Steve Nieve
For The First Time In America
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Steve Nieve
For The First Time In America
Warner Bros., 1996
RiYL: Burt Bacharach, Talking Heads, Bruce Springsteen |
In May of 1996, they played five gigs in five American cities to promote the release of the final Elvis Costello & The Attractions album All This Useless Beauty. Later that same year, Warner Brothers issued a limited edition five-CD box set containing highlights of this tour, Costello & Nieve: For the First Time in America.
The set contains old Costello favorites like "The Long Honeymoon" and "The Angels Wanna Wear My Red Shoes," as well as newer songs like "Why Can't A Man Stand Alone" and "All The Rage." But the pair also do some great covers like the Bacharach/David composition "I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself" and the Grateful Dead's "Ship Of Fools."
What makes the set so great, though, is the new interpretations of the older material. "Temptation," from 1980's Get Happy, is changed from a manic, fast-paced Motown number to a slow ballad, highlighting the interesting lyrics about "a famous singer" (Bruce Springsteen) that Costello saw perform in 1978 in Nashville.
Costello also proves himself to be a great storyteller. During his performance of "Little Atoms" in Boston, he tells the amusing tale of an interview he had with a "severe-looking" German who accused him of "trying to destroy pop music as Wagner destroyed symphonic music." In this way, we also learn of Costello's inspiration for certain songs.
Before "All This Useless Beauty," he explains that the song was prompted by a visit to an Italian museum where he saw a woman admiring a picture of "classical antiquity" and then looking down at "her late twentieth-century lover" and thinking "Where did I go wrong?"
Other highlights of this box set include the only available live rendition of "My Dark Life," the haunting song Costello contributed to the X-Files album, and a fantastic version of "Alison" that mixes in "Living A Little, Laughing A Little," "Tracks of My Tears," "Tears Of A Clown," "No More Tearstained Make-Up," and "Clowntime Is Over."
For the First Time in America is a bit difficult to get, due to its limited release. But if you see it, buy it. You won't be disappointed.
BRADLEY SMITH |