Brutal Youth (With Bonus Disc) [ORIGINAL RECORDING REISSUED] [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED] [IMPORT]

Elvis Costello

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 19, 2002)
• Original Release Date: February 19, 2002
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered, Import
• Label: Rhino/Wea UK
• ASIN: B00005Y1Y1
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #125,402 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Brutal Youth (1994) reunited Costello with the Attractions (and occasional substitute bassist Nick Lowe) in an ambitious attempt to link the experimental impulses of Spike and Mighty Like a Rose to the outfit's controlled careen. While peers such as Sting disappeared further up their own precocity, Costello mined both the fanciful (his jokes are actually funny) and enraged. From the opening shots of "Pony St." and "Kinder Murder," he assuredly moves through the pub R&B of "Clown Strike," the art-song trappings of "Still Too Soon to Know," and the Trust-style classicism of "Sulky Girl" ("Hold your tongue / Although I know you've never been that strong") and "You Tripped at Every Step." Often majestic, the record occasionally feels mannered--an alternate version of the ballad "Favourite Hour" included on this 2002 reissue as a bonus track is much less lumbering than the take that closes the album proper--but remains a casualty of audience indifference. Almost anyone who missed it the first time around will find moments to add to their list of Costello treasures. --Rickey Wright

Product Description
Rhino Records expanded reissue, completely remastered and packaged with a bonus disc of rarities. Bonus disc content - 'Life Shrinks', 'Favourite Hour' (Alt. Version), 'This Is Hell' (Alt. Version), 'Idiophone', 'Abandon Words', 'Poisoned Letter', 'A Drunken Man's Praise Of Sobriety', 'Pony St.' (Demo), 'Clown Strike' (Alt. Version), 'Rocking Horse Road' (Demo), '13 Steps Lead Down' (Demo), 'All The Rage' (Demo), 'Just About Glad' (Alt. Version), 'Sulky Girl' (Demo) & 'You Tripped At Every Step' (Alt. Version). 2002.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Just about glad they reissued this fine album, February 23, 2002

By	Wayne Klein "If at first the idea is not absu... (My Little Blue Window, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

Brutal Youth was hailed with acclaim and most of it focused on EC returning to his roots. Nonsense. He had never left his "roots" behind. He just chose to dabble in a variety of other musical genres and with outside musicians. The result enabled EC to return with his strongest, freshest batch of songs in years. Brutal Youth does indeed recall his early work but the scope of the songwriting had expanded. As a songwriter EC continued to develop and hone his craft. Brutal Youth demonstrated that the detour made into contemporary classical music and work with notable session musicians allowed him to develop additional insight.

The extra disc is a fun detour through EC's house of music. We get to hear a variety of demos, b sides and flawed (but fascintating ) tracks that didn't make the final cut. The bonus disc only manages to enhance the original package. The bonus disc alone makes this worthwhile purchasing.

The sound quality of Brutal Youth is slightly richer with a warmth to many of the best tracks that were only hinted at in its previous incarnation. The best tracks still sparkle with wit (Clown Strike, 13 Steps Lead Down, This Is Hell) and enough musical invention for two or three albums.

Brutal Youth stands as one of EC's best albums since Blood and Chocolate nearly a decade before. Of his contemporaries only Andy Partridge (of Xtc) and Joe Jackson have managed to stay relevent. EC used his musical fame to try on a number of suits and was trying to find which suit fit him best. I'm always reminded of John Lennon's comment about the blues when I think of artist's like EC(when discussing rock 'n' roll); the blues is a chair. There are many common features that link different styles of the blues to each other but they can all be quite different and still be called the blues. Why? Because they share the same basic function. EC's musical career is very much like Lennon's fabled blues chair; there are many different varities but they all still manage to have the same basic function.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great CDs, but mislabeled, August 22, 2005

By	Road Reptile (Alexandria, VA) - See all my reviews

EC+A hearken back to their "New Wave" roots! Nice to hear EC's raucous Fender Jazzmaster guitar on "13 Steps Lead Down" and Nick Lowe's bass work on "My Science Fiction Twin". However, I was at first confused by Rhino's labeling of the main and bonus CDs. The discs I received have the main CD labeled as 'Bonus Disc', while the disc with the bonus tracks is not labeled as such. Did anyone else discover this too? Who knows--maybe it'll be a collector's item someday!

Oh yeah, this mislabeling occurred with the Rhino CD release of 'Blood & Chocolate'. What's going on at Rhino?

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars And he answered "Superbly"....., November 19, 2003

By	Tim Brough "author and music buff" (Springfield, PA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

That line is taken from "My Science Fiction Twin" and is the rejoinder to a question asked of how he manages to do so many tasks at once. Which pretty much sums up "Brutal Youth," which was a joyous return to rocking with Nick Lowe and the Attractions. After a testy eight year separation, they came together to make one more album to remind us just how much fun the sound of a slamming snare drum mixed with venom, power and passion could be. Let's face it, after reading Bruce Thomas' uncomplimentary "The Big Wheel" and hearing EC's diatribes on "Mighty Like A Rose" ("How To Be Dumb" in particular), I'd figured a reunion was about as likely as seeing E. Presley at the local Burger King.

Yet here it was...with the band roaring right into "Pony Street," a generation gap conversation between a jaded daughter and a mother who still thinks she is on the cutting edge ("I am the genuine thing, but to you it's just history"). By the time your disc player reaches the end of "13 Steps Lead Down" with the cookpot slam of the drums, the precision power bass and fabulous keyboard flourishes, you'll remember (for all the right reasons) why you fell in love with "Armed Forces."

Those aforementioned songs, as well as "Sulky Girl," "20% Amnesia" and the surprisingly sentimental "London's Brilliant Parade" are EC Classics. The bonus disc has some interesting pre-album arrangements of the songs and a few drop outs ("Poisoned Letters" eventually morphed into "All The Rage"), but it is still the power and immediacy of the original album that was the beefsteak, and was one of my faves of the year 1994.