The report on Microsoft MusicCentral was true: Elvis Costello has
quit Warner Bros. Records, frustrated with the label's inability to sell
his albums. He joins the Artist Formerly Known as Prince and Paul
Westerberg as brilliant talents who have left Warner's in the past few
years. It was once known as a label highly skilled at dealing with talent,
and R.E.M. and Neil Young have certainly both found kindred spirits there.
Costello and Warner's will release a greatest-hits album with a few
unreleased songs before he's released from his contract. The Warner years
saw some of Costello's best and least-appreciated work in "Spike" and "All
This Useless Beauty."