REISSUE
BONUS TRACKS
NO
ACTION (Early Version)
(2:14) RHINO HIP-O
Elvis
mentioned this outtake recorded at the same time as
"Watching The
Detectives" in the liner notes for the Ryko release, but at that time
it
was considered "lost." It was "found" and released for the first time
on
the Rhino CD.
LIVING
IN PARADISE (Early Version)
(2:59) RHINO HIP-O
This outtake from the
My Aim Is True
sessions is notable for lyrics which differ significantly from the
version later released on
This Year's Model.
It was also
mentioned as "lost" in the Ryko notes but released on the Rhino CD.
RADIO SWEETHEART (Single Mix)
(2:30)
RHINO HIP-O
RADIO SWEETHEART (Remix)
(2:25) RYKO
This track from Elvis' first "professional" recording session was
originally the B-side of "Less Than Zero." After appearing on the
various artists collection
Hits
Greatest Stiffs, it was remixed prior to appearing on
Taking
Liberties and
Ten
Bloody Marys. The remix has fewer
effects on the lead vocal in the opening verse and lacks the backing
vocals during the line "hope in the eyes of the ugly girls." The remix
was the
standard version for many years,
also appearing on the Ryko CD (where it fades in slightly late, making
Taking Liberties or
Ten Bloody Marys the preferred
source). The original single mix made its CD
debut on the Rhino
My Aim Is True
and subsequently appeared on 2003's
Singles,
Volume 1 and 2007's
My Aim
Is
True Hip-O deluxe edition.
STRANGER IN THE HOUSE
(3:01)
RYKO
RHINO HIP-O
This outtake from the
My Aim Is True
sessions was first issued on a bonus single included with initial
copies
of the
This Year's
Model
LP in the UK and later included on
Taking Liberties,
Ten
Bloody Marys, and the vinyl
version of
Girls
+ £ ÷
Girls = $ & Girls. Elvis would later re-record the song as a
duet with George Jones. (See the
Almost Blue page for details.)
I JUST DON'T KNOW WHAT TO
DO WITH
MYSELF (Live, Norwich, Oct. 18, 1977)
(2:27) RHINO
This Burt
Bacharach/Hal David cover from the
1978 various artists album
Live Stiffs
made its only appearance on a Costello album on Rhino's
My Aim Is True.
Two alternate mixes of this performance have also been released. They
are detailed in the "Not On The Reissues (But Officially Released)"
section below.
LESS THAN ZERO ("DALLAS
VERSION")
(Live, Toronto, Mar. 6, 1978)
(4:17) RHINO
Although
he
allowed full-fledged reissues of the album
Live At The El
Mocambo
from both Ryko and Hip-O, Elvis vetoed Rhino's plan
to release it. This one-song excerpt was the album's only
representation in Rhino's reissue program.
IMAGINATION (IS A POWERFUL
DECEIVER)
(3:36) RYKO
RHINO
Although several other recordings by Elvis' mid-'70s band Flip City
have been available on bootlegs for years, this is the only one so far
to receive an official release, having appeared on both the Ryko and
Rhino CDs. It was recorded in early 1975 at Hope & Anchor
Studios
in Islington. The bootlegs also include two very similar alternate
versions
of the song.
Honky Tonk
Demos
|
MYSTERY DANCE
(2:13) RYKO
RHINO
CHEAP REWARD
(2:16) RYKO
RHINO
JUMP UP
(2:06) RYKO
RHINO
WAVE A WHITE FLAG
(1:57) RYKO
RHINO
BLAME IT ON CAIN
(3:31) RYKO
RHINO
POISON MOON
(1:53) RYKO
RHINO
An early break for Elvis came August 15, 1976,
when "Cheap Reward" and "Wave A White Flag" were aired on Charlie
Gillett's Honky Tonk radio
show. These home demos were recorded in late 1975 or early 1976 and
have Elvis accompanying himself on guitar. "Mystery
Dance" includes an additional verse omitted from the studio
recording. "Cheap Reward" and "Poison Moon" include lyrics which later
turned up in "Lip Service" and "Party Girl," respectively.
