New album for 2013: "Wise Up Ghost" (with The Roots!)

[John]

Hurray CD just arrived! Smells good, CD took a bit of a tug to get out but no glue, sounds.....well just as good as the copy I've been listening to for the last couple of weeks but without those annoying hiccups between tracks when you have burnt mp3 files.
Nice long trip in the car today solo so can give it a good blast.

[Neil.]

Hurray CD just arrived!

Play this first, regarding the longed-for arrival:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3TUWU_yg4s

[And No Coffee Table]

Elvis Costello: Music Competition Show Judges Are 'Self-Promoting and Obnoxious'
September 28, 2013 – 7:00 AM
By Walter Scott

The singer-songwriter, 59, has a funk-flavored album with the Roots, Wise Up Ghost, out now.

What sparked this collaboration with the Roots?
We’d played together on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon and it was a lot of fun. There are things they do that I can’t, and I write things they can’t. It works well.

You’ve written hundreds of songs.
Contrary to appearances, I’m lazy. But when a song is coming, I’m often in a trancelike state. Next thing I know, I have a song.

Would you ever want to be a judge on a music competition show?
I’ve been asked, but you won’t see me as a judge anytime soon. [Those shows] create an illusion that there’s a short route to success. The judges have lucked their way into positions of power and are mostly self-promoting and obnoxious.

How do you and your wife, singer Diana Krall, like to spend time off?
We have a place by the water and find joy in simple things—like looking at the stars—that adults forget to do.

[sweetest punch]

This site has the album sales of some European countries on 2013/09/28: http://www.ultratop.be/nl/showitem.asp? ... 2013&cat=a

Belgium
Entry: 21/09/2013 (Positie 46)
Last week: 28/09/2013 (Positie 31)
Peak position: 31 (1 week)
Number of weeks: 2
All time position: 4797 (325 Punten)

Other countries:

Switserland
Peak: 12 / Weeks: 1

Germany
Peak: 29 / Weeks: 1

Austria:
Peak: 48 / Weeks: 1

Holland
Peak: 35 / Weeks: 2

Belgium
Peak: 31 / Weeks: 2 (Flanders)
Peak: 129 / Weeks: 2 (Wallonia)

Spain:
Peak: 66 / Weeks: 1

Australia:
Peak: 40 / Weeks: 1

[verbal gymnastics]

Would you ever want to be a judge on a music competition show?[/b]
I’ve been asked

I wonder which one(s).

[sweetest punch]

http://thedailycougar.com/2013/09/26/re ... e-ghost-_/

Review: Elvis Costello and The Roots, ‘Wise Up Ghost’

Elvis Costello and The Roots released their collaborative album “Wise Up Ghost” on Sept. 17. Since Costello is considered one of the greatest artists of all time, and The Roots are regarded as the definitive band of hip hop, their broad range of talents fuse effortlessly. The album delivers everything you would expect from the all-star alliance: an abundance of metaphors, slick rhythms and an array of haunting yet jazzy melodies that brim with energy and Costello’s signature thought-provoking lyrics.

The Roots have worked with a lot of big names, from Jay-Z to John Legend, and Elvis has recorded with the godfather himself, Paul McCartney, so it’s no surprise that “Wise Up Ghost” meets all the criteria of a classic album. Although lead member Black Thought does not make an appearance, the essence of The Roots’ eclectic style is splattered through out, and Costello’s intelligent writing powers the record from start to finish.

The album begins with untamed electric synth and sounds of static, as if its quirks are still being refined. “Walk Us Uptown” is the first track of an onslaught that allows for no fillers or weak spots. Singing over an infectious drum pattern by Questlove, Costello questions salvation and emphasizes political undertones with the lines “Will you wash away our sins/In the cross-fire and cross-currents/As you uncross your fingers/And take out some insurance?” Many of the lyrics are left for the listener to decipher and offer depth along with a captivating melody.

“Wake Me Up” has a little bit of it all: powerful words, smooth grooves and a bass line that hooks its victim from the opening note. With subtle guitar, horns and a timeless hip hop drum rhythm, Costello speaks of tragedy and escape as he sings, “Where the wretched plunge/We’ve buried all the innocents/We must bury revenge.” The track alludes to current events, as it references Palestine and Jerusalem and mentions the battle of religion and state when Costello sings, “In the name of the Father and the Son/In the name of gasoline and a gun/Wake me up … There must be something better than this.”

“Wise Up Ghost” surely deserves to be considered one of the top albums released this year. Costello and The Roots have put together an extraordinary arrangement of music and are sure to win many awards. With the success of their first effort, one can assume that more work between these legends is soon to come.

[sweetest punch]

http://www.newsadvance.com/the_burg/mus ... 0f31a.html

Elvis Costello teams up with the Roots on the shockingly resonant, perfectly pitched 'Wise Up Ghost'

It's been quite a while — at least a couple of decades — since Elvis Costello has had to worry about proving himself in any significant way.

Back in the late ’70s, when he emerged from post-punk England as an aggressively awkward, angry young man in thick-framed Buddy Holly glasses — with an acerbic tongue, an enervated stance and a defining penchant for brilliant wordplay — it may have been a different story. After all, it's no secret that the rock establishment isn't generally in the habit of handing merit badges out to the smartest kid in the class.

That may have put Costello at a slight disadvantage. But it was a disadvantage that he appeared to revel in, and it only seemed to fuel his expansive ambitions.

In short order, he assembled a tightly coiled backing band, the Attractions, who helped to define the look, feel, sound and attitude of what was widely dubbed "new wave;" he conquered the States with a trio of now classic discs that rank among the best three albums any artist has ever started a career with; and he rather rapidly began the process of expanding his artistic vistas, delving into gritty American R&B on 1980's "Get Happy!!," decamping Dylan-style to Nashville to immerse himself in the country stylings of 1981's "Almost Blue," and restively moving from the grand, orchestral rock of 1982's "Imperial Bedroom" to the punchy, horn-accented Philly-style soul of 1983's "Punch the Clock."

By 1986, just nine years after releasing his first single (the pointedly prescient anti-fascist salvo "Less Than Zero"), Costello was well within his rights donning a crown on his 10th album, the cagily titled "King of America," even if that particular sobriquet was laced with a certain amount of sarcasm.

But Costello's never been one to rest on his laurels: Like an adrenaline starved thrill seeker, he's continually sought out new musical challenges, testing the mettle of his muse in wide-ranging collaborations with an eclectic, seemingly endless array of fellow travelers.

The list is long and distinguished. It includes pop royalty (Paul McCartney, Burt Bacharach), jazz guys (trumpeter Chet Baker, guitarist Bill Frisell), classical folks (the Brodsky Quartet), a New Orleans institution (pianist/composer Allen Toussaint) and, in recent years, Emmylou Harris, Lucinda Williams and Rilo Kiley's Jenny Lewis.

So perhaps it's not entirely surprising that his newest out-of-the-blue project, "Wise Up Ghost," an album on the jazz-associated Blue Note label, pairs Costello with the acclaimed Philadelphia-schooled hip-hop group the Roots.

Actually, the Roots really are a band in the sense that, like the Beastie Boys before them, they're seasoned instrumentalists who have proven more than capable of holding their own as a malleable musical squad on "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon," where they've been stationed since the show began airing in 2009.

That's how Costello and the Roots' gregarious drummer Ahmir "Questlove" (or "?uestlove") Thompson — the band's most recognizable spokesperson, if not quite their frontman — first met, exchanged mutual admirations and hatched the idea of joining forces, if only for a remix or two.

Again, nothing particularly surprising there; Costello is an avowed polymath, with a nearly boundless proclivity for musical experimentation, and, along with their other notable credits, the Roots have spent the last four years backing all kinds of artists on the Fallon show. Plus, the style of hip-hop practiced by the Roots is rooted in the same wellspring of classic soul and R&B that's been central to sustaining Costello since his earliest recordings.

That said, Costello's been accused in the past, fairly or not, of mere genre hopping, as if it were really all that easy to just dip into jazz, country or classic music. And I recently heard someone — and it wasn't Dr. Phil — refer to him as a "serial collaborator," which frankly sounds more like a bogus psychological diagnosis or a BAU designation for a pernicious unsub on "Criminal Minds" than a meaningful critique.

Then again, it often isn't all that pretty when rock dudes, particularly older rock dudes, decide to dabble in hip-hip. Like neurosurgery and ice motorcycle racing, rapping just doesn't really lend well to dabbling.

