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In 1967 the Rolling Stones released three major albums. In 1965, Dylan released his two best records within five months of each other (Bringing it All Back Home and Highway 61 Revisited), followed by Blonde on Blonde the next year. And in 1965, the Beatles released no fewer than five albums.
In the three short years of his recording career, Elvis Costello has released 74 new songs. placing himself in the upper echelons of rock productivity. Significantly. he's maintained a low level of filler and a consistently high number of rock pantheon candidates. This "new" record (of obscure singles, B-sides and alternate versions of two songs on Get Happy), besides promoting Elvis' "so much, so soon" status, also proclaims that almost anything Elvis does is worthy of artistic consideration — ergo the inclusion of the alternate interpretations. Though I would generally agree with this admittedly bloated thinking, the best argument against such a view is the lumbering, awful version of "Clowntime Is Over." Though it is of more interest, another failure is "Stranger in the House," which has been far more ominously delivered by Rachel Sweet.
Still, most of these "leftover" songs are as worthy as Elvis' most important pieces. "Wednesday Week" features what may be Costello's most hair-pullingly manic vocal, and "Radio Sweetheart" is simply lovely — as much a triumph of crisp production as of melody and voice.
Similarly, the two most successful numbers here are greatly aided by their production. "Big Tears" (Elvis' angriest-young man song) has some of that chilling organ, slapping drums and pumping bass that made This Year's Model his best and most cohesive record. The vocal is savage but it's the sound (captured by Nick Lowe) that makes this record really unique. Again on "(I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea" there are those drums that slap you across the face and that organ which immobolizes you. It's an overall sound that should go down as a keynote in rock history, and it's hard to imagine how any rock 'n' roll fan can continue his life in any reasonable fashion without owning these original examples of it.
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