Elvis Costello “Live at the El Mocambo”

This is a recording of a live show from 1978 at the El Mocambo in Toronto. It says it’s a radio demo put out by Columbia– not for sale– though of course it was for sale somewhere. It’s a good live record– and this is around the time I saw him in Cleveland, so I like it for that. But like any live record you can’t listen to it too much– those little comments between songs burn in your brain and become annoying. I hadn’t listened to this in about 25 years but I still had them memorized. Elvis is obsessed with getting people off their asses. He was complaining about collegiate American audiences who were all sitting down. When I saw him, we had no choice– it was in a theater. If you tried to dance you’d get kicked out.

Elvis Costello “Get Happy!!”

1980. I could never really get excited about this one– and I still can’t. There are some good songs– and a LOT of songs– 20– but as a whole it feels distant. The sound, the production, sounds one step removed, and it feels emotionally like it’s coming from down a long hallway or from over a hill.