Fortunately, "Wise Up Ghost" isn't that kind of collaboration. Costello didn't come to this particular party primed to ply his talents as a rhyme-slinging emcee. So, no, you won't find any serious dropping of badass science on "Wise Up Ghost."

Nor will you find Black Thought, the Roots resident wordsmith, which strikes me as a smart move. All due respect to Black Thought, I'm just not sure I need to hear a 59-year-old Costello sparring with a seasoned rapper of Black Thought's caliber, any more than I'm anxious to hear Costello crooning the chorus on a Jay-Z single. While I'm not philosophically opposed to rock/pop/rap fusions, just because something might have worked in this particular case doesn't make it necessary.

Not all of Costello's past collaborations have yielded great dividends. His work with McCartney and Bacharach, for example, was perfectly pleasant. But both delivered more in the way of stylistic flourish than substance, and never fully managed to add up to more than the sum of their admittedly impressive parts.

What makes "Wake Up Ghost" so refreshingly different is that neither party seems intent on copping the other's approach.

Questlove, whose impeccable drumming and intuitive grooves form the foundation of "Wise Up Ghost," and Steve Mandel, who co-produced the disc with Questlove and Costello, employ hip-hop's low-end theory, isolating instrumental samples to create recurring loops (strings, horns, organs, etc.) that surface over ominously deep bass tones and sharply rendered rhythms.

But the song structures and melodies are very much Costello's, even when his voice is all that's left guiding the bass and drums.

If the results seem strangely familiar, it's because, well, they are. The disc opens with a glitched-up keyboard figure, but as "Walk Us Uptown" comes into focus, with its dubby feel, staccato guitar reports and soulful organ tones, it begins to resemble the reggae-inflected derivations of "Watching the Detectives," one of the first tracks Costello cut with the Attractions in ’77.

"Will you walk us uptown while our tears run in torrents?," Costello asks no one in particular, channeling a mixture of paranoia and anxiety. "You can suffer in silence or pray for some solace/Will you wash away our sins in the crossfire and crosscurrents?/As you uncross your fingers and take out some insurance."

Later, on the spooked-out "Stick Out Your Tongue," a deadened Costello recites the foreboding lyrics to "Pills and Soap," a dystopian 1982 song he surreptitiously released under the name "The Imposter" just prior to a British national election.

By then, it's clear that Costello and Questlove are fully on the same page, aesthetically, philosophically and otherwise.

Indeed, on "Wise Up Ghost" Costello seems to have rediscovered something akin to the synergy he forged with the Attractions in his early years.

I'm tempted to say that it's Costello's best album in years, but that feels like cheap praise. It's certainly one of his most consuming creations in quite some time. And, if the "Number One" printed boldly on the cover is any indication, this may just be the start of something very cool.

[sweetest punch]

http://www.spin.com/#articles/elvis-cos ... interview/

Elvis Costello and ?uestlove Go Deep About 'Wise Up Ghost'

Elvis Costello's side projects, experiments, and collaborations constitute a kind of second, shadow career. Since his 1976 debut, My Aim is True, the charismatically restless and lyrically matchless 59-year-old has joined musical wits with the diverse likes of soft-pop smoothy Burt Bacharach, Opera diva Anne Sofie von Otter, and New Orleans R&B legend Allen Toussaint, among others.

Costello has met his challenge-hungry match in the Roots. Led by drummer Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson, Costello's equal in musical geekery and creative seekery, the Philly rap gurus moonlight as shape-shifters, accommodating the myriad array of guests on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, where they're the house band. That joint adaptability achieves hauntingly funky and gorgeously gritty fruition on Wise Up Ghost, an album-length meeting of the musical minds between Costello and the Roots, released September 17.

We spoke over the phone with the chatty Costello and the equally loquacious ?uestlove to discuss the musically adventurous merger.

You've talked elsewhere about the seeds of Wise Up Ghost being planted on Fallon. But what was it about those experiences that made you think the collaboration could sustain itself over the length of album?

Costello: Ahmir makes a comical story of it now, but one of the extra bonuses of taking his role on late night television was getting the opportunity to work with people that he and the band dug. I couldn't have known that I was among those people. But after three appearances on the show, over I suppose two-and-a-half years, we ended up with the toolbox to work with, and I supposed it should have been obvious to me that we were headed somewhere. I remember I proposed doing "High Fidelity" the first time I went on the show, and when I got to the studio, they had called up an arrangement from a bootleg they dug up on YouTube or something. It suited them perfectly. There were clues it could work.

?uestlove: When he came to the show, I was tormented. Like, "Don't ask some nerdy questions. Curveball that shit. Act like he's a regular dude." I didn't want to freak him out, because I knew I wanted to get this collaboration album from the gate. I knew it was going to be three appearances [on Fallon] and then he'll be like "Hey, let's do an album together." The payoff is sweet. We just let it spontaneously flow. We didn't admit to ourselves that we were making a record until the second-to-last session. Then that was like, "Hey, maybe we should play this for a few people."

There's a long tradition of singer-songwriters teaming up with high profile backing bands, like Neil Young working with Pearl Jam or Jay Z working with the Roots. Did you have any of those recordings in mind as models for what you wanted to accomplish? Or for what you didn't want to do?

Costello: Bob Dylan working with the Band is another one. Often as a songwriter you think, "I need a band that makes a sound that I hear in my head." That sort of thinking is always more remarked upon when you're thought of as a singular act. Unless you're playing solo with an acoustic guitar, everything is collaborative in a way. But when you're working with a known entity like the Roots it would have been hugely presumptuous of me to walk in there and say, "Okay, let's make a record right now." Instead, it was sort of "Where's the starting point and what's the objective?"

?uestlove: I was cautious. There's no career move I've made that didn't go through at least months and months of pondering. In this case [co-producer] Steve [Mandel] was like, "More breakbeats, more grooves, more stuff." I was like, "No, man, I want to be in the background." I didn't want people to go, "This is Elvis trying to make a rap record with the Roots." That's what I didn't want. We're not going to take "Alison" hip-hop remixes. So I was trying to get way out of my comfort zone and doing the opposite of prototypical of me: detuning the snares, fluctuating and speeding up, not using a click track.

Elvis, your lyrics are always so intricate. For a project like this, were you running things by the band to make sure you were all on the same page?

Costello: I never said out loud, "I think we're heading into these songs to some degree being outward-looking to the ways of the world." Once we'd done a song, I then did a bunch of demos where I took clips of my own records that were purely functional, to say, "It's these words, and it's this kind of music." And often Ahmir would go, "No it's not. It's this beat, this lead" and that would force me to change the harmony or change the lyrical emphasis to something that wasn't apparent from the first rock rendition of a song. When you're in this kind of collaboration there are a lot of unspoken things were you just let the process lead the way. Nobody had to say things out loud in a self-important way.

?uestlove: For him, lyrics are very therapeutic. During the recording, he was dealing with mourning his father and he did this song, "The Puppet Has Cut His Strings," that was his demo on GarageBand. He did that in his kitchen and put raw emotion into that performance. He made me take it off this record because it was so personal, but then he relented and said we could put it on the extended edition of the album. If anything, I wanted to be out of the way to give him more room to grieve. But even on a musical arrangement like [the album's] "Grenade," Brent Fischer's strings made that a cinematic experience. I thought that the more I played in the background on this record, the more Elvis' lyrics would shine.

What was the most surprising thing for you about the process of working together?

Costello: If somebody's willing to go back and listen to your rehearsals with a little bit of curiosity, you can find cells of music — two bars, 16 bars, eight bars —that can be the foundation of a new composition. It's similar with sampling, which there is on Wise Up Ghost. Though there's a little bit of suspicion about using clips of recorded music because it's somehow, "Oh, it's a trick, and you're not really playing." But when the group is working at the level the Roots are, you've nothing to fear.

?uestlove: I didn't know that we had so much in common growing up. He was a backstage kid. His father was always at the BBC singing, and at the age of 10, he was growing up seeing the Kinks and seeing the Beatles come in and out of the BBC building. He was there watching his father work. Same with me: I grew up with these Dick Clarke doo-wop extravaganza shows at Madison Square Garden at the age of five and six, and watched my dad do the oldies circuit. A lot of people in my peer groups are preacher's kids, church kids. I didn't have that experience. So it was kind of cool to finally meet someone that had the same experience as I did.

