The Wish for Kings
November 5, 2024 12:20 AM Subscribe
King Of America is the sound of Elvis Costello growing up. It’s full of melody. The lyrics are more direct but remain clever, witty and literate. His singing is superb, possibly the best of his career. He is emotionally invested in these songs. Dropping the smart-alex sneer helps them carry more weight. As time goes by, the musicianship suits the ear more, little details revealing themselves. When the likes of T-Bone Burnett, Jim Keltner, Mitchell Froom and members of Elvis Presley’s TCB band are involved, the result is bound to ooze class. It is an album of inner turmoil, presented in best bib and tucker. It was a lot to digest in 1986, and quickly superseded by its caustic follow-up the same year, Blood & Chocolate. It was easy to move on, but, if you kept coming back, you would find a lot to cherish in King Of America.
Elvis Costello on His 97-Song Collection, Past Love, and Why He Didn’t Sue Olivia Rodrigo for That “Brutal” Riff [Vanity Fair; ungated]
Elvis Costello's King of America & Other Realms, available now
Four discs on Spotify, the full box set has six discs
For fans wanting to explore some of the many artists that influenced King of America and his musical genre-spanning musical travels, Costello has curated a 70-song companion playlist for Vanity Fair, titled “Elvis Costello Presents Songs in the Spirit of King of America’s Music and Musicians"
Elvis Costello on His 97-Song Collection, Past Love, and Why He Didn’t Sue Olivia Rodrigo for That “Brutal” Riff [Vanity Fair; ungated]
Elvis Costello's King of America & Other Realms, available now
Four discs on Spotify, the full box set has six discs
For fans wanting to explore some of the many artists that influenced King of America and his musical genre-spanning musical travels, Costello has curated a 70-song companion playlist for Vanity Fair, titled “Elvis Costello Presents Songs in the Spirit of King of America’s Music and Musicians"
‘86 was a hell of a year for Elvis. Both King of America and Blood and Chocolate are amazing albums - but also quite distinct. Managing to produce both of them in the same year was an astonishing accomplishment, and one that was especially surprising following the seriously disappointing Goodbye Cruel World.
posted by Nerd of the North at 2:19 AM on November 5 [3 favorites]
posted by Nerd of the North at 2:19 AM on November 5 [3 favorites]
Someone got me a ticket to see Costello live this summer with the Imposters. They were the worst professional live act I have ever witnessed. The band was 100% competent but Elvis was off time, sang loudly out of key and off the beat. His guitar was cranked and it was horrendous. Way, way off time. My wife and I looked at each other in disbelief.
Perhaps he couldn’t hear himself or the band properly. Or some other technical issue. But in that case he should have shut things down and let the tech team get things going properly. It was just terrible. Like he was having a stroke on stage.
After a few songs (a good 15 minutes!) he seemed to improve. But overall it was easily the worst big name act I have ever heard. He talked between songs and didn’t sound drunk or messed up. In fact he was quite funny. I was really pissed off because there was a large number of paying fans and he just crashed and stumbled through it. Glad I didn’t pay.
Many people didn’t seem to care or notice. He mentioned he’s trying to fund some stage production in London so it came off as a cynical cash in to raise money for his real project. I swear I am not exaggerating here.
posted by SoberHighland at 4:42 AM on November 5 [5 favorites]
Perhaps he couldn’t hear himself or the band properly. Or some other technical issue. But in that case he should have shut things down and let the tech team get things going properly. It was just terrible. Like he was having a stroke on stage.
After a few songs (a good 15 minutes!) he seemed to improve. But overall it was easily the worst big name act I have ever heard. He talked between songs and didn’t sound drunk or messed up. In fact he was quite funny. I was really pissed off because there was a large number of paying fans and he just crashed and stumbled through it. Glad I didn’t pay.
