New Rhino bonus tracks revealed! (AB/GCW/KV)

Pretty self-explanatory
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And No Coffee Table
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Post by And No Coffee Table »

He obviously couldn't have been too happy with his performance if he overdubbed it in the first place.
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SweetPear
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Post by SweetPear »

Don't have my reissues yet and after reading this thread, I sure am wound up.

I don't have GCW in any form and I've never heard it either. It's the only EC record I don't own one way or another. I'm absolutely dying to hear it after all these years of reading about it.

I'm sure it's been hashed out here previously, I just don't recall.......but in ranking EC's records, where did GCW fall? Not to be judgemental w/out ever having heard the record, if it wasn't dead last, what record was?
I'm not angry anymore....
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wardo68
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Post by wardo68 »

wehitandrun wrote:Ew. Deportee is lame! :roll: Deportees Club is much better, and more listenable.
I'm gonna hafta go ahead and disagree with you there on that one. Why? 'Cos I like 'em both. And sometimes I'm not in the mood for a DX7.
johnfoyle
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Post by johnfoyle »

John H. potsed this to listserv -


AMG's review of Kojak Variety re-issue-

Elvis Costello recorded the 15 songs that comprised
his covers album Kojak Variety in 1990, but the
album sat in the vaults for five years, with some
songs trickling out on soundtracks, with the entire
album eventually leaking out as a bootleg prior to its
release in 1995. Given this slow, steady crawl to
release and the nature of bootlegs and B-sides, it's
reasonable to assume from its slow unveiling that
the album was a collection of covers that he
recorded with different bands over different years,
when quite the opposite was true — all 15 songs
were the cut with the same band, all sequestered
away in Barbados.

However, the bonus disc that
accompanies Rhino's 2004 expanded, double-CD
reissue of Kojak Variety is indeed a crazy quilt of
covers, taken from different sessions recorded
during the '90s. Many of these have been
previously released, either as B-sides or more
often as contributions to various-artists tribute
albums (or, in the case of Dave Bartholomew's
"That's How You Got Killed Before," Costello sang
it for an album by the Dirty Dozen Brass Band).

While these aren't exactly rare, it is nice to have
them all collected in one place, but it's even nicer
to have all of the "George Jones Tape" finally see
the light of day. These ten songs — running from
track two ("My Resistance Is Low") through track
11 ("How Long Has This Been Going On") on the
bonus disc — were a collection of covers Costello
cut in one day in 1992 with Pete Thomas and Paul
"Bassman" Riley, all recorded with the intention of
sending them to Jones for possible inclusion on a
forthcoming album by the country legend.

Costello
first hit upon this idea during an interview with Jones
for Interview magazine, and in the published piece, he
said he was going to send a mixtape to the singer, but
that soon morphed into these 11 covers. They're a mixed
bag, sometimes bracing — Costello's interpretation of
Bruce Springsteen's "Brilliant Disguise" is tremendous
and would have made a great single for George — and
sometimes bewildering (it's hard to imagine the Possum
winding his way through Tom Waits' "Innocent When
You Dream"), yet it's always a fascinating listen, even
if it's just for hearing Elvis bungle a line on his excellent
version of Bob Dylan's "You're Gonna Make Me
Lonesome When You Go."

This tape alone makes this
reissue of Kojak Variety worthwhile, and while having it
surrounded by the B-sides and tribute tunes gives the
bonus disc an appearance of being a patchwork
collection, it's just as musically satisfying as the
finished album. In fact, it could even be argued that the
ramshackle vibe and freewheeling spirit on this bonus
disc makes it more fun than the actual record.
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stormwarning
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Post by stormwarning »

I'm very happy with all three re-issues from a collector point of view.
KJ and GCW have some interesting points, but only AB really appeals to me as a CD to play all the way through. All in all, I would give AB 5/5, while the others would be a 3 (or 4 on a good day).
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LessThanZero
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Post by LessThanZero »

I went to Circuit City last night to get the 3 new reissues, and they didn't have ANY OF THEM! THOSE JERKS! THOSE TERRIBLE JERKS!

So we bought a big-ass, not-affordable television.

Jody also bought a dvd called Serendipity....how appropriate.

This Town....SUCKS! I hope Best Buy has the reissues....THEY WON'T!

