What a treat! Girls Girls Girls, the new career retrospective by Elvis Costello.
Two compact discs, featuring 47 all-time great Elvis Costello and the Attractions classics.
Or, better yet, two cassettes, featuring 51 all-time great Elvis Costello classics.
But ... what's this?
Eleven songs on the CDs are not found on the cassettes; and 15 songs on the cassettes are not found on the CDs? What's going on here?
Of a total of 62 EC songs, only 36 of them are featured on both the cassette and CD version.
Sure, you get most of the "hits" on each set, including "Alison," "Watching the Detectives" and "Accidents Will Happen."
But, with more than 60 different songs to choose from, you might want to invest in both the cassette and CD versions. Of the two, the "longer" two-cassette package has "better" songs.
Why? Mainly because the cassette version features one of my all-time favorites, "Girls Talk," and that's not found on the CDs.
For the record, here is a list of the songs found on the cassettes — but not found on the CDs:
"Honey, Are You Straight ...," "Girls Talk," "Poor Napoleon," "Home Is Anywhere," "Turning the Town Red," "Sleep of the Just," "Our Little Angel;" "Long Honeymoon," "Crimes of Paris," "Jack of All Parades," "Little Palaces," "Night Rally," "American Without Tears," "Suit of Lights" and "Clowntime Is Over."
And here is a list of the songs found on the CDs — but not found on the cassettes:
"Uncomplicated," "Black and White World," "Big Sister's Clothes," "Party Girl," "Motel Matches," "Tiny Steps," "Love Field," "Possession," "Indoor Fireworks," "Sunday's Best" and "Less Than Zero."
So, which is the better collection? On a scale of 0 to 10, the cassette version ranks about an 8, while the CD version gets a 7.
But you will have to decide for yourself ...
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