Customer Reviews

National Ransom [+Digital Booklet]

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

"National Ransom," the latest release from Elvis Costello, is musically tasteful and lyrically sophisticated. In short, Elvis really assembled this one well.

A Whitman's Sampler of styles, "National Ransom" takes the listener on a sonic trip: edgy rock, New Orleans jazz, acoustic jazz, country, ballads, blues ... even a detour back to the "Attractions" days. Yes, for all you longtime Elvis fans, "Alison" could be slipped onto this disc and would blend in.

But it doesn't stop there. From the country churns ("That's Not the Part of Him You're Leaving" and "I Lost You") to the Victrola waltzes ala Leon Redbone ("You Hung the Moon") Elvis' voice hasn't sounded better.

Like acoustic guitar? "A Slow Drag With Josephine" is spot on, complete with mandolins and whistling -- echoes of Ry Cooder.

"Jimmie Standing in the Rain" -- a melancholy night in the French Quarter.

"Bullets For the New-Born King" -- Which is more poetic? The lyrics or the silky acoustic guitar. You decide.

"National Ransom" is a monster step up from Elvis' previous album, "Secret, Profane & Sugarcane," which housed a lot of mediocre and forgettable tunes.

Meandering cleverly through the various genres, "National Ransom" is Elvis at what is perhaps his creative peak.

Elvis Costello has a lot of different sides, a lot of different interests. When a new release comes out, you gotta wonder what you are going to get--will it be straight ahead rockers with a dash of humor? Will it be sophistipop with elaborate arrangements ala Burt Bacharach? Will he collaborate with a string quartet on one of the most ambitious albums by a rock musician ever? Will he re-interpret classic pop tunes with an opera Diva? Will he give us smoky jazz? I love all the possibilities, and bought this sound unheard. I have to say, wow, it is all and none of those things, and it is great!

Elvis digs deep into all of his past work--his lyrics are sophisticated, humorous, touching. He shines on his melodies--catchy yet not obvious. INstrumentation is tight, and it feels like he has lived these songs for a while. Instrumentation is straightforward, but feels very full and well orchestrated.

As I listened to the album, I could feel some influence from the southern US--pickers, some jazzy chord changes, even a little dixie jazz feel in places.

Listen, if you like Elvis Costello, if you are one of the faithful who has stuck by him in all his many incarnations, then this is a no-brainer. Buy it now. If you are a relapsed fan, this is a great place to jump back in--the album is approachable, beautiful, fun, and artistically impressive. If you've never listened to Elvis Costello before, you've got a great set of treats to pick up. You're going to want to pick up some of his older albums as well, but this is a fantastic into to the quirky, fascinating, multigenre spanning talent of Elvis.

Get it. I can't wait to buy another copy to give away!

Elvis Costello's new CD "National Ransom" is produced by T-Bone Burnet and sees him traipsing through Blues, Rock, Jazz and even Country. Backed by his regular touring band The Imposters, as well as a few guests like Vince Gill and Leon Russell. The rocking Blues title track opens the album, followed by the Ragtime "Jimmie Standing In The Rain" which tells the story of a failed music-hall singer getting drenched in the rain at a Lancashire train station.

Each of the album's 16 tracks is special so I'll just pick on a few to highlight. The woozy enthralling "Stations Of The Cross", "A Slow Drag With Josephine" is acoustic Folk, "Five Small Words" is bouncy Country with quivering guitars, "Church Underground" is Bluesy Pop (with snarling vocals and guitars), the slow shuffling Jazzy "You Hung The Moon", the Folk/Blues "Dr. Watson, I Presume", the acoustic "One Bell Ringing", and the vaudeville "A Voice In The Dark".

"National Ransom" is like a well stocked jukebox which ticks all the right boxes.

"National Ransom" is going to go down as one of the very best recordings E.C. has ever made. The range of the material is astonishing, as the other reviewers so far have noted, but the little miracle is that the disc doesn't feel like a grab bag. Each song is extremely powerful in a different way. There are flat-out rockers -- if you like to hear Elvis rock, you'll have plenty to listen to, like the title track, or "My Lovely Jezebel." There are some that seem to have stepped out of some antique English music hall, like "Slow Drag With Josephine," or "Jimmie Standing In The Rain." And there are others that just defy description, extraordinary vocal performances of complex, subtle and deep lyrics, and music that is sophisticated and accessible at the same time, the most affecting of which might be the flood-themed "Stations of The Cross."

