Elvis Costello: Classic or Dud

He did nowt

I think Elvis sang "Peace, Love, & Understanding" and did some English verses while Jorge Drexler sang both Spanish and English

Wasn't he invited because of this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmD6so5aZ-s

Yes!

I didn’t buy any concert tickets but I wish there was a way to donate the $$ to Alan. Maybe buy merch on their band camp or something.

X-post - Elvis Costello doing peace, love … with Drexler was apparently recorded separately from the Latin Grammys. For some reason, the Latin Grammys folks had Costello guest on Drexler’s song of the year nomination “Tocarte” on the televised show. Drexler did the song on his album with C. Tangana not Costello. Drexler won song of the year for it btw. Drexler sang “Night Rally “ with Costello on Spanish Model version of This Year’s Model.

Apparently an excerpt from the upcoming Uncut:

Songs of Bacharach and Costello

Four-album set that revisits a favourite collaborator

It’s Painted From Memory (1998) and Taken From Life, which is a collection of songs that Burt and I wrote over the last 15 years for a proposed Painted From Memory musical. So you’ll hear other people singing a couple of those original songs, but also a bunch of songs that have never heard before. We’ve compiled them with a couple of songs from Look Now (1998) and some recordings that were piano/voice explorations of what the songs would sound like if they were sung by other people. We’ve put them all together to create an impression of what it would have been like to have that score.

There’s another disc of live performances of Painted From Memory songs, mostly with Steve Nieve and myself, a couple of them orchestral. Finally, a whole album of Bacharach/David songs, which I thought would be fun to include. This is a love letter to Burt. We went into the studio last september and recorded two songs with Vince Mendoza conducting a 30-piece orchestra. So the bookends for this Taken From Life are newly recorded. The Imposters and I recorded a third song, in Capitol Studios with an orchestra. It was a few years since we’d worked together, but it didn’t take very long before I’m in the booth and he was on the call-back saying, “Elvis, you’re not singing the right melody.” So I had to be on top of it.

Ha, I like those final 2 lines

I like a little of the Bacharach material here and there but the album as a whole is Too Much (for me). It's also the point where he definitely starts oversinging EVERYTHING. There is still some tethering to subtelty in the singing on All This Useless Beauty. I find his "She" voice painful to listen to.

I mean there is a high drama to the singing on e.g. Imperial Bedroom and Juliet Letters, but it's much less earsplitting

Imagine him singing this now:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCDy7sKKLy0

It took a long time for the Bacharach album to grow on me, but I also kind of wish Dusty Springfield was the vocalist. She was very ill when they were recording it so it would never have happened, but still, that would've been a pretty amazing comeback.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-GL9dCvREc

Hey, that song has its own thread!

But you can just leave that one right here, thanks.