Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gets better with each listen, 12 Feb 2006
This album gets better with each listen. The Orkest just swings and Elvis' enjoyment of what he's doing just beams out. The sound of the disc is also so vivid. The recording of the Dutch radio broadcast from the time can only just hint at how funky this recording is. Presumably this has a lot to do with the mixing done in the Capitol Studios , Los Angeles by Al Schmitt.What Mr Schmitt has done with Almost Blue is a good example. About 17 seconds in the massed-strings are counter-pointed by some very groovy plucking of violin strings. The same effect is there on the radio recording but is way down in the mix. This change of emphasis really lifts the track. Similar subtleties abound . Having had access to both the Japanese and Australian editions of the album I prefer the former ; this has everything to do with it's extra track '...Dust'. In terms of sequencing it's well placed as a bit rowdiness in between 'Almost Blue' and 'Speak Darkly , My Angel'. The applause from 'Blue overlaps with the start of '...Dust' , with a similar bridge with '.., My angel'. There is a real flow to the presentation. On the Aussie disc 'Blue's applause ends , with a split second of white noise before '..., My Angel'. Pairing two such similarly slow tracks in this way causes a real 'dip' to a listen to the album. Yes, this a disc that repays a lot of listening.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Costello excels in exceptional recording of a live performance, 21 Jun 2008
Disc one is a live album recorded at the North Sea Jazz Festival in 2004 with The Metropole Orkest and it is absolutely wonderful. There are some recordings on this album that give you shivers and make every hair on your body stand on end - it's that powerful and emotive. There are also some great Jazz pieces here; the instrumental section on the opener, 'Hora Decubitus' is fantastic as well as 'That's How You Got Killed Before'. For a live album, Elvis' voice is truly exceptional. His versions of 'Favourite Hour', 'Can You Be True', 'God Give Me Strength' and 'Almost Blue' are impeccable and can leave you dazed, in awe of the greatness of the performances.
Just as he re-invented 'Pills And Soap' with The Brodsky Quartet, Costello re-works one of his classics from the same era, 'Clubland', giving it a very jazzy, interesting and off-beat feel - it definitely works. Perhaps my favourite song on this collection, however, is a more modern Costello composition, 'Episode Of Blonde', from the "When I Was Cruel" album. Elvis storms through this song, spitting bile, showing verbal dexterity even the most able rapper would be envious of and truly thrills the listener. This is an incredible album - no Elvis Costello fan should be without it - and it may just be an album that would convert a discerning non-believer.
Pure genius.
Disc two is 'Il Sogno', an album of ballet music that was previously released on its own. It's nice music, but perhaps not an outstanding example of the genre. It is a nice bonus (and should probably be viewed as such), especially if you don't have the original album.
All in all, a great buy.
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0 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
WARNING - SOUND OF SOAP BOX CREAKING, 24 Mar 2008
I've made similar comments elsewhere. This is good record, but Georgie Fame made similarly good records decades ago, which have not been released on CD in the UK, but only as limited editions in Japan. These are almost impossible to track down. The main difference between the Georgie Fame records and this one - apart from their availability - is that Georgie had, and still has, a far better voice for this sort of material. I don't know who has the rights to Georgie's early recordings, but they should get them released on CD in the UK - please!!
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