Often musical genres are mashed together -- he has combined his country band (the Sugarcanes) with members of the Imposters and old friends like the eclectic jazzer Marc Ribot -- and you end up with songs like "One Bell Ringing" and "The Spell That You Cast" that make their own rules and succeed brilliantly. Oh yeah -- and then he can turn around and break your heart with a ballad like "You Hung The Moon" or "All These Strangers".... I don't think his voice has ever sounded better or more nuanced.

Somehow this incredible variety and depth hangs together and becomes a complete artistic statement. Partly this is because little common thematic strands run through most of the songs, which you only notice at first out of the corner of your eye, glinting here and there. But the more you look for them, the more you find. And if you follow the threads from the blistering opener to the bitterly ironic and deceptively jolly closer, through all this gathered imagery of love and loss, and nostalgia, and betrayal, you will be amazed. It is so easy to throw around superlatives, but I don't think there could be such a thing as too many superlatives for this disc. I've always been a big Elvis fan, but this one is, I think, in a whole new category. He might actually be a freakin' genius, after all.

Any review of an Elvis Costello record is difficult; to whom is the review addressed? The casual listener will often hear the overall genre and either like or dislike it based on their own musical tastes. Those who enjoy Elvis the rocker may walk away from this CD, but they are missing something special; this is protean songwriting, surely, and the choices of instrumentation and arrangement render this an album for connoisseurs (as in, one who appreciates the subleties, in this case of musical composition, arrangement and performance). "National Ransom" is, however, the most accessible music Elvis Costello has ever created as well. We still hear the distopian view of the world Elvis is notorious for, but where in the past it was filtered through the lenses of "revenge and guilt", middle age has afforded Elvis a wider pallette of emotions, including compassion. One could imagine Elvis spitting out the lyrics of "Stations of the Cross" in earlier times, or hearing the Attractions backing him on "National Ransom" with a fury of the original "Accidents Will Happen"; turning these and all other songs over to largely acoustic arrangements, with vocal performances as sublime as any he has ever done, shows us a depth and a texture that is remarkable even for a career as remarkable as Elvis Costello's.
I was circumspect in writing this review; I have listened to "National Ransom" for over a week to make sure I would not overreach. This is what it is: a mid-career masterpiece, one that deserves strong consideration for Album of the Year. Any library of great music should include it.

Since this is now the the third time I'm buying this CD (I gave the other two copies away to friends and said "listen to this! this is a great CD!") I thought I should write a review.

I've listened to EC since the late 70s and along the way loved a lot of what he's done. And I'll always buy whatever he puts out, but sometimes I listen once and that's it.

Past "classics" (in more recent times) I think were Brutal Youth and When I Was Cruel (and yeah I even liked (a lot) the Burt Bachrach collaboration). But in recent years things like North, The Delivery Man and River in Reverse didn't grab me. But you have to give this guy respect because he's always trying to do something different on each record.

So then I gave this one a listen and after more and more listens I liked it more and more. Yeah there's a track or two you can skip over (Stations of the Cross, for example). But the melodies and especially the lyrics are great (one of the best things about his songwriting is just well-written lyrics!).

To me the most interesting aspects of this record are two things: one is that a number of tunes are really just him and an acoustic guitar (and maybe a sparse background). Things like "Bullets..." I think are great. The other is that the types of songs are very different. The first tune is a straightforward tune, a lot like things he's done in the past -- but still good and great lyrics. Then he does some things that are country -- The Part of Him You're Leaving is another great example of just a well written song and also one of my favorites. And then there's a couples of tunes that sound like they came straight out of the 1920s (30s? 40s?) songbook (e.g. Voice in the Dark) -- but I really like them as well. So it's got quite a variety of different kinds of music on it.

So this one gets a strong recommendation from me (strong enough to write this review, which I pretty much never do for any records).

My opinion is not unbiased; Elvis can do nearly no wrong in my book, and he is by far my favorite artist. He's been my favorite since I began listening to his albums.

