http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mp ... al/3136736
April 15, 2005, 6:57PM
Costello to perform here in 2006
By CHARLES WARD
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle
Elvis Costello, the onetime post-punk rock star who now writes for opera singers and orchestras, comes to the Houston Symphony in 2005-06 season as part of its new series American Expressions.
The three concerts of American Expressions will focus on popular performers with distinct entertainment voices.
The series opens with the legendary pop singer Tony Bennett (Nov. 4) and continues with humorist Garrison Keillor (March 16, 2006).
Costello comes on April 13, 2006, with a suite from his new full-length ballet, Il Sogno, and, of course, his hit songs. (Based on A Midsummer Night's Dream, Il Sogno is available on a Deutsche Grammophon CD with conductor Michael Tilson Thomas and the London Symphony Orchestra.)
All events will occur in Jones Hall. For more information, call 713-224-7575.
charles.ward@chron.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This indicates that the Hawaii show may be something similar.
Elvis plays Honolulu , March/April 2006
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/artic ... il10a.html
( extracts)
Pops lines up 'Bruddah Iz' tribute, Costello
By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Writer
March 16 '05
A musical tribute to the late Israel "Bruddah Iz"
Kamakawiwo'ole, who has made inroads into the popular
music landscape thanks to his "Over the Rainbow"
recording, is part of the diversity in the Honolulu
Symphony Pops season, beginning in September. The
slate also will include the Hawai'i debut of
hipster-rocker Elvis Costello.
• March 31 and April 1 — Elvis Costello. Costello,
whose 25-year career has embraced new wave, pop, soul
and the classics, is a Grammy winner for his 1998
collaboration with Burt Bacharach of "I Still Have
That Other Girl." A Best Song Oscar nomination, for
"The Scarlet Tide" (from "Cold Mountain"), followed in
2004. He is the spouse of jazz singer and pianist
Diana Krall.
Elvis /Il Sogno, Houston , April 13 '06
Elvis /Il Sogno, Houston , April 13 '06
Last edited by johnfoyle on Tue Apr 11, 2006 3:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.
http://www.houstonsymphony.org/about/pr ... aspx?id=85
HOUSTON SYMPHONY ANNOUNCES "AMERICAN EXPRESSIONS"
Elvis Costello, Tony Bennett and Garrison Keillor to Headline First Season of New Series
Media Contacts
Art Kent, Senior Director, Public Relations
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 15, 2005
( extract )
Houston, Texas, April 15, 2005 - - “American Expressions,” a new series of special performances featuring a diverse trio of renowned entertainers, was announced today by the Houston Symphony.
The famed singer-songwriter-composer, Elvis Costello, will appear on April 13, 2006. Costello’s songs have been recorded by a wide range of artists, including George Jones, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, and Dusty Springfield, and are known for richly diverse music combined with fiercely literate lyrics. His concerts with his bands, the Attractions and the Imposters, are legendary.
Costello’s debut collaboration with the Houston Symphony will open with a suite from his first full length orchestral work, Il Sogno, an original ballet score based on the story of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In the second half, Costello and pianist Steve Nieve will join the Houston Symphony to perform many of his popular hits.
HOUSTON SYMPHONY ANNOUNCES "AMERICAN EXPRESSIONS"
Elvis Costello, Tony Bennett and Garrison Keillor to Headline First Season of New Series
Media Contacts
Art Kent, Senior Director, Public Relations
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 15, 2005
( extract )
Houston, Texas, April 15, 2005 - - “American Expressions,” a new series of special performances featuring a diverse trio of renowned entertainers, was announced today by the Houston Symphony.
The famed singer-songwriter-composer, Elvis Costello, will appear on April 13, 2006. Costello’s songs have been recorded by a wide range of artists, including George Jones, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, and Dusty Springfield, and are known for richly diverse music combined with fiercely literate lyrics. His concerts with his bands, the Attractions and the Imposters, are legendary.
Costello’s debut collaboration with the Houston Symphony will open with a suite from his first full length orchestral work, Il Sogno, an original ballet score based on the story of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In the second half, Costello and pianist Steve Nieve will join the Houston Symphony to perform many of his popular hits.
-
guidedbyvoices
- Posts: 191
- Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2005 1:14 pm
- Location: back to saturn x
I am so excited about this my head may explode. Not that I've bought Il Sogno (I felt a bit burned still by the Anne Sophie Van Otter thing) but him & Steve with orchestra, in my hometown! Wow. I find it hard to believe Houston will be the only city he does this in, right?
we have powerlines in our bloodlines
http://www.minnesotaorchestra.org/seaso ... t=18801991
Minnesota Orchestra
1111 Nicollet Mall
Minneapolis, MN 55403
Elvis Costello
April 24
Monday 04/24/2006 7:30pm Orchestra Hall $29-$49
*** Tickets go on sale August 20, 2005 ***
Join English singer/songwriter Elvis Costello on his first symphony orchestra tour. His celebrated voice has transcended musical genres from rock to pop and jazz with new forays into classical composition. The first half of the concert features selections from his Il Sogno CD; the second half are Costello classics. Don't miss this one of a kind event!
Minnesota Orchestra
1111 Nicollet Mall
Minneapolis, MN 55403
Elvis Costello
April 24
Monday 04/24/2006 7:30pm Orchestra Hall $29-$49
*** Tickets go on sale August 20, 2005 ***
Join English singer/songwriter Elvis Costello on his first symphony orchestra tour. His celebrated voice has transcended musical genres from rock to pop and jazz with new forays into classical composition. The first half of the concert features selections from his Il Sogno CD; the second half are Costello classics. Don't miss this one of a kind event!
http://calendar.chron.com/ptemp?tid=101 ... m=4&y=2006
Rubbin' Elbows with Elvis Costello after party
Immediately following the Houston Symphony performance featuring Elvis Costello, guests will have the chance to party with the man himself. The night will feature a champagne reception with hors d'oeuvres and a dinner on stage at Jones Hall.
http://www.houstonsymphony.com
April 13, 8:00 p.m.
