Record Collector, March 1987: Difference between revisions
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{{:Bibliography index}} | {{:Bibliography index}} | ||
{{:Record Collector index}} | {{:Record Collector index}} | ||
{{: | {{:UK & Ireland magazines index}} | ||
{{Bibliography article header}} | {{Bibliography article header}} | ||
<center><h3> Elvis Costello | <center><h3> Elvis Costello rarities </h3></center> | ||
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<center> Peter Doggett </center> | <center> Peter Doggett </center> | ||
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'''Peter Doggett examines the special releases and limited editions that hold pride of place in every Costello collection. | |||
{{Bibliography text}} | {{Bibliography text}} | ||
Elvis Costello must sometimes feel that there are more people collecting his records than there are buying them. In our Readers' Poll last year, he finished in the Top Ten, confirming his position as one of the most collectable artists of all time, never mind new wave or the 1980s. Yet with very few exceptions, he has remained a cult success, only rarely falling into line with public taste, and apparently only able to score massive hit singles with other artists' material. | Elvis Costello must sometimes feel that there are more people collecting his records than there are buying them. In our Readers' Poll last year, he finished in the Top Ten, confirming his position as one of the most collectable artists of all time, never mind new wave or the 1980s. Yet with very few exceptions, he has remained a cult success, only rarely falling into line with public taste, and apparently only able to score massive hit singles with other artists' material. | ||
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What follows is a list of some of the tastiest Costello rarities. It is not meant to he comprehensive -- merely a guide to some of the items that every Costello collector will enjoy, and should own. | What follows is a list of some of the tastiest Costello rarities. It is not meant to he comprehensive -- merely a guide to some of the items that every Costello collector will enjoy, and should own. | ||
<center> Singles </center> | |||
"Alison"/"Miracle Man" (U.S. Columbia 3-10641; 1977) | "Alison"/"Miracle Man" (U.S. Columbia 3-10641; 1977) | ||
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Someone in the press decided that "I Wanna Be Loved" was a cover of the Ricky Nelson hit, and that information was repeated in magazines that should have known better. It was actually a song which Costello had discovered on an obscure Japanese compilation of soul singles on the Hi label, and it was the standout track on the otherwise low-key ''Goodbye Cruel World'' album. (It also was the subject of Costello's finest promotional video.) | Someone in the press decided that "I Wanna Be Loved" was a cover of the Ricky Nelson hit, and that information was repeated in magazines that should have known better. It was actually a song which Costello had discovered on an obscure Japanese compilation of soul singles on the Hi label, and it was the standout track on the otherwise low-key ''Goodbye Cruel World'' album. (It also was the subject of Costello's finest promotional video.) | ||
Once again, quality wasn't enough to bring massive success. This time, F-Beat went to | Once again, quality wasn't enough to bring massive success. This time, F-Beat went to town at the mixing desk. The 7" version features the standard version of the A-side, plus the theme tune from Channel 4's ''Scully'' on the flip. The 12" added an extended version of the A-side; both these issues came in similar art sleeves. | ||
Promo singles were also issued in both sizes. "Turning The Town Red" remained intact on all occasions, but a special edited and remixed 'radio version' of "I Wanna Be Loved" was used for the 7" promo. while the 12" dropped both the long and standard takes, in favour of the radio version and a `version discotheque'. Both of these promos came in plain black sleeves. The 7" promo now sells for around £6, the 12" for £20. | |||
"Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood"/"Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" (U.S. Columbia CAS 2310, 1986) | |||
