Date: Thu, 29 Jun 1995 14:18:50 GMT From: GEORGE@concepts.demon.co.uk (GEORGE HYDE) Subject: Meltdown: Live recordings Hi all, Managed to meet Elvis again yesterday but this time I was able to have a brief chat; The Meltdown festival programme indicates that several Costello events were being recorded, I asked if he could shed any light on when, where and how the material might be published in the future. He was somewhat surprised that the programme designers had made "such a big thing of it" since the main reason for the recording was so that the new arrangements coming out of the many and varied collaborations with other artists could be reviewed in the future. He admitted it was a rather expensive way of checking up on his own work, but if anything were worth repeating or developing on, it would be a little difficult if he didn't have a recording to refer to. He did however go on to say that anything is possible. The fact is that when it comes to live recordings of the man's work, we are happy to consume every shoddy old audience recording, farts and all and any chance to get hold of a professional job would be jumped at. Elvis however has to be a little more discriminative. There was better news on the Bill Frisell collaboration. It seems the rumours were well founded. That is an absolute definite maybe. Again, its not just a case of, "Hey Bill, lets record this and knock it out as a limited edition..." Elvis said that he and Bill had to sit down and review the results of Sundays performance, (which BTW was fantastic) to see if they are both happy with the results and also to see "if there's enough of it." If and, (fingers crossed) when it comes out it will be on Nonesuch (sp?). I did meet Bill Frisell also, but that was in the toilets at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, not the best place to conduct an impromptu interview. I just said thanks for Sunday night and he blushed. See ya! Date: Thu, 29 Jun 1995 14:20:21 GMT From: GEORGE@concepts.demon.co.uk (GEORGE HYDE) Subject: Meltdown: SulkyGirl is dead! Hi all, More from Meltdown; The Steve Nieve recital and the death of SulkyGirl. Literally seconds after meeting Elvis it was time to slip into the Steve Nieve piano recital. (Oh what a hectic showbiz life I lead) The Purcell Rooms at the South Bank is not a big venue so I was expecting a very intimate performance. I wasn't disappointed, but there were quite a few empty seats around. Steve didn't opt for the black tie and tails, though I'm sure he could have pulled it off easily. He appeared from behind a very grand piano in a baggy shirt, jeans and DM's. There was a long - long pause while Steve composed himself and waited for the audience noise to settle, then he began. I've no idea what the first piece was called, perhaps someone who bought Keyboard Jungle (or its recent reissue) might. It, like most of the offerings, was a very complex arrangement which conveyed great emotion as well as demonstrating his obvious technical ability. Steve had arranged to perform some improvised works based on 6 notes suggested by the audience. His first attempt was at 6 notes supplied by EC which he entitled The Musical Director. You may be forgiven for thinking that being supplied by EC this selection would be the most significant of the evening, but you'd be very wrong. The next selection of notes was entitled, "Six Ways To Kill SulkyGirl". As you can imagine, I was a little taken aback, then I thought; Yeah, of course, I'm not the only one here, someone from the list is having a pop at SulkyGirl. But then Steve went on to say that the offering was from Mary - USA...... Aaaaagggghhhhh!!! It's not murder.....It's suicide! Aaaaaaaaggggghhhhhh! She's here....in the same room. When Steve began to improvise on her selection of notes I half expected her to heckle him; "No! No that's wrong....You've got to play faster! Get it right Worm!!" But not a word. Maybe she really is dead...... :( Of course I knew she'd be at Meltdown, and I'm sure she and I are not the only trainspotters, but I'd thought if I bumped into her it would be out in the open, maybe even in daylight, not in a small darkened room. Anyway...back to the recital. The rest of the set list, as far as I can make out was; Unknown (Inspired by his stay at an abbey in France) The Blue Hour The Musical Director (improv) Discovery (new) Six Ways to Kill SulkyGirl (improv) Unknown (first track from Keyboard Jungle) Page 2 of a Dead Girls Diary (re-arrangement of Page 1 of a DGD) Shopping in the Supermarket of Life No. 2 (improv) Then he finished with a song. The first time I'd ever heard his voice without those of Pete, Bruce and Elvis. But this has been a week of firsts. Black black black Is the colour of my true love's hair Her lips are something rosy fair Sweetest smile Loveliest (?) hair (I was writing in complete darkness) I love the grass whereon she stands I love the grass whereon she stands He did an encore with Marc Ribot, and frankly, I wish he hadn't. It was obviously a *very* impromptu thing. It took a great deal of messing around with amps and jack plugs to get started. Steve admitted that the two had never played the piece (Dreams of the Brothers Lumiere(?)) together before and it became rapidly apparent. Not something I think either of them would like to repeat. Once I'd managed to detach myself from my 'previous relationship' with Steve's work I was able to appreciate the gems in this quite rare performance. So on the whole it was an OK show. Let's just forget the encore. On to Punishing Kiss..... Date: Thu, 29 Jun 1995 14:24:24 GMT From: GEORGE@concepts.demon.co.uk (GEORGE HYDE) Subject: Meltdown: EC + BQ + Guests I promise this will be my last from Meltdown... Just settling in for the Punishing Kiss concert with Elvis, the Brodsky's and guests when I realise that I'm sitting right behind the entire Nieve/Langer/Ribot party. I'm getting sick of the sight of celebrities by this time so I try to ignore it. ;) It wasn't hard. Elvis and the BQ played a blinder in the first half. Part one: Pills and Soap - Arranged by Paul Cassidy. King of the Unknown Sea I Almost Had a Weakness Skeleton - First performance in England They'll Never Believe Me - Jerome Kern - Arranged by Jacqueline Thomas Romeo's Seance More Than Rain Jacksons Monk and Rowe The Birds Will Still Be Singing God Only Knows - Arranged by Michael Thomas The orchestration brought a new clarity and emotion to Pills and Soap. If nothing else this festival has lived up to EC's promise that we'd hear things we've never heard before and other things we have heard in an entirely different way. Something I've noticed about Elvis is that when he's not playing a guitar he likes to indulge himself in the theatrics of the performance. He did so to great effect in I Almost Had a Weakness and Romeo's Seance and the audience loved it. He was full of chat as well, taking the piss out of our dear old royal family and chaotic rulers. A great performance. Part two; After a short interval, EC and the BQ were joined on stage by another 7 musicians. French horns, clarinet, trumpet flute and double base. Stalin Malone - Arranged by Paul Cassidy Long Honeymoon - Arranged by Steve Nieve New Lace Sleeves - Arranged by Paul Cassidy Almost Blue - Arranged By Elvis Costello London's Brilliant Parade - Arranged by Michael McGlynn Having It All - Arranged by Michael Thomas Upon a Veil of Midnight Blue - Arranged by Bill Frisell Punishing Kiss - Arranged by Elvis Costello Lost In the Stars - Kurt Weill - Arranged By Michael Thomas Encore #1 Shipbuilding - Arranged by Clive Langer Encore #2 Favourite Hour - Arranged by Michael Thomas I have to say that the second half, despite the gems of Long Honeymoon into which Steve's arrangement managed to inject a more dynamic feeling of suspicion and fear, and Upon a Veil of Midnight Blue which was originally written for Charles Brown, the set had to rest in the shadow of the first half which was by far the tighter and more emotionally charged of the two. The french horns and trumpet in Stallin Malone were just too thin. The tune lost that fat belching frog sound which makes it for me. In New Lace Sleeves the brass was all too heavy, drowning the vocal at times but this could well have been a technical fault as microphones were being a little temperamental. Another highlight was Having It All, originally written for Absolute Beginners and, as I understand it, never before recorded. On the whole the larger orchestration tended to complement the more emotional material but I feel, perhaps with the exception of London's Brilliant Parade, it seemed to get all too fussy at other times. In the final encore, Favourite Hour was great but for those horns collapsing midway through. But perhaps I'm just being too critical for the sake of balance. I have after all been singing the praises of this festival without having to hear or read any other opinions on the subject. C'mon spotters, I know I'm not the only one here. What the fuck....its been great. That's it for me unless I decide to go to the finale on Saturday, but the EC content