[sweetest punch]

http://www.demorgen.be/dm/nl/1343/Recen ... ongs.dhtml

Elvis Costello & The Roots: 'Wise Up Ghost & Other Songs'
****

Elvis Costello draait zijn hand niet om voor gedurfde samenwerkingen. Waarom zou hij ook? Zelfs in de hiphoppers van The Roots vond de voormalige angry young man alweer een perfecte sparring partner.

Lulu. Amper twee verschillende letters, maar ze geven muziekfans voldoende brandstof om te ontsteken in een vurige toorn. Lulu bleek niet alleen het muzikale misbaksel van Lou Reed en Metallica, maar bewees à fond dat het water tussen tegengestelde zielen soms beter te diep blijft.

Bij Elvis Costello en The Roots lijkt dat vaarwater ook nog eens hemelsbreed, tussen de kustlijn van Engeland en de East Coast van Philadelphia. Maar toch heeft Costello een streepje voor. Alleen al door zijn een-tweetjes met Allen Toussaint, Burt Bacharach, Paul McCartney of operazangeres Anne Sofie von Otter verdient deze Britse muzikant het voordeel van de twijfel. Zijn verzamelde werk slingerde bovendien tussen punk (My Aim is True), new wave (This Year's Model), bluegrass en country (Secret, Profane and Sugarcane) of New Orleans jazz (The River in Reverse). En ook The Roots durven geregeld buiten de krijtlijnen van de hiphop te tekenen. Bandlid Ahmir 'Questlove' Thompson, die mee de songs schreef op 'Wise Up Ghost', was ook al leverancier van hand- en spandiensten voor Amy Winehouse, Al Jarreau, Jay-Z en Joe Jackson.

Politiek en seksueel

Wat er gebeurt als je beide artistieke duvelstoejagers tegenover mekaar zet? Eerlijk gezegd: niets opzienbarends. Door het veelvuldig genrehoppen van Costello lijkt het nooit of hij érg ver buiten zijn comfortzone moet stappen. Zeker niet wanneer hij knipoogt naar zijn eigen back catalogue: 'Pills and Soap' (1983) wordt verwerkt in 'Stick out Your Tongue', en 'Satellite' (1989) draait een rondje in 'Tripwire'.

Op hun beurt lijken The Roots zich op 'Wise Up Ghost' vooral te bekommeren om de muziekgeschiedenis die voorafging aan hiphop. Jazzfusion en seventies funk vormen het voornaamste klankpalet op deze plaat. Zo fleemt een funky 'Refuse to Be Saved' met 'Innervisions' van Stevie Wonder, en draagt 'Stick Out Your Tongue' de broeierige esprit van Dr. John in zich. Dichtst van al komen The Roots bij hun typische Phillygrooves in de ouverture 'Walk Us Uptown'.

Opmerkelijk is de politieke én seksuele ondertoon op 'Wise Up Ghost'. In 'She Might Be a (Grenade)' wordt een zinnelijk portret geschetst van een vrouw die langzaam jaar jurk openknoopt, haar haren losschudt en dan een pin uittrekt. Een femme fatale in elke mogelijke betekenis van het woord.

Terroristische dreiging, maar ook godsdienstwaanzin sluipt behoedzaam binnen in het doo-wopslaapliedje 'Tripwire'."Just because you don't speak the language, doesn't mean that you can't understand", sust de crooner in Costello teder.

Hij zou het over zijn eigen huwelijk met The Roots kunnen hebben: een wereld van verschil ligt tussen hun muzikale taal, maar toch smelten beide grandioos samen. Eigenlijk valt alleen de afsluitende ballade 'If I Could Believe' wat tegen, wanneer Costello een gulden middenweg zoekt tussen schmalz en rasp.

Op die ene aangeschoten nonkel na klinkt het huwelijk tussen The Roots en Elvis Costello echter geen moment gedwongen. Dwingend eens te meer.
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Google translation: http://translate.google.be/translate?sl ... ongs.dhtml

[sweetest punch]

http://www.berliner-zeitung.de/musik/el ... 24962.html

Zischelndes Becken zu nörgelnder Brille

Elvis Costello musiziert mit den HipHoppern The Roots. Mit „Wise Up Ghost“ schaffen beide Seiten ein gründlich gelungenes, spannend kommunikatives Album.

So kurios die Verbindung von Elvis Costello und den Roots zunächst scheinen mag – auf gewisse Weise war sie wohl unvermeidbar. Einerseits werden offenbar beide Parteien im Alter immer kontaktfreudiger. Die Roots als Band wie in Gestalt ihres rastlosen Drummers Ahmir „Questlove“ Thompson begleiteten ungefähr jeden von Jay-Z über Amy Winehouse zu Fiona Apple, und als Hausband des Late-Night-Talkers Jimmy Fallon haben sie sich ohnehin souverän als menschliche Jukebox weitergebildet.

Costello wiederum, der aggressive Nerd des Postpunk, croonte mit Burt Bacharach und Allen Toussaint, ließ sich vom Brodsky Quartett begleiten und sang mit der Mezzosopranistin Anne Sofie von Otter. Vor allem zeigte er schon zu Beginn seiner Karriere, dass er sich dem Reggae-Schaukeln ebenso furchtlos nähern konnte wie dem Motown-Drall.

Von daher überrascht es nicht, dass „Wise Up Ghost“ von beiden Seiten her ein gründlich gelungenes, spannend kommunikatives Album wurde. Wer einen harten HipHop-Punch erwartet, wird meist enttäuscht – natürlich, weil die Roots seit je die flüssigeren Momente bevorzugen. Questloves prägnant klappernde Snares betrommeln Costellos gern leicht gereiztes Maulen so lässig wie punktgenau meist im Downbeatbereich. Nur ausnahmsweise schwingen sie sich in „Refuse to Be Saved“ zu einem des heftigen, mit flirrend trudelnden Streichern belegten Funk empor, und nur zweimal dimmen sie das Licht auf Balladenintensität.

Wie die schönsten Costello-Schmachter

„If I Could Believe“ fällt dabei leider etwas arg publikumsmittig aus, aber „Tripwire“ schuffelt als feiner, zärtlicher Soul daher, der es mit den schönsten Costello-Schmachtern aufnehmen kann. Meist findet man sich mit cool wumpendem Bass und den typischen, präzis synkopisch hinkenden Questlove-Drums in trocken arrangierten Neo-Soul-Nummern wieder.

Ganz wunderbar akzentuieren kleine Arrangementmotive Costellos Gesang: In „Grenade“ sind das knapp geschnittene blecherne Soulbläser, in „Viceroys Row“ ein paar weiche Holzbläser mit Flöte; sanfte Chormotive umhüllen den Refrain von „Tripwire“, und in „Wake Me Up“ dengelt kurz eine psychedelische Blaxploitationgitarre. Großartig auch die Orchesterwehen, die zu zischelnden Becken das beschwörende Nörgeln des Titelsongs mit ordentlich Suspense belegen.

Das erinnert einerseits an die Neo-Soul-Produktionen Thompsons für D’Angelo und Erykah Badu. Andererseits lassen sich die Roots durchaus auf Costellos Songwriting ein, in dessen schlechtgelaunte bis sarkastische Texte zu Kriegswirtschaft, persönlichen Enttäuschungen und allgemeineren Anlässen dieser wiederum wie als Analogie zum HipHop-Sampling ältere Texte wie das böse „Pills and Soap“ oder melodische Motive etwa aus „Satellite“ zitiert. So entsteht eine höchst anregende, auch ästhetisch treffliche Verbindung zwischen dem sozial wachen HipHop der Roots und Costellos wacher Poesie, die auf elegante Weise das titelgebende Versprechen auf Klarsicht einlöst.

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Google translation: http://translate.google.be/translate?sl ... ml&act=url

[sweetest punch]

http://www.stern.de/kultur/musik/muskul ... 60507.html

Muskulöse Grooves von Elvis Costello mit The Roots

Elvis Costello hat schon so oft Genre-Grenzen überschritten - da ist eine Zusammenarbeit mit der angesagten Neo-Soul-Band The Roots fast schon eines der geringeren Wagnisse.

Elvis Costello hat schon so oft Genre-Grenzen überschritten - da ist eine Zusammenarbeit mit der angesagten Neo-Soul-Band The Roots fast schon eines der geringeren Wagnisse.