Price: $150
Jones Hall
615 Louisiana St.
Houston, TX 77002
Maps & directions
713-224-7575
Rubbin' Elbows with Elvis Costello after party
Immediately following the Houston Symphony performance featuring Elvis Costello, guests will have the chance to party with the man himself. The night will feature a champagne reception with hors d'oeuvres and a dinner on stage at Jones Hall.
http://www.houstonsymphony.com
April 13, 8:00 p.m.
Price: $150
Jones Hall
615 Louisiana St.
Houston, TX 77002
Maps & directions
713-224-7575
-
guidedbyvoices
- Posts: 191
- Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2005 1:14 pm
- Location: back to saturn x
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ent/3787169.html
Elvis Costello keeps changing the rules
From modern pop to the symphony, singer is known for his eclectic style
By ANDREW DANSBY
Houston Chronicle
April 12, 2006
Sometimes sneering, always bespectacled and seemingly indifferent to contemporary music trends, Elvis Costello is a particularly intimidating artist.
His fans aren't the most welcoming lot, either, a crew of opinionated music geeks who agree only on the fact that his first five albums were consistently excellent.
Further complicating matters is Costello's muse. He's recorded with a string quartet, an opera singer, pop classicist Burt Bacharach and New Orleans veteran Allen Toussaint, with whom he has an album due later this year. When he comes to Houston's Jones Hall at 7 p.m. Thursday, he'll be backed by the Houston Symphony, but not as some heavy-metal washout trying to microwave second life into cold stuff from his musical platter. The symphony will open with Il Sogno (The Dream), Costello's classical score to a dance company's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, before backing him on a reimagined collection of his pop-minded fare.
The best way to peeve Costello purists is to offer an assertive ranking of his music. So take this as one guy's user-friendly guide through Costello's long, winding career that, three decades along, shows no signs of slowing down.
You'd be hard-pressed to find a better first five studio records (six if you count his production on the Pogues' Rum, Sodomy and the Lash) by any musician than Costello's My Aim Is True (1977), This Year's Model (1978), Armed Forces (1979), Get Happy!! (1980) and Trust (1981). Aim is notable for the great, oft-played gems Alison and Watching the Detectives, but This Year's is loaded, a model whose allure lasted much longer than a single year. (No Action's chorus sticks like molasses.) Call these albums New Wave, but they still sound like nuts-and-bolts rock 'n' roll. Start here.
If hooked, proceed immediately to Imperial Bedroom (1982). Bedroom is a mean-spirited record lyrically, but its lush, Beatlesesque arrangements make it slyly sinister.
Aside from the strong consensus about the preceding six albums, Costello fans squabble. I have two next-tier favorites, both reunions with his band the Attractions.
Pony St., the opener on Brutal Youth (1994), rocks a bunch, Kinder Murder follows a great wah-wah guitar and rubbery vocal, Rocking Horse Road is odd and one of his best smoldering cuts, and Just About Glad should've been a pop hit. There also are some fine ballads (You Tripped at Every Step) and his most blistering rant in years, 20% Amnesia.
Blood & Chocolate (1986) has even more snarl than Imperial Bedroom, and the arrangements (in a reunion with the Attractions) fit snugly. This one has angry devotees.
Some place King of America (1986) in the Top 5. It's a Top 10 lock for sure, a rootsy effort that includes Big Mistake.
Rather than dancing around like a middle-aged twit, Costello entered his 50s with dignity intact. He still plugs in and cuts loose from time to time, but the live album My Flame Burns Blue (2006) finds him in fine pop/torch mode. New takes on some familiar songs make this one a bit warmer than North (2003), a fine album of new originals with a comparable tone.
Even better for the grown-up Costello fan is Painted From Memory (1998), his collaboration with Bacharach and perhaps the first time I realized he was an amazing singer. His nasal warble more than holds its own against Bacharach's booming arrangements.
Pop fans will likely be leery of Costello's classical forays: The Juliet Letters (1993), a pretty album recorded with the Brodsky Quartet; For the Stars (2001); and the recent Il Sogno (2004). Stars is my favorite of these, with Costello and Swedish mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter finding some gleeful common ground in a well-chosen set of pop songs composed by Costello, Tom Waits, Brian Wilson and others.
Punch the Clock (1983) and Goodbye Cruel World (1984) represent one of two slumps. Clock boasts Everyday I Write the Book, and Cruel World has Room With No Number; both are enduring songs.
Spike (1989) includes the great Paul McCartney collaboration Veronica (one of his two radio hits on this side of the pond). Mighty Like a Rose (1991) opens with the shuffling The Other Side of Summer, but its McCartney collaborations aren't as magical.
Of course, feel free to set your own path. The symphonic format removes some of his great songs from their overromanticized original contexts. The lyrics and melodies, always strong with him, rise above historical commentary about whether a particular album was too country, too glossy or too mean.
andrew.dansby@chron.com
Elvis Costello keeps changing the rules
From modern pop to the symphony, singer is known for his eclectic style
By ANDREW DANSBY
Houston Chronicle
April 12, 2006
Sometimes sneering, always bespectacled and seemingly indifferent to contemporary music trends, Elvis Costello is a particularly intimidating artist.
His fans aren't the most welcoming lot, either, a crew of opinionated music geeks who agree only on the fact that his first five albums were consistently excellent.
Further complicating matters is Costello's muse. He's recorded with a string quartet, an opera singer, pop classicist Burt Bacharach and New Orleans veteran Allen Toussaint, with whom he has an album due later this year. When he comes to Houston's Jones Hall at 7 p.m. Thursday, he'll be backed by the Houston Symphony, but not as some heavy-metal washout trying to microwave second life into cold stuff from his musical platter. The symphony will open with Il Sogno (The Dream), Costello's classical score to a dance company's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, before backing him on a reimagined collection of his pop-minded fare.
