Elvis Costello Fan Forum

Great to see you back Jack! Good to hear your voice, as well, Verbal. Not really back, just a visit. I liked the topic and had to comment. These days I have drifted away from sites like this one. I even gave my vast EC collection away to Poor Deportee. Shedding possessions as I enter the last quart...

Agree earnestly. Outside of the renaissance of quality records in this latter part of his career, I have particularly enjoyed the working relationship he has forged with Mr. Krys. It has been sonic ear candy with each record. I am happy he found his "Daniel Lanois". He is a niche artist no...

I know I am not the same person I was forty years ago, mentally as well as physically. I have no problem with this honor for him-as he states in his acknowledgement piece-it is an honor and a recognition of his songwriting and performing efforts. It should not even be a matter of holding one's nostr...

I apologize for the editing. I assume if someone shares they are looking for some feedback. My bad. I need to practice better self-editing. I don't think you believe poetry is 'boring' for one minute. You would not consistently express yourself, as you say you do, in that medium if you did. It sure ...

Thank you for sharing that. First- it is a poem-no question. Not ramblings. I like its immediacy. I like how it circles back to that opening 'Boom' and your interior monologue with yourself. It is a love lyric on a number of levels and it piquantly questions the dynamics of relationships, both exter...

Poetry is the reverse for me- sustenance. But I do share your distrust of academia. I did not go onto Graduate School and abhorred the thought of a Business degree or Doctor of Law. I, too, wanted to live a bit and make my own way. I have for near 50 years now. No regrets- a wonderful wife and three...

I, too, have trepidation when it comes to dealing with the 'Monster' these days. Have limited my activity for reasons you enumerate. My daughters swear off sites entirely. Your prose has always reminded me in a good way of the late Barry Hannah- the dialect, the ribald antic humor and the syntax--pa...

Wow! Any artist should consider himself fortunate were they to connect with a reader, a listener, or observer as EC appears to have connected with you. I do hope he stays a companion as you continue on your 'life's drive'. Perhaps it was a Faustian bargain EC struck back in the day- one in reverse t...

I was listening to my local Public Radio station this past Friday evening and came upon this continuation of an interview with EC from back in October of last year. As he talked with the host Stephen Dubner I was struck by how affable and contrite he has become. There is very much the air of the eld...

I'll nominate Curtis Stigers, for one.

The thought of having Sir Tom sinking his vocal chords into "Suspect My Tears" is intriguing. Good choice given what he did with Leonard Cohen's "Tower of Song" not that long ago........

I do hear a warming in his vocals these days, particularly in the lower registers when he hunkers into a piano ballad. It is a beautiful thing. That and the development of a falsetto from time to time. It is a medium I would love him to explore more as his voice ages. The Sinatra connection for my e...

The record is insidious, is it not? It burrows into the recesses of one's musical portion of the brain and wiggles around. It was initially getting some regular airplay on college and independent radio stations here in the Hudson Valley of New York but I have noticed in the last few weeks a substant...

"Vincit qui patitur". You have provided what may be the best assessment of this wonderful album, hands down, that I have read, to date. Bravo....... You have 'digested' this music and are consciously and consistently living with it. He should have a multitude of listeners in your mold. You...

"I agree with this, except to say that although 'Stripping Paper' is a work of genius which few other songwriters/performers could even get close to...it is still left standing in the dust by 'Isabelle in Tears', surely one of the great achievements of Costello's 'later years' (if we might pres...

Well said, Sir. I have been mulling this song in my mind since the album appeared and I, too, will try to commit my thoughts to screen, shortly. It is the second of three stand out songs from this record that consistently resonate with me. It might be the best of them. And it continuously shocks me ...

With the man, himself, weighing in- I find myself in the Neil camp. I would also point you to the Auden camp[when in doubt look to the poets] and the uncertainty found in a lyric like "If I could Only Tell You" and its painful testament to love's uncertainty- a theme of the continuous and ...

In lessor hands the trope of laying bare the detritus of a couple's interactions over time could easily devolve into cliche and a tired sans froid. This song elegantly and freshly portrays the elapse of time between a couple, telescoping the events shared through the lens of time present and time pa...

I am with you re: avoiding a 'specific' individual or individuals tag. If we men are honest, who among us can say definitively that we have never made a woman feel uncomfortable. Perhaps not consciously, but definitely something we said, did, inferred, or alluded to caused some woman discomfort. I a...

Did you notice the drawing in the liner notes of 'Jimmie transfigured' - into EC? :lol: This seems to a sardonic reference to Bob Dylan's preposterous claim to Rolling Stone that he was the 'transfiguration' of an old Hell's Angel called Bobby Zimmerman. It may also be a tacit admission that EC has...

Insightful in an engaged manner equal to the lyric and melody you nimbly pin to the page. I expected no less. EC should have legions of such listeners.

When "National Ransom" fell still born on the listening public years ago its creator was shaken, embittered, vowing the album was over for him as a viable form for his music. I had my doubts as the musician had blustered such sentiments in the past. As years piled upon years I had to give ...

I only hope the best for him and his family and friends. A complete and total recovery is wished for him. Our time here is so short. May he have an extended stay.......

"Forgive You"- Leon Bridges

https://youtu.be/PoNsVhMM_oE

I have listened to this numerous times on Spotify and I cannot warm to his vocal effort on the song. When he does these types of ballads he too often strains for effect, weakening his voice, as happens with regularity in this song. Not in his range; not a memorable effort.