Unter Costellos zahllosen Kollaborationen ist die mit Allen Toussaint der naheliegendste Vergleich. Auf dem Album "The River In Reverse" ließen die beiden älteren Herren 2006 den Südstaaten-Soul der 60er Jahre hochleben und setzten ganz nebenbei den Opfern des Wirbelsturms "Katrina" in New Orleans ein Denkmal.

Auch auf "Wise Up Ghost" (Blue Note/Universal), Costellos erster Platte mit The Roots, befasst sich der britische Sänger, Pianist und Gitarrist nun wieder mit afroamerikanischer Musikkultur. Wobei das Ergebnis diesmal wesentlich urbaner und "moderner" ausfällt als seinerzeit mit der Sixties-Soul-Legende Toussaint.

Die Roots-Truppe um den großartigen Schlagzeuger Ahmir Questlove Thompson (alias "?uestlove") legt knochentrockene, Hip-Hop-nahe Beats und muskulöse Funk-Grooves unter die typisch nasale Stimme des 59-jährigen Costello. Gelegentlich polstern Streicher und Bläser den reduzierten Sound ein wenig aus, doch insgesamt lebt diese ungewöhnliche Zusammenarbeit vom Understatement und der uneitlen Könnerschaft aller Beteiligten.

Zustande kam die Partnerschaft ursprünglich schon 2009, als Costello in der "Late Show" von Jimmy Fallon auftrat, in der The Roots seit langem die musikalische Begleitung für alle Gäste liefern. Daraus entwickelte sich eine Freundschaft zwischen dem Altmeister und ?uestlove.

"Ich hatte das Gefühl, dass mit dieser Band alles möglich sein würde", so Costello über seime Erwartungen an "Wise Up Ghost" - ein Album, das ausdrücklich als "Number One" gekennzeichnet ist, also wohl noch einen Nachfolger haben wird. "Elvis kam zu uns mit einer schemenhaften Idee, und wir haben die dann angereichert", sagte der Roots-Chef mit der beeindruckenden Afro-Frisur dem britischen Magazin "Uncut" über die Entwicklung gemeinsamer Songs.

Klavier und Schlagzeug, also die Beiträge von Costello und ?uestlove, bildeten die Grundlage der Tracks. "Und wenn sie in dieser Zwei-Mann-Kombination überzeugten, begaben wir uns aufs nächste Level und brachten die Band ins Spiel", erzählt der seit seinen New-Wave-Tage Ende der 70er immer weltläufiger gewordene Brite.

Die Harmonie der Studioaufnahmen ist auf "Wise Up Ghost" jederzeit spürbar, das Album klingt bei aller Groove-Orientierung sehr warm, konzentriert und lässig. Okay, man sollte die etwas quengelige Stimme von Elvis Costello - gerade in Balladen wie "Tripwire" oder "If I Could Believe" - schon mögen. Und der eine oder andere Song ergeht sich in Überlänge, ohne dass allzu viel passiert. Aber alles in allem ist dies ein spannendes und überwiegend gelungenes Projekt für einen Mann, der nächstes Jahr immerhin auch schon die 60 erreicht.

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Google translation: http://translate.google.be/translate?sl ... 60507.html

[sweetest punch]

http://www.efeeme.com/elvis-costello-el ... nagotable/

Elvis Costello: El músico enciclopédico e inagotable

Elvis Costello se ha unido al grupo de hip hop The Roots para dar forma a “Wise up ghosts & other songs”, un disco sorprendente que supone otro más en la trayectoria de este creador inagotable y de conocimientos musicales enciclopédicos. Carlos Pérez de Ziriza ha charlado con él.

“Wise up ghosts & other songs” (Universal) es el resultado de una relación especialmente fructífera, por muy discordante que pudiera parecer en un principio: la del siempre inagotable Elvis Costello junto a la histórica banda de hip hop The Roots. Producido por Steven Mandel (habitual del grupo de Filadelfia) y compuesto entre Questlove (su alma mater) y Costello, lo que deparan sus doce canciones es fruto del encuentro (gestado hace cuatro años en el programa televisivo de Jimmy Fallon, en EE.UU.) entre dos enormes talentos que, alejados geográfica y estilísticamente, están sin embargo unidos por su desafío a las limitaciones sonoras de cualquier clase. Y cuando esas premisas se dan, es difícil que el resultado no cuaje. El álbum comenzó a gestarse casi por casualidad, a partir de la reelaboración de material añejo que el propio Costello quería llevar a cabo desde una perspectiva imbuida de negritud. Y el resultado no es solo un intrigante reflejo sonoro de un mundo azotado por las artimañas al servicio de la violencia de Estado, por la amenaza de las armas químicas y por las revueltas ciudadanas (porque algunos de esos temas tienen reflejo en sus letras): es también lo más excitante que se ha publicado con la firma del compositor británico en mucho tiempo. Un exuberante alegato sonoro que podríamos cifrar entre el hip hop mutante, el funk satinado y el neo soul espurio, tan inquietante como seductor. El propio Declan McManus nos lo explica desde Nueva York, con todo lujo de detalle, al otro lado del teléfono.

En el texto promocional del álbum, Questlove define vuestra relación como un “amor a primera vista”. ¿Fue realmente así?

Sí, se puede decir que fue así, aunque el proceso fue un poco más largo. Tras pasar por allí para ser entrevistado, en el “Late night with Jimmy Fallon”, donde ellos tocaban como banda cada noche, empecé a hacer cosas para ellos. La idea inicial era hacer alguna canción de mi catálogo propio que adoptase su perspectiva como banda de directo. Había un arreglo en ‘High fidelity’ [de "Get happy", 1980], de hecho, en el que yo no había pensado en treinta años, y encajó tan bien lo que ellos hicieron que me encantó. La llevaron a su terreno. Durante los siguientes dos años tuve la oportunidad de volver allí para presentar las canciones de “National ransom” [2010], o cuando el propio Springsteen sacó su disco, porque me invitaron a participar en una semana en la que solo se interpretaban canciones de Bruce. Tocamos ‘Brilliant disguise’ pero de una forma muy poco convencional, como una banda que podría salir de 1955, así que creo que todo nos condujo a esto. Eso y que los dos necesitábamos hacer este disco. Y comenzarlo por piezas ya compuestas anteriormente, como el ejercicio de revisitar ‘Pills and soap’ [de "Punch the clock", 1983]. Quería llevarme esa letra aparte, a otro sitio, y hacer un collage con diferentes piezas de mi catálogo. Y hacer algo que tuviera sentido para los tiempos que vivimos. Muy rápidamente pasamos de eso a crear nuevas canciones.

Por lo que cuentas, deduzco que ‘Stick out your tongue’ (que introduce fraseos de ‘Pills & soap’) fue la primera en gestarse…

Fue la primera en ser compuesta de esta forma. En lugar de ser tocada con el piano, fue parcialmente tocada con el piano eléctrico y con una sección de viento. Hay una parte del estribillo que proviene de ‘“National ransom’, y hay una estrofa que está extraída de ‘Pills and soap’. También hay algo de ‘Hurry down doomsday (The bugs are takin’ over)’ [de "Mighty like a rose", de 1991]. Hay veces que retomas tus ideas en un contexto diferente, y lo que yo he hecho aquí es interpretar esas letras en un contexto distinto. Si estás muy obsesionado con los originales, te será muy difícil escuchar la nueva estructura. Pero no soy tan arrogante como para pensar que todo el mundo ha escuchado ‘Hurry down doomsday’ o ‘National ransom”’. ‘Pills and soap’ es algo más conocida, pero francamente, podrías coger su letra y nadie sabría de qué estás hablando. Me sentía emocionalmente fuerte para exponer este punto de vista, marcado por esas tres estrofas combinadas con esta música, creada ex profeso para enmarcarlas. Solo hay cuatro canciones en el disco que compartan este método, el resto nacen de ensayos juntos, de la respuesta que me inspiraban los samples y sonidos que Steve [Mandel, el productor] creaba. Hay veces en que simplemente cogía la guitarra acústica y pensaba: “hey, así es como va a ir la canción”. Unos golpes de batería y algo de wah wah en las guitarras, pero construyendo sobre ellos. ‘Cinco minutos con vos’, por ejemplo, empieza con solo un beat y lo primero que se oye es una melodía de viento que yo escribí, y que ellos tocaron extraordinariamente, y luego entra la maravillosa línea vocal de Marisoul [vocalista del grupo angelino La Santa Cecilia], en español “argentino”. Me interesa particularmente centrarme en esta canción, porque cuenta la historia personal de una chica esperando en Montevideo a que su padre, perseguido por la dictadura argentina, llegue hasta allí. Desafortunadamente, él nunca consigue llegar, porque es lanzado desde un avión al mar por los militares. Francamente, no sé cómo puede vivirse una experiencia así, pero sí sé que hoy en día hay gente que está siendo interrogada, supuestamente por nuestra seguridad, y se están perpetrando cosas despreciables en nuestro nombre de las que nadie está siendo responsable, y nadie está pagando por esos actos. Puede que la gente en Argentina encuentre extraño que cuente ahora esta pequeña historia, treinta años después, pese a ser hechos que están plenamente documentados y probados, pero lo cierto es que no puedo separar este trabajo con de The Roots de otras cosas que han ocurrido últimamente en mi vida: recientemente fue el treinta aniversario de ‘Shipbuilding’ [de 1983, incluida en "Punch the clock"], compuesta como respuesta a la guerra de las Malvinas, y sobre la que mucha gente aún me pregunta. Y yo quería hacer esto precisamente ahora, que no es una canción panfletaria, tan solo una pequeña historia sobre una tragedia familiar desde el otro punto de vista, el de la nación derrotada (y no la invasora), unos años antes. Pero todos tenemos un problema desde el momento en el que sabemos que hoy en día todavía se hacen esta clase de cosas en nuestro nombre, supuestamente en nuestra defensa.

