Elvis Costello - 1981-12-31 New York (Goody Speed Pitch Adjusted)

<<   1981-12-31 New York

ELVIS COSTELLO AND THE ATTRACTIONS
Palladium
New York, NY
31 December 1981

A Goody Speed/Pitch-adjusted Audio Upgrade via MarkM and Area51GM


Disc 1:
101. Lipstick Vogue > 3:10
102. Watching The Detectives 4:40
103. Accidents Will Happen > 2:35
104. Secondary Modern 1:59
105. Oliver's Army 3:04
106. Green Shirt 2:54
107. Radio, Radio 2:32
108. Sittin' And Thinkin' 2:58
109. Success 3:12
110. Good Year For The Roses 3:52
111. Psycho 3:37
112. Brown To Blue 2:45
113. How Much I Lied 2:54
114. Sweet Dreams 3:25
115. Tonight The Bottle Let Me Down 2:11
116. I'm Your Toy 3:35
117. Why Don't You Love Me (Like You Used To Do) 1:32
118. Honey Hush 2:13
119. Steve Nieve Solo Improvisations, culminating in Auld Lang Syne > 12:41
120. (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding? > 3:25
121. Strict Time 2:36

Runtime: 71:50

Disc 2:
201. Pidgin English > 3:22
202. Watch Your Step 3:19
203. The Beat 3:04
204. Kid About It > 3:26
205. New Lace Sleeves > 3:45
206. Big Tears 3:04
207. Human Hands > 2:33
208. Hand In Hand 2:15
209. Shabby Doll 4:55
210. Almost Blue 2:58
211. High Fidelity 2:23
212. The Long Honeymoon > 4:10
213. Temptation 2:42
214. Clowntime Is Over 4:34
215. Beyond Belief > 3:01
216. Clubland 3:53
217. I've Been Born Again > King Horse > 3:58
218. Big Sister's Clothes 4:39
Encores:
219. I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down (Slow version) > 3:43
220. From A Whisper To A Scream 3:14
221. Mystery Dance 2:41
222. (The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes 3:16
223. Alison 3:11

Runtime: 78:07

Total Runtime: 2:29:57


Elvis Costello - guitar, lead vocals 
Steve Nieve - keyboards, piano, bkg vocals, solo piano improvisation during interlude
Bruce Thomas - bass bkg vocals 
Pete Thomas - drums, bkg vocals

Special guest

John McFee - pedal steel guitar Tracks 108-118, lead guitar Tracks 219-222, bkg vocals

Area51GM wrote (Thanks!) -
40 years on ............................................
And the year ends with a tour de force of a performance, quite possibly surpassing the show put on in Los Angeles
two nights earlier. Besides containing 2 more songs than the previous show ("Brown To Blue" and "From A Whisper To
A Scream" for those interested!), the whole show is again captured in incredible clarity, and whilst I would dispute a
claim that this has been a soundboard source, it certainly is at the high end of audience recordings. I'm very grateful
to MarkM who kindly sent me his files of this show because my high generation cassette copy is embarrassingly poor in
comparison to the files available here and would have failed entirely to do justice to this awesome show.
It starts much as the L.A. concert with 7 tracks allowing the Attractions and Elvis to find their feet and get into playing
but at this point in their career together they have pretty much reached a peak in virtuosity in their live performances which
would last for about 18 months until the effort of competing with the T.K.O.Horns would deprive them of the subtlety and sensitivity
which would characterise some many of their concerts for 1982. The pacing of the concert is impressive too, allowing for an interlude
in which Steve showcases his formidable keyboard talents and includes snippets of Christmas carols and "Auld Lang Syne" for the New
Year, but until that point John McFee again joins the band for a run through of 10 of the "Almost Blue" album, tonight missing out "Colour
Of The Blues" and "Too Far Gone". Once again the stars are Steve and John McFee and whilst the rhythm section play an underpinning role throughout
with Pete's hi-hat and snare work sounding increasingly sensitive and sympathetic, there is a feel of them wanting to break out into more melodically
adventurous songs. Sometimes the three chord trick seems a little stifling but a stirring "Honey Hush" brings a more spirited end to the first half.
Steve's solo slot gives him little respite and there is little of the songs that would surface on his first solo album "Keyboard Jungle" which contains
the magnificent "Hooligans And Hula Girls" (my favourite Steve piece).
Once The Attractions resume we get the 25 song second half featuring songs from every aspect of Elvis' recorded career; 6 from "Trust", 5 from "Get Happy!",
2 from "Armed Forces" (or it's outtakes!), 2 from "This Year's Model", 3 from "My Aim Is True" and a staggering 7 unreleased songs later to appear on
"Imperial Bedroom"! These all appear completely realised and it's amazing to think that further recording was to take place before the album was released.
Historically of course it is interesting (at least to me) to see that the transformation of the song "The Land Of Give And Take" has already morphed into
the recognizable form of "Beyond Belief".
So another monstrous and monumental performance and a sumptuous setlist. Don't spread Covid and go out tonight, stay in and treat yourself to a New Year's Eve
concert of the very highest calibre provided by Elvis Costello, the Attractions and John McFee.


Lineage : FLAC file courtesy of MarkM (thanks again) > TLH > Nero Platinum for pitch checking and track separation > TLH > FLAC >

Goody's additional lineage:
TLH (WAV) > Audition (Pitch Bender, various amounts; align channels, update tracking, noises repaired or reduced) >
TLH (FLAC Level 8; Align sector boundaries; .ffp) > foobar2000 (tags)

Covers by ethiessen1 (Thanks!)


Notes of possible import:
Steve's solo touches on themes and melodies from the following (and more)

Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue
White Christmas
Imagine
Only Women Bleed
Cruel To Be Kind
Jesu Joy Of Man's Desiring
Silent Night
Oh Holy Night
Little Drummer Boy
JIngle Bells variations
This Year's Girl
Funeral For A Friend (or this is a classical piece of which FFAF is also in the vein...)
Auld Lang Syne

And lastly, thanks again to Area51GM for not only providing this particular source but for all of his complete '40 years on...' series devoted lovingly
to chronicling the life on the road of Mr. McManus et. al. from a distance and sometimes even from a bit more up-close and bringing it to us all in
such a thoughtful manner. Yes - I've pretty much stolen his entire text and added this little bit to it... Appreciated!

Text updated for his edition - January 5, 2022