Seven Songs for the Week #81 - 23rd Oct 24

I do bang on about Elvis Costello a bit, I have been a fan of his for 35 years, he weaves in and out of my life, but I'm always interested in what he's up to. A few weeks ago he announced a kinda underwhelming King of America box set. This, however is much more interesting.

In 1985 Costello was musing what to do next. He had put out 10 albums of material between 1977 and 1984, which is a lot, and he by the end of it he found himself divorced, nearly bankrupt, moving away from his popstar years, and in his thirties. Touring acoustically without the Attractions he hooked up with T-Bone Burnett as The Coward Brothers and put out a fun single. EC & TB would go on to produce the "comeback" record, King of America in 1986, but there would be a 39 year wait for The Coward Brothers to follow up that first single.

And here it is. Unannounced on an email from a record store. A 20 track, all-new, Coward Brothers album, and there's a 3-part Audible series to go with it from Christopher Guest. When I went to see Elvis live a few weeks ago and he told what felt like a shaggy dog story about finding a obscure record while digging through vinyl called "My Baby Just Whistles (Here Come The Missiles)" and found out other follow up tracks "My Baby Just Squeals (You Heel)" and "My Baby Just Purrs (You're Mine, Not Hers)", before giving us a rendition of the latter. He never identified the name of the group and I wondered was it a ruse. Anyways, all three tracks are listed on the upcoming album! The scallywag. Imagine not telling a roomful of your fans that you have a new album coming out.

This song is a lovely thing. If you're expecting a "joke" record, this isn't it.

Speaking of T-Bone Burnett. A while back, Ringo asked him for a song and instead he wrote him an album. A new country album from Ringo has been long-requited by fans. This isn't a Beyoncé-style move, country music permeates Ringo's work with the Beatles and his second solo album in 1970, Beaucoup of Blues, was ahead of its time by being a genre record before people did such things (11 Years later Elvis Costello is hailed as a genius for doing the same thing).

This song is lovely. Gentle production, some great drumming from Ringo with that snare between the third & fourth beat, and his sonorous voice suiting the George Jones styling. Proper country!

SpinDizzy, a rather excellent Dublin record store, were selling their leftover stock from Record Store Day 2024 at half-price. Believe it or not I never actually owned a copy of Wonderwall Music (Hi Oasis!) nor Electronic Sounds, George's first two albums released while still a Beatle. The RSD versions are funky zoetropes and two for the price of one. Ok. George recorded this album in Dec 1967 in India while Magical Mystery Tour was headed to TV screens. This is the only non-Indian-sounding track and is really quite jolly.

Speaking of Beatles...

When this box came out in 2022 I listened on streaming but I couldn't justify €130 for a five CD box that contained a smidgen over two CDsworth of music. Half price via Amazon this time, and actually, it's rather nice. The books in these sets are excellent and the bonus CDs are a good listen. I'll take this version of GTGYIMY over the final version - the horns never convinced me.

Another leftover RSD purchase this week. Double vinyl, lovely pressing, €19. Did you ever hate a song, and then change your mind? That's me and this track. The sax solo is Lenny Pickett who has led the band on Saturday Night Live forever.

Being used in an ad at the minute starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi for Chanel No.5, a perfume I have never known anyone to wear. You can sing Instant Crush over this tune.

Randy Newman has written some great songs, this isn't one of them. Like Led Zeppelin, I have spent most of my life slowly putting together Randy's back catalogue. First album bought in 1989, and I picked this up during the summer for £5, and listened to it for the first time this week. It's kinda hard to love. You can be too cynical. And it ends with this track, where Randy repeatedly barks "I'm gonna take off my pants". Is it terrible, or not. Years ago I saw someone defend Maxwell's Silver Hammer (which many people see a the only low point on Abbey Road) by saying if it had been a Randy Newman song, people would love it. This kind of stuff is complicated.