Many people didn’t seem to care or notice. He mentioned he’s trying to fund some stage production in London so it came off as a cynical cash in to raise money for his real project. I swear I am not exaggerating here.
posted by SoberHighland at 4:42 AM on November 5 [5 favorites]
On that point ... Elvis has gotten old, no other way to put it. His voice was always a trick - an often magnificent one, and he bent it into some truly incredible shapes over the 50-plus years he's been at it. But, as a singer, he was not destined to be one of our latter-day greats. I saw him a few years ago, after a lifetime of fandom, had a similar experience, and decided that was it for me. Hardly unique to Elvis, in any case. It happens to everyone eventually. The exceptions you might be able to count on two hands, if you really stretch it.
All of which is besides the point of Elvis in 1986. I agree that both Blood & Chocolate and King of America are stunners in their own way, but for pure songcraft, King takes the prize. Possibly the most consistently affecting brace of songs he ever wrote. Everything chavenet wrote above is dead on. I return to it more than any of his other albums. I long ago lost my taste for lugging physical media around with me from place to place for the rest of my life, but this one is mighty tempting.
posted by mykescipark at 7:27 AM on November 5 [3 favorites]
All of which is besides the point of Elvis in 1986. I agree that both Blood & Chocolate and King of America are stunners in their own way, but for pure songcraft, King takes the prize. Possibly the most consistently affecting brace of songs he ever wrote. Everything chavenet wrote above is dead on. I return to it more than any of his other albums. I long ago lost my taste for lugging physical media around with me from place to place for the rest of my life, but this one is mighty tempting.
posted by mykescipark at 7:27 AM on November 5 [3 favorites]
Costello used to be one of the tightest bands on the circuit, but everything I have seen of this years performances has been terrible, I guess the kindest thing we can say is at least he isn't using auto-tune.
posted by Lanark at 7:57 AM on November 5 [1 favorite]
posted by Lanark at 7:57 AM on November 5 [1 favorite]
saw him on This Year's Model tour & the following year Armed Forces, which is one of the best concerts i ever went to
posted by graywyvern at 7:59 AM on November 5 [1 favorite]
posted by graywyvern at 7:59 AM on November 5 [1 favorite]
Costello and the Attractions, Live at the El Mocambo, is a good capture of the band and energy
Never got to see him live but that show must've been good. You hear the one guy in the audience throughout the recording "YEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAHHH" and Lipstick Vogue might be the high point
posted by ginger.beef at 8:14 AM on November 5 [1 favorite]
Never got to see him live but that show must've been good. You hear the one guy in the audience throughout the recording "YEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAHHH" and Lipstick Vogue might be the high point
posted by ginger.beef at 8:14 AM on November 5 [1 favorite]
the closest I ever got to Elvis Costello was a toilet seat
I was visiting someone in Nanaimo, BC, and the person proceeded to inform me that his home was the childhood home of Diana Krall. He described working out in the yard in his undershirt one day, quite grubby and sweaty, when Krall and Costello show up with toddlers, I think their twins would have been under 2 at the time. Diana just wanted to check in on the house, of course they invited her in, and Costello basically minded the kids while Diana had a brief visit with her old house.
I did visit their bathroom, it was the most Fan-travels-to-Jim-Morrison-gravesite thing I have ever done but come on, I was right there. It also helped me to manufacture a particularly lowbrow joke at the time. I have never seen that person again, and I will spare you the story of how he and his partner kept my buddy and I hostage while she sang Joni Mitchell at us for an hour.. at us, not to us.. and that was not the worst of it, she got into her original material oy vey
posted by ginger.beef at 10:32 AM on November 5 [2 favorites]
I was visiting someone in Nanaimo, BC, and the person proceeded to inform me that his home was the childhood home of Diana Krall. He described working out in the yard in his undershirt one day, quite grubby and sweaty, when Krall and Costello show up with toddlers, I think their twins would have been under 2 at the time. Diana just wanted to check in on the house, of course they invited her in, and Costello basically minded the kids while Diana had a brief visit with her old house.
