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__notoc__[[Image:AB_album_cover_large.jpg|thumb|250px|right|Almost Blue, 1981]]
{{NextAlbum
''Excerpt from the Rhino [[Liner Notes: Almost Blue|liner notes]]:'' <br>
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"By the time I first arrived in Nashville to record this album, my country music collection contained the accumulated swag of five U.S. tours with many spare suitcases being bought to carry home hordes of thrift store vinyl. My tastes were running to Stonewall Jackson, Ray Price, Kitty Wells, Webb Pierce, and Janis Martin. I had a shelf full of George Jones albums on Starday, Mercury, and recent releases on Epic. I was working my way through everything by Charlie Rich from Sun through Smash to Epic, a bunch of great Johnny Cash songs, Jerry Lee Lewis’ country sides on Mercury, early Willie Nelson songs and great albums like Red Headed Stranger and Stardust, Patsy Cline, anything by Loretta Lynn, and the only Hank Williams that I knew existed, the one the now call “Senior”.
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}}
{{xtoc}}
{{Infobox Album
|album_name  = Almost Blue
|image        = Almost Blue album cover.jpg
|album_type  = studio album
|album_artist = [[Elvis Costello]] & [[The Attractions]]
|release_info = October 1981
|record_info  = May 18-29, 1981, CBS Studio A, Nashville
|producer    = [[Billy Sherrill]]
|label        =
|length      = 32:42 (original LP)<br>64:04 (1994 reissue)<br>32:42 + 76:06 (2004 reissue)
}}
[[image:photocoverdetail.jpg|336px|right|thumb|Photo by [[Keith Morris]].]]
[[image:photocoverdetail1.jpg|336px|right|thumb|Photo by Keith Morris.]]


When I went to Billy Sherrill’s office to discuss the repertoire, there was a big dustbin liner sitting on his desk. He tipped out the contents to reveal a stash of cassettes submitted by publishing houses from all over town. I suppose this was standard practice for a new artist coming to record, but the songs ranged all the way from the lame to the downright bizarre. Hill and Range submitted “Heartbreak Hotel” with all apparent seriousness. Best of all was an early Willie Nelson demo of a song called “I Just Can’t Let You Say Goodbye” (unreleased until the Teatro album), a homicidal ballad that contained the chilling lines: “The flesh around your neck is pale/Indented by my fingernail”. I told Billy that I already had all the songs we needed.


The South Bank Show documentary of the making of this album contains a wonderful sequence in which Billy Sherrill is questioned about my song choices while driving his speedboat. He admits that he is “worn out on” a lot of the songs (he had engineered the Sun version of Charlie Rich’s “Sittin’ And Thinkin’” and produced the Epic remake in the early ‘70s), but he was willing to see what we could do with them … “unless we write a new one”. He certainly took extra special interest in his own composition “Too Far Gone”, cajoling me to attempt the “spoken” second verse with the timeless advice: “There isn’t a woman in the world who ain’t a fool for a talking bit”. "
==Tracks==
{{tracklist30
| writing_credits = yes
| headline        = Side one
| title1          = [[Why Don't You Love Me (Like You Used To Do)?]]
| writer1        = [[Hank Williams]]
| length1        = 1:35
| title2          = [[Sweet Dreams]]
| writer2        = [[Don Gibson]]
| length2        = 2:56
| title3          = [[Success]]
| writer3        = [[Johnny Mullins]]
| length3        = 2:38
| title4          = [[I'm Your Toy]]
| writer4        = [[Chris Ethridge]], [[Gram Parsons]]
| length4        = 3:20
| title5          = [[Tonight The Bottle Let Me Down]]
| writer5        = [[Merle Haggard]]
| length5        = 2:06
| title6          = [[Brown To Blue]]
| writer6        = [[George Jones|G. Jones]], [[Virginia Franks|V. Franks]], [[Johnny "Country" Mathis|J. Mathis]]
| length6        = 2:37
}}
{{tracklist30
| writing_credits = yes
| headline        = Side two
| title1          = [[Good Year For The Roses]]
| writer1        = [[Jerry Chesnut]]
| length1        = 3:06
| title2          = [[Sittin' And Thinkin']]
| writer2        = [[Charlie Rich]]
| length2        = 3:00
| title3          = [[Colour Of The Blues]]
| writer3        = [[Lawton Williams]], [[George Jones]]
| length3        = 2:18
| title4          = [[Too Far Gone]]
| writer4        = [[Billy Sherrill]]
| length4        = 3:24
| title5          = [[Honey Hush]]
| writer5        = [[Big Joe Turner|Lou Willie Turner]]
| length5        = 2:11
| title6          = [[How Much I Lied]]
| writer6        = [[Gram Parsons]], [[David Rivkin|Pam Rifkin]]
| length6        = 2:48
}}<br>