Have you ever fantasised that the Velvet Underground might reform on breakfast TV? Then this 12" promo single is for you. Rather than following the orthodox course of shipping out 12" white labels of this Costello single, Columbia pressed up this ferocious solo performance, recorded at the Heartbreak in New York, and broadcast live on WNEW-FM's breakfast show on February 11, 1986. The single take was rather over-arranged, but this one-man-and-his-electric-guitar performance is staggeringly direct, and it cuts the standard version to shreds. Despite suggestions on the sleeve, both sides of this record contain the same track, and the LP cut is not included. At present, this 12" sells for around £10: expect this price to rise. | |||
"Highlights From "Blood And Chocolate" " (Imp CHOC 1;September 1986) | |||
Snippets of four songs from Costello's most recent LP were included on this red vinyl 7" promo EP — "Blue Chair", "Uncomplicated", "Next Time Round" and "1 Hope You're Happy Now". The last of these was the album's most obvious choice of single, which is probably why it didn't appear. Expect this promo to sell for about £10 as soon as word gets out that it exists. | |||
Other recent Costello collectables include white vinyl versions of ''Blood And Chocolate'' and the "Tokyo Storm Warning" single (only in Germany); the ''NME'' freebie EP which includes a supposedly alternate mix of "Uncomplicated"; and the new remake of "Blue Chair" issued as a single on Demon (why not on Imp, like the album?). | |||
<center>LPs </center> | |||
''Our Aim Is True'' (Columbia promo picture disc) | |||
This is the Costello item which regularly fetches the highest prices in this country (though in the States that honour is held by the U.K. promo 'conversation' albums). It carries no catalogue number, and could just as easily be a counterfeit as a real promo, except that a counterfeiter would probably have included some unreleased material. It consists of a selection of tracks from the U.S. ''My Aim Is True'' and ''This Year's Model'' albums, obviously designed to persuade DJs to introduce Elvis and the Attractions to the Great American Public. It sells here for anything between £100 and £200. It shouldn't be confused with the black vinyl bootleg of the same title, which features some fascinating pre-first album Costello demos, supposedly recorded with the Rumour. | |||
''Elvis Costello Live At The el Mocambo'' (Canadian Columbia CDN 10; 1978) | |||
During his initial blitz on the Americas, Elvis Costello's show at the el Mocambo club in Toronto, Canada, was broadcast live in stereo by CHUM-FM. CBS Records Canada obtained a tape of the show from the radio station, and pressed it up as a limited edition (500 copies) promo album — without the knowledge of Costello. Jake Riviera or Radar Records. As anyone who collects Costello will have realised, there are many more than 500 "El Mocambo" albums in circulation. But almost all of them are bootlegs, taken off the air rather than from the promo LP. Although they use a copy of the original CBS cover, their track arrangement is slightly different, with "Radio Radio" coming at the start of Side Two, rather than the end of Side One as it did on the original version. Because of the confusion, original copies haven't risen in price beyond £.50; all other copies are illegal. | |||
The album is actually a fine document of the early Attractions shows at their fastest and most furious, although without any of the antagonism between singer and audience that occasionally arose in this country when (a) the show finished after 45 minutes or (b) the audience were too slow to ask for an encore. No unissued songs were included: everything on the album had been released in studio form on the U.S. versions of the first two albums. | |||
''Get Happy!'' (Promo Album) (F-Beat XX PROMO 1; March 1980) | |||
Unlike the later F-Beat promos, this set offered no rare material to the collector; it simply spread the lavish ingredients of the ''Get Happy!'' album across two 12" 45rpm singles, ten tracks apiece. The set comes in two forms: it was originally sent out in a double cover, with a photo and poster; later copies exist in plain white sleeves, with a list of contents stuck on the front of each disc. The promo confirms that it is the sleeve, not the label, of ''Get Happy!'' which has the right track listing of the album — i.e. "Love For Tender" is the start of Side One, not Side Two. The complete set sells for £40. | |||
''Taking Liberties'' (U.S. Columbia JC 36939: November 1980) | |||