All six songs circulated for years on bootlegs prior to
their first official release on the Ryko CD. The Rhino version of "Wave
A White Flag" includes a very brief guitar intro not on the
Ryko release. Hip-O has yet to reissue these songs.
|
Pathway Studios Demos
|
WELCOME
TO THE WORKING WEEK
(1:24) HIP-O
BLUE MINUTE
(1:33) HIP-O
MIRACLE
MAN
(2:22)
HIP-O
WAITING
FOR THE END OF THE WORLD
(2:28) HIP-O
CALL
ON ME
(1:58) HIP-O
(THE
ANGELS WANNA WEAR MY) RED SHOES
(2:06) HIP-O
I
DON'T WANT TO GO HOME
(1:45) HIP-O
I
HEAR A MELODY
(2:10) HIP-O
The
eight Pathway Studios demos were recorded in late 1976 and have Elvis
accompanying himself on
guitar. Especially notable are the four previously unreleased Costello
originals. Three of them — "Blue Minute," "Call On Me," and
"I Hear A
Melody" — had already circulated among collectors in recent
years (and Elvis had played "I Hear A Melody" in concert in 2005 and
"Blue Minute" in 2006), but "I Don't Want To Go Home" was entirely
unheard.
"Call On Me" includes bits of the "Moods For Moderns" melody and some
lyrics from both that song and "Lipstick Vogue." "I Hear A Melody" was
described by Elvis as written in 1975 and based on Van
Morrison's "You're My Woman." As for the more familiar songs, "Miracle
Man" has a
mostly different final verse. All of the above were released for the
first time on the Hip-O CD with the exception of "Welcome To The
Working Week," which first appeared four months earlier on the Rock And Roll
Music compilation in a different mix. (See the "Not On The
Reissues (But Officially Released)" section below.)
|
Live at the Nashville Rooms, London,
Aug. 7, 1977
|
|
INTRODUCTION BY DAVE ROBINSON
(0:26) HIP-O
WELCOME TO THE WORKING WEEK
(1:18) HIP-O
BLAME IT ON CAIN
(2:53) HIP-O
NO DANCING
(2:57) HIP-O
WAITING FOR THE END
OF THE
WORLD
(3:54) HIP-O
NIGHT RALLY
(2:34) HIP-O
HOOVER FACTORY
(2:01)
HIP-O
NO ACTION
(2:31) HIP-O
(I DON'T WANT TO GO
TO)
CHELSEA
(3:03) HIP-O
MIRACLE MAN
(3:53) HIP-O
THE BEAT
(3:46) HIP-O
LESS THAN ZERO
(3:27) HIP-O
(THE ANGELS WANNA
WEAR MY)
RED
SHOES
(2:57)
HIP-O
LIPSTICK VOGUE
(3:59) HIP-O
WATCHING THE
DETECTIVES
(4:23) HIP-O
LIP SERVICE
(4:31) HIP-O
MYSTERY DANCE
(3:34)
HIP-O
ALISON
(3:32) HIP-O
Disc 2 of Hip-O's deluxe My Aim Is
True
includes the complete set from this very early
concert by
Elvis Costello and the Attractions. "Hoover Factory" is performed by
Elvis solo after Bruce Thomas breaks a string. Most of the show was
previously unreleased, but three tracks were early B-sides — "Blame It
On Cain" and "Mystery Dance" had appeared together on the B-side of the
UK "Watching The Detectives," while "Miracle Man" was the B-side of
"Alison" in the US — and had made their CD debut on the Singles, Volume 1
box set in 2003. (Hip-O's My Aim Is
True track notes erroneously state that all three
appeared on the original "Watching The Detectives" single. The
confusion probably derives from the Singles,
Volume 1
sequencing.)
PAY IT BACK
(Soundcheck)
(2:23) HIP-O
RADIO SWEETHEART (Soundcheck)
(2:56) HIP-O
SNEAKY FEELINGS (Soundcheck)
(2:16) HIP-O
CRAWLING TO THE USA (Soundcheck)
(2:59) HIP-O
ALISON (Soundcheck)
(3:25) HIP-O
As if a complete concert weren't enough, Hip-O's My Aim Is True
concludes with five songs from the show's soundcheck, four of them not
played during the show itself, and all previously unreleased. When
combined with the main concert, the CD includes live versions of every
song from My Aim Is True
except "I'm Not
Angry." "Crawling To The USA," which has some different lyrics, is
erroneously listed as "Crawling In The USA."