The best way to peeve Costello purists is to offer an assertive ranking of his music. So take this as one guy's user-friendly guide through Costello's long, winding career that, three decades along, shows no signs of slowing down.
You'd be hard-pressed to find a better first five studio records (six if you count his production on the Pogues' Rum, Sodomy and the Lash) by any musician than Costello's My Aim Is True (1977), This Year's Model (1978), Armed Forces (1979), Get Happy!! (1980) and Trust (1981). Aim is notable for the great, oft-played gems Alison and Watching the Detectives, but This Year's is loaded, a model whose allure lasted much longer than a single year. (No Action's chorus sticks like molasses.) Call these albums New Wave, but they still sound like nuts-and-bolts rock 'n' roll. Start here.
If hooked, proceed immediately to Imperial Bedroom (1982). Bedroom is a mean-spirited record lyrically, but its lush, Beatlesesque arrangements make it slyly sinister.
Aside from the strong consensus about the preceding six albums, Costello fans squabble. I have two next-tier favorites, both reunions with his band the Attractions.
Pony St., the opener on Brutal Youth (1994), rocks a bunch, Kinder Murder follows a great wah-wah guitar and rubbery vocal, Rocking Horse Road is odd and one of his best smoldering cuts, and Just About Glad should've been a pop hit. There also are some fine ballads (You Tripped at Every Step) and his most blistering rant in years, 20% Amnesia.
Blood & Chocolate (1986) has even more snarl than Imperial Bedroom, and the arrangements (in a reunion with the Attractions) fit snugly. This one has angry devotees.
Some place King of America (1986) in the Top 5. It's a Top 10 lock for sure, a rootsy effort that includes Big Mistake.
Rather than dancing around like a middle-aged twit, Costello entered his 50s with dignity intact. He still plugs in and cuts loose from time to time, but the live album My Flame Burns Blue (2006) finds him in fine pop/torch mode. New takes on some familiar songs make this one a bit warmer than North (2003), a fine album of new originals with a comparable tone.
Even better for the grown-up Costello fan is Painted From Memory (1998), his collaboration with Bacharach and perhaps the first time I realized he was an amazing singer. His nasal warble more than holds its own against Bacharach's booming arrangements.
Pop fans will likely be leery of Costello's classical forays: The Juliet Letters (1993), a pretty album recorded with the Brodsky Quartet; For the Stars (2001); and the recent Il Sogno (2004). Stars is my favorite of these, with Costello and Swedish mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter finding some gleeful common ground in a well-chosen set of pop songs composed by Costello, Tom Waits, Brian Wilson and others.
Punch the Clock (1983) and Goodbye Cruel World (1984) represent one of two slumps. Clock boasts Everyday I Write the Book, and Cruel World has Room With No Number; both are enduring songs.
Spike (1989) includes the great Paul McCartney collaboration Veronica (one of his two radio hits on this side of the pond). Mighty Like a Rose (1991) opens with the shuffling The Other Side of Summer, but its McCartney collaborations aren't as magical.
Of course, feel free to set your own path. The symphonic format removes some of his great songs from their overromanticized original contexts. The lyrics and melodies, always strong with him, rise above historical commentary about whether a particular album was too country, too glossy or too mean.
andrew.dansby@chron.com
Houston Setlist
Just got back from the Houston Symphony show. In general, a tighter sounding show than Austin. ATUB felt more rehearsed on its second play. Hora Decubitus showed up in the encore tonight, complete with Elvis on electric guitar taking the solo when the song goes into the sorta "swing" section at the end. All in all, excellent show!
1. Il Sogno (suite)
2. The River In Reverse
3. All This Useless Beauty
4. The Birds Will Still Be Singing - followed by intermission
5. Still
6. Upon A Veil Of Midnight Blue
7. Veronica
8. Almost Blue
9. Watching The Detectives
10. My Flame Burns Blue (Blood Count)
11. She
12. God Give Me Strength
13. I Still Have That Other Girl
14. Alison
15. Hora Decubitus
16. Couldn't Call It Unexpected #4
1. Il Sogno (suite)
2. The River In Reverse
3. All This Useless Beauty
4. The Birds Will Still Be Singing - followed by intermission
5. Still
6. Upon A Veil Of Midnight Blue
7. Veronica
8. Almost Blue
9. Watching The Detectives
10. My Flame Burns Blue (Blood Count)
11. She
12. God Give Me Strength
13. I Still Have That Other Girl
14. Alison
15. Hora Decubitus
16. Couldn't Call It Unexpected #4
http://blogs.chron.com/setlist/archives ... tello.html
April 13, 2006
The Other Side of Costello
It's not fair to other songwriters that, after nearly three decades of strong songwriting, Elvis Costello may only now be reaching his prime. Thursday at Jones Hall the former punk rocker put on a tuxedo and his umpteenth identity to prove once and for all that he has added classical arranger and big band vocalist to his repertoire and that he wants to be taken seriously.
With the Houston Symphony as his backing band (along with longtime collaborator and bandmate, pianist Steve Nieve), Costello unveiled a two-and-a-half show that included a 50 minute overview of his orchestral composition Il Sogno and a load of rare and well-loved songs from his rock 'n' roll career.
This was not a night of three-chord guitar loops. This was big boy music arranging with flugelhorns, oboes, brass, strings and a giant gong.
Costello, 52, spent much of the last 12 years in his own personal music school learning how to write and arrange for a symphony. It is the type of creative discipline all other self-satisfied pop artists wouldn't bother with. That he was also able to completely reinvent guitar-based classics like Alison and Watching the Detectives in the process for this large ensemble made this performance epic.
