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A digital-only collection set for Nov. 25, The Boy Named If (Alive at Memphis Magnetic) gathers 11 tracks, all but one of which were recorded live-in-studio by Elvis Costello and his longtime band, the Imposters, at Scott McEwen's Memphis Magnetic Recording Co. on Vance Avenue.
The recordings — which include Costello originals as well as covers of songs by the Beatles ("Here, There and Everywhere"), the Rolling Stones ("Out of Time"), the Byrds ("So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star"), Nick Lowe ("Truth Drug") and Paul McCartney ("Let Me Roll It," from the Band on the Run album) — were made in October 2021 and May 2022, when Costello and the Imposters were rehearsing at Memphis Magnetic for tours in support of Costello's album, The Boy Named If, which was released in January.
The first tour began Oct. 13, 2021, at the Soundstage at Graceland, which explains why the band was rehearsing in Memphis in the first place. A day earlier, Costello visited WEVL-FM 89.9, a not-for-profit community radio station on South Main, for the radio debut of his new single, "Magnificent Hurt."
In an essay about the new EMI/Capitol release, Costello writes: "When The Imposters and I entered Memphis Magnetic studio in October 2021 it was the first time we'd been face-to-face or side-by-side while playing the songs from The Boy Named If. That album had been recorded over 'electrical wire' in late 2020 from our respective lairs and cupboards under the stairs but now we were in Memphis on pretext of rehearsing for our first full tour ever since the world ended in March 2020. Now we were three days from opening on the Soundstage at Graceland but what better way to prepare than playing some of your favourite songs while negotiating with the trickier angles in our new tunes."
Citing the band's Memphis bona fides, Costello added that drummer Pete Thomas, a longtime Costello associate in both the Imposters and its predecessor band, the Attractions, "once vaulted over a fence to retrieve a brick from the demolition site of the original Stax Studios building. He told any musicians with a faltering groove in his own basement studio... 'That brick has heard, '(Sittin' On) the Dock of the Bay.'"
As its title suggests, The Boy Named If (Alive at Memphis Magnetic) is something of a companion album to the earlier The Boy Named If: The Costello originals included on the Memphis album are live-in-studio renditions of songs that debuted in more polished form on the studio set. The exception is a remix of "Magnificent Hurt" by the Japanese female rap duo chelmico, which Costello describes as "a complete re-model" of the song (can a remix album titled This Year's Re-Model be far behind?).
Costello concludes his essay with the promise of more Memphis material to come. Remembering his rehearsals at Memphis Magnetic, he writes: "In the evening I returned to my room at the Peabody Hotel and over the next three nights, I heard seven new songs ringing ‘round the walls... but that's a tale for another day…"
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