is as yet not enough to tempt me. It's been a fantastic festival and I stand by my earlier comment that Sunday night was *the* best live performance I've seen to date. Highlights have to be; EC - Deep Dark Truthful Mirror - Solo acoustic EC and The Jazz Passengers - God's Comic EC and Steve Nieve - Temptation - Arranged by SN EC and Steve Nieve - Lesson in Cruelty EC and Bill Frisell - Poor Napoleon EC and The Brodsky Quartet - Romeos Seance EC and The Brodsky Quartet + Guests - Long Honeymoon - Arranged by SN Deborah Harry and The Jazz Passengers - One Way Or Another (no order of preference here) and of course meeting Elvis twice and Steve and Bill Frisell. However, I do have to come to terms with the sad demise of SulkyGirl... :( ....though I could be wrong..... See ya! Date: Thu, 29 Jun 1995 14:12:17 GMT From: GEORGE@concepts.demon.co.uk (GEORGE HYDE) Subject: Meltdown stuff... Well it's great to have a list again. Got my first 54 messages today. Does anyone know if *all* the original spotters made it over here? Hey, everyone that isn't here raise your hand.... With reference to the numerous calls for Meltdown reports, have you guys been avoiding the newsgroup? I know it's not usually the most thrilling place on the net, but in the absence of the list *that's* where I've been sending all the news and reviews and lyrics! I'm posting the most recent to this list today so if any of you want to catch what's already been posted to the newsgroup let me know. -- George Hyde george@concepts.demon.co.uk Date: Fri, 30 Jun 1995 11:25:09 GMT From: GEORGE@concepts.demon.co.uk (GEORGE HYDE) Subject: Meltdown stuff.... Hi all, I've had a few requests for this (and other) posts to be sent to the list. I'm not just rubbing it in. -----------------RE-POST FROM alt.fan.elvis-costello---------------- Hi all, Just got back from the first installment of Meltdown at the South Bank. The Jazz Passengers with Deborah Harry & Elvis Costello. Having never heard of the Jazz Passengers before I saw the programme of events I wasn't sure what I'd find. I was more than pleased with the result. As billing dictated, the Jazz Passengers took centre stage and Elvis and Deborah were guests. Elvis only did four numbers; two composissions by the Passengers and very different arrangements of Man Out Of Time and God's Comic. I would never describe myself as a jazz lover. As a rule, as long as it's smooth and groovy it's fine by me. It's when it starts getting fractured and distorted that I start to switch off. The Jazz Passangers seem to be more than capable in both aspects, as demonstrated with Man Out Of Time. They appear to delight in lulling their audience into a false sense of security with the groovy smooth stuff before tying your spinal cord in knots with the other stuff. Its a bit like taking care and pleasure in building a delicate champage glass fountain and then taking as much pleasure in smashing the shit out of it, each facet as artistically worthy as the other. I allways appreciate any performance that reminds me that music has more to do with art than fashion and money. Deborah Harry was first class. Given the length of time since I last paid her any attention it was easy to forget what a great performer she was/is. She played the sultry bit to the max and like everyone else in the place seemed to enjoy every minute of it. Outshone only by God's Comic, One Way Or Another was a real highlight and the set closed with The Tide Is High. Both she and Elvis were on stage for the last number but we weren't treated to a duet. That would have been something else as they were both in fine voice. Instead Elvis filled in with a few backing vocals before leaving it to the Passengers to improv the night to a close. Marc Ribot returned to the fold for this evening's performance but went largely unnoticed tucked behind his score sheet throughout. We can however expect bigger things from him before the festival closes. On a final note, if anyone wants to get into a thread on EC cock-ups, here's a starter... "Reading a cola of a mystery brand "Drinking an airport novelette..." We did chuckle :) -- George george@concepts.demon.co.uk Date: Fri, 30 Jun 1995 11:28:13 GMT From: GEORGE@concepts.demon.co.uk (GEORGE HYDE) Subject: More Meltdown stuff... And again.... ---------------RE-POST FROM alt.fan.elvis-costello----------------- News from Costellofest... Taken (though not verbatim) from the festival programme... Wed 28th June Punishing Kiss Elvis Costello with The Brodsky Quartet THIS CONCERT IS BEING RECORDED.... Tonight's