==Track listing==
==Credits==
'''Side 1'''<br>
<div style="margin-right: 370px;">
01. '''[[Why Don't You Love Me (Like You Used To Do)?]]''' [1:35]<br>
{| width="100%" cellspacing="0"
02. '''[[Sweet Dreams]]''' [2:56]<br>
|- valign="top"
03. '''[[Success]]''' [2:38]<br>
|width="50%" style="border: 0px solid #fff; padding: 0; font-size:100%"|
04. '''[[I'm Your Toy]]''' [3:20]<br>
*[[Elvis Costello]] - vocals, guitar
05. '''[[Tonight The Bottle Let Me Down]]''' [2:06]<br>
*[[Steve Nieve]] - piano, organ
06. '''[[Brown To Blue]]''' [2:37]<br>
*[[Bruce Thomas]] - bass
'''Side 2'''<br>
*[[Pete Thomas]] - drums
07. '''[[Good Year For The Roses]]''' [3:06]<br>
|width="50%" style="border: 0px solid #fff; padding: 0; font-size:100%"|
08. '''[[Sittin' And Thinkin']]''' [3:00]<br>
*[[John McFee]] - lead guitar, pedal steel
09. '''[[Colour Of The Blues]]''' [2:18]<br>
*[[Tommy Millar]] - fiddle
10. '''[[Too Far Gone]]''' [3:24]<br>
*[[Nashville Edition]] - background vocals
11. '''[[Honey Hush]]''' [2:11]<br>
*[[Billy Sherrill]] - producer
12. '''[[How Much I Lied]]''' [2:48]]<br>
|}</div>


==Credits==
 
* Produced by: '''[[Billy Sherrill]]'''
==Almost Blue (1994 Rykodisc/Demon edition)==
* Musicians:  
{{tracklist30
: '''[[Elvis Costello]]''' - [[Singers|vocals]], [[Guitarists|guitar]]
| writing_credits = yes
: '''[[Steve Nieve]]''' - [[Keyboardists|piano]], [[Keyboardists|organ]]
| title1          = [[Why Don't You Love Me (Like You Used To Do)?]]
: '''[[Bruce Thomas]]''' - [[Bassists|bass]]
| writer1        = [[Hank Williams]]
: '''[[Pete Thomas]]''' - [[Drummers|drums]]
| length1        = 1:40
: '''[[John McFee]]''' - [[Guitarists|lead guitar, pedal steel]]
| title2          = [[Sweet Dreams]]
: '''[[Tommy Millar]]''' - [[Violinists|fiddle]]
| writer2        = [[Don Gibson]]
: '''[[Nashville Edition]]''' - [[Singers|background vocals]]
| length2        = 3:00
| title3          = [[Success]]
| writer3        = [[Johnny Mullins]]
| length3        = 2:41
| title4          = [[I'm Your Toy]]
| writer4        = [[Chris Ethridge]], [[Gram Parsons]]
| length4        = 3:23
| title5          = [[Tonight The Bottle Let Me Down]]
| writer5        = [[Merle Haggard]]
| length5        = 2:09
| title6          = [[Brown To Blue]]
| writer6        = [[George Jones|G. Jones]], [[Virginia Franks|V. Franks]], [[Johnny "Country" Mathis|J. Mathis]]
| length6        = 2:39
| title7          = [[Good Year For The Roses]]
| writer7        = [[Jerry Chesnut]]
| length7        = 3:08
| title8          = [[Sittin' And Thinkin']]
| writer8        = [[Charlie Rich]]
| length8        = 3:00
| title9          = [[Colour Of The Blues]]
| writer9        = [[Lawton Williams]], [[George Jones]]
| length9        = 2:19
| title10          = [[Too Far Gone]]
| writer10        = [[Billy Sherrill]]
| length10        = 3:26
| title11          = [[Honey Hush]]
| writer11        = [[Big Joe Turner|Lou Willie Turner]]
| length11        = 2:13
| title12          = [[How Much I Lied]]
| writer12        = [[Gram Parsons]], [[David Rivkin|Pam Rifkin]]
| length12        = 2:45
| title13      = [[He's Got You]]
| note13      = Live
| writer13    = [[Hank Cochran]]
| length13    = 4:07
| title14      = [[Cry, Cry, Cry]]
| note14      = Live
| writer14    = [[Johnny Cash]]
| length14    = 2:45
| title15      = [[There Won't Be Anymore]]
| note15      = Live
| writer15    = [[Charlie Rich]]
| length15    = 2:23
| title16      = [[Sittin' And Thinkin']]
| note16      = Live
| writer16    = [[Charlie Rich]]
| length16    = 2:55
| title17      = [[Honey Hush]]
| note17      = Live
| writer17    = [[Big Joe Turner|Lou Willie Turner]]
| length17    = 2:21
| title18      = [[Psycho]]
| note18      = Live
| writer18    = [[Leon Payne]]
| length18    = 3:34
| title19      = [[Your Angel Steps Out Of Heaven]]
| writer19    = [[Jack Ripley]]
| length19    = 1:56
| title20    = [[Darling, You Know I Wouldn't Lie]]
| writer20    = [[Wayne Kemp]], [[Red Lane]]
| length20    = 2:35
| title21      = [[My Shoes Keep Walking Back To You]]
| writer21    = [[Lee Ross]], [[Bob Wills]]
| length21    = 2:02
| title22      = [[Tears Before Bedtime]]
| writer22    = [[Elvis Costello]]
| length22    = 2:23
| title23    = [[I'm Your Toy]]
| note23      = Live
| writer23    = [[Chris Ethridge]], [[Gram Parsons]]
| length23    = 3:46
}}<br>
 