Following the Il Sogno suite Costello grabbed his guitar and warmed up his loyalists with a march through The River In Reverse, the title song of his new album collaboration with New Orleans R&B legend Allen Toussaint that is scheduled for release this summer. For Costello adding new dimensions is often a domino effect.
After The River in Reverse he set aside his ever-present guitar and gave us a look at Elvis as a member of the Rat Pack. For the romantic Upon a Veil of Midnight Blue and the lush ballad Still he clutched and tilted his mike stand is if it were his dancing partner. On Veronica he again went for his guitar, but sang in a lower octave to give it new form.
Other songs such as Almost Blue and My Flame Burns Blue found Costello purring at the crowd and counting out the rhythm with head bobs as if possessed by Frank Sinatra. These songs were performed as if symphonic scoring was always an option for them.
Costello has clearly unlocked a creative door as he worked to bring his symphonic vision to the stage. After seeing and hearing these early results, I can't wait to hear more. At long last, Costello the arranger is getting respect from his own fans, the classical crowd and assorted local celebrity guests including Marvin Zindler and Jeff Bagwell.
April 13, 2006
The Other Side of Costello
It's not fair to other songwriters that, after nearly three decades of strong songwriting, Elvis Costello may only now be reaching his prime. Thursday at Jones Hall the former punk rocker put on a tuxedo and his umpteenth identity to prove once and for all that he has added classical arranger and big band vocalist to his repertoire and that he wants to be taken seriously.
With the Houston Symphony as his backing band (along with longtime collaborator and bandmate, pianist Steve Nieve), Costello unveiled a two-and-a-half show that included a 50 minute overview of his orchestral composition Il Sogno and a load of rare and well-loved songs from his rock 'n' roll career.
This was not a night of three-chord guitar loops. This was big boy music arranging with flugelhorns, oboes, brass, strings and a giant gong.
Costello, 52, spent much of the last 12 years in his own personal music school learning how to write and arrange for a symphony. It is the type of creative discipline all other self-satisfied pop artists wouldn't bother with. That he was also able to completely reinvent guitar-based classics like Alison and Watching the Detectives in the process for this large ensemble made this performance epic.
Following the Il Sogno suite Costello grabbed his guitar and warmed up his loyalists with a march through The River In Reverse, the title song of his new album collaboration with New Orleans R&B legend Allen Toussaint that is scheduled for release this summer. For Costello adding new dimensions is often a domino effect.
After The River in Reverse he set aside his ever-present guitar and gave us a look at Elvis as a member of the Rat Pack. For the romantic Upon a Veil of Midnight Blue and the lush ballad Still he clutched and tilted his mike stand is if it were his dancing partner. On Veronica he again went for his guitar, but sang in a lower octave to give it new form.
Other songs such as Almost Blue and My Flame Burns Blue found Costello purring at the crowd and counting out the rhythm with head bobs as if possessed by Frank Sinatra. These songs were performed as if symphonic scoring was always an option for them.
Costello has clearly unlocked a creative door as he worked to bring his symphonic vision to the stage. After seeing and hearing these early results, I can't wait to hear more. At long last, Costello the arranger is getting respect from his own fans, the classical crowd and assorted local celebrity guests including Marvin Zindler and Jeff Bagwell.
Interesting preview piece -
http://www.houstonpress.com/Issues/2006 ... music.html
Houston Press 2006-04-13
True Aim, Blue Flame
How Elvis Costello turned his eclectic nature into career gold
By Scott Faingold
My dog-eared copy of the Trouser Press Record Guide (1991) gushingly declares Elvis Costello, at that point a mere 14 years into his career, to be "the King Kong of modern music." Another decade and a half later, the cyberspace-era TP equivalent Pitchforkmedia posed the question of "when, exactly, Costello became unbearably lame."
I would contend that EC circa 2006, while certainly no dominating musical behemoth, is also not some doddering, clueless has-been. In fact, there is evidence to suggest that Costello may just be the most consistently successful (in both artistic and commercial terms) recording artist of all time.
He's certainly among the most ambitious. Right from his 1977 punk-era debut, the Liverpudlian bandleader's son seemed compulsively restless, trying on every style of pop music that his scrappy backing combo, the Attractions, could bring themselves to approximate, from the new-wave reggae of "Watching the Detectives" to the Mysterians-style Farfisa attack of This Year's Model to the straight reading of "My Funny Valentine," which showed up on the B-side of the ABBA-esque "Oliver's Army" single to the shamelessly Tamla-Motown-inspired Get Happy!! album. And that brings us all the way up to -- what? -- 1980?
The following year, Costello took this tendency past the brink of mere dilettantism, making the first of several potential career-suicide moves via the release of Almost Blue, an LP consisting entirely of country-and-western covers recorded in Nashville. Members of his fan base split violently over the mere idea of their erstwhile "punk" hero doing George Jones and Loretta Lynn tunes, but the album arguably laid the template for the entire alt-country movement, with country-inspired bands like Jason & the Scorchers and songs like R.E.M.'s "Rockville" rendered implicitly hip with the imprimatur of the ber-hip Brit rocker. Personally, Almost Blue was an awakening for me: At the time, I was mindlessly prejudiced against all country music, but my teenage respect for Costello allowed me to see past my musical bigotry and to begin to appreciate the songwriting genius of Merle Haggard and Hank Williams, in much the same way that Talking Heads had hipped me to the charms of Al Green, James Brown and Parliament.
And so it went from then on with Costello's career: always refusing to stand still long enough for anyone to draw a bead on him, continuing to release eclectic rock albums at an alarming rate and even reaching No. 36 on the U.S. singles charts with "Everyday I Write the Book" in '83. In fact, Billboard magazine credits Costello with the surprising achievement of having released the most Top 40 albums of any artist during the '80s -- mainly because nobody else released as many albums in the '80s, period.
