Howard & Henry

Or Elvis and T Bone, anno 1985. Still goes down a treat.

The Coward Brothers - The People's Limousine
The Coward Brothers - They'll Never Take Her Love From Me

Keep From Going Under

Would you have guessed that Elvis Costello's 1983 single Pills And Soap was inspired by hiphop? Says the man also known as the Imposter in his liner notes to the cd reissue of Punch The Clock: "The sound of the record was indebted to The Message by Grandmaster Flash and Melle Mel. (...) It was the first rap record I had encountered that was anymore than an invitation to dance. It spoke about ugly life. It was the best and only record of its kind that I had heard since the Last Poets' Wake Up, Niggers..." Check!

Elvis Costello & The Attractions - Pills And Soap
Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five - The Message
The Last Poets - Wake Up, Niggers

Cover Story

Six pack time, inna cover stylee. Just some ole personal faves is all. Codeine dissects Joy Division, the Beasts Of Bourbon take on Eddie Noack, and Bob Mould & Vic Chessnut join up to tackle Gram Parsons. The other Elvis runs away with a Bacharach/David classic, Magazine visits the Captain, while the Mo-dettes go and get stoned. Don't forget to buy some albums if you like what you hear ok?

Codeine - Atmosphere
Beasts Of Bourbon - Psycho
Bob Mould & Vic Chessnut - Hickory Wind
Elvis Costello - I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself (live)
Magazine - I Love You, You Big Dummy
Mo-dettes - Paint It Black

Hustle Bustle

Costello does a Dury, live at Leicester Uni, 1977. Featuring Davey Payne, that fine fine saxophone man of the Blockheads. No need to hustle...

Elvis Costello - Roadette Song

...And Queens

"Playing with the queen of hearts, knowing it ain't really smart..." As I tend to keep my promises, here's part 2 of a royal megamix. Enjoy and buy some albums if you like what you hear ok?

Dave Edmunds - Queen Of Hearts MP3

The Birthday Party - King Ink MP3
Sparklehorse - Homecoming Queen MP3
Cannibal & The Headhunters - Zulu King MP3
Palace Songs - Agnes, Queen Of Sorrow MP3
Elvis Costello - King Of America MP3
Julie Brown - The Homecoming Queen's Got A Gun MP3
Espers - Dead King MP3
Tav Falco's Panther Burns - Tina, The Go-Go Queen MP3
Junior Byles - King Of Babylon MP3

Flip City

From the bootleg vault: three very early Costello tracks. These stem from the days when Declan Patrick MacManus had just started calling himself D.P. Costello and was playing around London with a pubrock combo called Flip City. The band´s name was picked by Costello´s future first wife Mary Burgoyne, who had heard the expression pop up in Cheech and Chong´s backing vocals on Joni Mitchell´s Twisted. Go to the Oliver Di Place blog to hear it yourself.

Recorded at Islington ´s famous Hope And Anchor pub in ´75, the Flip City demos are the first audible steps of a budding talent. Already toying around tentatively with songs like Pay It Back, Living In Paradise and Radio Radio (called Radio Soul at the time), Costello was slowly but surely getting ready to surprise the world with My Aim Is True.

Elvis Costello - Pay It Back MP3

Elvis Costello - Living In Paradise MP3

Elvis Costello - Radio Soul (take 2) MP3

Pigeonholed

Happened upon the following quote in an ´82 interview in the New York Times with Elvis Costello. "I always thought it was a big mistake to toss around that expression ´new wave´ in connection with my records. Why does everything have to be pigeonholed? Why can´t you hear Hank Williams and then Billie Holiday on the radio?"

Couldn´t agree more, El. So here goes. Not on the radio, which long ago ceased to be a ´sound salvation´, but in a blog post.

Hank Williams - Can´t Get You Off Of My Mind MP3

Billie Holiday - I Cried For You MP3

Elvis Costello - Radio Sweetheart MP3

Elvis Costello & The Attractions - Radio Radio MP3

Just another grab bag Friday

But boy have I got some great stuff for you tonight. There´s a demo from the new Bonnie Prince Billy album, a chilling John Cale live song based on one of Sam Peckinpah´s legendary westerns and some Junior Murvin for all you reggae lovers out there. And these legendary Flatlanders are back by popular demand too. For your further reading pleasure I´ve included some links to other blogs that deserve your immediate attention. Check ´em out. And hey, if you´re interested in Bob Dylan´s special meatballs recipe, go here. Bon appetit!