This album appeared in the States simultaneously with the British cassette compilation ''Ten Bloody Marys And Ten How's Your Fathers'' (later reissued on LP by Imp). The two sets differ slightly in track listing, but the U.S. LP has one great advantage — the fabulous (back-to-front) cover artwork. The inner sleeve also has recording details for all the tracks, revealing (for example) that "Crawling To The U.S.A." was taped in Sydney, Australia. Although the set was widely available on import when it was first issued, it has since become quite scarce, though it shouldn't cost you more than £10. | |||
''Taking Liberties'' included three songs missing from the U.K. cassette: "Chelsea", "Night Rally" and "Sunday's Best". They replaced "Watching The Detectives", "Radio Radio" and "Peace, Love And Understanding", all of which had previously been issued on U.S. albums. Both sets included the sublime "Hoover Factory", however, perhaps Costello's finest moment. | |||
''Elvis Costello Introduces the Tracks from his new album, 'Almost Blue' '' (F-Beat EC CHAT 1, October 1981) | |||
This is one of the most sought-after Costello collector's pieces. It includes the entire ''Almost Blue'' album, with spoken introductions by Elvis to each track — ranging in length from 6 to 21 seconds. The album was issued to the press in a plain white cover, with paper designs pasted onto the front and back covers. The B-side lists the tracks, their times, and the cues for any radio DJ who wanted to play sections of the album, while the A-side has a pencil drawing of the Attractions, which is numbered and then signed by each of the group. (The front cover gave the band's keyboard player his third different surname on Costello albums — Steve Naive, Nieve and now Neive.) British copies of this release sell for around £50; American copies, issued on Columbia AS 1318, are slightly easier to find. | |||
''Almost New'' (Australian F-Beat ELVIS 82, 1982) | |||
Although this is often referred to as being a promo, it was actually openly on sale in Australia and New Zealand — although the record was certainly compiled with promotion in mind. It contains seven tracks, three of them ("I Can't Stand Up", "Green Shirt" and "Pump It Up") commonly available, the others slightly more obscure. "Peace, Love And Understanding" was the cut originally issued here as the flipside of Nick Lowe's "American Squirm"; "Alison" and "Accidents Will Happen" come from the "Live At Hollywood High" single given away with early copies of "Armed Forces"; and "I'm Your Toy" is the Albert Hall live take issued as a single in Britain. "Almost New" now sells in Britain for between £15 and £20. | |||
''A Conversation with ... Elvis Costello'' (F-Beat EC CHAT 2, June 1982) | |||
If you only buy one Elvis Costello rarity, then this must be your first choice. Its current value of around £50 makes it prohibitively expensive for most collectors, but the price is almost justified by the contents alone, without allowing for rarity value and prestige. | |||
''Imperial Bedroom'' was Costello's most complex, ornate record. Stylistically, it was something of a throwback to the Sixties, but only because it had all the invention and the mingling of musical approaches that marked the best of that era. It lacked the popular appeal of ''Punch The Clock'', which was widely greeted as a return to form when it succeeded ''Imperial Bedroom'' in 1982. But in a decade's time, ''Bedroom'' is likely to be the album on which Costello's reputation rests. | |||
The "Conversation" album took the format of the ''Almost Blue'' promo to its natural limits. Rather than saying "And this song's called . . ." before each track, Elvis described the writing, recording, arranging and mixing of the record in enormous detail — explaining the thinking behind otherwise impenetrable lyrics, and revealing the care with which the music had been assembled. Few interviews have ever laid the creative process so bare. The effect of the spoken introductions, which in some cases run for longer than the songs, is remarkable. "A Conversation With Elvis Costello" is not only a collector's item; it is a vital part of the man's recorded history. | |||
This time, the album cover was properly printed, using the same David Bailey photo of Elvis as the "Man Out Of Time" single. The two LPs were contained within a single sleeve, and many copies were autographed by Costello. In fact, copies without autographs are probably rarer than those with, though also arguably less collectable. Either way, the set sells for around £50 — though in the U.S. collectors are willing to pay up to $250 for Mint condition copies. | |||