In 1991, Costello shocked and annoyed his already overtaxed following once again with the release of The Juliet Letters, a chamber-music song cycle composed in collaboration with the Brodsky string quartet. Costello's record label was at a loss for how to market the disc, but the suite did find a fan in none other than sophisticated pop maestro Burt Bacharach, with whom Costello would soon collaborate, to great effect on both men's careers.
It was with the release of Bacharach and Costello's Painted from Memory CD that Costello's career distinctly diverges from those of pretty much all of his peers and predecessors. As a microcosm of this transformation, I offer the following anecdote from my days in music retail.
It was 1997, and PBS had recently aired an episode of Great Performances following the genesis of the Bacharach-Costello partnership. A middle-aged female bank manager who was a regular customer at my store in Chicago came in raving about how "wonderful" the special was, and particularly how charming that suave, porkpie-hatted English singer was. She purchased Painted from Memory and loved it so much that every time I saw her, she would ask me if I could sell her "anything else like that one." Eventually, she bought a copy of Costello's All This Useless Beauty CD. Afterward, this lady was so offended by that (fairly tame) record's relatively rocked-up arrangements that she pretty much never spoke to me again. She seemed to feel that I had deliberately spit in her coffee by selling it to her. Which, oddly enough, was how many of Costello's rock fans felt about the Bacharach disc.
And therein lies the subtle brilliance of Costello's current career mode. It's understandable that the rockist young snarkmeisters at Pitchfork would be baffled by the seeming inconsistency of the now fiftysomething's recent output (the computer-assisted rock of When I Was Cruel followed by the jazz balladry of North, in turn followed by the simultaneous release of the roots-rocking Delivery Man and Costello's first full-length symphonic composition, Il Sogno), but it's hard to picture EC losing too much sleep over the diss. The fact is, Costello has managed to score an unprecedented recording contract with the Universal Music Group that allows him not only complete artistic control but the ability to release each record on the Uni subsidiary deemed most appropriate for reaching its intended audience. Hence, Delivery Man came out on the country-friendly Lost Highway label, while North and Il Sogno were both released under the classical-centric Deutsche Grammophon imprint.
Even more impressive, this diversification scheme is working: While reviled by rock fans, North went to No. 1 on Billboard's Traditional Jazz chart, while Il Sogno spent 14 weeks in the top spot for Contemporary Classical. None of which hindered Delivery Man from sailing to his traditional No. 40 on the pop chart.
Costello's latest Deutsche Grammophon release is another groundbreaker: a head-spinning live performance of old and new songs recorded at the North Sea Jazz Festival that finds Costello singing in front of the massive Metropole Orkest and easily holding his own. It's this bigger-than-big-band approach that he'll be replicating this week when he and longtime keyboardist Steve Nieve hook up with the Houston Symphony Orchestra.
We should all be so "unbearably lame."
http://www.houstonpress.com/Issues/2006 ... music.html
Houston Press 2006-04-13
True Aim, Blue Flame
How Elvis Costello turned his eclectic nature into career gold
By Scott Faingold
My dog-eared copy of the Trouser Press Record Guide (1991) gushingly declares Elvis Costello, at that point a mere 14 years into his career, to be "the King Kong of modern music." Another decade and a half later, the cyberspace-era TP equivalent Pitchforkmedia posed the question of "when, exactly, Costello became unbearably lame."
I would contend that EC circa 2006, while certainly no dominating musical behemoth, is also not some doddering, clueless has-been. In fact, there is evidence to suggest that Costello may just be the most consistently successful (in both artistic and commercial terms) recording artist of all time.
He's certainly among the most ambitious. Right from his 1977 punk-era debut, the Liverpudlian bandleader's son seemed compulsively restless, trying on every style of pop music that his scrappy backing combo, the Attractions, could bring themselves to approximate, from the new-wave reggae of "Watching the Detectives" to the Mysterians-style Farfisa attack of This Year's Model to the straight reading of "My Funny Valentine," which showed up on the B-side of the ABBA-esque "Oliver's Army" single to the shamelessly Tamla-Motown-inspired Get Happy!! album. And that brings us all the way up to -- what? -- 1980?
The following year, Costello took this tendency past the brink of mere dilettantism, making the first of several potential career-suicide moves via the release of Almost Blue, an LP consisting entirely of country-and-western covers recorded in Nashville. Members of his fan base split violently over the mere idea of their erstwhile "punk" hero doing George Jones and Loretta Lynn tunes, but the album arguably laid the template for the entire alt-country movement, with country-inspired bands like Jason & the Scorchers and songs like R.E.M.'s "Rockville" rendered implicitly hip with the imprimatur of the ber-hip Brit rocker. Personally, Almost Blue was an awakening for me: At the time, I was mindlessly prejudiced against all country music, but my teenage respect for Costello allowed me to see past my musical bigotry and to begin to appreciate the songwriting genius of Merle Haggard and Hank Williams, in much the same way that Talking Heads had hipped me to the charms of Al Green, James Brown and Parliament.
And so it went from then on with Costello's career: always refusing to stand still long enough for anyone to draw a bead on him, continuing to release eclectic rock albums at an alarming rate and even reaching No. 36 on the U.S. singles charts with "Everyday I Write the Book" in '83. In fact, Billboard magazine credits Costello with the surprising achievement of having released the most Top 40 albums of any artist during the '80s -- mainly because nobody else released as many albums in the '80s, period.
In 1991, Costello shocked and annoyed his already overtaxed following once again with the release of The Juliet Letters, a chamber-music song cycle composed in collaboration with the Brodsky string quartet. Costello's record label was at a loss for how to market the disc, but the suite did find a fan in none other than sophisticated pop maestro Burt Bacharach, with whom Costello would soon collaborate, to great effect on both men's careers.
