Name: The Very Best of Elvis Costello and the Attractions
Brand: Ryko Distribution
SKU: 51874
Availability: OutOfStock

The Very Best of Elvis Costello and the Attractions

Rating

Album: The Very Best of Elvis Costello and the Attractions
#	Song Title	Time
1)	Alison
2)	Watching the Detectives
3)	(I Don't Want to Go To) Chelsea
4)	Pump It Up
5)	Radio, Radio
6)	(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding?
7)	Oliver's Army
8)	Accidents Will Happen
9)	I Can't Stand Up for Falling Down
10)	New Amsterdam
11)	High Fidelity
12)	Clubland
13)	Watch Your Step
14)	Good Year for the Roses
15)	Beyond Belief
16)	Man Out of Time
17)	Everyday I Write the Book
18)	Shipbuilding
19)	Love Field
20)	Brilliant Mistake
21)	Indoor Fireworks
22)	I Want You

Album: The Very Best of Elvis Costello and the Attractions
#	Song Title	Time
1)	Alison
2)	Watching the Detectives
3)	(I Don't Want to Go To) Chelsea
4)	Pump It Up
5)	Radio, Radio
6)	(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding?
7)	Oliver's Army
8)	Accidents Will Happen
9)	I Can't Stand Up for Falling Down
10)	New Amsterdam
11)	High Fidelity
12)	Clubland
13)	Watch Your Step
14)	Good Year for the Roses
15)	Beyond Belief
16)	Man Out of Time
17)	Everyday I Write the Book
18)	Shipbuilding
19)	Love Field
20)	Brilliant Mistake
21)	Indoor Fireworks
22)	I Want You

Performer Notes

Full title: The Very Best Of Elvis Costello & The Attractions (1977-86).
Producers include: Nick Lowe, Billy Sherrill, Geoff Emerick, Clive Langer, Alan Winstanley.
Personnel: Elvis Costello (vocals, guitar).
This definitive collection offers the most penetrating single-disc overview available of Elvis Costello's work with the Attractions. Costello's early albums changed the face of pop music by harnessing punk's energy to a leaner, more incisive aesthetic that included pop hooks, virtually inventing new wave in the process. While the Attractions didn't appear until Costello's second album, his debut's moving, unsentimental ballad "Alison" nevertheless remains one of his most loved songs. The sound tightened up when the Attractions appeared, as evidenced by the angular, reggae-influenced "(I Don't Want to Go To) Chelsea" and the anthem of the disillusioned "Pump It Up." Costello moved further afield in the following years, from the lush, almost baroque pop of Armed Forces' "Accidents Will Happen" to the heartbreaking ballad "Good Year for the Roses" from his country album Almost Blue. True to Costello's jittery, neurotic image, things close out on an obsessive note with "I Want You," an unsettling tale of uncontrolled desire. The depth of Costello's oeuvre is too vast to be captured on one disc, but this one comes mighty close.

Professional Reviews

Q (12/94, p.158) - 5 Stars - Indispensable - "...a filler-free disc that includes all the hit singles, a selection of near-misses and other terrific tracks by common consent..."