That said, I think it helps to explain that I came to familiarize myself with Costello's catalog in the early nineties, via the Columbia Records 1985 release of "The Best of Elvis Costello & the Attractions," which included the big songs recorded between 1977 and 1984. I found this album used on CD at the record store, and bought it because I'd heard his name and wanted to hear what he did. I loved the album immediately, and began buying his main albums one at a time soon after acquiring the hits collection. I can't remember which of his albums I bought earliest, although I believe 'Get Happy,' 'Rose,' and 'My Aim' were among them.

I'm describing my way of introduction to Costello to make a point: when I got into his music, I pretty much had his entire catalog from which to choose--everything from 'My Aim is True' up through 'Mighty Like a Rose.' I didn't grow up with his angry young man persona, though I came to know and love the music from this period as well. So I never felt disappointed by Costello's frequent, schizophrenic stylistic shifts, as many of his longtime fans have felt, especially fans who were teenagers or young adults in the late seventies, when everything Costello did was seasoned with liberal doses of piss and vinegar.

While some reviewers have called 'National Ransom' "experimental," I don't think that's a valid description anymore. Elvis has been making "experimental" music since the mid-eighties... more than 2 decades ago. I think National Ransom is the next logical step in a progression that started (most recently) with Delivery Man. The new album also draws a lot from King of America, as well it should: both of these albums are touched by T-Bone Burnett's brilliance.

The tracks I love from this album are Five Small Words, Church Underground, You Hung the Moon, Bullets for the Newborn King, Dr. Watson, and One Bell Ringing.
I think Costello excels when his voice is the centerpiece of a song. The emotive qualities of his voice--and his superior songwriting--were the things that drew me into his music in the first place.

I guess it goes without saying that my absolute favorite Elvis album is King of America--an album that I consider perfect from start to finish, an album that makes all of my "stranded on a desert island" lists. As far as I can tell, National Ransom is pretty near perfect too, although it hasn't made my Desert Island 10. Yet.

This is only my first impression, but I see this as one of a piece with Elvis' excellent "Spectacle" series; he's a restless stylistic omnivore, he's a fan of everything he hears, and he has the skills at this point in his life both to pay tribute to those influences and synthesize them into something new. Which is to say, I hear traces of singer-songwriter complaint, rockabilly sneer, circus music, hymnal, Johnny Mathis-style crooning, political screed, Ellingtonian jazz, 19th century murder ballad and much more than I can identify in these songs - but they are recognizably Elvis. The melodies are strong, he's in fine voice, and I expect we'll look back on this as a worthy successor to King of America.

In many ways, "National Ransom" is a composite album, detailing Elvis' evolution as an artist. The album has echoes of past work, notably "Spike," "King of America," "Brutal Youth," "Get Happy," "North," "Painted from Memory," "Delivery Man," "River in Reverse," and "Secret, Profane..." ... and yet ... despite the diversity there remains an integrity and flow to this album that has characterized his best work.

The complex transitions, the austere yet flawless production, the clever lyrics, and the sparkling vocals reward the listener on each subsequent encounter. I've been playing the MP3 on "loop" for the past two days (still waiting for the vinyl) and have become rather addicted to the album. It gets wonderfully better on the tenth listen.

I'll confess: I had some concerns. "I Lost You" and "Five Small Words" sounded like T Bone's leftovers from "Crazy Heart" ("hmmm ... too good for Jeff Bridges, maybe I'll give them to Elvis...") and "You Hung the Moon" certainly would be a better fit on "North." But somehow I find there is a fit - perhaps it is because the album was recorded "live" in the studio (over 11 days), wrapping it in a unique sound, beginning to end.

Two of the tracks I find most interesting are "Dr. Watson, I presume" and "Bullets for the Newborn King" which have a "King of America" immediacy and a wonderful, rich folk arrangement. These songs are reminiscent of Joni Mitchell at her best and early Leonard Cohen. I would love to see an album filled with songs like these two.

While not attaining the rarefied heights of Elvis' greatest works, probably in the top quartile - which means five stars.

This is one of the best offerings in a very long time from Elvis. It starts strong with the title song and continues to drop pleasant surprises of hooks and poetry as we walk along the multicolored path that only Costello is the master of. The cover art is wonderful and this recording is worlds apart from the title before. When he feels like it he can be the same angry punk we met so long ago. This is what we wait for.