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Almost Blue

Elvis CostelloAudio CD
3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (44 customer reviews)


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Biography

Declan MacManus is known as one of the most idiosyncratic new wave performers, under his alias Elvis Costello. The UK-born singer-songwriter had a string of Top 30 chart hits in the UK in the late 70s and early 80s, though his work throughout his career has always gathered critical respect.

Although he was initially marketed as a punk, his music originally seemed to sound more like ... Read more in Amazon's Elvis Costello Store

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Product Details

  • Audio CD (August 30, 1994)
  • Number of Discs: 1
  • Label: Rykodisc
  • ASIN: B0000009UW
  • Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Music
  • Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (44 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #192,054 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

1. Why Don't You Love Me (Like You Used To Do)?
2. Sweet Dreams
3. Success
4. I'm Your Toy
5. Tonight The Bottle Let Me Down
6. Brown To Blue
7. Good Year For The Roses
8. Sittin' And Thinkin'
9. Colour Of The Blues
10. Too Far Gone
11. Honey Hush
12. How Much I Lied
13. He's Got You (Live In Aberdeen)
14. Cry, Cry, Cry (Live In Aberdeen)
15. There Won't Be Anymore (Live In Aberdeen)
16. Sittin' And Thinkin' (Live Iin Aberdeen)
17. Honey Hush (Live In Aberdeen)
18. Psycho
19. Your Angel Steps Out Of Heaven
20. Darling, You Know I Wouldn't Lie
See all 23 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Costello's flirtation with "real" country music, this album of covers produced in Nashville by veteran Billy Sherrill was prompted by some genuinely bad feelings as his personal life fell apart. It hasn't held up well over the years since its 1981 release, but there is one brilliant moment--Costello's cracked-voice reading of hero Gram Parsons's "How Much I Lied." The Rykodisc edition adds an array of bonus tracks, including Leon Payne's apropos "Psycho," cut during the tour for the Baroque-pop Armed Forces. --Rickey Wright

Product Description

Audio CD.

Customer Reviews

3.9 out of 5 stars
(44)
3.9 out of 5 stars
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
40 of 42 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Stranger In The House August 30, 2004
Format:Audio CD
First off I love the Warning! label in the liner notes: "This album contains Country & Western Music & may produce radical reaction in narrow minded people". Further more, I'm afraid I disagree with any previous reviewers who cite this is the 1st misstep in a career that was consistantly on the rise. On the contrary, I think Almost Blue was the 1st time Costello completely stumped his audience. He's certainly done it a few times since.

It takes real balls to put your own stamp on a Hank Williams tune. Albeit, a relatively obscure one. Opening with "Why Don't You Love Me" Costello & company immediately put a spin into their own conceit. Throwing themselves into the proceedings with the same hyper, punked out abandon found on This Year's Model. This is your 1st indication that this isn't going to be your typical Country standards album. Or at worse a joke.

Fact of the matter is, he truly goes for the throat on this one. His take on "Sweet Dreams" may make Patsy Cline fans cringe in their beehives, but any Gram Parsons affecionado will appreciate Costello's heartfelt renditions of "Hot Burrito #1 (I'm Your Toy)" or "How Much I Lied". Both are just as touching as the originals, sung as if he'd written them himself.

"Good Year For The Roses" was the big surprise hit on this album. In England at any rate. Personally, I never get sick of hearing it. Perhaps because I've never heard the original.

As bonus discs go, Rhino & Mr. Costello have once again given you an all too generous assortment for your buck. Infact, there's more than twice as many tracks than on the original album. It starts off with his legendary duet with George Jones on "Stranger In The House". It doesn't disappoint. Followed by an even odder pairing with The Man In Black. I won't comment on the results, but the moment is to be cherished.

Besides some live tracks from his infamous gig in Aberdeen, there's not one, but 2 chilling versions of Leon Payne's "Psycho". Where others have milked the tune's black humor for all it's worth, Costello wisely takes it all too seriously. A welcomed restraint that will send a shiver up your spine, if you're in the right mood.

The bonus disc also features some very touching versions of "Too Far Gone" & "He's Got You". Not to mention real gems like "Wondering" & "Blues Keep Calling". His version of "I'll Take Care OF You" is to die for. Then there's "Your Angel Steps Out of Heaven". I'll bore you if I go on (if I haven't already).

Many Costello fans will begrudgingly look on this as a novelty, but far from necessary in terms of their collections. The superficial masses will cast this aside without a 2nd thought. But for me it tops flawed classics like "Punch The Clock", or his overrated Burt Bacharach album for that matter.

