Elvis Costello Songs

Concert Review | Elvis Costello Wheel spins a memorable evening

This rock 'n' roll concert had all the elements of excellent entertainment, using a gimmick I remember Costello using many years ago - the spinning wheel.

This time, Costello's stage was dominated by the large, multicolored wheel with song titles or themes on each segment. He brought people from the audience to spin it. They got to stay on stage after they spun, lounging in seats Costello claimed were from Donald Trump, and often dancing in a go-go cage or even singing along with Costello.

For his part, Costello, 56, and still bespectacled, would say cheesy things as the wheel spun. He acted like a carnival barker or a game-show host, albeit one who could play a Fender Jazzmaster and Telecaster.

It was corny and ironic and cool, all at the same time, and it was the perfect way to shake up a set list with a couple decades' worth of excellent material. Costello has called himself the Scrabble champion of rock, and his mastery of the written and sung word was in evidence for about 21/2 hours, including encores.

funkyplatypus: Little Triggers: 22 Elvis Costello Songs That Are ...

And being such a big Elvis Costello fan, I am mostly bothered by the fact that nobody around me seems to like him. I'll meet a few casual fans who know "Alison" or "Pump it Up", but it's very rare that I ever meet anyone with the same ridiculous degree of fandom. And, living in Argentina where he's mostly known for his contribution to the "Notting Hill" soundtrack (a song whose title will NOT be uttered here), it annoys the crap out of me that nobody really knows what he sounds like. So I've put together a bit of a starter kit. This is a 19-song "mixtape" (with 3 bonus tracks) that I feel is fairly representative of his body of work;  one of the richest and most eclectic catalogs by any musician ever. Anybody interested in downloading these songs (in lossy mp3 format) can do so by clicking here .  If you're not familiar with this man and his amazing work, or if you only know him as that awkward geek from the "Pump it Up" video, or if you LIKE GOOD MUSIC, please do yourself a favor and download this compilation. You're bound to find something you love. 4- "Shoes Without Heels" , outtake from 1986's "King of America". One of the things I like the most about EC is how his (very vast) catalog is littered with hidden treasures. This is one of them. This beautiful little country/folk ballad about the complicated relationships between women and their johns (sort of? Think of The Police's "Roxanne", except for the sucking) was written and recorded for the King of America album, and then relegated to B-side status. That such a beautiful song could be so effortlessly written and essentially kept in a drawer for years is a testament to the extremely prolific type of songwriter EC is. 6- "No Action" , from 1978's "This Year's Model". The term "punk rock" was applied to Elvis a lot in the early days, even though his music bore very little resemblance to punk bands of the time. If there is ONE album that sort of approximates the "punk" sound, it's This Year's Model. This song, the opening track, encapsulates the neurotic, jealous, borderline-mysoginystic tone of that album. Short, snappy, "punky". Once again I have to comment on Pete Thomas' drumming. Just spectacular. 7- "Episode of Blonde" , from 2002's "When I Was Cruel".

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