As if new material and Spanish language re-recordings of his classic albums are not enough activity for a musician in his late sixties, Elvis Costello celebrates the 50th anniversary of his first band Rusty in relaxed EP style, reteaming with his original bandmate Allan Mayes to make “the record we would have cut when we were 18, if anyone had let us." Back then, the not-yet-Costello was still billed as DP McManus and recalls that “I looked like a sack of spuds that had been left out in the rain”.
Rusty were briefly mainstays of the Liverpool folk clubs, playing mostly covers and making their first forays into songwriting. The Resurrection of Rust features new recordings of six songs from their live sets of the time, executed with a carefree, celebratory feel – not unlike the latest Van Morrison album, minus the lockdown moaning.
The Costello career associations with the redoubtable Nick Lowe date right back to this era with two songs by Lowe’s own first band, Brinsley Schwartz – the rhythm’n’blues sashay Surrender to the Rhythm and the yearning Don’t Lose Your Grip on Love – while there is double Neil Young action with a mash-up of Everybody Knows This is Nowhere and Dance Dance Dance.
Mayes’ weathered voice pairs well with Costello’s more distinctive tone. He provides the grizzled, conversational lead vocal on Maureen and Sam, a song that would eventually become Costello composition Ghost Train, while the softer Everly Brothers-indebted country pop of Warm House (And an Hour of Joy) is a beguiling example of early Elvis fare.
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