Blood & Chocolate (studio album)
by Elvis Costello And The Attractions

Favorite Tracks:Honey Are You Straight Or Are You Blind?, Blue Chair, Battered Old Bird

From indieshins 04/19/2018 23:33 | #213238

This record is the second of a pair that Costello released in 1986, following the largely acoustic King of America. It was also the last album he would record with the Attractions until 1994's Brutal Youth. While I do prefer KoA, this album is still very strong, with some of the most furious performances of his career, and some of his very best songs. I Hope You're Happy Now, for example, is a catchy and bitingly funny song, with some buzzsaw keyboards from Steve Nieve that perfectly encapsulate the rough pop sound of the record. Elsewhere there is I Want You, one of the most addictively dark songs ever, and a highlight of Costello's career. The ballads are nice too - Home Is Anywhere You Hang Your Head, and Battered Old Bird in particular. This is an album I enjoy all the way through, and probably would rest quite comfortably in most people's top 10 Costello records.

For me, this doesn’t measure up to most of his other albums. Still worth a listen though.

Blood & chocolate, is one of Elvis Costello's most angriest records and one oh his heaviest. Opener, uncomplicated, is dirty and angry, and that's followed by, I hope you're happy now, one of the album's best tracks and inexplicably not the choice as first single. That went to the epic, Tokyo storm warning, an excellent track, but surely not single material. Elsewhere, standouts include, the brilliant, I want you, then there's, poor Napoleon, which is great, and, crimes of Paris, and, next time round, are also very good. Blue chair, is another excellent cut, but there are a few bits of filler in, honey, are you straight?;etc.,and, home is anywhere you hang your head. Costello wouldn't make another record for three years. The first phase of Elvis Costello's career was over, and, blood & chocolate, is a fine way to bring it to a close.

'I Want You' is a powerful reworking of Lennon's masterpiece and is every bit as expansive and immediate. It fits in well with the rest of the album.

From lightmyway 05/13/2012 21:58 | #42253

This album's loud sound contrasts nicely with King of America.