Elvis Costello

Elvis Costello – Blood & Chocolate (1986/2015) [Official Digital Download 24bit/192kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · January 8, 2023 · Comments off

Released only seven months following the rootsy King Of America, Blood & Chocolate was received as a more conventional, typical Elvis Costello album. Featuring the Attractions and produced by Nick Lowe, recorded live off the floor in London, Blood & Chocolate peaked at number 16 on the British chart.

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Elvis Costello – Almost Blue (1981/2015) [Official Digital Download 24bit/192kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · January 8, 2023 · Comments off

Elvis Costello’s 1981 album Almost Blue, his foray into the world of traditional country & western music, is full of covers by country legends like Hank Williams, George Jones, Charlie Rich and Merle Haggard. Warmly received by many critics who agreed that Costello and his band did a credible job interpreting this quintessential American material, the album peaked at number seven in the UK and yielded a top 10 British hit with Jerry Chesnut’s song Good Year For The Roses.

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Elvis Costello & The Attractions – This Year’s Model (1978/2015) [Official Digital Download 24bit/192kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · January 8, 2023 · Comments off

Elvis Costello’s second album, released in 1978, continued to build on the momentum that started with his debut the year before. His biggest chart success to date, the album includes two British top 30 singles, Pump It Up and Radio, Radio, along with (I Don’t Want to Go to) Chelsea which peaked at number 16. Critics were equally enthusiastic: This Year’s Model was ranked by Rolling Stone at number 98 on its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time and was named the best album of the year by writers at The Village Voice.

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Elvis Costello – Taking Liberties (1980/2015) [Official Digital Download 24bit/192kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · January 8, 2023 · Comments off

Taking Liberties is an Elvis Costello compilation album, composed of tracks not previously-released on his albums released in the USA. It is mostly made up of B-sides, although it does feature two previously unreleased recordings. It was released in the USA and Canada only and its track listing is almost identical to that of the UK release Ten Bloody Marys & Ten How’s Your Fathers.

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Elvis Costello – Spanish Model (2021) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · January 8, 2023 · Comments off

Spanish Model tells the story of what happens to a seminal album (This Year’s Model) recorded 42 years ago when it is reinterpreted with new voices in another language. This is a story of transformation, adaptation, reflection; a mash-up of language, geography, culture, and passion. How past / present and time / space can partner with music/talent to reimagine a completely new work – Spanish Model. Elvis Costello’s This Year’s Model is reinterpreted all in Spanish with 19 of today’s top Latin artists (Luis Fonsi, Sebastian Yatra, Juanes, and many more) representing a total of 9 countries. The lyrics have been precisely translated to have the featured Latin artists sing to the original multis.

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Elvis Costello – North (2003/2017) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · January 8, 2023 · Comments off

Few artists in pop history have displayed as many different musical sides as Elvis Costello. Over the years, he’s ventured in new wave, country, jazz, R&B, and more, and collaborated with everyone from Burt Bacharach to opera star Anne Sofie Von Otter. So those who’ve followed his twists and turns shouldn’t be taken aback by EC following his excellent, groove-based rock album WHEN I WAS CRUEL with a disc full of gently orchestrated piano ballads.

This is Costello’s debut release on the classical Deutsche Grammaphon label, and though he’s ventured into the classical world on such projects as his „Juliet Letters“ album with the Brodsky Quartet, this is a different beast. With a muted backing that splits the difference between jazzy combo and modern orchestra, „North“ finds Costello aiming for a modern variation on the classic standard format. Using traditional structures, he spices things up by adding seemingly Schubert-inspired art song-like harmonies and melodic intervals. The lyrics follow a man on the path from romantic disillusionment to the sparks of a new love, mirroring the songwriter’s personal journey at the time of the recording. The only question at the end is–where to next?

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Elvis Costello & The Attractions – Armed Forces (1979/2015) [Official Digital Download 24bit/192kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · January 8, 2023 · Comments off

By his third album, released in 1979, the public had caught up with the critics and made Armed Forces a hit for Elvis Costello; his commercial breakthrough after two years of rapturous critical praise. Included on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, Armed Forces is the highest charting album of Costello’s career and contains his highest charting single, Oliver’s Army.

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Elvis Costello – National Ransom (2010) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · January 8, 2023 · Comments off

Three decades into one of the most critically acclaimed careers in Rock & Roll History, Costello proves that he’s as witty and politically charged a songwriter as ever, seamlessly blending elements of folk, country and bluegrass into one of his greatest albums in recent memory.