These nice folks over at Drag City gave us a taster for the new Bonnie Prince Billy album Lie Down In The Light, scheduled for mid-May. Can´t wait. The former Palace Brother is an avid reader too apparently: you can find his rather odd choice of books here. An example: "At night I am reading Teach Yourself: Islam. In between, I am trying to read snippets of a sailing instruction manual, a book about local (Northern California) plant life, and a book about food that pushes the eating of animal products, specifically fats and organs." Is that cool or what?

Bonnie Prince Billy - So Everyone (demo) MP3

Read a shocking piece in the paper some days ago about a man in Dallas who spent 27 years in the slammer, but after a DNA test has now been proven innocent. He left court a free man last Tuesday. Apparently this was the 18th time a wrongly convicted man was freed there, the highest rate for any town in the States. "Dallas is a rich man with a death wish in his eye, a steel and concrete soul with a warm hearted love disguise, a rich man who tends to believe in his own lies, Dallas is a rich man with a death wish in his eyes..." James Woodward, this song´s for you.

The Flatlanders - Dallas MP3

Junior Murvin is best known for his song Police And Thieves, succesfully covered by the Clash on their debut. But the whole album of the same name, a classic Lee ´Scratch´ Perry production recorded in his famous Black Ark studio in ´77, is worth every minute of your time. Island records released a remastered version in ´ 03 with a couple of interesting bonus tracks, one of which is Rasta Get Ready, a rastafied take on Curtis Mayfield´s People Get Ready. By the way: for a variety of great reggae songs on the Police And Thieves riddim, head over to the excellent So Well Remembered blog. Many goodies there.

Junior Murvin - Rasta Get Ready MP3

Speaking of other blogs, I just read a nice piece on Sam Peckinpah´s classic movie The Ballad Of Cable Hogue over at Night Time In The Big City. Interesting commentary on that great western featuring Jason Robards and Stella Stevens. Guess I´ll have to see it again some time soon. And my other fave Peckinpah flicks too come to think of it: The Wild Bunch, Ride The High Country, Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid, Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Garcia... John Cale based an amazing song on The Ballad Of Cable Hogue. This intense solo version was recorded live in Utrecht, The Netherlands on February 8, ´83.

John Cale - Cable Hogue (live ´83) MP3

There´s one more blog I´d like to shamelessly plug here, and that´s Star Maker Machine. I say shamelessly because I´m one of the contributing authors. But the fun thing is: you can contribute too, dear reader. Just follow the instructions and start blogging. There´s a theme to post about every week, but that´s about the only restriction you´ve got. This week´s theme is City Songs, and you could just go for it and write a short piece about a ditty you really dig. Elvis Costello´s nifty waltz New Amsterdam would fit the bill perfectly.

Elvis Costello - New Amsterdam MP3

Let´s sign off tonight with an obscure gospel-blues artist that was brought to my attention recently by a friend of mine. Thanks again bud! Washington Phillips recorded only 18 songs between 1927 and 1929, and then 2 of them were lost in the mists of time. The album The Key To The Kingdom (Yazoo) collects the remaining 16 and it´s a great find. And that´s not a guitar you hear by the way, it´s a zither.

Washington Phillips - What Are They Doing In Heaven Today MP3

Love is a rose

Read a funny tidbit in the paper yesterday. A court in Iran ordered a man to give his lawful wedded wife the 124,000 roses that he promised in her dowry, after she filed a complaint to claim it.

The woman said she was claiming the dowry because her ´very stingy husband´ would not even buy her a cup of coffee. The court has seized the man's flat until he produces all of the roses. Under Iranian law, a woman can claim her dowry, or mahr, at any time during a marriage or when getting divorced. The gift becomes the property of the wife to do whatever she likes with. A long-stemmed rose costs about $2 in Tehran, the Iranian capital.

Cool stuff, huh? I just hope the lady in question will do the right thing and donate her truckload of flowers to a city hospital. A good year for the roses indeed...

George Jones - A Good Year For The Roses MP3

Neil Young - Love Is A Rose (live ´76) MP3

The Damned - New Rose MP3

The Carter Family - Give Me Roses While I Live MP3

Elvis Costello - The Poison Rose (live ´95) MP3