In fact, having been a longtime Costello & (not so lately secret) Country fan for years, I breathed a sigh of relief when this originally came out. Ofcourse, it didn't set the world on fire & I had to keep my dirty little secret to myself. But without a doubt, Almost Blue is one of the most interesting records of Costello's ongoing career. For my money, it's certainly one of the most rewarding reissues in this Rhino series. As much as I've always loved this album, truth be told, it's the bonus disc that sends this into the 5 star mark. In other words, I'm happy to have bought it again.
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20 of 20 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Another completist alert! September 23, 2004
Format:Audio CD
For all you Costello completists out there, DO NOT toss your Rykodisc copy once you get this new Rhino version. There are two "Live in Aberdeen" tracks on the Ryko pressing that did not get carried over onto the new one.

As for the record itself, when I first bought the vinyl 20+ years ago, I knew very few of the songs and had none of the original versions. Now I have almost all of them, as well as a deep appreciation for country music. I have Elvis and my wife to thank for that!
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars A great Elvis Costello & country-western music album January 22, 2000
By beamis
Format:Audio CD
What better country is there than Britain to hail from to able to intepret American country music? The mother country is where much of southern culture originated, including it's musical heritage. Wales and West Virginia are more alike than most people care to realize. To me it's a natural. It is not uncommon to see Merle Haggard songs on jukeboxes throughout the rural counties of the U.K. Elvis Costello's "Almost Blue" ranks right up there with the splendid work of his fellow countryman, such as the "Muswell Hillbillies" by the Kinks and much of the c&w that the Rolling Stones and Faces produced circa 1969-72. So I wish Costello fans would lay off this nonsense about this supposed rocker "experimenting" in Nashville. This album is on a more emotional level than most and seems at times uncomfortably personal in the song selection. That's what makes it like classic country to me. It gives you a chill right up your spine at certain moments. A pure delight. Billy Sherrill, the producer, really tries to make it sound like a George Jones album from the early sixties, cornpone and all. That's the way country sounded before the big hats of today. His version of "Success" and "Color of the Blues" is worth the price admission. You can tell that Costello listened to this music in England as a young lad and it made a deep impression. Great first country album for the unintiated.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Costello Shines Even In Blue
Elvis Costello busted on the scene way back in the late seventies with a fresh style and angry stance. Everything about him shouted " I am not anything you have seen before! Read more
Published 14 months ago by D. Carlisle
5.0 out of 5 stars How Come You Treat Me Like a Worn Out Shoe?
It's funny to see how ALMOST BLUE still divides Costello fans after all these years. I remember seeing a documentary produced for British TV (Melvyn Bragg's "The South Bank Show")... Read more
Published on April 29, 2009 by Richard Hine
4.0 out of 5 stars You Know,This Isn't Half Bad
Maybe it's because I grew up around country music that I find so much in this album to like.It's.....kind of a good/not-so-good thing really. Read more
Published on March 29, 2009 by Andre S. Grindle
5.0 out of 5 stars Top ten best country records...ever.
I grew up in a state where "Country was King" so of course, as an adolescent I refused to listen to it. Not until Elvis Costello released Almost Blue. Read more
Published on March 23, 2009 by James S. Ford
4.0 out of 5 stars Costello-politan - works for me.
I think this is an album where either you're into it, or you aren't -- it isn't an issue of whether it's a "good" record, or a "bad" one. Read more
Published on March 20, 2009 by DJ Joe Sixpack
2.0 out of 5 stars For Completists Only
I love country music -- the real stuff -- the kind Elvis attempts here. I also love Elvis Costello; for the past week, I have listened incessantly to his collaboration with Burt... Read more
Published on February 4, 2009 by Tomato Pie
2.0 out of 5 stars Costello's first mis-step
It probably seemed like a good idea in retrospect. Elvis wanted to go to Nashville and meet with an icon of a country classic producer, then cut an album of some of his favorites... Read more
Published on January 20, 2009 by Tim Brough
5.0 out of 5 stars ELVIS COSTELLO "ALMOST BLUE" DOUBLE DISC CD
EXCELLENT!!! THIS IS ELVIS COSTELLO AND THE ATTRACTIONS VENTURE INTO COUNTRY MUSIC. THIS IS A LEGENDARY DOUBLE DISC CD. Read more
Published on November 18, 2008 by Gary Covington
5.0 out of 5 stars near-Classic
Not everything works and the production is sometimes kinda cheezy (Sittin' and Thinkin'), but I still love to hear Elvis sing...
Published on November 10, 2008 by Sing and Be Happy
5.0 out of 5 stars Not What I Expected
I first bought this album as a vinyl record. I was, at the time in acquisition mode for anything Elvis Costello was putting out. Read more
Published on October 24, 2008 by Bay0Wulf
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