It was with the release of Bacharach and Costello's Painted from Memory CD that Costello's career distinctly diverges from those of pretty much all of his peers and predecessors. As a microcosm of this transformation, I offer the following anecdote from my days in music retail.
It was 1997, and PBS had recently aired an episode of Great Performances following the genesis of the Bacharach-Costello partnership. A middle-aged female bank manager who was a regular customer at my store in Chicago came in raving about how "wonderful" the special was, and particularly how charming that suave, porkpie-hatted English singer was. She purchased Painted from Memory and loved it so much that every time I saw her, she would ask me if I could sell her "anything else like that one." Eventually, she bought a copy of Costello's All This Useless Beauty CD. Afterward, this lady was so offended by that (fairly tame) record's relatively rocked-up arrangements that she pretty much never spoke to me again. She seemed to feel that I had deliberately spit in her coffee by selling it to her. Which, oddly enough, was how many of Costello's rock fans felt about the Bacharach disc.
And therein lies the subtle brilliance of Costello's current career mode. It's understandable that the rockist young snarkmeisters at Pitchfork would be baffled by the seeming inconsistency of the now fiftysomething's recent output (the computer-assisted rock of When I Was Cruel followed by the jazz balladry of North, in turn followed by the simultaneous release of the roots-rocking Delivery Man and Costello's first full-length symphonic composition, Il Sogno), but it's hard to picture EC losing too much sleep over the diss. The fact is, Costello has managed to score an unprecedented recording contract with the Universal Music Group that allows him not only complete artistic control but the ability to release each record on the Uni subsidiary deemed most appropriate for reaching its intended audience. Hence, Delivery Man came out on the country-friendly Lost Highway label, while North and Il Sogno were both released under the classical-centric Deutsche Grammophon imprint.
Even more impressive, this diversification scheme is working: While reviled by rock fans, North went to No. 1 on Billboard's Traditional Jazz chart, while Il Sogno spent 14 weeks in the top spot for Contemporary Classical. None of which hindered Delivery Man from sailing to his traditional No. 40 on the pop chart.
Costello's latest Deutsche Grammophon release is another groundbreaker: a head-spinning live performance of old and new songs recorded at the North Sea Jazz Festival that finds Costello singing in front of the massive Metropole Orkest and easily holding his own. It's this bigger-than-big-band approach that he'll be replicating this week when he and longtime keyboardist Steve Nieve hook up with the Houston Symphony Orchestra.
We should all be so "unbearably lame."
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guidedbyvoices
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- Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2005 1:14 pm
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wwallace already posted the setlist, so I'll just post my thoughts. all in all, a really nice night. We had 2d row on the side of the stage opposite the piano, so we didn't get to see Nieve so much, just his red socks, and the melodca seemed to have trouble during Almost Blue. But seeing him 3 times previous, I consider it a success when I'd only heard 5 of the 15 songs live before.
Now a gripe, and hopefuly this person's not on this list, but screw it. we sat directly behind the world's most annoying fan ever. Hey, at rock shows, I'm all about standing, dancing, singing along. But I'm a "when in Rome, do as Romans" kind of guy, and this was a night to hear Elvis really sing. First of all, she was talking to the guys on both sides of her through chunks of Il Sogno, mostly quietly, but it's distracting since she's in your line of view. She would whisper to one of them at really bad times, like pregnant pauses before Elvis kept singing. Consider that up that close, you're looking at the orchestras shoes, well if the guy on sax was soloing 8 rows back, she would crane and try and see the guy, or if elvis' head was blocked from her sight, she would bend herself round to see him better. I'm not talking discretely, either. She pretty much ruined Veronica for me by not even clapping in time (she was the only one clapping, lte alone spastically). Snapping like a zoot suit goon in detectives. Very distracting, but yet, not insane enough to kick her chair or anything, I guess she was just this side of not saying anything so I wouldn't have to get in an argument with someone who seemed drunk, retarded, or on happy pills. Luckily, I kind of blocked her out by the end, and really enjoyed the show.
May she forever get shitty seats to shows for the rest of her life.
Now a gripe, and hopefuly this person's not on this list, but screw it. we sat directly behind the world's most annoying fan ever. Hey, at rock shows, I'm all about standing, dancing, singing along. But I'm a "when in Rome, do as Romans" kind of guy, and this was a night to hear Elvis really sing. First of all, she was talking to the guys on both sides of her through chunks of Il Sogno, mostly quietly, but it's distracting since she's in your line of view. She would whisper to one of them at really bad times, like pregnant pauses before Elvis kept singing. Consider that up that close, you're looking at the orchestras shoes, well if the guy on sax was soloing 8 rows back, she would crane and try and see the guy, or if elvis' head was blocked from her sight, she would bend herself round to see him better. I'm not talking discretely, either. She pretty much ruined Veronica for me by not even clapping in time (she was the only one clapping, lte alone spastically). Snapping like a zoot suit goon in detectives. Very distracting, but yet, not insane enough to kick her chair or anything, I guess she was just this side of not saying anything so I wouldn't have to get in an argument with someone who seemed drunk, retarded, or on happy pills. Luckily, I kind of blocked her out by the end, and really enjoyed the show.
May she forever get shitty seats to shows for the rest of her life.
we have powerlines in our bloodlines
http://untidytowns.blogspot.com/2006/04 ... tives.html
Friday, April 14, 2006
Kate 'blogs' -
watching the detectives
Like those doomed in One Hundred Years of Solitude and Things Fall Apart, my story has been foretold. I've had the clues for months, but not until this morning, over an MSG-coated box of faux Chinese food, was I able to finally decipher my fate.
