Elvis does so well, with some genre benders thrown in along the way. Here’s the opening track, which I would say rocks.

Click to play Elvis Costello – National Ransom

The man’s ballads always get me, as well. He’s quite the crooner.

Click to play Elvis Costello – You Hung The Moon

And above all, you’ve got a love a guy who joins Spinal Tap onstage for a classic hit:

Give it a listen. There’s a lot to like, even if you’re not a die-hard Elvis Costello fan.

Goodbye, oh false paradise

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It was a tiny blurb; it was a compelling blurb. It lead me to recognize the CD on the New Release Wall on a record store visit a few weeks later. “On their debut single, a cover of Johnny Cash’s ‘Big River’, this Muscle Shoals sister act sings like angels while Jack White shreds like a man who met the devil at the crossroads and punched him in the nuts.”

Who wouldn’t want to buy something like that?

So I pointed the CD out, Mookie bought it for me, and I was tasked to write about the album. I played it in my car on the way back from the record store. Mookie got to listen to the new Less Than Jake in his car. I had only one word to offer for my review of the Secret Sisters’ eponymous debut album: “BORING.”

When Mookie asked about Jack White’s involvement, I was totally confused. I no longer had any idea what had moved me to want this album.

There are covers on this album. But not Johnny Cash covers. Hank Williams, George Jones, lots of covers on this album. And they’re covers of good songs, so of course… Who doesn’t have a soft spot for “Why Baby Why”? But you’re going to go all apeshit over this debut album full of covers? Come on.

And I get folk music. I get old-time country. I would love to be reborn as June Carter Cash. But this is too much ado over what? Elvis Costello is performing with them. Jakob Dylan. Gregg Allman. John Mellencamp. Elton John! Just what is happening? What do I not understand? Their voices are good. Sure. Nothing wrong with it. Is it about their innocence? Come on. Is it because we’ve decided to return to innocence? Is that what this is about?

I don’t want to hate on these sweet girls, but I’m just left asking what no one else will.  I guess it’s always been my way.

Nellie McKay has been doing this same kind of music for several years. But Nellie McKay is not innocent. Nellie McKay also recently released an album.  Of original work.  This album is called Home Sweet Mobile Home.  How is that for your “music for people”?  ::wink::  She recorded her debut album with her mother, despite also having duets with kd lang and Cyndi Lauper on same.  So what’s going on here?

Maybe there’s room for both.  I just don’t want you to get caught up in the current hype without realizing who came first.

Please check out Nellie McKay.  You’re going to love it.


Download Nellie McKay – Adios

Here is Track One, presumably their original work, from The Secret Sisters.


Download Secret Sisters – Tennessee Me


What a catch!

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[Fall Out Boy – What a Catch, Donnie ft. Elvis Costello, Brendon Urie, Travis McCoy, Alex DeLeon, & William Beckett]

They keep getting better.

They’re Fall Out Boy. And they’re not just for emo kids and screaming girls. They speak loudly to a lot of post-punk thirtysomethings. Non-emo kids, despite being unwilling to admit it, love them too. And we all know it. Pete Wentz called it almost two years ago when he said “There’s the bands that you say you like to sound smart, and there’s the bands you say you like to get laid. And then there’s the bands you really listen to.”

the little one says:
was he referring to the emotards who won’t admit they are at zia to buy their record?
the little one’s buddy says:
yes…I am positive he was…
tlo’s b says:
all of them bought one …you saw that right? or did I make that up
tlo’s b says:
I just brought a hot chick to buy mine
tlo says:
nope… they all did… they all got that 7 inch
tlo’s b says:
yeah
tlo’s b says:
that was like the alarm goinhg off that they bought it…
tlo’s b says:
awesome
tlo says:
lol
tlo’s b says:
it was a great night for that moment in the store
tlo says:
they got caught stealing condoms

…And that was back when Infinity on High was released. Sure, we could have just bought it on iTunes. But there are still some bands worth a midnight trip to the record store. Music snobs will be aghast that Fall Out Boy is slotted into that category. But give Folie a Deux a listen and it’s easy to see just how talented this fourpiece from Chicago is. And how far they’ve come.

When I hear “She’s My Winona”, (and by the way, before we give emo a bad name, let’s take a moment here to give reverence to Johnny Depp) I feel like I am listening to one of my old favorites off Take This To Your Grave or Under The Cork Tree. The “quit burning bridges and drive off of ’em” dark lyrics that get delivered so beautifully by Patrick Stump it allows for both the dry humor and the pain to emanate.

[Fall Out Boy – She’s My Winona]

But what I hear all over Folie a Deux, besides all the cameo appearances,

Elvis Costello from ELVIS COSTELLO!
Brendon Urie from Panic at the Disco
Travis McCoy from Gym Class Heroes,
Alex DeLeon from The Cab,
and William Beckett from The Academy Is

is what I fell in love with years ago but enhanced. What I thought couldn’t get better before, BETTER. In ALL CAPS. And it still takes my breath away after all these years. It surprises me how much better it gets. Sure, the early days were unsure and awkward. It’s mildly embarrassing to think back to those days. But as it got good, and built more and more on what was good, and went in bold directions… wait, am I still talking about FOB?

If you are looking for something BETTER, don’t look for a Kanye West remix. You want a MASHUP. Check out FOB vs White Stripes. And don’t make Baby Jesus cry. Go buy some Fall Out Boy.