performance takes The Juliet Letters as a point of departure. The first half will feature the extensive repertoire of arrangements by E.C. and members of the quartet. The compositions include Kurt Weill's Lost In The Stars, Jerome Kern's They'll Never Believe Me, Tom Waits' More Than Rain and Brian Wilson's God Only Knows. The concert will also include several Juliet Letters titles, the first London performance of a new Michael Thomas composition, Skeleton, King of the Unknown Sea (words: MacManus, music: Thomas) and other surprise items. INTERVAL In the second half of tonight's concert EC and the BQ are joined by a further seven players. In addition to the quartet there will be two french horns, two clarinets, trumpet, flute and double bass. Most of the second half titles come from Elvis Costello's catalogue of more than 300 songs. However, tonight they are to be performed for the first time in specially commissioned arrangements by a selection of composers, many of whom are making their own appearances in Meltdown. The programme will include Michael Thomas' arrangement of the rarely heard Having It All, while Paul Cassidy presents a new look at the oldest EC title in the programme: New Lace Sleeves. Michael McGlynn, Anuna's musical director and composer arranges London's Brilliant Parade from the '94 album Brutal Youth. Steve Nieve gives Long Honeymoon a full eleven piece setting, having provided the french horn parts from the original recorded version on the '82 album Imperial Bedroom. Bill Frisell is the arranger of Upon a Veil Of Midnight Blue, a song originally written for Charles Brown. Clive Langer takes the opportunity to direct the ensemble through the music for Shipbuilding. Elvis Costello's own contributions include a re-orchestration of his quintet arrangement of Almost Blue and the first full performance of Punishing Kiss, a song originally written for Anie Ross to sing in the Robert Altman motion picture Short Cuts. There follows the lyrics to; The King of the Unknown Sea (Words: Costello, music: Thomas) and.. Punishing Kiss (Words: MacManus/O'Riordan, music: Costello) But I can't post them here because that would be a breach of copyright or something. And besides it's gone 2am and I'm off to dozyland. -- george george@concepts.demon.co.uk Date: Fri, 30 Jun 1995 11:30:37 GMT From: GEORGE@concepts.demon.co.uk (GEORGE HYDE) Subject: Meltdown (Punishing lyrics) And more...... ---------------RE-POST FROM alt.fan.elvis-costello------------------ For those who asked, here are the lyrics to King of the Unknown Sea, Punishing Kiss, and more..... The King of the Unknown Sea (Words: Costello, music: Michael Thomas) Beneath the turquoise pools and emerald jewels There lie the broken spines of seven ships The skulls of careless fools and coins of gold Pour from the banks that proffer puckered lips i am the king of all of you The timid land The unknown sea And all that lies between So then come away you frail of breath You feeling tired of life And scared of death You stain the air with your half hearted wit A few steps more will make an end of it -Chorus She'll wander on a strand of dying light She'll wonder who may answer whispered prayers The coral and the pearl that hold you tight May grace the throat of those the ocean spares --- Punishing kiss (Words MacManus/O'Riordan, music: Costello) I favour a good punishing kiss it helps pass the lonely afternoon another stiff drink, wipe off that lipstick For when you reach a certain age All the most villainous men can be found on Channel Ten I make them dance in attendance 'We will be back in a minute or two' And he will punish that girl Oh forget the reason Just look at me I'm lost in a social whirl She was never so witty Always struggling to be full of fun 'On weekdays >From mid-day to one' In a little black cocktail dress everyone hates She'll be saving the world inbetween fashion plates I know what she gets up to in the back of that blacked out limousine And I catch myself shouting at the screen I think that it's time to turn over They say it's harmless I know A hundred and ten percent certain Virtually real If you need something to feel Then favour a punishing kiss It helps chase the wasted afternoons The flowers and pearls The long lost relations That love sick tom-boy comes in bloom The pointless heartache That seems to belong in my blue room Can't stand the suspense The endless embraces Each episode lends the silly pretence Say I can look away when I will never miss it Starts with a joke And ends with a punishing kiss On Sunday