Elvis Costello’s ‘Monkey to Man’ has always rubbed me the wrong way, for a couple of reasons.
The first is that, as the first single from his solid 2004 album The Delivery Man, it’s a poor representation of that record. It’s a bit too lightweight and jokey for an album that is steeped in dark blues and country tunes.
My desert island countdown continues (see Monday’s post for the full explanation).
Desert Island Musical Artists – #2 – Elvis Costello
Costello would be a strong candidate if I could bring only one musical artist to my desert island, because his discography has spanned so many genres.
Punk, country, rock, pop, folk, classical, easy listening, jazz, funk — he’s a one-man record store. And I could spend many a moonlit night trying to dig out the meanings in his kaleidoscopic lyrics.
My first real exposure to Elvis Costello was through two albums I still consider his best — King of America and Imperial Bedroom.
Those two albums contain a wealth of styles and moods, from the laid back country crooning and rockabilly of the former to the Beatles-esque menagerie of the latter. They both serve as perfect vehicles for Costello’s brilliant lyrical word salad and as entry points go, I couldn’t have been blessed with better ones.
Here’s an old Elvis Costello B-side, which I know from the album Taking Liberties. It was later released a few other times on various reissues of the Armed Forces album, which was recorded around the same time.
As usual with these Elvis Costello bonus tracks, I will leave the commentary to the man himself, who opined as follows in the Armed Forces liner notes:
The Random iTunes Fairy got cute today, serving up a second helping of Elvis Costello after yesterday’s belly-aching about not finding enough time to listen to all of his music.
She even went straight to one my favorite Costello albums, the sublime King of America, zeroing in on one of its signature sad ballads.
Meet Me In Montauk 