Last night I unleashed the proverbial Big Guns with my mother. It's a herditary curse that I seek her approval despite the bickering, insults, and occasional flying cheese grater. For this superfluous reason, I skipped 8th period on Wednesday to wait in line for 4 miserable hours with deranged lunatics for last minute Elvis Costello tickets.
For the price of a used colon, I got last row, "obstructed view" tickets. Despite the infamous umbilical cord, our interests have always varied since my birth. While I was attracted to the arts, my mother fancied lip collagen and sadistic torture. Elvis Costello is the last link in our decaying mother-daughter relationship and the only basis on which I could convince my mother to accept my New York residence.
It was the first concert I've been to in months in which there were actual seats and the floor wasn't carpeted with beer bottle shards and bacterial diseases. There was even an orchestra, which I thought was a quaint gesture. I thought it best to flow the positive energy between us, so I gushed, "Wow! An orchestra!" But my mother just sneered from her cushioned seat and said, "Elvis is best acoustic and raw."
I couldn't believe it: my mother was a music snob! Suddenly she was a new woman, and I looked up to her with hushed reverence. As the show progressed, her snide comments were like a heavenly tonic. She attacked with the pretentious weariness of a Pitchfork staffer or (dare I say it?) Aidan. She complained about the string section and requested obscure demo songs from never released EPs. I was in awe.
During a lovely ("theatrical" according to mum) rendition of "Red Shoes," she lay aside her scorn for a brief moment of compassion: "Okay, you win. Go to New York." I mouthed a Thank You to Elvis, and in a rush of gratitude, I hugged my mother. If she had reciprocated, a new friendship would be baptized in the waters of Costello. But she was still my mother, and screeched, "Agh! You know I just had my cheeks done!"
I sincerely hoped she meant the cheeks on her face.
Friday, April 14, 2006
Kate 'blogs' -
watching the detectives
Like those doomed in One Hundred Years of Solitude and Things Fall Apart, my story has been foretold. I've had the clues for months, but not until this morning, over an MSG-coated box of faux Chinese food, was I able to finally decipher my fate.
Last night I unleashed the proverbial Big Guns with my mother. It's a herditary curse that I seek her approval despite the bickering, insults, and occasional flying cheese grater. For this superfluous reason, I skipped 8th period on Wednesday to wait in line for 4 miserable hours with deranged lunatics for last minute Elvis Costello tickets.
For the price of a used colon, I got last row, "obstructed view" tickets. Despite the infamous umbilical cord, our interests have always varied since my birth. While I was attracted to the arts, my mother fancied lip collagen and sadistic torture. Elvis Costello is the last link in our decaying mother-daughter relationship and the only basis on which I could convince my mother to accept my New York residence.
It was the first concert I've been to in months in which there were actual seats and the floor wasn't carpeted with beer bottle shards and bacterial diseases. There was even an orchestra, which I thought was a quaint gesture. I thought it best to flow the positive energy between us, so I gushed, "Wow! An orchestra!" But my mother just sneered from her cushioned seat and said, "Elvis is best acoustic and raw."
I couldn't believe it: my mother was a music snob! Suddenly she was a new woman, and I looked up to her with hushed reverence. As the show progressed, her snide comments were like a heavenly tonic. She attacked with the pretentious weariness of a Pitchfork staffer or (dare I say it?) Aidan. She complained about the string section and requested obscure demo songs from never released EPs. I was in awe.
During a lovely ("theatrical" according to mum) rendition of "Red Shoes," she lay aside her scorn for a brief moment of compassion: "Okay, you win. Go to New York." I mouthed a Thank You to Elvis, and in a rush of gratitude, I hugged my mother. If she had reciprocated, a new friendship would be baptized in the waters of Costello. But she was still my mother, and screeched, "Agh! You know I just had my cheeks done!"
I sincerely hoped she meant the cheeks on her face.
http://blogs.chron.com/setlist/archives ... llo_2.html
Dave Rossman : For the Chronicle
Elvis Costello performs Thursday with the Houston Symphony at Jones Hall.
Dave Rossman : For the Chronicle
Elvis Costello performs Thursday with the Houston Symphony at Jones Hall.
http://www.wireimage.com/GalleryListing ... ld=&nbc1=1
Elvis Costello in Concert with the Houston Symphony at Jones Hall in Houston - April 13, 2006
Elvis Costello and Cindy Rose
Elvis Costello Houston Concert After Party - April 13, 2006
Elvis Costello in Concert with the Houston Symphony at Jones Hall in Houston - April 13, 2006
Elvis Costello and Cindy Rose
Elvis Costello Houston Concert After Party - April 13, 2006
http://www.angryrobot.net/archives/2006 ... _we_d.html
April 17, 2006
"What shall we do, what shall we do with all this useless beauty?"
By Karin Kathode
( extract)
Costello is currently making the rounds of various concert halls with Steve Nieve, playing a program that includes a suite from Il Sogno, the music that Costello composed for an Italian ballet troupe’s performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and an assortment of songs from across his career arranged for an orchestra. Even if the results of the latter aren’t always perfectly successful—about which more in a bit—Costello’s consummate showmanship is always enjoyable, and this show was no exception.
The Il Sogno suite has a tendency to sound more like a collection of incidental music than a coherent suite, but it’s an enjoyable listen all the same. The style ranges from classical to swinging jazz (Puck being, as Costello put it in his opening remarks, “a jazz fairyâ€
April 17, 2006
"What shall we do, what shall we do with all this useless beauty?"
By Karin Kathode
( extract)
Costello is currently making the rounds of various concert halls with Steve Nieve, playing a program that includes a suite from Il Sogno, the music that Costello composed for an Italian ballet troupe’s performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and an assortment of songs from across his career arranged for an orchestra. Even if the results of the latter aren’t always perfectly successful—about which more in a bit—Costello’s consummate showmanship is always enjoyable, and this show was no exception.
