Elvis and the Imposters: The Delivery Man

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Haven't seen anyone talking about this yet (but haven't been paying overly-close attention), so I was surprised to see this on the shelf today. Has anyone heard it? Looks country but appears to have most of the Attractions onboard. Thoughts?

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Tuesday, 21 September 2004 19:30 (twenty-one years ago)

I got it last week, but forgot about it until RIGHT NOW. It's on Lost Highway, so it's probably country. Wasn't he recording in Memphis and Oxford, MS?

― Huk-L, Tuesday, 21 September 2004 19:33 (twenty-one years ago)

I just brought it home, I'll probably get around to listening to it sometime tonight.

― Al (sitcom), Tuesday, 21 September 2004 19:57 (twenty-one years ago)

I think it was mostly recorded in Oxford. I thought about going over to Proud Larry's during the two nights they played live there, but that place is miserable when they get a big name in and it's packed. That's when I knew I was really old, EC and most of the Attractions in a little club gig less than an hour away from me, and I couldn't be bothered.

― Rock Hardy (Rock Hardy), Tuesday, 21 September 2004 20:13 (twenty-one years ago)

haha check out what it says above the F.B.I. anti-piracy warning on the back of the CD:

"This artist does not endorse the following warning. The F.B.I. doesn't have his home phone number and he hopes that they don't have yours."

so far it's alright, probably better than When I Was Cruel. overall it sounds a bit like Brutal Youth, mainly because of how the drums are mixed way up front. "Bedlam" is pretty good.

― Al (sitcom), Tuesday, 21 September 2004 22:48 (twenty-one years ago)

has elvis made a listenable record in the last 20 years? if so, please steer me in its general direction.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Tuesday, 21 September 2004 22:51 (twenty-one years ago)

when was blood and chocolate? sometime around 20 years ago. that's the last one i could stomach. hope he soaked up lotsa grease in oxford, had himself a real fine time down south.

― eddie hurt (ddduncan), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 00:19 (twenty-one years ago)

Brutal Youth is pretty good as is All This Useless Beauty.

― Jim Reckling (Jim Reckling), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 00:33 (twenty-one years ago)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v296/WilliamCrump63/elviscostello861.jpg

― Rock Hardy (Rock Hardy), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 01:59 (twenty-one years ago)

Every E.C. thread requires < 10 posts to degenerate into the tiresome "he's sucked since Blood and Chocolate" vs. "actually there are damn good records after that" argument.

― southern lights (southern lights), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 13:20 (twenty-one years ago)

i find it hard to believe that it takes anywhere near 10 posts for that to happen in the average case!

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 13:58 (twenty-one years ago)

I'll be picking up this disc today & will post a review soon. It will likely be very positive, because I tend to believe Elvis C's shit don't stink. Then all the hataz will come out of the woodwork for another round.

In other news, I'll lap up virtually anything EC-related, but a double-disc re-issue of Kojak Variety is a little much. I'm not saying that I didn't buy it . . . but . . .

― southern lights (southern lights), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 14:29 (twenty-one years ago)

well, obviously he's talented in his way and there are some good tracks since "Blood &." I don't hate him but he's turned into sort of Paul McCartney, whom I do hate, or even Steve Stills--all this Super Sessions in Exotic Places bullshit. Like Macca he has pretensions to be a serious composer and all that, which I find risible. I don't mind that he enjoys being what he is, I guess he's earned it. but I find his tone and general approach offputting. I mean why not just go ahead and book time at Royal with Wilie Mitchell if you're going to that part of the world? But then he'd try to cover some obscure Hi soul or something and that would be a drag as usual. He's a great example of someone who thinks he knows too much about music to just make nice simple groovy records, I never really thought he was as smart as he apparently thinks he is. The Attractions are what basically made EC in my opinion and so I enjoy those early records for them much more than for Elvis' songs, which occasionally do make it.

― eddie hurt (ddduncan), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 14:48 (twenty-one years ago)

McCartney and Stills're flattering comparisons

― Andrew Blood Thames (Andrew Thames), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 14:52 (twenty-one years ago)

not in my book they aren't.

― eddie hurt (ddduncan), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 14:54 (twenty-one years ago)

eddie OTM. the other big problem for me is that somewhere around the time of trust and imperial bedroom, he started thinking he could SING, with a capital S. he was in fact a really good singer before that, but once he started getting artful and self-conscious about it, he started getting progressively worse.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 15:01 (twenty-one years ago)

Haha, why am I not surprised that the thread turned into this so quickly?