|
NOT
ON THE REISSUES (BUT OFFICIALLY RELEASED)
LESS THAN ZERO (Single Mix)
[A-side of Stiff
BUY 11]
The
original single mix of
"Less Than Zero" is most notable for including a prominent organ part
during the opening bars which is absent from the album version. It has
never appeared on CD, not even on 2003's
Singles, Volume 1,
which used
the familiar album mix, possibly by mistake. (The 1981 reissue of the
vinyl single also substituted the album mix. Copies with the original
mix have LYN-7473 etched in the runoff groove.) Some sources indicate
that
a third mix of "Less Than Zero" can be found on the 1977 various
artists
LP
A
Bunch Of Stiff Records,
but to my ears it is identical to the single.
ALISON (US Version)
[A-side of Columbia 3-10641]
"Alison" was subjected to additional overdubs (including synth-strings
and background vocals) and remixing prior to its
release as a US single in an apparent effort to give it a more
commercial sound. When asked about its omission from the Rhino reissue
program, Elvis responded, "I don't think we need to inflict it on the
listeners a second time." Nevertheless, it eventually made its CD
debut on
Singles,
Volume 1
as a hidden bonus track.
WATCHING THE DETECTIVES (Single
Mix)
[A-side of
Stiff BUY 20]
Although the differences are unlikely to be noticed without headphones,
the version of "Watching The Detectives" which appears on most CD
releases is not the original single mix. The original mix has narrower
stereo separation, while the remix adds an extraneous hissing
noise at 3:18 which did not appear on the original mix for good
reason! The remix was probably prepared for 1980's
Ten Bloody Marys compilation and has
gradually become the standard version, appearing on the Ryko,
Rhino, and Hip-O
My Aim Is True CDs.
The original mix can, however, be found on the 1985 Columbia CD
The Best of Elvis Costello and the
Attractions, and it can reportedly be found on copies of the
Columbia
My Aim Is True with
the matrix number DIDP 20091 41A6.
(Thanks
to Zarank.)
WATCHING THE DETECTIVES
(A Demo Version)
[NME
Pogo A Go Go cassette by various
artists]
Inexplicably labeled a demo, this tentative performance
actually comes from an August 2, 1977 concert at Eric's in Liverpool
recorded for UK TV's
So It Goes.
In light of its negligible musical value, the mystery is
not
so much why it has yet to appear as reissue bonus material as why it
was released in the first place. The DVD
The Right Spectacle: The Very Best Of Elvis
Costello — The Videos includes two songs ("No Dancing" and "Lip
Service") from the Eric's performance but not "Watching The Detectives."
I JUST DON'T KNOW WHAT TO
DO WITH
MYSELF (Live, Norwich, Oct. 18, 1977) (Alternate Mix 1)
[Live
Stiffs
album by various artists]
I JUST DON'T KNOW WHAT TO
DO WITH
MYSELF (Live,
Norwich, Oct. 18,
1977) (Alternate Mix 2)
[The
Stiff Records Box Set
album by
various artists]
Although
they all
seem to derive from the same basic performance, "I Just Don't Know What
To Do With Myself" exists in three unique mixes. The version on the
Live
Stiffs
LP and CD includes much more reverb on the vocals than can be found on
The Stiff Records Box Set
or Rhino's
My
Aim Is True. All three
versions
have very slight variations in the lyrics. Both
The Stiff Records Box Set
and
My
Aim Is True begin with Elvis
singing, "Just don't know what to do with myself, just don't know what
to do with myself," while
Live Stiffs
has him singing, "
I
just don't
know what to do with myself,
I
just don't know what to do with myself."
Toward
the end of the song,
The Stiff
Records Box Set
has him
singing, "don't know what else to do," while
Live Stiffs
and
My
Aim is True have "
I
don't know what else to do." Also,
the "oh oh oh" at the end has Elvis holding the final "oh" longer on
Live Stiffs and
My
Aim Is True than on
The Stiff
Records Box Set.
Obviously
one or more of these mixes must incorporate some overdubbed vocals. In
fact, there is a hint of a double-tracked vocal on the line "needs the
sun and rain" on
My Aim Is True.
