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The Roots first backed Elvis Costello on the US chat show Late Night With Jimmy Fallon. A brief 2009 collaboration bloomed, with the singer taking parts of his past songs and the band giving them the funk. “I’m quite prepared to explore another way to say it,” he has said of his sharp lyrics. Without a stalker’s approach to his life’s work, you wouldn’t know this wasn’t all new. It sounds like the small-hours jam it was, with The Roots staying sparse and simple, all stop-start beats and brief horn blasts. Costello comes close to rapping on Refuse to Be Saved, while elsewhere his familiar slur suits the head-nodding backdrop. This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
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