Video of the Week - ELVIS COSTELLO, She (with the Liverpool Philharmonic)

As it's Valentine's Day, just enjoy.

Video of the Week - ELVIS COSTELLO, I don't want to go to Chelsea

Speak for yourself Elvis, I will be there!!! Cracking tune and brilliant version here recorded just 2 weeks ago. The group and himself can still kick it.

Video of the Week - Elvis Costello's Radio Radio (and Watching the Detectives/Walking on the Moon with The Police)

It is 30 Years Ago today that Elvis Costello got himself into prime time US trouble by stopping Less Than Zero mid-tune on Saturday Night Live and launching into a ferocious version of Radio Radio to sum up his feelings about US radio.

It eanred him an instant tv ban but the notoriwety brought him publicity that was to serve him well.

The first video is the original 1978 promo video for what remains a classic song of its time.

30 Years on, take a look at a fantastic jam with Elvis, his group and The Police with a segued version of Watching The Detectives/Walking on the Moon aired on UK Channel 4 and 4Music this week as part of Elvis' spectacle series in which he interviews and plays with leading musicians which is well worth a watch.

Vid of the Day - ELVIS COSTELLO SOLO

Elvis Costello performing one of his later tunes - The Scarlet Tide (from The Delivery Man album) - on ukelele. Excellent performance that enriches the song.

MOMOFUKU - ELVIS COSTELLO IS BACK ! ! ! !

Not that he's ever been away but as Costelloites know, he works with artists, dabbles in all forms of music and puts out considerable amounts of work but, for me, he's never better thn when he releases his core material, his bittersweet angst and usually with one or more members of The Attractions to accompany him.

Thankfully, we've not long to wait for his latest offering although he's taken the novel step of releasing it vinyl only at first. The Man who sings Everyday I Write The Book certainly does nothing by it.

Those who have heard the material describe it as blistering and it seems he is carrying that from into gigs Stateside. Here's hoping he does the same in ther UK later this year.

The King Is Dead, Long Live Elvis.

The link to his rambling but funny mesage on his Web site - elviscostello.com - sees EC explain Momofuku "is a tribute to Momofuku Ando, the inventor of the Cup Noodle. Like so many things in this world of wonders, all we had to do to make this record was add water."

The recording sessions grew out of the work Costello had been doing in the studio with Rilo Kiley's Jenny Lewis on her second solo effort. Lewis and her boyfriend Jonathan Rice appear on Momofuku, along with Costello's band The Imposters.

http://elviscostello.com/web/guest/news?p_p_process=1&p_p_globalparams=1&sSet=4559&sResource=27665

A MAJOR TV SERIES ON WAY with ELVIS COSTELLO

Coming up on Channel 4 later this year, it sounds like a music series well worth watching.

http://www.foxbusiness.com/article/elvis-costello-elton-john-make-television-spectacle_545257_1.html

ELVIS COSTELLO - EVERY YEAR'S MODEL

Is it really 30 years ago that Elvis Costello's incendiary masterpiece of a second album, This Year's Model, was released? Oh yes it is!

I can still fondly remember getting mine at The Oldest Record Shop In The World, Cardiff's Spiller's Records, no Saturday morning was complete with a visit there of the latest vinyl and then off to The Sasparilla Bar in Morgan's Arcade to knock back a glass of the stuff whilst poring over the sleeve notes - which included a bizarre pic of multi-coloured dummies in a launderette - and looking at the mighty vinyl of course and seeing if there was any obscure note in it core.

Costello was doing punk and new wave his way and I loved it. His debut, My Aim Is True, is outstanding in its own right with tracks like Red Shoes, Mystery Dance, Alison, Less Than Zero and Watching The Detectives but that was recorded with Clover, an American mid-west group, some of whom went on to become Huey Lewis and the News.

This Year's Model saw the debut of the mighty skills and craft of Pete Thomas on drums, Bruce Thomas on
bass and Steve Nieve on keyboards and Elvis hit the ground hard and fast with his follow up. Even today, it is 35 minutes of raw power and breathless musical heaven. Many of its tracks still rank amongst my favourites and still sound fantastic - songs like No Action, This Year's Girl, Pump It Up, You Belong To Me, I Don't Want To Go To Chelsea, Lip Service and Lipstick Vogue - all showcase EC & The Attractions at their heady best.

To celebrate its anniversary, another Deluxe edition comes out next week - 2 cd's, 40 tracks, lyrics, rare pictures and notes. The additional tracks are Costello demos while cd 2 is a live 1978 show, 16 of its 17 songs never previously released. The album is as fresh now as it was then, Elvis at his biting, snarling, cynical best.

That's a must for me - if you got any sense, you'll try and get a listen too.