It should also be noted that the
Live
Stiffs CD runs at a slightly
slower speed than the
Live Stiffs
LP. (Reports of a fourth
mix on the UK compilation
The Love
Songs Of Burt Bacharach are
incorrect. That CD uses the
Live
Stiffs
mix.)
MIRACLE MAN (Live, Leicester,
Oct. 22, 1977)
[Live
Stiffs album by various
artists]
Unlike "I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself" from the same album,
this has yet to appear on a Costello album. While traditionally
identified as from Leicester, the officially released track sounds very
different from the raw recording of the concert, which circulates in
excellent quality. If the performance is correctly identified, then the
song must have gone through extensive postproduction, including a
complete re-recording of Elvis' vocal and some instrumental overdubs.
It is also possible
Live Stiffs
is a composite of multiple performances or from another performance
entirely.
WELCOME TO THE WORKING WEEK
(Pathway
Studios Demo) (Alternate Mix)
[Rock And Roll Music album]
An alternate mix of this track with narrower stereo separation was
released in May 2007 on the compilation
Rock And Roll Music as a preview of
the deluxe
My Aim Is True, to
be released four months later.
NOT
ON THE REISSUES (UNRELEASED & UNRECORDED)
Flip City studio recordings, 1974-1975
|
BASEBALL HEROES
RADIO SOUL
EXILES ROAD
Flip City's first studio recordings were made at the BBC's
Maida Vale
Studios in the summer of 1974. All are unreleased Costello
originals. The Flip City
website
notes that "Baseball Heroes" "later became, via about three re-writes,
'Miracle Man,'" but it should be stressed that all traces of "Baseball
Heroes" were gone by the time "Miracle Man" was recorded for My Aim Is True.
(An audience recording of Flip City performing "Miracle Man" in concert
in 1975 provides the missing link.) "Radio Soul" is an early version of
"Radio, Radio," with Elvis exhibiting a more positive attitude toward
the medium. This "Radio Soul" has a noticeably different arrangement —
Costello biographer Graeme
Thomson describes it as having "a laid-back, good-time, West-Coast
feel" — from Flip City's later re-recordings. "Exiles Road" would also
be re-recorded by Flip City. This is the slower version.
RADIO SOUL
PAY IT BACK
The second Flip City session in early 1975 at Hope &
Anchor
Studios in Islington is the source of the officially released
"Imagination (Is A Powerful Deceiver)." (Two similar alternate takes
can be found on bootlegs.) "Radio Soul" was also re-recorded in a
faster arrangement. Two takes — one without background vocals and one
with — apparently from this session have appeared on bootlegs since the
1970s. An alternate mix circulates of the version with background
vocals, lacking the scream after the line "it really really hurts."
"Pay It Back" is closer to the My Aim
Is True version than might be expected, but it has a few lyric
variations and improbable saxophone accompaniment.
THIRD RATE ROMANCE
KNOCKIN' ON HEAVEN'S DOOR
PACKIN' UP
PLEASE MISTER, DON'T STOP
THE BAND
EXILES ROAD
WRECK ON THE
SLIDE
ON THE ROAD
YOU WIN AGAIN
SWEET REVIVAL
Flip City's third recording session — again in 1975
at Hope
& Anchor Studios — added covers to their studio repertoire in a bid
to be more representative of their live set. Of the two versions of
Russell
Smith's "Third Rate Romance" available, the one without
piano is probably the version from this session. "Knockin' On Heaven's
Door"
has Elvis singing the revised lyrics from Bob Dylan's Before The Flood
live album rather than his original studio recording. Two versions of
Chris Kenner's "Packin' Up" are available — one without background
vocals (and including a couple of false starts) and one with. "You Win
Again" is based on the Grateful Dead's version of the Hank Williams
song. "Exiles Road" is a faster version of the Costello original
attempted at Flip City's first session. "Please Mister, Don't Stop The
Band," "Wreck On The Slide," and "Sweet Revival" are unreleased
Costello originals as well, although "Wreck On The Slide" includes one
line later used in "Welcome To The Working Week." "On The Road" was
written and sung
by Flip City guitarist Steve Hazlehurst. There are conflicting reports
about its recording date: The Flip City
website
describes it as part of this session, while Costello biographer Graeme
Thomson has it as part of Flip City's first session at Maida Vale.