I did visit their bathroom, it was the most Fan-travels-to-Jim-Morrison-gravesite thing I have ever done but come on, I was right there. It also helped me to manufacture a particularly lowbrow joke at the time. I have never seen that person again, and I will spare you the story of how he and his partner kept my buddy and I hostage while she sang Joni Mitchell at us for an hour.. at us, not to us.. and that was not the worst of it, she got into her original material oy vey
posted by ginger.beef at 10:32 AM on November 5 [2 favorites]
"Jack of All Parades", off King of America, is easily my favorite Elvis Costello song and i think one of his top 10 overall.
posted by adrienneleigh at 2:31 PM on November 5 [2 favorites]
posted by adrienneleigh at 2:31 PM on November 5 [2 favorites]
okay so what is your intro to Elvis?
I am pretty sure mine was a discount Best Of cassette and "Beyond Belief" grabbed me at the time, but it might've been the Spike album. I doubt anything off Spike would make anyone's Top 10 Elvis list but A) it sounds like he is having a great time and B) "Veronica" with a little help from Sir Paul is beautiful pop and C) "Tramp the Dirt Down" should be part of any Fuck Margaret Thatcher mix
posted by ginger.beef at 3:26 PM on November 5 [3 favorites]
I am pretty sure mine was a discount Best Of cassette and "Beyond Belief" grabbed me at the time, but it might've been the Spike album. I doubt anything off Spike would make anyone's Top 10 Elvis list but A) it sounds like he is having a great time and B) "Veronica" with a little help from Sir Paul is beautiful pop and C) "Tramp the Dirt Down" should be part of any Fuck Margaret Thatcher mix
posted by ginger.beef at 3:26 PM on November 5 [3 favorites]
okay so what is your intro to Elvis?
"Alison", "The Angels Want to Wear My Red Shoes", "Watching the Detectives", and "Veronica" all got some radio play when i was in my teens. I hate one of those songs and love the other three (i'll let you guess which!), but they are all really spectacular examples of pop song craft, even the one i can't stand.
As an aside, Everything But the Girl's cover of "Alison" is one of my fave covers ever.
posted by adrienneleigh at 4:18 PM on November 5 [1 favorite]
"Alison", "The Angels Want to Wear My Red Shoes", "Watching the Detectives", and "Veronica" all got some radio play when i was in my teens. I hate one of those songs and love the other three (i'll let you guess which!), but they are all really spectacular examples of pop song craft, even the one i can't stand.
As an aside, Everything But the Girl's cover of "Alison" is one of my fave covers ever.
posted by adrienneleigh at 4:18 PM on November 5 [1 favorite]
okay so what is your intro to Elvis?
My Aim Is True, the whole album. A bright star in the constellation that includes Talking Heads 77; Are We Not Men?; The Clash; Blank Generation; and of course Never Mind the Bollocks.
I thought, "You can write songs about these subjects?" Bye bye Moon Dance, hello Watching the Detectives.
My career path permanently changed.
posted by Droll Lord at 4:38 PM on November 5 [2 favorites]
My Aim Is True, the whole album. A bright star in the constellation that includes Talking Heads 77; Are We Not Men?; The Clash; Blank Generation; and of course Never Mind the Bollocks.
I thought, "You can write songs about these subjects?" Bye bye Moon Dance, hello Watching the Detectives.
My career path permanently changed.
posted by Droll Lord at 4:38 PM on November 5 [2 favorites]
That's interesting, SoberHighland. I would have thought the problems would have been addressed by the time you saw him. In summer 2022 I went to the Elvis Costello gig at the Liverpool Philharmonic. It was.... interesting! There was a major problem with the sound engineering, he could barely be heard and the levels of the rest of the band were way off.... loads of people walked out. It was a sold out gig and I've never seen anything like it.
This article was more than fair but to translate: "Appearing insulted, he responded negatively to the crowd before playing on oblivious to the technical error." - he actually told us to go f*ck ourselves. He then apologised and told us he had a lot on his mind. I ended up feeling really sorry for him actually. I still love his music!
This can't be explained away by age. I saw Bob Dylan (age 83) and The Pretenders (Chrissie Hynde is 73) over the past few weeks- both shows were fantastic.
posted by hazyjane at 10:49 PM on November 6 [1 favorite]
This article was more than fair but to translate: "Appearing insulted, he responded negatively to the crowd before playing on oblivious to the technical error." - he actually told us to go f*ck ourselves. He then apologised and told us he had a lot on his mind. I ended up feeling really sorry for him actually. I still love his music!