night Elvis performed with, among others, Bill Frisell. They put together the following song especially for the occasion. There was no mention as to possible future publication... Deep Dead Blue (Words: Costello, music: Frisell) Deep dead blue That I invite Bringing on disguise of night Turn the whole Kaleidoscope Deep dead blue Deep dead blue that nightly shades Most unlikely escapades As the lights that frighten fade 'Til the dawn drags into view I'm lost in deep dead blue Deep dead blue I'd rather stay Far from the cruel coloured day Leave me in my monochrome 'Til I find a finer hue Beyond the deep dead blue Another first time appearance on Sunday was... All This Useless Beauty (Words and Music: Elvis Costello) It's at times such as this she'd be tempted to spit If she wasn't a lady like She imagines how she might have lived Back when legends and history collide But she looks to her prince finding since he's so charmingly slumped at her side Those days are recalled on the gallery wall And she's waiting for passion or humour to strike What shall we do? What shall we do? With all this useless beauty All this useless beauty. Good Friday arrived, the sky darkened on time 'Till he almost began to negotiate And she held his head like a baby and said, 'It's okay if you cry' Now he wants her to dress, as if you couldn't guess He desires to impress his associates But he's part ugly beast and Hellenci deceased So she finds that the mixture is hard to deny What shall we do? What shall we do? With all this useless beauty All this useless beauty. She won't practice the looks >From the great tragic books That were later defaced, disgraced celluloid They no longer make sense But you can bet If she isn't a sweetheart, a plaything or pet The film turns her into an unveiled threat. Nonsense prevails, modesty fails Grace and virtue turn into stupidity While the calendar fades almost all barricades to a pale compromise While our rulers have feasts on the back-sides of beasts They still think they're the gods of antiquity If something you missed didn't even exist It was just an ideal. Is that such a surprise? What shall we do? What shall we do? With all this useless beauty All this useless beauty. ---- I Want to Vanish (Words and music: Elvis Costello) I want to vanish This is my fondest wish To go where I cannot be captured Laid on a decorated dish Even in splendour This curious fate Is more than I care to surrender Now it's too late Whether in wonder or indecent haste You arrange the mirrors and the spools To snare the rare and precious jewels That were only made of paste If you should stumble upon my last remark I'm crying in the wilderness I'm trying my best to make it dark How can I tell you I'm rarer than most I'm certain as a lost dog pondering a sign-post Whether in wonder or indecent haste You arrange the mirrors and the spools To snare the rare and precious jewels That were only made of paste I want to vanish This is my last request I've given you the awful truth Now give me the rest .....And the result of the first ever writing collaboration between Elvis and Steve Nieve.... Lesson In Cruelty (Words: Costello, music: Nieve) Here's a thought to dwell upon, Daddy's girl is almost gone Now there's just a vain princess 'Her Ruthlessness' Tearing up the nursery Stars more used to glittering Pictured in the guttering Faces caught about to laugh Torn in half Slipping through your fingers See them scatter Maybe it doesn't matter But I still really want to pick pieces up You can't fool me With this lesson in cruelty It's not as if I was asking time to stop In violent blue Like roses red She laughed as she tore off his head The hours she gazed on her former champion Now it's just a frame of sellotape and torn wallpaper As she rips his pretty face to bits -Chorus It's too much too soon or so it seems To put away these childish dreams You'll find out soon enough that worship can be tough Love is just a name to celebrate a vision Or confetti littered with regrets. See it scatter... Dear heart to good to waste But if some hot-head should claim it Don't rush to his embrace And it remains to say... I'll love you just the same, whatever your decision As you put the paper to the flame (It's a lesson in cruelty) All of the above have been or will be recorded at the Meltdown festival but as yet there are no firm details as to when, where and how any of it will be published. Radio 3 interview this afternoon, Steve Nieve recital and Punishing Kiss concert tonight. Yee Ha! :) -- George george@concepts.demon.co.uk