THIRD RATE ROMANCE
LIVING IN PARADISE
Flip
City returned to Hope & Anchor Studios later in 1975 to re-record
"Third Rate Romance" at the invitation of Dave Robinson, who hoped to
release it on a record label he did not yet have. He would eventually
co-found Stiff Records, but that was after plans to release "Third Rate
Romance" had been abandoned. The version of "Third Rate Romance"
recorded at this session is probably the one with piano. "Living In
Paradise," similar to the My
Aim Is True
outtake but with a few lyric variations, has been tentatively placed
here, but it is unclear when it was recorded. The Flip City
website strangely does not mention it at all. |
RADIO SWEETHEART (DEMO)
LIVING IN PARADISE (DEMO)
RADIO SOUL (DEMO)
Apparently
some collectors have these, but I have never
heard them. Reportedly similar in sound and recording date to the
Honky
Tonk demos from
late 1975 or early 1976, they are described in Richard Groothuizen and
Kees den Heyer's book
Going Through
The Motions (Elvis Costello - 1982/1985) as
coming from a 15-song demo tape which also included the six familiar
Honky Tonk
demos and six
other unidentified songs.
I CAN'T TURN IT OFF
JUST LIKE A JUKEBOX
Elvis introduced these songs in concert in 2007 as unreleased
songs written in 1975. It is unknown whether recordings of either song
from that time exist. "I Can't Turn It Off" includes some lyrics later
used in "Watch Your Step" and one line ("young girl rehearses all her
blackmail faces") similar to a line in the much later "Sulky Girl"
("sulky girl, I saw you practising your blackmail faces"). "Just Like A
Jukebox" includes lyrics recycled in "From A Whisper To A Scream."
ADDITIONAL
NOTES
Although not treated as a bonus track above, "Watching The Detectives"
was not part of the original
My Aim
Is True LP. The non-album UK single was added to the 1978 US
release and has appeared on most CDs since 1993, including the
Ryko,
Rhino, and Hip-O CDs.
"Mystery Dance" on
disc 1 of the Rhino and Hip-O CDs ends with a fadeout, as it
did
on the original LP. The Ryko version and the
Girls + £
÷ Girls = $ &
Girls compilation favor a
slight variation which ends with a
cold stop.
Mono mixes of both "Alison" and "Watching The Detectives" were released
as promo-only singles. An edited version of "Watching The Detectives"
omitting the final verse was available on some promos and the 1985
"Less Than Zero" 12-inch single.
After the Ryko CD but before the Rhino and Hip-O CDs, a "20th
anniversary edition" of
My Aim Is True
was considered in 1997. Elvis' remarks to interviewer Simon Grigg the
following year suggest it would have included material similar to disc
1 of the Hip-O set:
"I came very close to releasing an
album and a half — or at least a good album's worth — of
material that
came prior to My Aim Is True
last year. And then I thought better of it, these being a bunch of
tapes
which I thought had been lost but came to light unexpectedly. I'm in
two
minds as to the quality of it. Some of it is incredibly precocious. I'm
talking about stuff that goes right back to 1977 — and even 1975
— so
whether or not anyone would be interested in it, I don't know. What I
feel about it changes. I nearly released it, but the time wasn't right.
This has never been bootlegged as it has been sitting in cupboards and
not been seen by anybody until very, very recently. Some of it goes
right up to crossing over with stuff which was released on my reissues.
But some things which I noted as being missing — like stuff
recorded at
the time of 'Watching The Detectives' — has come to light too."
(The
full interview can be found in Beyond
Belief #18/19.)
In 2004, Stiff Records co-founder Dave Robinson told
MOJO magazine of some early
Costello
recordings: "I had about 36 of his songs. I recorded him one evening
after a gig. I merely said to him, 'Have you got any songs?' —
after
which I didn't get sleep for about a day and a half. I eventually sent
them to him for his birthday and they became his first five or six
records." It is unclear how much of this material is already available.
At the very least, it likely includes the familiar Flip City
recordings, most of which were recorded at Robinson's studio. The part
about "his first five or six records" is almost certainly an
exaggeration, although it could indicate that the tapes included some
of
the early songs later recorded as
Get Happy!! B-sides or on
Trust.
