I bought this album prior to Momofuku coming out, as I had most other recordings by him and was wondering if he would release another album. I had looked to buy it a few times, but was reluctant to, as half the recording is made up of interview and I'm not such a great fan of Jazz, even when it's recorded by the likes of Costello.
I eventually took the plunge though, when I saw it cheap. When I received it I was pleasantly surprised, as the whole concept is done well. Costello does not particularly say anything in the interview that he hasn't said before, but I didn't really buy the recording for that. The music is well performed though and you get new, different recordings of tracks Costello has recorded elsewhere, whilst you also get some new tracks that to my knowledge are not available elsewhere are are more than worth a listen.
From someone who prefers Costello to be more rock/pop, I would still recommend this release to other people into his music. It's deffinately not a starting point though, it's more for someone who has followed Costello throughout his career and finds his dablings in other genres interesting and not annoying.