==Almost Blue (2004 Rhino/Edsel edition)==
 
{{tracklist30
| writing_credits = yes
| headline        = Disc 1: '''Almost Blue'''
| title1          = [[Why Don't You Love Me (Like You Used To Do)?]]
| writer1        = [[Hank Williams]]
| length1        = 1:35
| title2          = [[Sweet Dreams]]
| writer2        = [[Don Gibson]]
| length2        = 2:56
| title3          = [[Success]]
| writer3        = [[Johnny Mullins]]
| length3        = 2:38
| title4          = [[I'm Your Toy]]
| writer4        = [[Chris Ethridge]], [[Gram Parsons]]
| length4        = 3:20
| title5          = [[Tonight The Bottle Let Me Down]]
| writer5        = [[Merle Haggard]]
| length5        = 2:06
| title6          = [[Brown To Blue]]
| writer6        = [[George Jones|G. Jones]], [[Virginia Franks|V. Franks]], [[Johnny "Country" Mathis|J. Mathis]]
| length6        = 2:37
| title7          = [[Good Year For The Roses]]
| writer7        = [[Jerry Chesnut]]
| length7        = 3:06
| title8          = [[Sittin' And Thinkin']]
| writer8        = [[Charlie Rich]]
| length8        = 3:00
| title9          = [[Colour Of The Blues]]
| writer9        = [[Lawton Williams]], [[George Jones]]
| length9        = 2:18
| title10          = [[Too Far Gone]]
| writer10        = [[Billy Sherrill]]
| length10        = 3:24
| title11          = [[Honey Hush]]
| writer11        = [[Big Joe Turner|Lou Willie Turner]]
| length11        = 2:11
| title12          = [[How Much I Lied]]
| writer12        = [[Gram Parsons]], [[David Rivkin|Pam Rifkin]]
| length12        = 2:48
}}<br>
{{tracklist30
| writing_credits = yes
| headline        = Disc 2: '''Bonus Disc'''
| title1      = [[Stranger In The House]]
| note1  = [[George Jones]] with Elvis Costello
| writer1    = [[Elvis Costello]]
| length1    = 3:36
| title2      = [[We Oughta Be Ashamed]]
| note2  = [[Johnny Cash]] with Elvis Costello
| writer2    = [[George Jones]], [[Earl Montgomery]]
| length2    = 2:44
| title3      = [[Radio Sweetheart]]
| note3    = Live
| writer3    = [[Elvis Costello]]
| length3    = 3:15
| title4      = [[Stranger In The House]]
| note4    = Live
| writer4    = [[Elvis Costello]]
| length4    = 3:56
| title5      = [[Psycho]]
| note5      = Live
| writer5    = [[Leon Payne]]
| length5    = 3:35
| title6      = [[If I Could Put Them All Together (I'd Have You)]]
| note6    = Live
| writer6    = [[Even Stevens]]
| length6    = 2:28
| title7      = [[Motel Matches]]
| note7    = Live
| writer7    = [[Elvis Costello]]
| length7    = 2:21
| title8      = [[He'll Have To Go]]
| note8    = Live
| writer8    = [[Joe Allison]], [[Audrey Allison]]
| length8    = 2:51
| title9      = [[Girls Talk]]
| note9    = Live
| writer9    = [[Elvis Costello]]
| length9    = 1:44
| title10          = [[Too Far Gone]]
| note10    = "Lost Session" Version
| writer10        = [[Billy Sherrill]]
| length10        = 3:08
| title11      = [[He's Got You]]
| note11      = "Lost Session" Version
| writer11    = [[Hank Cochran]]
| length11    = 3:48
| title12    = [[Honky Tonk Girl]]
| writer12    = [[Loretta Lynn]]
| length12    = 2:24
| title13      = [[That's Why I'm Walking]]
| writer13    = [[Melvin Endsley]], [[Stonewall Jackson]]
| length13    = 2:18
| title14      = [[Wondering]]
| writer14    = [[Joe Werner]]
| length14    = 2:20
| title15    = [[Darling, You Know I Wouldn't Lie]]
| writer15    = [[Wayne Kemp]], [[Red Lane]]
| length15    = 2:36
| title16      = [[My Shoes Keep Walking Back To You]]
| writer16    = [[Lee Ross]], [[Bob Wills]]
| length16    = 2:01
| title17    = [[Blues Keep Calling]]
| writer17    = [[Janis Martin]]
| length17    = 2:05
| title18      = [[Tears Before Bedtime]]
| writer18    = [[Elvis Costello]]
| length18    = 2:23
| title19      = [[Psycho]]
| writer19    = [[Leon Payne]]
| length19    = 3:20
| title20      = [[Cry, Cry, Cry]]
| writer20    = [[Johnny Cash]]
| length20    = 2:47
| title21    = [[I'll Take Care Of You]]
| writer21    = [[Brook Benton]]
| length21    = 3:09
| title22      = [[Your Angel Steps Out Of Heaven]]
| writer22    = [[Jack Ripley]]
| length22    = 1:55
| title23      = [[Brand New Heartache]]
| note23      = Live
| writer23    = [[Felice Bryant]], [[Boudleaux Bryant]]
| length23    = 2:29
| title24      = [[There Won't Be Anymore]]
| note24      = Live
| writer24    = [[Charlie Rich]]
| length24    = 2:32
| title25      = [[Sittin' And Thinkin']]
| note25      = Live
| writer25    = [[Charlie Rich]]
| length25    = 2:51
| title26      = [[Honey Hush]]
| note26      = Live
| writer26    = [[Big Joe Turner|Lou Willie Turner]]
| length26    = 2:28
| title27    = [[I'm Your Toy]]
| note27      = Live
| writer27    = [[Chris Ethridge]], [[Gram Parsons]]
| length27    = 4:01
}}




