Elvis Costello And The Attractions Highlights From Almost Blu

Six years after the commencement of a major Elvis Costello reissue campaign at Rhino, his catalog transferred over to Universal, which had been releasing new Elvis music since 1998's Painted from Memory. Like every one of his previous two big catalog shifts – a campaign with Rykodisc/Demon in 1994, a jump to Rhino in 2001 – the 2007 series is preceded by a new hits collection, this time The Best of Elvis Costello: The First 10 Years, a 22-track collection of highlights that's pretty much exactly what it says it is. It is quite similar to the last previous single-disc collection, the 1994 Ryko/Demon set The Very Best of Elvis Costello and the Attractions, which also ran 22 tracks, 19 of which also appear on The First 10 Years. The three omissions – "Watch Your Step," "New Amsterdam," and "Love Field" – will not be missed by anybody looking for a new Costello comp in 2007, particularly because all three substitutions are better choices for the casual man: "New Lace Sleeves," "Almost Blue," and "(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes," which bizarrely wasn't on the 1994 set. With these three songs rubbing shoulders with "Alison," "Watching the Detectives," "Pump It Up," "Oliver's Army," "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love & Understanding," and all the other usual suspects, The Best of Elvis Costello: The First 10 Years winds up being the best single-disc summary and introduction to Costello's prime years.

Elvis Costello - This Years Model (1978) {Demon Records}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC+CUE+LOG -> 359 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 122 Mb
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© 1993 Demon Records | DRAM2
Rock / Rock & Roll / New Wave / British Punk

Where My Aim Is True implied punk rock with its lyrics and stripped-down production, This Year's Model sounds like punk. Not that Elvis Costello's songwriting has changed – This Year's Model is comprised largely of leftovers from My Aim Is True and songs written on the road. It's the music that changed. After releasing My Aim Is True, Costello assembled a backing band called the Attractions, which were considerably tougher and wilder than Clover, who played on his debut.

Elvis Costello is an English musician, singer-songwriter and record producer. He began his career as part of London's pub rock scene in the early 1970s and later became associated with the first wave of the British punk and new wave movement of the mid-to-late 1970s. His first three albums all appeared on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Steeped in wordplay, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader than that of most popular songs. His music has drawn on many diverse genres; one critic described him as a "pop encyclopaedia", able to "reinvent the past in his own image". He has won multiple awards in his career, including a Grammy Award, and has twice been nominated for the Brit Award for Best British Male. In 2003, Costello and the Attractions were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked Costello number 80 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. Mighty Like A Rose is the 13th studio album by the British rock singer and songwriter Elvis Costello, released in 1991. It peaked at No. 5 on the UK Albums Chart, and at No. 55 on the Billboard 200.

In his 2015 memoir Unfaithful Music and Disappearing Ink, Elvis Costello recalled an early gig at the British Legion Hall "on the posh side of Birkenhead Park" in Birkenhead, Merseyside. "I can't say my set was a triumph," he wrote. "I went off to a round of feeble applause from a handful of pensioners supping mild beer and a smattering of teenagers in army petticoats drinking cider. However, once I found a singing partner in Allan Mayes, my performances became a little more controlled and his superior musicianship and more melodious voice balanced by chaotic approach." Initially with Alan Brown on bass and then as a duo, Costello (then known by his birth name of Declan MacManus) and Mayes performed together as Rusty from January 1972 through June 1973.