La exuberancia formal del álbum, plena de suntuosos arreglos de cuerda, recuerda mucho a los grandes álbumes de Curtis Mayfield e Isaac Hayes durante la primera mitad de los setenta. ¿Lo ves así?

Si alguien utiliza las palabras “Curtis” y “Mayfield” en la misma frase que mi propio nombre, no puedo más que ser humilde y tomármelo como un cumplido. Es uno de los grandes maestros. Y no es un descubrimiento para mí. Conozco el catálogo de The Impressions posiblemente mejor que ningún otro. Y nunca diré las suficientes veces la gran influencia que él ha supuesto en mi forma de escribir, desde el principio de mi carrera. O sus discos de madurez. Aunque cuando combinas a un batería como Questlove con esas brillantes orquestaciones, no puedes pensar solamente en una única influencia. Hay muchas cosas que, afortunadamente, suscitan esa combinación. Y una de ellas es Curtis Mayfield. Yo no puedo cantar como él, por supuesto, porque su voz era celestial, como la de Smokey Robinson, parecía que sus voces venían directamente del cielo. Pero canto a mi manera, aunque tome prestadas algunas cosas para hacer música, al igual que puedo decir que Questlove es un estupendo arreglista y orquestador por derecho propio. Si la gente lo ve como una aproximación a Curtis Mayfield, lo veo como un cumplido.

Especialmente a partir de los años noventa, has grabado infinidad de álbumes con figuras teóricamente alejadas de lo que podríamos entender como territorio pop o rock. Con The Brodsky Quartet, con Burt Bacharach, con Anne Sophie Von Otter, con Allen Toussaint y ahora con una banda de hip hop como The Roots. Por no hablar de los frecuentes devaneos estilísticos de tus propios álbumes, junto a The Atractions o más tarde a quienes conocemos como The Imposters. ¿Hay aún algún territorio inexplorado al que te gustaría aproximarte?

Bueno, si miras mi catálogo con detenimiento, te puedo decir que una de las primeras cosas que grabé fue mi versión de ‘My funny Valentine’ [el estándar de jazz de 1937], ya en 1978. En el 77 grabé ‘I just don’t know what to do with myself’, de Burt Bacharach. La música de Allen Toussaint es fundamental para entender el rock and roll, como música de Nueva Orleans que es, y en mi primer disco la banda que me acompañaba era una banda de country. Así que la única cosa que hacía que la gente me viera como alguien adscrito a la new wave o el punk era que me veían como un chico inglés con bandas americanas, cuyo sonido quizá yo endurecía un poco, pero… yo ya tenía una pedal steel mucho antes de grabar “Almost blue” (1981). Siempre me he sentido un poco tonto cuando la gente ensalza tanto esos cambios de estilo. Y respecto a este disco, no es algo inédito para mí el trabajar con un beat box, o ensamblar arreglos de la forma en que lo he hecho, que es muy similar a lo que hice ya en “Spike” (1989). El resultado aquí es que el groove es diferente. Ahora bien, si lo que me preguntas es cuál va a ser mi siguiente paso, estoy tan ocupado con esto que no puedo ver el futuro, de verdad. Si algo me ha enseñado la experiencia es que no puedes tener miedo de lo impredecible. Puede haber magia, o una aventura al girar la esquina. Pero no todo lo que haces en colaboración está pensado para tener una apreciación larga y universal, o para ser tocado en directo en las mejores condiciones. Hay veces que das algunos de tus mejores shows en sitios que tan solo visitas una noche, por ejemplo. Uno de los mejores directos que hice fue en una fábrica de armas abandonada de Alemania, con acompañamiento de trompeta y violín reinterpretando temas de toda mi carrera. Y no hay grabación de esa noche. Ocurrió así y fue precioso.

En todo caso, supongo que aún te sientes cómodo tocando tus temas más populares en el formato en el que fueron concebidos, como en tu reciente gira hispana del pasado julio. El concierto de San Sebastián, de hecho, se pudo ver unos días más tarde por nuestra televisión pública…

Sí, los últimos tres años han sido una experiencia fantástica para The Imposters, desgranando el contenido de “The returning of the spectacular spinning songbook” (2011), un gran vodevil que nos ha puesto en contacto de nuevo con canciones que teníamos arrinconadas. Hemos llegado a acumular más de ciento cincuenta al final de la gira, este verano. También conseguimos darle un tratamiento interesante a las canciones de “National ransom”, que yo creo que no habían llegado tanto a la gente como deberían, para que se convirtieran en parte destacada de los conciertos, como pasó en Barcelona o Madrid. El de San Sebastián para mí no fue tan disfrutable, ya que estábamos en un sitio con acceso gratis, en la misma playa, y es un ambiente diferente. Muy diferente a cuando toqué allí en la plaza de la Trinidad, hace tres años. En esta ocasión hubo problemas técnicos durante el primer tercio del show. Al final la cosa funcionó, pero para serte honesto no fue el concierto del que más satisfecho estoy. Barcelona y Madrid tuvieron un ambiente excepcional. Cuando vimos que teníamos tres fechas en España… bueno, o una en España, otra en Cataluña y otra en el País Vasco… [risas], teníamos miedo de que no hubiera nadie, porque cada día vemos en las noticias lo mal que la gente lo está pasando por motivos económicos, y aunque la afluencia de público en Barcelona y Madrid era menor que otros años, todo el mundo fue increíblemente entusiasta y agradecido. No me sentí en absoluto defraudado. Pero he de decirte que también lo pasamos muy bien tocando en un festival como Glastonbury, ante ochenta mil personas; aunque, obviamente, fue más gente a ver a los Rolling Stones que a nosotros. No tenemos miedo a los grandes escenarios, nos sentimos igual de cómodos ante dos mil que ante ochenta mil personas. Podemos tocar en el Círculo Artico o en Montecarlo, y The Imposters siempre están dispuestos al desafío. Y por eso tampoco hay razón por la que no podamos tocar algunas de las canciones de “Wise up ghost”, porque The Roots tienen la agenda demasiado ocupada ahora con su rol como banda del “Tonight show”, que tendrá más audiencia aún que el anterior programa de Jimmy Fallon [el equipo de Jimmy Fallon se desplaza próximamente Nueva York, para reemplazar a Jay Leno en su histórico show]. El lunes próximo, sin ir más lejos, tocamos en una bolera de Brooklyn [se refiere al Brooklyn Bowl], y tenemos más citas. Siempre que la gente quiera, claro.

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Costello : The musician encyclopedic and inexhaustible

Elvis Costello has joined the hip hop group The Roots to shape " Wise up ghosts & other songs ', a surprising album which is another in the career of this tireless creator and encyclopedic musical knowledge . Carlos Perez de Ziriza has chatted with him.

