On Friday I featured an Elvis Costello track (courtesy of Dana) that he recorded with The Roots. Yesterday, the Random Weekend selection was a country cheating song by John Hiatt.
I guess those two selections were combined for today’s random selection, a country cheating song by Elvis Costello.
Guest blogger Dana concludes… (and thanks for taking the reins for the past two weeks!)
Well, I guess I am nothing if not predictable in placing Mr. Costello number one on my “best of” list, though there have certainly been years in the recent path where his output might not have merited such high praise.
Today’s Random Weekend selection is a demo version of one of my favorite Elvis Costello songs, ‘Riot Act.’
In his liner notes for two separate re-releases of Get Happy!!, the album on which ‘Riot Act’ appeared, Costello has high praise for this version.
This is his take:
Best Songs of 2013 – #15
Elvis Costello has pulled a lot of tricks out of his bag over the past decade plus, really stretching the boundaries of what a popular artist can get away with.
Teaming up with The Roots? Well, to borrow a phrase from the man himself, you couldn’t call it unexpected. Not for a guy who’s put out classical, jazz and country albums over a three year span.
The dozen or so albums Elvis Costello has released in the new millennium have run the gamut from work for symphony orchestras and jazz pianos to hard-edged country, alternative folk and a pop-funk collaboration with The Roots.
But the best of them may well be 2008’s Momofuku, the most conventional of the bunch.
Eschewing the high-concept themes of Costello’s other recent work, Momofuku was bashed out over a few weeks and released with little fanfare. And it’s exactly what the doctor ordered.
Meet Me In Montauk 