Almost Blue (studio album) by Elvis Costello And The Attractions

From indieshins 02/28/2018 07:35

Surprisingly good. As someone who doesn't typically listen to country music, this actually introduced me to a few artists that I quite like - George Jones, who did the most famous verison of Good Year for the Roses outside of the one here, and Gram Parsons, whose original version of I'm Your Toy is the superior one. The other tracks are really great too, with some cool performances. Overall, it's great as a document of some of Elvis' influences, and is also deeply felt in its execution, as he was going through a divorce and a period of intense hedonism and drug use at the time.

Different sound and direction for Costello on this album. I liked it!

Almost blue, is Elvis Costello's country covers album. It certainly fun to listen to, but it doesn't sound very authentic. It sounds like what it is, a bunch of English guys playing American country songs. Best of the bunch is, good year for the roses, a top ten U.K. hit in 1981. Other standouts are the Gram Parsons tracks, I'm your toy, and, how much I lied. Sweet dreams, is beautiful, as is, too far gone. Brown to blue, and, success, though, are not so good, and they're prime examples of a group of musicians being completely out of their depth. The problem as I said is it's just not real enough, doesn't sound sincere enough, you can tell that Costello is not living these songs. Five years down the line Costello would release, king of America, another country/folk record of all originals this time, and they sound a lot more real than the stuff on here. So-so.

Elvis goes country! The record highlights his versatility as a musician - that he's so much more than the angry young man. And "Good Year for the Roses" is one of the best things he ever did.

From Mdemauri 08/11/2014 19:18

Elvis's "country" album. A nice covers albums that tends to be written off by some. It is continues a string of solid albums that didn't end until Punch The Clock.