" Wise up ghosts & other songs " (Universal ) is the result of a particularly fruitful , however jarring it may seem at first : the inexhaustible always Elvis Costello beside the historic hip hop band The Roots . Produced by Steven Mandel ( Philadelphia usual group ) and made ​​between Questlove (his alma mater ) and Costello , as afforded by its twelve songs is the result of the match ( gestated for four years in the Jimmy Fallon TV show in U.S. . ) between two enormous talents that far geographically and stylistically , they are nevertheless united in their defiance of the sonic limitations of any kind . And when these assumptions are given , it is difficult for the result set. The album began to take shape almost by chance, after reworking old material that Costello himself wanted to perform perspective imbued with blackness . And the result is not only an intriguing sound reflection of a world ravaged by craftiness in the service of state violence , the threat of chemical weapons and citizen revolts ( because some of these themes are reflected in his lyrics ) : is also the most exciting thing that has been published with the signing of British composer in a while . A lush sound that could encrypt argument between mutant hip hop , funk and neo soul satin spurious , as disturbing as seductive. Declan McManus himself explains it from New York , in great detail, the other side of the phone.

In the album's promotional text , Questlove defines your relationship as a " love at first sight " . Was it really so?

Yes, you can say so, but the process was a little longer . After passing by to be interviewed on the " Late Night With Jimmy Fallon " , where they played as a band every night , I started doing things for them. The initial idea was to make a song of my own catalog to adopt his perspective as a live band . There was a settlement in 'High fidelity' [ of "Get Happy " , 1980 ] , in fact , which I had not thought of in thirty years, and fit so well what they did that I loved. She was taken to the ground. Over the next two years I had the opportunity to return there to present the songs of "National Ransom " [ 2010], or when Springsteen pulled his own album, because I was invited to participate in a week in which only Bruce songs were interpreted . We played 'Brilliant disguise ' but in a very unconventional way , as a band that could come out of 1955 , so I think that everything led us to this. That and that the two needed to make this record . And start it earlier composed the piece as well as exercise to revisit ' Pills and Soap ' [ of " Punch the Clock " , 1983 ] . I wanted to take that letter away to another site , and make a collage with different parts of my catalog . And do something that made sense for our times . Very quickly gave up on that to create new songs.

From what you say , I gather that 'Stick out your tongue' (which introduces phrasing of ' Pills & Soap " ) was the first to take shape ...

It was the first to be made ​​in this way. Instead of being played on the piano , was partially touched with electric piano and a horn section . There is a part of the chorus that comes from ' "National Ransom ' , and there is a verse that is taken from ' Pills and Soap ' . There is also some 'Hurry Down Doomsday ( The bugs are takin ' over ) ' [ from " Mighty like a rose" , 1991 ] . Sometimes retakes your ideas in a different context , and what I 've done here is to interpret these letters in a different context. If you're too obsessed with the original , it will be very difficult to hear the new structure. But I'm not so arrogant as to think that everyone has heard 'Hurry down doomsday ' or ' National Ransom " ' . ' Pills and Soap ' is more known , but frankly , you could take your letter and no one would know what you're talking about. I felt emotionally strong to expose this view , marked by these three stanzas combined with this music , created specifically for framing . There are only four songs on the album to share this method , the rest are born of trials together, the response that inspired me samples and sounds that Steve [ Mandel , producer ] created . There are times when I just picked up the acoustic guitar and thought, " hey , that's how the song is going to go ." A drum beats and some wah wah guitars , but building on it . ' Five minutes with you ' , for example , starts with just a beat and the first thing you hear is a sound of wind that I wrote , and they played exceptionally , and then comes the wonderful vocal line Marisoul [ Angeleno vocalist La Santa Cecilia ] , in Spanish, " Argentine " . I am particularly interested to focus on this song , because it tells the personal story of a girl waiting in Montevideo for his father , persecuted by the dictatorship Argentina , gets there . Unfortunately, he never manages to get , because it is launched from a sea plane by the military. Frankly , I do not know how it can be lived an experience, but I know that there are people today being questioned , supposedly for our safety, and are being perpetrated in our name despicable things that nobody is being responsible , and no one is paying for such acts. People may find strange in Argentina tell this little story now , thirty years later , despite being made ​​that are fully documented and tested , but the truth is that I can not separate this work with The Roots of other things that have happened lately in my life recently was the thirtieth anniversary of ' Shipbuilding ' [ 1983, included in " Punch the Clock "] , made in response to the Falklands war , and on which many people still ask me. And I wanted to do this right now, that 's not a song pamphlet , only a small story about a family tragedy from the other point of view, the defeated nation (and not invasive ) , a few years earlier . But we all have a problem from the moment that we know today still do this kind of things in our name , supposedly in our defense .

The formal exuberance album, full of lush string arrangements reminiscent of the great albums of Curtis Mayfield and Isaac Hayes during the first half of the seventies. Do you see it?

If someone uses the words " Curtis" and " Mayfield " in the same sentence as my own name , I can not but be humble and take it as a compliment. It is one of the great masters. And not a discovery for me. I know the catalog of The Impressions possibly better than any other . And never say enough times the great influence he has meant in my writing , from the beginning of my career. Or his records of maturity. Although when you combine a drummer as Questlove with those brilliant orchestrations , you can not only think of a single influence. There are many things that thankfully , raise that combination. And one of them is Curtis Mayfield . I can not sing like him, of course , because his voice was heavenly , like Smokey Robinson , their voices seemed to come straight from heaven . But singing my way, but take borrowed some things to make music , like I can say that Questlove is a great arranger and orchestrator own right. If people see it as an approximation to Curtis Mayfield , I see it as a compliment.

Especially from the nineties , has recorded numerous albums with figures theoretically removed from what we could understand as pop or rock territory . With The Brodsky Quartet , with Burt Bacharach , Anne Sophie von Otter, with Allen Toussaint and now with a hip hop band The Roots . Not to mention the frequent stylistic dalliances your own albums , with The Atractions or later who we know as The Imposters . Is there still some uncharted territory that you'd like aproximarte ?

Well, if you look closely my catalog , I can say that one of the first things I recorded was my version of 'My Funny Valentine ' [ the 1937 jazz standard ] , and in 1978. In 77 recorded ' I just do not know what to do with myself ' by Burt Bacharach . Allen Toussaint 's music is essential to understand the rock and roll music of New Orleans as it is, and on my first album the band who accompanied me was a country band . So the only thing that made ​​people see me as someone attached to the new wave or punk was that I saw as a boy English with American bands , whose sound maybe I hardened a bit, but ... I already had a pedal steel much before recording "Almost blue " ( 1981 ) . I've always felt a bit silly when people set up both these changes in style . And on this album , it's not unheard of for me to work with a beat box , or assemble arrays the way I did, which is very similar to what I did and in " Spike" ( 1989 ) . The result here is that the groove is different. Now if you 're asking me what will be my next step , I'm so busy with this that I can not see the future , really. If anything experience has taught me is that you can not be afraid of the unpredictable. There may be magic, or an adventure around the corner . But not everything you do together is designed to have a long and universal appreciation , or to be played live in the best conditions . Sometimes you give some of your best shows on sites visited just one night, for example. One of the best live shows I did was on an abandoned munitions factory in Germany, with trumpet and violin accompaniment reinterpreting themes of my career . And there is no recording of that night. It happened like this and it was beautiful .

In any case , I guess I still feel comfortable playing your most popular topics in the format in which they were conceived , as in your recent Spanish tour last July . The concert in San Sebastian , in fact, could be seen a few days later on our public television ...

Yes , the last three years have been a fantastic experience for The Imposters , reeling the content of " The returning of the spectacular spinning songbook " (2011 ), a large vaudeville has contacted us again with songs that had cornered . We have come to accumulate more than a hundred at the end of the tour, this summer . Treatment also got him to songs interesting "National Ransom " , which I believe had not reached people so much as they should, for they became a prominent part of the concert , as happened in Barcelona or Madrid. The San Sebastian for me was not as enjoyable as we were on a site with free access , on the beach , and it's a different atmosphere. Very different from when I played there in the square of the Trinity , three years ago. On this occasion there were technical problems during the first third of the show. In the end it worked , but to be honest it was the concert that I'm happier . Barcelona and Madrid had an exceptional atmosphere . When we saw that we had three dates in Spain ... well , or one in Spain , one in Catalonia and another in the Basque Country ... [laughs ] , we were afraid that there was no one , because every day we see in the news how bad people what is happening for economic reasons, and although the number of people in Barcelona and Madrid was lower than other years , everyone was incredibly enthusiastic and grateful. I was not at all disappointed. But I must tell you also really enjoyed playing at a festival like Glastonbury, to eighty thousand people , although it was obviously more people to see the Rolling Stones than us. We have no fear of the big stage , we feel equally comfortable in front of two thousand to eighty thousand people . We can play in the Arctic Circle or in Monte Carlo, and The Imposters always willing to challenge. And so there is no reason why we can not play some of the songs on " Wise up ghost " because The Roots are the agenda too busy now with his role as the band 's "Tonight Show " audience will have more even than the Jimmy Fallon previous program [ Jimmy Fallon team soon New York moves to replace Jay Leno on his historic show] . Next Monday , without going any further , we played in a bowling alley in Brooklyn [ referred to Brooklyn Bowl ] , and we have more appointments. Whenever people want it of course .

