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Discography: Bootlegs
 

 
King Of Americana
Elvis Costello

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Tracks

Disc 1: King Of Acoustic

  1. The Big Light
  2. Our Little Angel
  3. Shoes Without Heels
  4. Jack Of All Parades
  5. Brilliant Mistake
  6. Lovable
  7. Glitter Gulch/ Little Palaces (unlisted)
  8. My Youngest Son
  9. The End Of The Rainbow
  10. Deportee (misspelled as "Departee" on the the disc as "Depertee")
  11. She Moved Through The Fair
  12. I Feel Like Going Home
  13. Running Out Of Fools
  14. Having It All

Disc 2: King Of Electric

  1. Suit Of Lights
  2. Brilliant Mistake
  3. Jack Of All Parades
  4. Blue Chair
  5. Brilliant Mistake
  6. Baby's Got A Brand New Hairdo
  7. Lovable
  8. Our Little Angel (misspelled as "Out Little Angel" and on the disc)
  9. Poisoned Rose
  10. The Big Light
  11. American Without Tears (misspelled as "America Without Tears")
  12. Indoor Fireworks
  13. I Hope You're Happy Now
  14. Eisenhower Blues
  15. Glitter Gulch
  16. King Of Confidence
  17. Shoes Without Heels
  18. I'll Wear It Proudly
  19. Sleep Of The Just
____________________________________________________________

Release Information:

     Date  | Media| Catalogue number (comments)
     2001  |  2xCD| Hiwatt Catalog# KOA-1/2 (gold CDs)

Comments:

As you can see, the acoustic demos disc replicated what was previously circulated (notably on OH SHIT!), but with some resequencing.  It should also be noted that it is SLIGHTLY more complete, as songs like "Jack of All Parades" include the count in and opening chords, but I don't notice any real difference in the sound quality between this set and OH SHIT.  I do feel the resequencing was smartly done-- everything from track 7 and onwards flows remarkably well.  As you can see, it doesn't include "Suffering Face" or "I Hope You're Happy Now", which I assume were amended to the set by a thoughtful compiler and not part of the leaked demo reel.  This, of course, suggests the possibility of still unheard KOA demos that may very well show up on the upcoming Rhino reissues... The performances here really warrant comment-- this is simply Elvis at his BEST and his most passionate. It almost feels like him sitting in your living room playing his new songs for you! ! , it's extremely intimate, and the covers that are included I think provide a greater sense of the kind of music that actually inspired KING OF AMERICA than "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" or "Eisenhower Blues" . I hope Rhino makes copious use of this material when preparing their reissue.

The second disc, comprised of outtakes and alternate/rough mixes, does include material not previously included on the OH SHIT set.  The material here is also more complete in some instances (or better edited), and there aren't any of the abrupt endings ("Sleep of the Just" fades in the coda, instead of the cold stop, for example) that occasionally showed up before.  Although there are some real gems (I *love* that "I Hope You're Happy Now", played at a cowboy pace, and the slow "Brilliant Mistake", more elaborate "Eisenhower Blues" and the pre-overdub "Blue Chair" are all great fun), in many cases the differences between the official release and corresponding take here are EXTREMELY subtle-- some of which I can't even immediately discern any difference.  This is made even more difficult by the fact that it sounds to by ears like this set is culled from a dub of a dub of a dub of the leaked reel (the sound quality is actually pretty good, but there is some generation loss that seems to make the mix noticably more murky than the official LP, though KING OF AMERICANA *may* have accessed a higher generation source tape than the one that was sourced on OH SHIT) and thus sometimes it's hard to say if some of the tracks here sounds different simply some of the instrumental detail has gone "mushy").   Perhaps after the set makes the rounds we can collaborate on the list to identify exactly how each song is different from the released product, but until then, don't expect night and day from what you're already familiar with in much of this material.  

The packaging is fairly attractive, but not as sharp as Hiwatt's previous ORPHEUM  THEATRE release, and not as deluxe as material this important may warrant. Nonetheless, the liner notes, while included the occasionally factual slip (the author claims, for example, that the Attractions backed EC on "Sleep of the Just"), seem to be written by a fairly knowledgeable fan, thought he seems to dwell on a critical and fan backlash to the released album that I never knew existed, nor does he mention how highly it had come to be regarded by EC fans in the years that followed. I think this set is a very very useful companion to the official LP, and the demo disc alone makes it an essential purchase (or trade!). - teej

Liner Notes:

Liner notes

Quality:

Excellent studio demos, occassional glitches.
 
 
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