''Blood And Chocolate'' (Imp FIEND 80, cassette) | |||
To tie in with the title of this album, some early cassette copies (only on sale in Virgin stores) were packaged in a mock Cadburys chocolate wrapper, which was even shaped like a chocolate bar. Inside the set was the ordinary cassette, but leave it unopened if you can; that way it will be worth much more in the future! Cadbury's predictably objected to the use of their logo and design without permission, and the special edition was quickly withdrawn. Copies are already changing hands for £12 each and rising fast. | |||
<center>Guest appearances </center> | |||
Costello's work outside his solo career has led to collaborations with the Specials (producing their debut LP and "Nelson Mandela" single), the Eurythmics (vocal cameo on their last but one LP), Squeeze (production work circa 1981, notably on the very Costello-like ''East Side Story'' album), and the Bluebells (more production work). | |||
There are also vocal duets like "The People's Limousine" (Imp IMP 006), a souped-up slice of urban rockabilly that was credited to the Coward Brothers — alias Elvis and T-Bone Burnette. Although this is still on catalogue, it has been spotted selling for up to £4. Less well-known is his duet with John Hiatt on the latter's "Living A Little, Laughing A Little" single (Geffen A 6121), a cover of a Detroit Spinners song which is also to be found on Hiatt's ''Warming Up To The Ice Age'' album (GEF 26309). Costello also produced and sang on one of the best records of 1985, Big Heat's "Watch Me Catch Fire", a Righteous Brothers tribute which featured the vocal talents of Bill Hurley and Drew Barfield. George Jones joined forces with Elvis on a remake of "Stranger In The House" (Epic EPC 8560); while Madness's "Tomorrow's Just Another Day" 12" features a version of the song with Costello on lead vocals. There are many more in the same vein, plus compilation albums with non-album Costello material. These will all be covered in depth in our next Costello features, which will trace his career back to 1976 and contain full details of all his collector's items from around the world. | |||
Collectors should also note that all of his most recent LPs on F-Beat have now been reissued on Imp Records; and that the compilation album "The Man" now bears a vastly improved new cover design. | |||
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{{Bibliography notes header}} | {{Bibliography notes header}} | ||
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{{Bibliography images}} | {{Bibliography images}} | ||
[[image:1987-03-00 Record Collector page 27.jpg| | [[image:1987-03-00 Record Collector page 27.jpg|380px|border]] | ||
<br><small>Page scans.</small> | |||
[[image:1987-03-00 Record Collector page 28.jpg|360px|border]] | [[image:1987-03-00 Record Collector page 28.jpg|360px|border]] | ||
[[image:1987-03-00 Record Collector page 29.jpg|360px|border]] | [[image:1987-03-00 Record Collector page 29.jpg|360px|border]] | ||
[[image:1987-03-00 Record Collector page 30.jpg|360px|border]] | |||
<br><small>Page scans.</small> | <br><small>Page scans.</small> | ||
<small>Cover photo.</small><br> | |||
[[image:1987-03-00 Record Collector photo 01.jpg|x364px|border]] | [[image:1987-03-00 Record Collector photo 01.jpg|x364px|border]] | ||
[[image:1987-03-00 Record Collector cover | |||
<small>Cover.</small><br> | |||
[[image:1987-03-00 Record Collector cover.jpg|x120px|border]] | |||
{{Bibliography notes footer}} | {{Bibliography notes footer}} | ||
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==External links== | ==External links== | ||
*[http://recordcollectormag.com/issue-detail/91 RecordCollectorMag.com] | *[http://recordcollectormag.com/issue-detail/91 RecordCollectorMag.com] | ||
*[http://www.flickr.com/search?user_id=13068920%40N00&sort=relevance&text=Record%20Collector%20March%201987 Flickr: | *[http://www.flickr.com/search?user_id=13068920%40N00&sort=relevance&text=Record%20Collector%20March%201987 Flickr:] [[Stephen McCathie]] | ||
{{DEFAULTSORT:Record Collector 1987-03-00}} | {{DEFAULTSORT:Record Collector 1987-03-00}} | ||
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[[Category:Record Collector| Record Collector 1987-03-00]] | [[Category:Record Collector| Record Collector 1987-03-00]] | ||
[[Category:Magazine articles]] | [[Category:Magazine articles]] | ||
Latest revision as of 12:57, 9 May 2021
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