I've now listened to this once through and you know what? There are some really great moments here. "Bedlam" IS pretty good, and I'm enjoying the tracks with Lucinda Williams and Emmylou Harris on them. Elvis seems to be at his least self-conscious and affected in quite some time, and thankfully he hasn't tried to go trad-country by any stretch, so it's really just Elvis with country around the edges rather than one of his pastiche albums (my least favourite of his albums by a long shot).

Surprising fun fact: One of the songs here is one of the ones he wrote with Cait O'Riordan. Dunno if this should surprise me, but it does.

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 17:50 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh man, I just discovered that it was a double-whammy week for Elvis... apparently there was also a release on Deutsche Grammophon called Il Sogno, a "ballet after Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream". Guess which one I WON'T be getting at all, like, EVER? (I may also take to calling it "ill songo" just for yuks.)

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 17:57 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah, he tested my loyalties by putting that out at the same time, since I'm kind of an 'all or nothing' fan, but i decided to just get the rock album and be done with it. (I'm not totally anti-ez listening Elvis, though, Painted From Memory is alright).

― Al (sitcom), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 18:02 (twenty-one years ago)

ihttp://www.sciencefictiontwin.com/images/DMbig.jpg

Check out the message above the FBI Warning.

― PrintScreen/SysReq, Wednesday, 22 September 2004 19:05 (twenty-one years ago)

there is a track off this album thats being hammered by bbc6 and radio2 .. twas very much in the style of brutal youth. not bad at all. but check the mojo review. its a small hidden away review for a so called Golden Award album ..

― mark e (mark e), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 19:11 (twenty-one years ago)

The Canadian version of the album doesn't have that warning. Alas.

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 19:13 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm pretty sure if I had this on vinyl, I'd only ever listen to the second side.

But I'd listen to that second side over and over.

― Talent Explosion (Talent Explosion), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 19:55 (twenty-one years ago)

i know, i'm probably slightly bitter in my heart about elvis c. i mean i was such a big fan at one time and i respect him, the effort he puts into what he does. he probably leads a good life these days and has fun (with diana krall) and so that's fine. and yeah, he was perfectly fine as a singer before "imperial" (which has its truly grand moments, i don't deny it). maybe it was that beard he grew, too.

― eddie hurt (ddduncan), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 21:15 (twenty-one years ago)

i thought about half of when i was cruel was great....the other half kinda average but not a bad record...

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 21:20 (twenty-one years ago)

everyone knows that his classical album, il sogno (sp?), came out today too, right?

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Thursday, 23 September 2004 00:02 (twenty-one years ago)

Scroll up, yo.

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Thursday, 23 September 2004 10:53 (twenty-one years ago)

is the co-Cait O'Riordan-penned song "The Judgement"? Because I believe that was the song they wrote together for Solomon Burke's comeback album, Don't Give Up On Me.

― Dave M. (rotten03), Thursday, 23 September 2004 13:35 (twenty-one years ago)

i want to read a review of "Il sogno" by a classical music critic. i'm curious to know if it's an unmitigated disaster or not.

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Thursday, 23 September 2004 13:42 (twenty-one years ago)

god I used to love elvis costello. now for some reason I just don't care. I don't know why. I don't really think his records have gotten much worse (the bacharach and that last "serious" think aside). I just find him kind of tiring now. but maybe I'll check this out. I wish he'd go back to making lush pop records like Imperial Bedroom though.

― kyle (akmonday), Thursday, 23 September 2004 14:21 (twenty-one years ago)

Matt H OTM about When I Was Cruel. Aside from the loud drums, The Delivery Man, so far, bores me crazy.

― Huk-L, Thursday, 23 September 2004 14:50 (twenty-one years ago)

x-post Dave M. - yes, "The Judgement" was on the Solomon Burke disc. "Either Side Of The Same Town" was written for Howard Tate and was on his disc from last year. And "The Scarlet Tide" was on the Cold Mountain soundtrack. So he didn't write all new stuff for this one.

― southern lights (southern lights), Thursday, 23 September 2004 17:23 (twenty-one years ago)

I have a copy... surely it must be better than North?

― Chuck Tatum (Chuck Tatum), Thursday, 23 September 2004 19:20 (twenty-one years ago)

You bet your boots.

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Thursday, 23 September 2004 20:21 (twenty-one years ago)

Man, this album sounds amazing, but it's going to have to be a grower. The songs aren't sticking on first listen (except for "The Judgement", which I've heard plenty)

― southern lights (southern lights), Thursday, 23 September 2004 21:38 (twenty-one years ago)

ha, got my review copy too today.
hm.
midway through a second listen, it still sounds damn patchy.
"country darkness", "the scarlet tide"... and, dunno, "bedlam" and the title track appear quite good.
then again, steve nieve's keyboards seem the only good thing about a lot of the rest of the songs.

― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Friday, 24 September 2004 19:44 (twenty-one years ago)

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