:(
Loving this board since before When I Was Cruel.
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wardo68
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Post by wardo68 »

I can understand your frustration. The local Circuit City didn't have them, so I went next door to Best Buy, which had two of each. I'd like to think that I wasn't the first person to get them from that store that day, but I could be wrong.
martinfoyle
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Post by martinfoyle »

As of writing, the re-issues are still not generally available in Dublin stores. Virgin have some horrifically over priced copies, most other shops still have copies of the last editions of re-issues. Indeed, Elvis has left the building.
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so lacklustre
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Post by so lacklustre »

Still no sign of KV over here yet.
signed with love and vicious kisses
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lapinsjolis
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Post by lapinsjolis »

On Tuesday I and another Elvis fan ventured out in the pouring rain to scour the city for Elvis reissues. At Best Buy they had one of each-I surrendered them to the other fan. This make said fan guilt ridden but after a quick dinner we went out and got them elsewhere. (After being told at another Best Buy at 9:40 that they were closing. I told the imposing man I wanted the Elvis reissues, his eyes glazed over and he let us in. They weren't there but the power of Elvis is undeniable)

The End

Haven't listened to the Almost Blue bonus disc yet but adore the other two. 'Goodbye Cruel World' is a Godsend for those you can't sweat the production of the record. For the Mug that brightened the board 'My Resistance is Low'-I think he added it just for her plus two Gershwins and the most beautiful rendition of 'Sleepless Nights'.
"Be yourself; everyone else is already taken."
johnfoyle
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Post by johnfoyle »

http://www.uncut.net/
Uncut , Sept. 04

Elvis is all over the lastest issue of Uncut.
Nancy Sinatra mentions him as being on her new album.
Elvis is quoted commenting in features on Jeff Buckley
and The Kinks. A three page feature on Straight To
Hell has loads of mentions of him. A review of the
re-issue of the 'Hell soundtrack has ditto. A half
page ad. from Demon mentions the A.B. and G.C.W.
re-issues ( not K.V.) , along with re-issues by
Anthony Newley (!!) and Kevin Ayers.

And this review of the re-issues -


Elvis Costello
ALMOST BLUE 4 stars
GOODBYE CRUEL WORLD 4 stars
KOJAK VARIETY 3 stars

DEMON

Fifth phase of two-disc reissue series

Literate punk Costello’s country makeover, Almost
Blue, sat awkwardIy with new wave fans in 81, but it’s
proven durable, with “Sweet Dreams”, “Good Year For
The Roses” and “I’m Your Toy” (aka Hot Burrito #2
“)sounding as warm and nasty as ever. No less than 27
tracks grace the bonus disc, including a previously
unreleased duet with Johnny Cash (“We Oughtta Be
Ashamed”) recorded at Nick Lowe’s house, and four live
cuts. Goodbye Cruel World is of-its-time (1984)
Langer/Winstanley pop (“The Only Flame ln Town”, “l
Wanna Be Loved”), with 26 bonus tracks: lives, demos,
a Specials cover,a “Baby It’s You” duet with Lowe.
Kojak Variety from ‘95 was a covers frenzy (Motown,
Dylan, Kinks), and the 20 new extras include
Springsteen’s “Brilliant Disguise” and Cilla’s “Step
Inside Love”.
CHRIS ROBERTS
Sour Milk Cow
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Post by Sour Milk Cow »

I love how Uncut docks Kojak Variety one star compared to the others with absolutely no explanation. Especially since it is one of the finest reissues Costello has released.

Overall, this batch is so stellar that it boggles the mind. Almost Blue, which has often been dismissed out of hand by fans and critics alike, seems to be finding a newly appreciative audience with this package. It's no disgrace being on the bottom rung of Costello's catalog-- after all, it's pretty crowded at the top, with Get Happy, Imperial Bedroom, King of America and the like all slugging it out for first place.

What's great about the AB bonus disc is that it is kind of like having a second volume of Almost Blue, made up of all the very good b-sides and outtakes from the sessions, and also a companion "live" album. And Kojak Variety's bonus disc is definitely stands on its own as a collection of assorted cover versions.

The GCW disc is a terrific alternate view of the record. I've always had affection for this record, but I'm glad to hear these songs in stripped down demo form. (I even like the slower studio version of "Only Flame In Town" though Costello seems to have little regard for it based on his liner notes.

These discs will serve to tide us all over until next month. It is so amazing to get so much new Costello music in such a short span of time.
johnfoyle
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Post by johnfoyle »

After playing the bonus discs all week I only got around to playing the GCW disc one today - and got a big surprise. It sounds excellent ! The sound boffins have done an amazing job. The vocals sound warmer , the bass groovier . Little keyboard bits I just do not remember pop out all over the place , especially in Joe Porterhouse. I had intended giving it a once only , early afternoon spin in my shop - I ended up playing it three times in a row.

This new , brighter sound makes it all the more understandable that some of the UK reviews have been so effusive about this album - its just so similar to a lot of todays over-produced pop.

