WHAT'S
NEW
January
10, 2023
December
6,
2022
Elvis reveals some tantalizing
details about Songs of Bacharach
and Costello, the long-promised compilation of his work
with Burt
Bacharach, in the February 2023 issue of Uncut magazine
It's
Painted From Memory
[1998] and Taken From Life,
which is a collection of songs that Burt and I wrote over the last
15 years for a proposed Painted
From Memory
musical. So you'll hear other people singing a couple of those
original
songs, but also a bunch of songs that have never been heard
before.
We've compiled them with a couple of the songs from Look
Now
[2018] and some recordings that were piano/voice explorations of
what
the songs would sound like if they were sung by other people.
We've put
them all together to create an impression of what it would have
been
like to have that score.
There's
another disc of live performances of Painted
From Memory
songs, mostly with Steve Nieve and myself, a couple of them
orchestral.
Finally, a whole album of Bacharach/David songs, which I thought
would
be fun to include. This is a love letter to Burt. We went into the
studio last September and recorded two songs with Vince Mendoza
conducting a 30-piece orchestra. So the bookends for this Taken
From Life
record are newly recorded. The Imposters and I recorded a third
song,
in Capitol Studios with an orchestra. It was a few years since
we'd
worked together, but it didn't take very long before I'm in the
booth
and he was on the call-back saying, "Elvis, you're not singing the
right melody." So I had to be on top of it!"
The four-album set is expected in 2023.
October 2, 2020
The Complete Armed Forces (as it turns
out to be called) has been officially announced.
In
addition to the vinyl releases mentioned below, it will be available on
download and streaming services, but there is no indication of a CD
release.
October 1, 2020
The track listing for the Armed
Forces super deluxe edition has been revealed. It will
be
released November 6 on black
vinyl and color
vinyl. There is not yet any word on whether it will be available
in
other formats, but an announcement should be imminent.
Armed Forces 12" LP
A1. Accidents Will Happen
A2. Senior Service
A3. Oliver's Army
A4. Big Boys
A5. Green Shirt
A6. Party Girl
B1. Goon Squad
B2. Busy Bodies
B3. Sunday's Best
B4. Moods For Moderns
B5. Chemistry Class
B6. Two Little Hitlers
B7. (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love & Understanding?
Sketches for Emotional Fascism 10" LP
A1. Clean Money
A2. Talking In The Dark
A3. Wednesday Week
A4. Tiny Steps
B1. Crawling To The U.S.A.
B2. Big Boys (Alternate Version)
B3. Green Shirt (Demo Version)
B4. My Funny Valentine
Riot At The Regent — Live In Sydney '78 10" LP
A1. Oliver's Army
A2. Waiting For The End Of The World
A3. Big Boys
B1. This Year's Girl
B2. You Belong To Me
B3. Pump It Up
Europe '79 — Live At Pinkpop 12" LP
A1. Goon Squad
A2. B-Movie
A3. Green Shirt
A4. (I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea
A5. Opportunity
A6. So Young
A7. High Fidelity
B1. Lipstick Vogue
B2. Watching The Detectives
B3. Big Boys
B4. Pump It Up
B5. You Belong To Me
B6. (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love & Understanding?
Christmas In The Dominion - Live 24th December '78 10" LP
A1. (The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes
A2. No Dancing
B1. I Stand Accused
B2. (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love & Understanding?
Live at Hollywood High & Elsewhere 1978 12" LP
A1. Accidents Will Happen
A2. Mystery Dance
A3. Goon Squad
A4. Party Girl
A5. Stranger In The House
B1. Alison
B2. Lipstick Vogue
B3. Watching The Detectives
B4. You Belong To Me
B5. Chemistry Class (Live at The Warner Theatre, Washington D.C.)
"Oliver's Army" 7"
A1. Oliver's Army
B1. Big Boys (Demo)
"Accidents Will Happen" 7"
A1. Accidents Will Happen
B1. Busy Bodies (Alternate)
Nick Lowe & His Sound "American Squirm" 7"
A1. American Squirm
B1. (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love & Understanding?
September
22,
2020
The
November
issue of Mojo
quotes Elvis with a few details about the Armed
Forces reissue:
The upcoming box set reissue, he says, includes "facsimiles of my
original notebooks, all handwritten, lines scrawled out, half verses
not used and all these subtle changes. It was a way of learning the
songs as I wrote them, how to sing them, and also to understand the
story the album told."
There are also comic books, postcards and six discs, including two
10-inch live records, the entirety of their June 4, 1979 Pinkpop
festival show and the original album remastered directly from the
studio tapes. "It sounds as close to the way it sounded to us in the
studio as we could make it," says Costello. "That's a beautiful
thing."
The
Pinkpop
setlist can be found at the Elvis
Costello
Home Page.
September
21,
2020
A
list of upcoming music releases at CBS
News says the Armed Forces
super deluxe edition box set will be released November 18 — but take
that with a grain of salt, because November 18 is a Wednesday, and
music releases are usually on Fridays.
September 18, 2020
In a Billboard
interview, Elvis teases major reissues news, beginning with "a
six-record set based on Armed Forces"
that "includes three live recordings ranging from the summer of '78 to
the summer of '79, so it traces the development of the Attractions as
a
live act, from a club combo to a successful pop group — it's quite
interesting to hear. I had expert help in photographing my handwritten
notebooks. So you're getting something."
Asked if his other albums will receive similar reissues, Elvis
answers:
"If we can."
Also planned is "a compilation based on [Costello's 1998 album with
Burt Bacharach] Painted From Memory,
in the hope that we'll complete the picture with some other songs
we've
written that people still haven't heard." This would presumably
include
songs intended for the proposed Painted From Memory
musical.
He also mentions "a new version of one of the albums from my
catalog,
and that's going to come out next April." This is probably the same
project he mentioned in a January interview,
when it was planned as a 2020 release: "Sebastian's [Look
Now
producer Sebastian Krys] just finished remixing an album of
ours from the very beginning of our career. And the nature of that
remix is going to be so surprising to you when you hear it, because
it
involves taking my voice off the record and replacing it entirely
with
Spanish singers from across 12 Latin countries and Spain. And that's
something that will come out later in the year as apart of a
revisiting
of our catalogue." He did not specify the reinterpreted album in the
January interview, but he told a March concert audience that it was
This Year's Model.
For older news, see What's
Old.