[sweetest punch]

http://cultura.elpais.com/cultura/2013/ ... 87492.html

ELVIS COSTELLO AND THE ROOTS, ‘Wise up Ghost and other songs.

La historia de la música está llena de casos en los que músicos que vienen de diferentes tradiciones buscan un terreno común y acaban en tierra de nadie. Algo así parece haberle pasado a esta coalición entre el cantautor inglés y el grupo de hip-hop estadounidense

Tras escucharlo por primera vez, uno confía en que este disco sea eso que los angloparlantes llaman grower, un álbum que crece con las sucesivas escuchas. Pero o no lo es o lo disimula muy bien. Si en ese primer contacto adolece de cierta flojera, en el segundo aparenta ser mejor de lo que es; la tercera vez se distingue claramente el grano -puntual- de la paja -demasiada-, y a partir de la cuarta se confirma que el disco de The Roots y Elvis Costello es ideal para acompañar las tareas domésticas.

Es un poco decepcionante, pero no una noticia sorprendente. La historia de la música está llena de casos en los que músicos que vienen de diferentes tradiciones buscan un terreno común y acaban en tierra de nadie. Algo así parece haberle pasado a esta coalición entre el cantautor inglés y el grupo de hip-hop estadounidense. Y eso que aseguran que este era un proyecto real, que partió de una conjunción musical, no una de esas ocurrencias teóricas que tropiezan con la realidad. Esas ideas sobre plano, como la fusión de Wilco y Billy Bragg, que cuando llega la hora de construirlas naufragan por incompatibilidad de caracteres.

Todo empezó en una visita de Costello al programa de Jimmy Fallon, en el que The Roots son la banda residente. Costello hace mucho que se ha americanizado y no oculta su pasión por los sonidos estadounidenses, ya sean de origen blanco, negro o mestizo. Tampoco es nuevo en esto de grabar con otros artistas. Ha trabajado a medias con decenas de artistas de McCartney a la soprano Anne Sofie Von Otter y en su haber cuenta con leyendas estadounidense como Allen Toussaint o Burt Bacharach. The Roots han hecho su carrera anunciándose como una banda de hip-hop orgánico, con aires jazzisticos. Son músicos, abiertos a todo tipo de proyectos.

El encuentro fue un flechazo. Él les dio completa libertad para arreglar uno de esos temas. El resultado les complació tanto que se plantearon regrabar viejos temas del británico (por eso muchas de las canciones incluidas en Wise up ghost están llenas de sampleados sacados de discos anteriores). A The Roots les pareció demasiada responsabilidad reconstruir temas ya grabados y compusieron melodías para un ep. Aquello fue creciendo y afirman que de repente tenían un disco entero entre manos. Todo resulta aquí conocido. Cuando se ponen dub, parecen Gorillaz; cuando The Roots son más guitarreros hay una lejana proximidad a Tom Waits, de la misma manera que cuando Costello se pone más negroide se acercan al Prince de los ochenta. No falta ni la balada estilo Motown ni el toque Nueva Orleans. Pero son canciones muy largas, que da la impresión que The Roots podrían tocar mientras piensan en otra cosa. Para hacer la voz de Costello sonar mas moderna se arma de una panoplia de efectos: ecos, megáfono…

A estas alturas no da la impresión de que aporte demasiado a un catálogo lleno de obras relevantes. Sobre todo parece demasiado largo. Resulta difícil mantener la atención durante las doce canciones, porque algunas son redundantes. Aunque ocasionalmente logra destacar, especialmente en aquellos temas en los que Costello se deja llevar y hace lo que mejor sabe: sonar a sí mismo, o en aquellos momentos en los que The Roots se sueltan y se olvidan de que están tocando con una leyenda.

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[John]

Down to number 89 on the UK album chart today.

[sweetest punch]

http://www.complex.com/music/2013/09/el ... e-up-ghost

The Best Song I Heard On the Way to Work This Morning: Elvis Costello and the Roots "Wise Up Ghost"

Have you checked out Wise Up Ghost yet? It's the new album Elvis Costello made with the Roots and its really great. I spent the weekend listening to it, and growing in my appreciation for it, and the title track is the one that's got me most securely stuck in its clutches.

It's six minutes and twenty-seven seconds long, and it starts with a descending five-note cello riff, the kind that's like "uh oh, bad news" when you hear it in movie, over whisper-volume background noise of what sounds like people watching a boxing match, and you know it's something special right away. Piano starts and higher-register violin mimics the cello. And then Costello's whiskey-and-honey voice: "Last lions roar before they're tamed/I stood out in the glorious rain/Knowing full well/I can't go home again..." And then, a full minute in, the hot sting of a guitar line yanks us into modernity. Or at least, the '70s. Those same five notes (which, come to think of it, are very much like "Beethoven's Fifth"—no wonder they sound like bad news!) It's about as heroically hard-rock as either Elvis Costello or The Roots have ever sounded on record. This is a song about getting old, and fighting it.

But the best part, to me, is (not surprisingly) Questlove's drumming. Driving the song forward without pounding too hard, he spents most of his energy on the high-hats, tippy-tap-tip-tap-tip-tip, in a way that sounds like rain. Is there even a pattern there? It's hard to tell. Chaos? Or just complicated? Either way, it's awesome and I love it. And it's the sound I was hearing this morning as my train came out its out of its tunnel and into the sunlight as we crossed the East River on the Manhattan Bridge. And it was just right.

It's all tension this song, not much release. But those cymbals, and busy snares beneath them, keep things rolling forward as Costello talk-sings his cryptic, cynical, but still somehow triumphant poetry to its conclusion. "Last sigh of passion/Slipped into the room like an assassin/Glad tidings we bring/For you and your king/Wise Up Ghost..."

Getting old's not so bad.

[sweetest punch]

http://www.undertheradarmag.com/reviews ... _up_ghost/

Elvis Costello and The Roots - Wise Up Ghost

For fans of Elvis Costello, the notion of his pairing with The Roots' Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson should not be particularly shocking. Costello has made his name with a series of unconventional musical decisions, dating back to the blue-eyed soul of 1980's Get Happy!! and the old time country of 1981's Almost Blue, to his collaborations with Burt Bacharach and Allen Toussaint on 1998's Painted from Memory and 2006's The River In Reverse, respectively. For Thompson, the pairing is slightly more of a surprise. Yes, The Roots are the most forward leaning hip-hop group of the past 20 years and Thompson is a renowned music expert. Few may have known, however, about his love of Costello's work.

From the hip hop/funk groove of the opener, "Walk Us UPTOWN," it is obvious that the players didn't enter into this collaboration faint of heart. That track segues into the string intro and deep soul bass beat of "SUGAR Won't Work," with Costello almost speak-singing the verses and crooning the choruses like a James Brown-inspired version of something off All This Useless Beauty. "Come the MEANTIMES" is dark funk, with Costello's incessant lyrical questioning punctuated by the music's stop/start pace and furious electric guitar solo through the song's final minute. The title track is menacing, Costello's vocals ranging from a whisper to a growl over gentle orchestration and assertive electric guitar. And the album ends with Costello emoting and demonstrating his trademark vocal vibrato over piano and understated drums on "If I Could BELIEVE." Wise Up Ghost is beautifully produced, each song a soul symphony, beats and voice simply jumping from the speakers.

Lyrically, Costello demonstrates his genius talents with incisive commentary and brilliant wordplay, him having described the album in the press as an "End of Days theme park." On the opening track, his ire is clear, with a sarcastic wink, as he demands: "Uncross your fingers and take out some insurance." On "TRIPWIRE," he sings cryptically of "the twist in the script of an insult scrawled on the back of your hand," later commenting: "I thought there was more to forgiveness than all we conveniently forget."

