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Spike

Elvis Costello | Format: Audio CD

4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)

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Buy the MP3 album for �7.49 at the Amazon MP3 Downloads store.

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Music

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Biography

“My friend and brother, T Bone Burnett, produced Secret, Profane and Sugarcane. He and I also wrote two of the songs together.

“Sulphur To Sugarcane” takes its title from two Louisiana towns and is written in the voice of a charming but disreputable political campaigner. He is the kind of reprehensible fellow who glad-hands the women and gooses all the men.

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Product details

Audio CD (11 Dec 2006)
Number of Discs: 1
Label: Warner Bros Records
ASIN: B000002LGU
Other Editions: Audio CD | Audio Cassette | Vinyl | MP3 Download

Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)

Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 40,225 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

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1. ... This Town ...

2. Let Him Dangle

3. Deep Dark Truthful Mirror

4. Veronica

5. God's Comic

6. Chewing Gum

7. Tramp the Dirt Down

8. Stalin Malone

9. Satellite

10. Pads, Paws and Claws

11. Baby Plays Around

12. Miss MacBeth

13. Any King's Shilling

14. Coal-Train

15. Last Boat Leaving

Product Description

Amazon.co.uk

Elvis Costello's Warner Brothers debut saw him shooting for new standards of literacy and sophistication. Leaving behind the raw spleen of Blood and Chocolate, Spike used a multitude of guests and luminaries--Paul McCartney, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, guitarist Marc Ribot--to flesh out wordy, acerbic tales of soldiers and graceless women (for example, the Margaret Thatcher of the enraged "Tramp the Dirt Down"). For many fans, the songs were too artful by half, with knotty arrangements that belied an absence of memorable music. The Beatle-esque hit "Veronica" notwithstanding (a McCartney collaboration), Spike smacked of cleverness on the grand scale. --Barney Hoskyns

Product Description

ELVIS COSTELLO Spike (1989 German 15-track CD album lyric booklet picture sleeve)

Customer Reviews

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4.4 out of 5 stars

8 reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars First Class 30 Nov 2010

By Mr. W. S. Cunningham

Format:Audio CD

I have got loads of Elvis albums but somehow missed this one. I was looking to find out where the excellent anti-Thatcher song "Tramp the dirt down " came from and discovered Spike.
It is Mr Costello at his best. I would highly recommend it. A real treasure.

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4.0 out of 5 stars Re-visiting Costello 29 Nov 2010

By davidmc

Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase

I have been updating my old vinyl collection and have finally got around to Costello. I'd forgotten what a significant artist he had become up to and including 'Spike'. I really enjoyed listening to this album again and it has not lost it's potency.

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5 of 7 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Just not up to scratch... 9 Oct 2009

By Ivan Zehdra-Maychayne

Format:Audio CD

Don't want to upset anyone who really likes this album (which its first two reviewers clearly do...), but this really isn't EC's finest. It sorely lacks the pithy lyrical economy of his earlier work, and it's horribly, horribly over-produced. There *are* some killer moments (Tramp The Dirt Down, Veronica), but I'd challenge anyone to hum more than 3 of the album's tunes - or remember more than a dozen lines of lyrics - even after three or four listens. Any EC virgins, go back a few years and try out Punch The Clock or My Aim Is True first... and if you develop a taste for what you hear, come back and pick up Spike to finish your collection.

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› See all 8 customer reviews (newest first) on Amazon.co.uk

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› Go to Amazon.com to see all 46 reviews 4.3 out of 5 stars

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars One Of His Best

Elvis has made a lot of good albums, but this is one of the best. From Tramp the Dirt Down to lesser known song such as Satellites, it is full of gems. Brilliant.

Published 10 months ago by Dan Mollett

4.0 out of 5 stars very jarring note

This is an excellent album musically, with a truly stellar cast of supporting players, but it is frankly a disgrace that an obvious "leftie" like Costello can merrily pen a song... Read more

Published on 17 Nov 2009 by Hugh Crawford

4.0 out of 5 stars Easily his most ambitious album to date.

1989-Elvis Costello released his first album in 3 years and his first with new label Warner Bros, what was the outcome 15 tracks that combines all the classic Costello eras, the... Read more

Published on 7 Nov 2009 by T.K

5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning re-issue of Costello�s 1989 masterpiece...!

Published on 7 Feb 2004 by Jonathan James Romley

5.0 out of 5 stars Gets to the point

Those of us familiar with Costello's later oeuvre might be forgiven for thinking that he'd shot his bolt a long time ago. Read more

Published on 19 Mar 2002 by Dr. D. C. Davies

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