==Internal links==
==Internal links==
{{AB internal links}}
*[[Almost Blue lyrics|Lyrics]]
*[[Almost Blue (1994) liner notes|Liner notes (1994)]]
*[[Almost Blue (2004) liner notes|Liner notes (2004)]]


==External links==
==External links==
{{AB external links}}
*[http://www.allmusic.com/album/almost-blue-mw0000653809 Allmusic] {{-}} [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almost_Blue Wikipedia]
*[http://www.discogs.com/Elvis-Costello-And-The-Attractions-Almost-Blue/master/42880 Discogs]
*[http://www.musik-sammler.de/album/244693 musik-sammler.de] {{-}} [http://www.musik-sammler.de/album/238109 musik-sammler.de (2)]
*{{amazon|asin=B0002IQFDQ}} {{-}} {{amazonUK|asin=B0002FHAFG}}


[[Category:1981]]
[[Category:1981]]
[[Category:Costello albums]]
[[Category:Almost Blue| ]]
[[Category:Elvis Costello albums]]
[[Category:Rykodisc]]
[[Category:Demon]]
[[Category:Rykodisc reissues]]
[[Category:Rhino]]
[[Category:Edsel]]
[[Category:Rhino reissues]]
[[Category:F-Beat]]

Revision as of 00:00, 6 October 2019

<< Trust Imperial Bedroom >>
Almost Blue
Almost Blue album cover.jpg
ReleasedOctober 1981
RecordedMay 18-29, 1981, CBS Studio A, Nashville
ProducerBilly Sherrill
Length32:42 (original LP)
64:04 (1994 reissue)
32:42 + 76:06 (2004 reissue)
Photo by Keith Morris.
Photo by Keith Morris.


Tracks


Credits


Almost Blue (1994 Rykodisc/Demon edition)


Almost Blue (2004 Rhino/Edsel edition)



Internal links

External links