This can't be explained away by age. I saw Bob Dylan (age 83) and The Pretenders (Chrissie Hynde is 73) over the past few weeks- both shows were fantastic.
posted by hazyjane at 10:49 PM on November 6 [1 favorite]
chavenet, I can't begin to tell you how much I needed this post today.
okay so what is your intro to Elvis?
I can tell you the almost the minute in March 1986 when I first heard Elvis Costello, and (weirdly) he wasn't even singing his own song! He was covering "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood," recorded first by Nina Simone, and later by The Animals, though I'd never heard it. It was playing on the night I turned 19, and it was my first kiss with the man who broke my heart in each of last four decades. But I discovered Elvis Costello, and went out the next day and bought King of America, released three weeks prior. So there's that.
I wore out the cassette, as it didn't leave my Walkman for months and I learned every word. And when I bought a CD player, it was the first CD I purchased, but it got lost in a move. And then I bought it again when the reissue came out in 2005 with the 21-song bonus disc.
If I could have ten desert island discs, nine would be by my favorite band (whom almost nobody's ever heard of) and the tenth would be King of America.
The poisoned rose
That you gave to me
It left me half alive
And half in ecstasy
But if half of your love
Is all I can win
Give me just a fraction
But no more medicine
posted by The Wrong Kind of Cheese at 10:51 PM on November 6 [3 favorites]
okay so what is your intro to Elvis?
I can tell you the almost the minute in March 1986 when I first heard Elvis Costello, and (weirdly) he wasn't even singing his own song! He was covering "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood," recorded first by Nina Simone, and later by The Animals, though I'd never heard it. It was playing on the night I turned 19, and it was my first kiss with the man who broke my heart in each of last four decades. But I discovered Elvis Costello, and went out the next day and bought King of America, released three weeks prior. So there's that.
I wore out the cassette, as it didn't leave my Walkman for months and I learned every word. And when I bought a CD player, it was the first CD I purchased, but it got lost in a move. And then I bought it again when the reissue came out in 2005 with the 21-song bonus disc.
If I could have ten desert island discs, nine would be by my favorite band (whom almost nobody's ever heard of) and the tenth would be King of America.
The poisoned rose
That you gave to me
It left me half alive
And half in ecstasy
But if half of your love
Is all I can win
Give me just a fraction
But no more medicine
posted by The Wrong Kind of Cheese at 10:51 PM on November 6 [3 favorites]
my favorite band (whom almost nobody's ever heard of)
oh come ON
you are sharing the room with the Elvis Costello Appreciation Club, surely you're not just going to leave us hanging
posted by ginger.beef at 3:06 PM on November 7 [2 favorites]
oh come ON
you are sharing the room with the Elvis Costello Appreciation Club, surely you're not just going to leave us hanging
posted by ginger.beef at 3:06 PM on November 7 [2 favorites]
I hate one of those songs and love the other three (i'll let you guess which!),
You hate Watching the Detectives, I am guessing. That would be my choice. Loved it at first but then my dislike for it grew like Topsy over the years.
posted by y2karl at 4:31 PM on November 27
You hate Watching the Detectives, I am guessing. That would be my choice. Loved it at first but then my dislike for it grew like Topsy over the years.
posted by y2karl at 4:31 PM on November 27
y2karl: good guess but no, the one i hate is "Veronica". The music is catchy as hell but the lyrics are so goddamn depressing.
posted by adrienneleigh at 8:34 PM on November 27
posted by adrienneleigh at 8:34 PM on November 27
How unlike Elvis Costello -- the man famous for keeping a little black book of his enemies in the music business. Which included the ingrates given comp tickets to his shows who never showed up. Such a warm and fuzzy feeling fellow was he.
posted by y2karl at 1:55 AM on November 28
posted by y2karl at 1:55 AM on November 28
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It was as much of the alphabet as she knew how to use"
is quite the lyric.
posted by Calvin and the Duplicators at 1:30 AM on November 5 [13 favorites]