Elvis Costello’s fifth album came out the same year as Trust — 1981 — and it must have thrown fans for a real loop. Almost Blue is a 32-minute record made up of 12 covers of classic country and western songs.
I wish I’d been an Elvis Costello fan at the time, because it must have been something to hear the man’s first four albums — packed with brainy wordplay and furious modern musicality — and then find out that his follow-up was something this square.
But the truth is that Costello was (and remains) a huge fan of American country music. This just happened to be the first time he explored that interest in the studio.
The original release of Almost Blue featured one of two labels, which read: “WARNING: This album contains country & western music and may cause offence to narrow minded listeners.” and “WARNING! This album contains country & western music and may produce radical reaction in narrow minded people.”
Those stickers were intended for people like me, or at least people like me prior to late 2009. In fact, this is one of only two Elvis Costello studio albums I no longer own. I sold it back years ago after realizing exactly what it was… a radical reaction indeed.
I suspect it’s high time I rediscovered it.
I should hate you girl the whole night through
Instead I’m having sweet dreams all about you
You don’t love me, it’s plain
I should have known you’d never share my name
Why can’t I foget you, girl, start loving someone new?
Instead I’m having sweet dreams all about you
Why can’t I forget my past, start loving someone new?
Instead I’m having sweet dreams all about you
Sweet dreams of you, every night I go through
I should hate you girl the whole night through
Instead I’m having sweet dreams all about you
Meet Me In Montauk 
Yeah, EC doing classic country covers? No thanks.
Those stickers were intended for people like you, too. 🙂
Yes, perhaps, but what I love first and foremost about EC is his songwriting. I wouldn’t be that interested in EC covering anything, let alone a genre that I don’t particularly care for.
I am always interested to know what inspires those I find most inspirational, so I’m intrigued to listen to an album such as this one on those merits alone. That said, I don’t see what Costello brings to this interpretation, nor do I understand what it is about this song that speaks to him. A great cover should reveal both of those secrets to the listener.
I don’t know what he brings to it besides his own affection, but I can certainly see why it speaks to him. It’s a classic. I don’t think he recorded this album as a way to reinterpret the songs he loved but rather to pay tribute to them.