King of America [EXTRA TRACKS] [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED]

Elvis Costello

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 26, 2005)
• Original Release Date: April 26, 2005
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Extra tracks, Original recording remastered
• Label: Rhino / Wea
• ASIN: B0007XT894
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #54,812 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential recording
This plunge into blues and roots Americana stands with This Year's Model and Imperial Bedroom as Costello's greatest work. Ryko's repackaging is immaculate, natch, and this time Elvis contributes a fascinating 3,000-word essay about the recording and its dismal fate at Columbia's hands. --Jeff Bateman

Product Description
Born in London in 1954 as Declan McManus, Elvis Costello emerged out of the punk revolution not just as the movement's one truly great singer-songwriter, but as one of them most enduring and versatile stars in popular music. Ever since his 1977 debut album My Aim Is True, Costello has never ceased proving exactly that-his long run of stylistically diverse and artistically adventurous albums bring lyrical weight, emotional endeavor. Produced by Costello with T-Bone Burnett and Larry Hirsch, 1986's King of America finds him surrounded by stellar L.A.-based musicians and assorted legendary players (including ex-Elvis Presley guitar ace James Burton and bassist Jerry Scheff). Live-sounding and vibrant, roots-flavored and brilliant, there's not twice as much of it to love!

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars saving the best for last, April 27, 2005

By	yardbird (Vancouver, Canada) - See all my reviews

As all Elvis Costello fans know, this is the last of his works to be reissued by Rhino with an extra disc of demos. outtakes and live tracks. It is also the very best, both because the original album is so good and because the extra disc is brilliant. The Ryko reissue had only a handful of extra tracks. This version, by contrast, has over 77 minutes of additional music. However, it is more the quality, not simply the quantity, of the music that makes this disc special. The solo acoustic demos which open the new disc are some of Elvis' very best work. They almost make up an album in themselves, and make one wish that Elvis would record more solo material. The Coward Brothers material is excellent, but not new. The disc closes with an exceptional live set, which ranks among the best ever live recordings Elvis has released. Buy this record!

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Place Were I Made My Best Mistakes, April 30, 2005

By	K. H. Orton (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

In many ways, KING OF AMERICA could be considered a "solo" album. After pounding out a frenetic string of classics since his debut, doubtful cracks began to appear on the slick surface of PUNCH THE CLOCK. But after the crash & burn of GOODBYE CRUEL WORLD, it seems Costello wisely stepped back from the wreckage, stripping it all down to a room with a view on the precipice. In doing so, he also gave his band a much needed & unexpected vacation.

Though they play on "Suit Of Lights", The Attractions basically sat this one out. Suffice it to say, they were less than thrilled to be blown off in favor of legends like James Burton & Ray Brown. No surprise then, that next to ALMOST BLUE (& now DELIVERY MAN) this is Costello's most Country influenced album. A risky proposition in the mid 80's.

"Indoor Fireworks" & "Poisoned Rose" rank up there with "Almost Blue" as some of his finest torch songs. The bleak majesty of "Little Palaces" is easily the most political song on the album, while all kid gloves come off in the scathing "Suit Of Lights". The role of King OF Fools is wryly embraced on "I'll Wear It Proudly", but all the ego bashing comes to a fore with "Jack Of All Parades". The final curtain falls with "Sleep Of The Just".

Though, I'd say "Glitter Gulch" & "American Without Tears" haven't gone down as two of Cotello's most requested numbers, gems like "Brilliant Mistake" & "Lovable" make up for it. I suppose Costello sums it up best in "Our Little Angel"---"this is the place where I made my best mistakes".

In terms of the two covers on here,"Eisenhower Blues" lets his guests blow off some much needed steam. Call it filler but its good, raucous fun. The same could be said of his take on The Animals classic,"Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood". A haunting arrangement delivered with a death rattle rasp that can't help but bring Tom Waits to mind.

Of course, the real clincher for fans is the bonus disc. "Having It All", "Suffering Face" & "Deportee" capture Costello at his most maudlin. Also notable is the gem "King Of Confidence" which could have only improved the original album. His covers of "Ture Love Ways" & "End Of The Rainbow" seem tailor made. As for the live cuts, "Tears Me Up" has all the passion missing from CRUEL WORLD. If SPIKE'S "Tramp The Dirt Down" were an outtake from PUNCH THE CLOCK, it would sound an awful lot like "Betrayal".

Once again, Rhino & Mr. Costello have given you the royal treatment. Love it or hate it, KING marked a decided sea change in Costello's career. An album that remains unique & among his best.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Crown jewel in Costello's 80's releases comes to CD again, April 27, 2005

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

"King of America" stands as the crown jewel in Costello's late 80's output. Rhino has finally issued this stellar gem in a deluxe edition that puts the previous version released by Ryko to shame. Although the first edition had a bonus disc with a handful of live tracks and bonus tracks, it lacked the deluxe grandeur of what this reissue deserved. This edition has all those bonus tracks, live cuts plus 14 previously unreleased tracks. The bonus tracks have all been relocated to the second disc (like all the re-releases)presenting the original album on the first disc alone.

Personally, I would have loved to see this released as a 3 CD deluxe set with a disc devoted to most of the concert the live tracks are drawn from. I always felt that the live tracks were little more than a teaser for a much bigger, better album that was never released. Since this is the last in the Rhino remasters that's going to be released (unless they put out the limited edition 5 CD live album that was put out in the 90's), I would have loved to see a limited edition 3 or 4 CD set not unlike the Rhino Handmade releases of this terrific album with additional outtakes and live tracks. Oh well, one can always dream. At least we have this fine album finally in a deluxe edition the way it should have been released in the first place. One of Costello's least appreciated but finest albums finally gets its due.

Loaded with a great set of liner notes discussing the making of the album and the bonus tracks, Rhino and Costello have done a great job at putting this classic album together for re-release. The remastered sound does sound better than the previous versions although some of that could just be the way this remastered version was tweaked. My only complaint is that, unlike some of the other notes for the other releases, it seems like we get less information about the additional bonus tracks here compared to some of the other remasters. Oh, and more importantly for Costello fans, we do get the complete lyrics for all the songs written by Costello.