One quibble - whats the deal with the sequencing of Sour Milk Cow/The Great Unknown - they practically segue into each other.
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John
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Post by John »

SLL, I've just ordered KV from here
http://www.101cd.com/search/artistall.a ... S+COSTELLO
I've ordered GCW and AB from Play.
This is going to be one non-stop Elvis feast from now until?
Just will need to squeeze in the purchase of the 2cd versions of MLAR, BY and ATUB to complete my collection.
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so lacklustre
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Post by so lacklustre »

Thanks John. I did realise that I could order it, and I do sometimes do that, but I still prefer getting my hands on them first hand. You should definitely get the MLAR bd, it is one of the best imo (makes note to start up a new best bonus disc thread, but too late now)
signed with love and vicious kisses
wehitandrun
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Post by wehitandrun »

I havent given the bonus disc on MLAR enough of a chance.
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johnfoyle
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Post by johnfoyle »

Some U.K. monthlies have these reviews of the re-issues -

Mojo , Sept. `04


Punk was a Year Zero revolution, but from the off former pub-rocker Elvis Costello championed rock’s American heartland roots. Corralling country tunes ranging from long-hair Gram Parsons to patriarch George Jones, his first covers album, Almost Blue , could not have made a bigger counter-mainstream splash.

By Kojak Variety (1995), referencing rock’s heritage was a mainstream pursuit, though no recipe for sales success. Sincere and committed, almost every performance inspires you to hear the original, the best tracks being those which least strain the Costello larynx: from Almost Blue, Parsons’ I’m Your Toy and, from the bonus CD, Hank Cochran’s He’s Got You; from the Kojak Variety package, Randy Newman’s I’ve Been Wrong Before, the Gershwins’ How Long Has This Been Going On, and Felice and Boudleaux Bryant’s Sleepless Nights.

Goodbye Cruel World (1984) was, as he reveals in the sleeve notes, his divorce album; alas, a bunch of demoralised songs were mismatched to a perky production, a combo no more winning now than then. But the what-might have been can be glimpsed in the bonus CD outtakes.

Mat Snow
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Word , Sept.04

Persuading people to buy Imperial Bedroom or Armed Forces again was never likely to prove difficult, but convincing people to shell out another time for albums they don’t really play is an unenviable brief . The country one, the bluesy covers one and the crap one are the next titles to have their moment in the sun in the current Costello reissue programme.

Kojak Variety and Nashville experiment Almost Blue were never more than diversionary releases; Costello getting these songs out of his system simply because he could. The remastering of the latter is surprising, the mustiness of the 1994 reissue replaced with a crisp sound that transforms the record from mete hacking music. Unfortunately, Kojak Variety’s reappearance does little mote than confirm the old adage that you can’t polish a turd. The bonus disc at least offers some more intriguing covers; Costello’s spin on Van Morrison’s Full Force Gale is an unexpected pleasure, staying just the tight side of self-indulgent. However, knowing what he’s capable of means that listening to a bundle of quickly tossed-off covers does little mute than make you wonder why you’re not playing This Years Model instead. The unexpected jewel in the crown is Goodbye Cruel World, which succeeds thanks to the canny decision of include a large number of demo ‘versions that unveil the bare hones of the tracks, prior to their being produced Out of existence. I Wanna Be Loved and Inch By Inch are the standout examples of how the songs themselves were excellent, conforming to Costello’s assessment that it was the ‘the worst record of the best songs I’ve ever written”.

Gareth James
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Record Collector , September `04

As the ambitious Costello reissue programme heads towards completion, the contents of the bonus discs take on a greater significance, bolstering releases That may straggle to find sizeable audiences if left in their original form.

Almost Blue was a surprisingly successful 1981 digression into country, but a running time of just over half an hour means it could be regarded as poor value to anyone raised on compact discs. Thankfully, there an additional 27 tracks on Disc Two, kicking off with two notable collaborations: the George Jones duet Stranger In The House appears on an Elvis release for the first time, and is a thing of great beauty. The same can’t be said for We Oughta Be Ashamed, a hung over plod with Johnny Cash, recorded at Nick Lowe’s home studio on Boxing Day, 1979, which would just about pass muster were it not for Costello’s shaky harmony vocal.

Elsewhere, we get all the period B sides and Nashville out takes, invariably more rough’n’ready and less sanitised than the 12 songs that made the finished album, giving the impression of a sturdy bar band having a whale of a time. Often terrific, but nothing that matches the tender simplicity of the Almost Blue cover How Much I Lied, easily one of EC’s best recordings ever.

The last time Goodbye Cruel World was reissued, Costello’s own sleevenotes described it as his worstd record, ,and while the Langer & Winstanley 1984 production has dated terribly, it can’t diminish the power of some of the singer’s most brutally honest falling-out of-love songs (Home Truth, Inch By Inch ). Bonus disc highlights include the ballad version of The Only Flame In Town (a white boy disco mess on the original album) and the radical reworking of the Madness hit Tomorrow’s Just Another Day, plus several live solo recordings which illustrate just how much the GCW songs suffered from a slick studio overhaul.

