From The Elvis Costello Wiki
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Out Of Our Idiot
Various artists (Elvis Costello)
Roger Morton
Or perhaps it should be called Now That's What I Call Schizophrenia Volume One, for here we have the idiot/genius, mad/not mad Declan McManus taking the piss out of those nasty lumpen-pop compilation LPs with an album of old B-sides and lesser known singles, recorded under a variety of pseudonyms, from the Coward Brothers to the Emotional Toothpaste.
The 17 tracks span the years of Our Idiot 1979-87. including such oddities as "The People's Limousine" with T-Bone Burnett, "Seven Day Weekend" with Jimmy Cliff, "Walking On Thin Ice" by Yoko Ono, and the previously unreleased "So Young" (1979). From the peppy, acerbic pop of "Baby's Got A Brand New Hairdo" through the imitation Stax soul of "Blue Chair" to the country style "Shoes Without Heels" this, then, is a splendidly eccentric, eclectic album, brilliant in parts ("Black Sails In The Sunset") and occasionally average. As a collection of obscure Costello, it's powerful enough to make claims that George Michael is "the complete pop craftsman of the decade" look rather ridiculous.
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Clipping and photo.
Playboy
Steve Nieve
Pete Paisley
Flushed with fame from being Declan McManus's very own ivory tickler and Johnny Ross's orchestra leader, Steve "Bryan Ferry justaboutlookalike" Nieve has seen fit to compose an album of short solo piano pieces. He reworks some strangely mixed modern covers — Sting's "Russians," the Specials' "Ghost Town," George Michael's "Careless Whisper" — and pitches in some moody self-penned romantic numbers himself, like "Loveboat" and "Divided Heart."
Hard to know what else to say; the joanna in question has a lovely tone, Nieve has a sure touch, and any of these numbers would make perfect background music for a Torville and Dean TV skating session. Polished, proficient and puzzling.
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Cover, contents page and chart page clipping.
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External links