Elvis Costello

From indieshins 01/18/2022 22:18 | #279672

My last comment was a bit of an overstatement, but this man and his music still bring me joy beyond almost any other artist. His way with words and with melody perfectly fits my sensibility, and I'm forever grateful to the two different teachers who, when I was 15 and about to leave my five-week boarding school program, gave me a picture of Costello and told me I looked like him. He's still my favourite songwriter. He hasn't really reached the same level consistency as he had at the start of his career, but there's always at least a handful of songs I really like on subsequent projects. And his range is truly breathtaking: he's done classical music, he's done jazz, he's done country, he's done RnB, new wave, post-punk, reggae, bluegrass and folk, he's flirted with electronica, and he's even collaborated with legendary hip-hop group The Roots (though the resultant album was not, exactly, a hip-hop album). I can't even begin to explain how much this guy's work means to me!

I admired Costello for a long time due to his consistency in albums, song-writing, production and even blended musical styles.

From indieshins 02/18/2017 05:40 | #185878

Currently, my favourite songwriter and musician. A huge influence on me since I discovered him. I will say, I've gone through the man's albums at such a feverish pace that I haven't been able to fully take in a lot of them. Somehow that barely diminishes my understanding that he is a genius with a scarily consistent body of work across a 40 year career.

From buzzdainer 02/16/2016 03:30 | #159880

A fine songwriter and performer, with many solid tracks over a period of years.

An unbelievable body of work ( masterpieces ) !!

From Ottokar 07/30/2014 10:20 | #118105

I loved the first two or three albums when they came out. He lost me as a fan after that but had a great comeback more than ten years later with Spike / Mighty Like A Rose / Brutal Youth - those are still my favourite E.C. albums.

For reasons beyond me I just recently got into Elvis's work. The front end of his career is ridiculously consistent on quality. Have not dredged into the second half of his career yet but I imagine there is some decent stuff there to be had.

Great song writer. Very under-rated. Not just on BEA but most everywhere. Give him a chance. You won't regret it!

From junodog4 07/26/2012 15:26 | #47293

I put Elvis Costello on par with the Talking Heads. Both are creative geniuses. Both reigned in the late 70s and early 80s. Both produces an avalanche of quality work. Both are difficult to rank one album over another. Elvis Costello's first half-dozen albums are pop-music masterpieces.

I don't know which E.C. to rate. If you go by a body of work the score diminishes. If you look at his first decade he's easily in the league of greatest. Since? no. So I'll qualify it based on his best, his earliest work. Elvis is King.