The Il Sogno suite has a tendency to sound more like a collection of incidental music than a coherent suite, but it’s an enjoyable listen all the same. The style ranges from classical to swinging jazz (Puck being, as Costello put it in his opening remarks, “a jazz fairyâ€
Word.
This was my first Elvis show and I'm not the least bit disappointed.
I was real skeptical about the Il Sogno suite. It was better than I expected. Obviously that's not what anybody was really there to hear, but it moved along quickly enough, had some nice jazzy moments, and best of all, Elvis was sitting just a few feet in front of me the whole time (an unexpected perk of sitting 15 rows back). People were slamming this portion of the show pretty hard in the bathrooms during intermission, but you know, it wasn't bad...it just wasn't what we came to see.
I was relieved once Elvis took the stage with guitar in hand. I wasn't expecting that at all, for some reason. The River in Reverse joint was cool, I hadn't heard it before. I'll agree with the above review that things got off to a semi-clunky start with the symphony on All This Useless Beauty, but by the end of the song, goddamn. I knew we were in for some serious heat.
I really liked that they didn't try to shoehorn symphonic arrangements into *every* song. If a tune only called for Elvis and his acoustic, then that's how it got played. Occasionally he would even wander away from the mic and just project his voice naturally. The guy didn't miss a note and the acoustics in Jones hall are no joke. It was pretty powerful stuff.
Highlights were aplenty... both the Bacharach tunes were tops, which is really no surprise as they're quite well suited for symphonic arrangement. Veronica was dope, that new Watching the Detectives arrangment really cooked as well. Hell, it all sounded good. Even 'She', a song which I previously liked to pretend didn't exist. What can I say? He killed 'She'!
And don't get me started on Allison. Just when I think I'm ready to stop listening to that song, it goes and destroys me all over again. That one really brought the house down, but Hora Decubitus was like the icing on the cake. Elvis ripped a quick, swingy electric guitar solo and it was like 1978 all over again. The dude can still rock it, even in a tuxedo.
I recommend this one, folks.
This was my first Elvis show and I'm not the least bit disappointed.
I was real skeptical about the Il Sogno suite. It was better than I expected. Obviously that's not what anybody was really there to hear, but it moved along quickly enough, had some nice jazzy moments, and best of all, Elvis was sitting just a few feet in front of me the whole time (an unexpected perk of sitting 15 rows back). People were slamming this portion of the show pretty hard in the bathrooms during intermission, but you know, it wasn't bad...it just wasn't what we came to see.
I was relieved once Elvis took the stage with guitar in hand. I wasn't expecting that at all, for some reason. The River in Reverse joint was cool, I hadn't heard it before. I'll agree with the above review that things got off to a semi-clunky start with the symphony on All This Useless Beauty, but by the end of the song, goddamn. I knew we were in for some serious heat.
I really liked that they didn't try to shoehorn symphonic arrangements into *every* song. If a tune only called for Elvis and his acoustic, then that's how it got played. Occasionally he would even wander away from the mic and just project his voice naturally. The guy didn't miss a note and the acoustics in Jones hall are no joke. It was pretty powerful stuff.
Highlights were aplenty... both the Bacharach tunes were tops, which is really no surprise as they're quite well suited for symphonic arrangement. Veronica was dope, that new Watching the Detectives arrangment really cooked as well. Hell, it all sounded good. Even 'She', a song which I previously liked to pretend didn't exist. What can I say? He killed 'She'!
And don't get me started on Allison. Just when I think I'm ready to stop listening to that song, it goes and destroys me all over again. That one really brought the house down, but Hora Decubitus was like the icing on the cake. Elvis ripped a quick, swingy electric guitar solo and it was like 1978 all over again. The dude can still rock it, even in a tuxedo.
I recommend this one, folks.
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verbal gymnastics
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- Joined: Wed Jun 11, 2003 6:44 am
- Location: Magic lantern land
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/lif ... 05599.html
Cindi Rose and Elvis Costello onstage at Jones Hall, where Cindi and Dr. Franklin Rose chaired the "Rubbin' Elbows With Elvis Costello" benefit for the Houston Symphony after Costello's Jones Hall performance with the orchestra.
Dave Rossman: For the Chronicle
April 19, 2006, 6:34PM
PARTY WATCH
By SHELBY HODGE
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle
Rock stars
Who: Cindi Rose and Elvis Costello.
Where & what: Onstage at Jones Hall, where Cindi and Dr. Franklin Rose chaired the"Rubbin' Elbows With Elvis Costello" benefit for the Houston Symphony after Costello's Jones Hall performance with the orchestra.
Misc: Dressed like and partying like rock stars were co-chairs Joyce and Hugh Echols, Amanda Mills and Dave Thomas. Big benefit supporters and big Costello fans were Karen and Eric Pulaski, Franco Valobra, Nancy and Erik Littlejohn, Susan and Michael Plank and Michael DeMarse
Cindi Rose and Elvis Costello onstage at Jones Hall, where Cindi and Dr. Franklin Rose chaired the "Rubbin' Elbows With Elvis Costello" benefit for the Houston Symphony after Costello's Jones Hall performance with the orchestra.
Dave Rossman: For the Chronicle
April 19, 2006, 6:34PM
PARTY WATCH
By SHELBY HODGE
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle
Rock stars
Who: Cindi Rose and Elvis Costello.
Where & what: Onstage at Jones Hall, where Cindi and Dr. Franklin Rose chaired the"Rubbin' Elbows With Elvis Costello" benefit for the Houston Symphony after Costello's Jones Hall performance with the orchestra.
Misc: Dressed like and partying like rock stars were co-chairs Joyce and Hugh Echols, Amanda Mills and Dave Thomas. Big benefit supporters and big Costello fans were Karen and Eric Pulaski, Franco Valobra, Nancy and Erik Littlejohn, Susan and Michael Plank and Michael DeMarse