33 years deep into his career, Elvis Costello continues to challenge both himself and his audience. If his latest is any indication he’ll continue inspiring us well into his twilight years.
-Daniel Tebo, PopMatters

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Elvis Costello – My Aim Is True (1977/2015) [Official Digital Download 24bit/192kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · January 8, 2023 · Comments off

My Aim Is True is English singer-songwriter Elvis Costello’s debut album. The record was originally released in 1977 and features hit songs “Alison” and “(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes”. The same year it was named one of the best of the year by Rolling Stone, in 2003 was listed the magazine’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, and it was eventually inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

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Elvis Costello – La Face de Pendule à Coucou (2021) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · January 8, 2023 · Comments off

Legendary rocker Elvis Costello releases his new french-language EP, La Face de Pendule à Coucou, featuring new french versions of tracks from Costello’s newest full-length, Hey Clockface!

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Elvis Costello – King Of America (1986/2015) [Official Digital Download 24bit/192kHz]

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Stripping away much of the excess that cluttered Punch the Clock and Goodbye Cruel World, Elvis Costello returned to his folk-rock and pub rock roots with King of America, creating one of his most affecting and personal records. Costello literally took on the album as a return to roots, billing himself by his given name Declan MacManus and replacing the Attractions with a bunch of L.A. session men (although his old band appears on one cut), who give the album a rootsy but sleek veneer that sounds remarkably charged after the polished affectations of his Langer/Winstanley productions. And not only does the music sound alive, but so do his songs, arguably his best overall set since Trust. Working inside the limits of country, folk, and blues, Costello writes literate, introspective tales of loss, heartbreak, and America that are surprisingly moving — he rarely got better than ‘Brilliant Mistake,’ ‘Glitter Gulch,’ ‘American Without Tears,’ ‘Big Light,’ and ‘Indoor Fireworks.’ What separates King of America from the underrated Almost Blue is that Costello’s country now sounds lived-in and worn, bringing a new emotional depth to the music, and that helps make it one of his masterpieces. –AllMusic Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine

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Elvis Costello – Hey Clockface (2020) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

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Recorded in Helsinki, Paris and New York, Hey Clockface is the latest “Elvis Costello & Sebastian Krys Production”, following their work together on Elvis Costello and The Imposters GRAMMY-winning album Look Now. Hey Clockface also features contributions from Bill Frisell, Nels Cline, and longtime collaborator Steve Nieve.

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Elvis Costello – Armed Forces (Remastered 2020) (1979/2020) [Official Digital Download 24bit/192kHz]

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Newly remaster! Armed Forces was the third studio album from Costello and second with The Attractions, arriving in January 1979. It was originally conceived under the title Emotional Fascism, which says a lot about the artist’s state of mind while writing and recording. Much was made at the time about Costello moving away from the punk sound of its predecessors and embracing a new wave style, but (then as now) genre tags were simply reductive when it came to Costello’s oeuvre. He brought a deep and abiding love of pop, rock, and R&B in all their forms to Armed Forces, turning in some of his most beloved compositions including “Oliver’s Army” (anchored by Steve Nieve’s ABBA-inspired keyboard riff) about the Troubles in Northern Ireland; the tense, paranoid “Green Shirt”; and elegant, haunting “Accidents Will Happen,” inspired by Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s “Anyone Who Had a Heart.” One of the LP’s most famed songs wasn’t on the original U.K. issue, however. “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding” was introduced by Nick Lowe – the producer of Armed Forces – by his band Brinsley Schwarz in 1974 and re-recorded by Costello, The Attractions, and producer Lowe in 1978 credited to “Nick Lowe & His Sound.” Costello’s biting rendition was added to the U.S. version of the album where it replaced “Sunday’s Best.”

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Elvis Costello – The Boy Named If (2022) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · December 31, 2022 · Comments off

Elvis Costello - The Boy Named If (2022) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz] Download

These energized tracks make it clear that COVID-19’s enforced isolation sparked fresh inspiration in Elvis Costello to rediscover his trademark urgency, not to mention his gifts for wordplay and melody. From the spirited, Beatlesque opener, “Farewell OK” (which has echoes of the bounce of “Welcome to the Working Week”) fans of his songwriting and performances from the past will be pleased. This is the Costello you remember and want to hear again.
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Elvis Costello & Rusty – The Resurrection Of Rust (EP) (2022) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · July 28, 2022 · Comments off

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. They played roughly two dozen gigs – most in Liverpool and Widnes but also in Coventry and London. But other than a reunion at an Austin, Texas bookstore in 2015, nobody’s heard from Rusty in almost 50 years. On Friday, June 10, that all changes with the release of The Resurrection of Rust.

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