In all, Wise Up Ghost achieves something much greater than the sum of its parts. Costello and Thompson seem made for each other. Let's hope they don't let this collaboration end here. (www.elviscostello.com, www.theroots.com)

Author rating: 8/10

[Azmuda]

On Dime: http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-deta ... ?id=466881

Ray Angry (of The Roots) presents: From Bowie to Coltrane “A Modern Love Supreme and everything in between” featuring Mark Kelley, Charles Haynes and Jean Baylor - Live Web Stream

Iridium Jazz Club, NYC, USA, 2013-04-20

line-up:
• Ray Angry: piano
• Kenneth Whalum: sax
• Mark Kelley: bass
• Charles Haynes: drums
• Jean Baylor: voc

Source: Live Web Stream

[And No Coffee Table]

This review appears on the official site with the title "Your Wish Is My Command".


The Sheaf: Madison Taylor: 29th September 2013.

Elvis Costello looks to wake up the ghost of his lost career.

The past hand-jives its way into the present in Elvis Costello & The Roots’ new album Wise Up the Ghost. Using a fusion of 1950s rockabilly and contemporary electronic, Costello fortifies his reputation as a musical chameleon — though one that lacks direction.

With an illustrious 30-plus year career under his belt, Costello has come a long way from his 1977 debut that iconized him as “that guy that looks like Buddy Holly”. After blending, redefining and otherwise rebelling against the confines of genre for so long, the only question that remains is: is there anywhere left for Costello to go?

What initially catches the eye about the album is not the sound, but the cover — a play on Allen Ginsberg’s classic poetry volume Howl. But if this is an attempt to declare the album as being as radical and ground-breaking as Ginsberg’s poetry, Costello may need to cash in a reality check.

Opening on an upbeat yet cacophonic note, with the song “Walk Us Uptown,” Costello warbles alongside a jumble of sounds including what appears to be the adjustment of volume on a MacBook. The entire album continues on this confused, time-warped note that is reminiscent of the infamous Jay Z/Gatsby scandal earlier this year.

The enjoyment of such contrasting sounds in the same song is certainly an acquired taste, much like boxed wine or Marquis Hall coffee. By attempting to bring the hazy, bluesy glamour of the past into a fast-paced and unforgiving present, Costello creates an overall discordant sound that is saved by a mere handful of standout tracks. The beauty of Costello’s music lies primarily in his lyrics, which do not take center stage or even stage right in Wise Up the Ghost.

The entire album exists as a poor caricature of what could have been. It appears Elvis Costello’s musical prowess came with an expiry date. Wise Up the Ghost may live on as ambient music played dimly in the background at coffee shops and bookstores, but has fallen flat in its attempt to live on in the hearts of listeners.

Perhaps it’s time for Elvis Costello to lay his career to a much overdue rest.

[docinwestchester]

This review has one of my Brooklyn videos embedded! Yay for me!

http://coolalbumreview.com/?p=33458

Elvis Costello and the Roots ‘Wise Up Ghost’ – NEW MUSIC REVIEW
Posted 25 Sep 2013

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Wake Me Up” by Elvis Costello & The Roots

After the release of Elvis Costello’s last two T. Bone Burnett-produced albums, he was ready to throw in the towel on his recording career seeing no point in going back into the studio to create new records that nobody would hear. And as a long-time Costello fan of 36 years who suffered through those albums, I was beginning to sadly think that it might’ve been the right decision.

Fortunately, inspiration struck in the oddest of places while guesting on the Late Night With Jimmy Fallon TV show where The Roots have been the house band since the show’s inception several years ago. With a college of musical knowledge and a mutual love and thirst for all things sonic between Costello and Roots drummer, ?uestlove, a collaboration between the two seemed to be a match made in hipster heaven.

So, is this Costello’s hip hop album? Is it The Roots’ foray into punk rock?

Neither is true, but with his fedora tipped oddly to one side, Costello and The Roots have fashioned a narcotized, off-beat and off-kilter record drawing on both artists’ signature sound, while creating a groovy new sonic palate for all to taste.

Elvis: “It seemed like a good playground, a fabulous ride, to go in and play with a great band that has a broad-minded view of music. It felt like anything was possible.” ?uestlove: “We recorded a lot of it in our tiny little dressing room at 30 Rock, not a traditional studio, but Elvis had no hang-ups about that.”

In the spirit of sampling no doubt influence by The Roots, Costello revisits his back catalog and repurposes lyrics from past songs for Wise Up Ghost’s tune stack. Once the novelty of playing spot the reference wears off, you’re still left with one of his strongest collections of songs in over a decade.

Today’s Song Of The Day (shown below from the album’s kickoff concert in Brooklyn last week) plunders Costello’s 2004 track “Bedlam” from The Delivery Man and mingles it with the 2006 title track from his collaboration with Allen Toussaint The River In Reverse. “Stick Out Your Tongue” revisits the 1983 Imposter single “Pills And Soap” while incorporating “Hurry Down Doomsday (The Bugs Are Taking Over)” from his overlooked 1991 collection Mighty Like A Rose.

In the song “Refused To Be Saved” Elvis spits out lyrics from Mighty Like A Rose’s “Invasion Hit Parade,” as he approaches a rapper’s cadence accented by sharp horn blasts, and the stunningly beautiful urban doo wop of “Tripwire” hearkens back to the song “Satellite,” from Costello’s 1989 album Spike. One of the most beguiling tracks on the collection is “Cinco Minutos Con Vos,” a sinuous horn-infused duet with singer La Marisoul of the band La Santa Cecelia.

Elsewhere, The Roots’ influence shines through on the woozy funk of “Sugar Won’t Work” and the Princely soul of “Viceroy’s Row.” Their use of string arrangements to create a sonic tension in “Refused To Be Saved” and “Wise Up Ghost” create a symphonic funk sound reminiscent of classic Isaac Hayes.

And if to reassert his influence on the proceedings, ?uestlove’s drums introduce many of the album’s songs including “(She Might Be A) Grenade,” “Walk Us Uptown,” and “Viceroy’s Row,” exposing The Roots’ penchant for building songs up from the rhythm tracks first.

Costello and The Roots have created a soulful socially conscious musical bouillabaisse with Wise Up Ghost; a kind of a What’s Goin’ On and Superfly for the twenty-teens…and a record for the ages by both artists.

–Eric Berman

[John]

This review appears on the official site with the title "Your Wish Is My Command".
Perhaps it’s time for Elvis Costello to lay his career to a much overdue rest.

Surely not Elvis on a downer already? The album may not have reached the number on the front cover but has had mainly fantastic reviews.

[Otis Westinghouse]

Madison Taylor wins the prize for Most Moronic Review, even more than the other one we commented on. Rockabilly? Cacophonic? Moron who doesn't understand the words he/she (?) uses.

[johnfoyle]

Some perspective on Madison Taylor's review - it's from The Sheaf - 'The University of Saskatchewan Student Newspaper since 1912'

http://thesheaf.com/

Much as I disagree with it ,it is well written. That line -


Wise Up the Ghost may live on as ambient music played dimly in the background at coffee shops and bookstores, but has fallen flat in its attempt to live on in the hearts of listeners.

is especially good.

[Otis Westinghouse]

Personally I think that's a pretty corny line, and enjoy the fact that the one comment following the review takes it to task:

"A strangely inept review. I've never seen a writer so gleefully miss the point.

Also,

"Wise Up the Ghost may live on as ambient music played dimly in the background at coffee shops and bookstores, but has fallen flat in its attempt to live on in the hearts of listeners."

Oh?

1- Isn't it too early to tell whether it'll "live on in the hearts of listeners"? and
2- It's getting rave reviews in most publications, so where are you getting this?

Finally, I'd like to point out to the author, in case they don't know, that Costello posted this review on his official website. He probably got a good chuckle out of it.

Cheers, and good luck in your education"

Odd, though, that they refer to it being on EC's site but not the biting sarcasm of the above-cited heading above it.

[johnfoyle]

The sheer corniness of the line is what I like about it. In fact it's so bogus I kind of think the whole review is some kind of double bluff.


The same writer seems more comfortable with cartoons -


http://thesheaf.com/2013/09/06/axe-cop- ... ur-hearts/

[And No Coffee Table]

Has anyone seen this?

http://www.allmusic.com/album/wise-up-g ... 0002582067

I haven't heard anything about it (and google isn't helping).

Amazon has something called "Wise Up: Thought Rem" scheduled for November 19. (Is that a real title or a peculiar distortion of "Wise Up Ghost Remix"?)

http://www.amazon.com/Wise-Up-Thought-E ... 00FI2PJ5G/