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Extreme Honey: The Very Best Of The Warner Bros. Years

Elvis Costello - Extreme Honey: The Very Best Of The Warner Bros. Years Audio CD

A fair review of the Elvis Costello "Extreme Honey: The Very Best Of The Warner Bros. Years" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Elvis Costello reviews here, or go back to the Elvis Costello tabs.

Band: Elvis Costello
Title: Extreme Honey: The Very Best Of The Warner Bros. Years
Rating:

Release Date: 2009-09-22
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Bridge I Burned 2: Veronica 3: Sulky Girl 4: So Like Candy 5: 13 Steps Lead Down 6: All This Useless Beauty 7: My Dark Life 8: Other Side of Summer 9: Kinder Murder 10: Deep Dark Truthful Mirror 11: Hurry Down Doomsday 12: Poor Fractured Atlas 13: Birds Will Still Be Singing 14: London's Brilliant Parade 15: Tramp the Dirt Down 16: Couldn't Call It Unexpected, No. 4 17: I Want to Vanish 18: All the Rage

Honeyfied, Extemely Honified.
From the angry Elvis we all love of "Brutal Youth" to the chamber music experiments of "The Juliet Letters" to his pondering thoughtfulness of "All This Useless Beauty," Elvis took on so many tangents that I am sure his label could only scratch their collective heads and wonder (not to mention withhold "Kojak Variety" for five years). He managed to crank out 6 albums of unnerving diversity (even for his fans) during his tenure at the home of Bugs Bunny.

Since confounding our expectations has always been a hallmark of getting a new EC record, "Extreme Honey" is given the responsibility of collecting the better of those discs. It does so fairly well, and throws in a haunting new song, "The Bridge I Burned," which even features a semi-rapped part. The X-Files obscurity with Brian Eno, "My Dark Life," is better. In Eno's usual minimalist but spooky manner, "My Dark Life" is the kind of song you would have expected from the X-Files. That is said as a compliment.

"Extreme Honey" also provides proof that Elvis still has his moments of genius. "I Want To Vanish" is the obvious precursor to his collaborations with Burt Bacharach. "The Other Side Of Summer" has a deceptively cynical lyric riding a wave of Beach Boys harmony. "Veronica" and "So Like Candy" gave some spunk to a moribund Paul McCartney. "Hurry Down Doomsday" roars with all the weirdness that "The Birds Will Still be Singing" carried on the lopsided opposite of the scale. "Tramp The Dirt Down" is probably the angriest song Elvis has ever written, with one of the most gorgeous arrangements. And if you want the blood and guts Elvis, "13 Steps Lead Down" has all the snarling ferocity of his earliest work.

I won't bemoan the lack of a few personal favorites. I will say a wish a track or two from "Kojak Variety" had snuck in, though. What "Extreme Honey" does present us with is that, even in his third decade, Elvis Costello remains one of the premiere songwriters of our times. Worth the price if you don't already have the originals.
.

Awesome Elvis!
. Great tunes, the best, great collection of his work! Definite must have for the Costello fan.

Bittersweet reflections
The collection draws on the albums Spike, Mighty Like A Rose, The Juliet Letters, Brutal Youth and All This Useless Beauty.

This compilation from the WB years serves as a Best Of and contains some hit singles, although in this later part of Costello's career the hits were fewer and farther between.

The Bridge I Burned sounds a bit messy, but the next one, Veronica, is a tuneful classic that was Costello's first top 20 single in the USA. The track was co-written by Paul McCartney. Sulky Girl is one of Costello's story songs with tempo variation and gripping melodic parts, whilst So Like Candy is a slow ballad in the vein of his early classic Allison. The next one, 13 Steps Lead Down, is an uptempo rocker with a catchy chorus.

All This Useless Beauty is quite a serious masterpiece; this song was also covered by the UK folk legend June Tabor on her album Angel Tiger. The slow and tender ballad My Dark Life is followed by the lilting pop ditty The Other Side Of Summer like a happy ray of sunshine. A highlight of the album is Deep Dark Truthful Mirror; with its intricate piano rolls and poetic lyrics it would make a perfect country song.

Poor Fractured Atlas is a gentle poignant ballad with a lovely melody, whilst The Birds Will Still Be Singing is equally sad with a type of orchestral arrangement with prominent violins and viola. After London's Brilliant Parade, Tramp The Dirt Down continues the mournful mood in its varied instrumentation including bouzouki, uileann pipes, harmonium and glockenspiel. The album concludes with the melodic mid-tempo number All The Rage.

Although very worthy in its own right, Costello's style in the Warner Brothers years differed markedly from that of his early years. The music is more complex, less acerbic and not as immediately accessible. Repeated plays will, however, reveal the beauty of this music. Real rating: Four and a half stars.
.

Honeyfied. Extremely Honeyfied.

He managed to crank out 6 albums of unnerving diversity (even for his fans) during his tenure at the home of Bugs Bunny. Elvis: The Warner Years. From the angry Elvis we all love of "Brutal Youth" to the chamber music experiments of "The Juliet Letters" to his pondering thoughtfulness of "All This Useless Beauty," Elvis took on so many tangents that I am sure his label could only scratch their collective heads and wonder (not to mention withhold "Kojak Variety" for five years).

Since confounding our expectations has always been a hallmark of getting a new EC record, "Extreme Honey" is given the responsibility of collecting the better of those discs. It does so fairly well, and throws in a haunting new song, "The Bridge I Burned," which even features a semi-rapped part. The X-Files obscurity with Brian Eno, "My Dark Life," is better. In Eno's usual minimalist but spooky manner, "My Dark Life" is the kind of song you would have expected from the X-Files. That is said as a compliment.

"Extreme Honey" also provides proof that Elvis still has his moments of genius. "I Want To Vanish" is the obvious precursor to his collaborations with Burt Bacharach. "The Other Side Of Summer" has a deceptively cynical lyric riding a wave of Beach Boys harmony. "Veronica" and "So Like Candy" gave some spunk to a moribund Paul McCartney. "Hurry Down Doomsday" roars with all the weirdness that "The Birds Will Still be Singing" carried on the lopsided opposite of the scale. "Tramp The Dirt Down" is probably the angriest song Elvis has ever written, with one of the most gorgeous arrangements. And if you want the blood and guts Elvis, "13 Steps Lead Down" has all the snarling ferocity of his earliest work.

I won't bemoan the lack of a few personal favorites (Elvis does that for us in the liner notes). I will say a wish a track or two from "Kojak Variety" had snuck in, though. What "Extreme Honey" does present us with is that, even in his third decade, Elvis Costello remains one of the premiere songwriters of our times. Worth the price if you don't already have the originals.

The "Angry Young Man" gets mellow
There are those great years in The Attractions with his hard edge and biting lyrics that made you think will rocking to that incredible music. There are basically two careers musically that Elvis Costello has been a part of. Then things seemed to change as her grew older in the ninties and eighties, and while shades of his anger are present.

Solo hits like "Veronica" and "The Other Side Of Sumnmer" have an edge, but also a very clean and good pop sound. Of course, all of Elvis' songs have had a pop feel while rocking. Also, the fast and raw rock of "Hurry Down Doomsday" is a treat.

Then we get to the older more mature Elvis, displayed in tracks like "So Like Candy" (romantic and depressing), "My Dark Life" (the title speaks for itself) and the beatiful "The Brids Will Be Singing".

In all a stellar collection that displays many sides of the man and a great precrussor for his Burt Bacharach collabrations. "Extreme Hoeny" is an extremely needed CD to any collection.

You can see a complete list of all Elvis Costello discography, or go back to the Elvis Costello tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.