Kojak Variety , a compendium of none too-obvious cover versions, sat on the shelf for five years until its 1995 release, but was welcomed by Elvis diehards as a chance to get hold of Dylan, Supremes, Little Richard and Aretha Franklin tunes he’d frequently drop into live sets. The bonus disc features another 20 covers, including 10 which Costello demoed in a single day when considering songs his hero George Jones should record. Jones never took the bait, but EC’s takes on the likes of Springsteen, Hoagy Carmichael , Paul Simon and Tom Waits are a fine addition to any serious fan’s collection. Special mention should also go to a garage band thrash through Cilia’s Step Inside Love (from the Roddy Doyle TV series Family) and But Not For Me, which saw him team up with veteran harmonica player Larry Adler on the highlight of a various artists album of George Gershwin numbers.

With just King Of America and The Juliet Letters to follow next year, the Elvis reissues have been fascinating Costellophiles the world over, and although this trio might appear on paper as the least essential
The archivists have done a bang up job in fleshing out collections which are still well worth exploring.

Terry Staunton
johnfoyle
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Post by johnfoyle »

From listserv -

The latest Entertainment Weekly has this mini-review by Michael
Endelman.

Elvis Costello,
Goodbye Cruel World, Almost Blue, Kojak Variety (Rhino)
Even Elvis dismissed 1984's Goodbye Cruel World as his "worst record."
So unless you spend evenings dissecting the bespectacled bard's heady
couplets, don't bother with this expanded version of that slick pop
flop or two of Costello's other failed experiments: 1981's Almost Blue,
a flat country & western venture, and 1995's Kojak Variety, a haphazard
covers disc.
Extras: In all three cases, the bonus CD of rarities is more
interesting than the actual album.
Cruel World: C+
Blue: C-
Kojak: D
johnfoyle
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Post by johnfoyle »

http://www.billboard.com/bb/reviews/alb ... 1000615884

BILLBOARD ALBUM REVIEWS

Producer(s): REISSUE Gary Stewart, Val JenningsORIGINAL PRODUCER: Clive Langer, Alan Winstanley
Genre: VITAL REISSUES
Label/Catalog Number: Rhino R2 76486
Release Date: Aug. 3
Source: Billboard Magazine
Originally Reviewed: August 28, 2004


note: this review also covers the "Kojak Variety" and "Almost Blue" reissues.

Rhino's Elvis Costello-thon continues with three fresh double-CD reissues from his Columbia and Warner oeuvre. The edition of his 1981 country foray "Almost Blue" may be the best: It includes duets with George Jones and Johnny Cash, as well as seven hot tracks cut live with steel guitarist John McFee at the old Los Angeles country palace the Palomino. The uneven 1984 collection "Goodbye Cruel World" is augmented by spare original demos, solo live shots, an early version of the biting "I Hope You're Happy Now" and some superlative covers (Sam Cooke's "Get Yourself Another Fool" being the finest). The 1995 all-covers set "Kojak Variety" is beefed up with sharp interpretations of tunes by Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, Paul Simon, the Beatles, Bruce Springsteen, the Gershwins and others. Rhino continues to do right by Costello and his fans.—CM
johnfoyle
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Post by johnfoyle »

http://www.freep.com/entertainment/musi ... 040801.htm

The Detroit Free Press

ROCK
Elvis Costello -- "Almost Blue" FOUR STARS out of four, "Goodbye Cruel World" THREE STARS out of four, "Kojak Variety" THREE STARS out of four (Warner Brothers/Rhino)

"Listen to the bonus discs first!" shout the press notes for the three latest Costello reissues, which are considered the stray dogs of his catalog: 1981's Nashville excursion "Almost Blue" baffled his still growing new wave army. 1984's "Goodbye Cruel World" was an overproduced and quickly dated misfire. 1991's "Kojak Variety" was a covers project that had spent time on the shelf. Each has now been rereleased with a jam-packed bonus disc.

Many of the 26 cuts on "Cruel World" redeem what Costello now says "is the worst record I could have made with a decent bunch of songs." The piano demo for the R&B ballad "I Wanna Be Loved" is beautiful, and the slowed-down "The Only Flame in Town" sees Costello finding a safe place between cleverness and real emotion.

The other two records were fine to begin with, but the extras are illuminating. The 27 additions to "Almost Blue" include more of the live Palomino Club set that rendered his cover of the morbid "Psycho," a live orchestral version of Gram Parsons "Hot Burrito #1" retitled "I'm Your Toy," and a fine duet with Johnny Cash on the George Jones-Melba Montgomery song "We Oughta be Ashamed."

"Kojak" has 20 add-ons, and nearly all of them are great, with 11 coming from a tape Costello made for an unrecorded George Jones album that included the R&B classic "The Dark End of the Street," Paul Simon's "Congratulations" and Dylan's "You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go."
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