Elvis Costello: Artist's Choice

Going into a Starbucks can be a somewhat disorienting experience for someone like me who doesn't drink coffee. When the line is long and the machines are all churning out their hot, frothy brews, the air is thick with steam and caffeine and the potent, pungent aroma of java that is nothing like the "cup o' joe" you would find at a corner diner.

I would skip the experience altogether save for one thing: they have music.

They have tasty compilations that you can't easily find anywhere else. Like this one: the latest in Hear Music's "Artist's Choice" series wherein artists select "music that matters to (them)"...a brief glimpse into their personal influences and record collections if you will.

Costello's choices for this shimmering 18-track collection are eclectic (a man after my own heart) and delightfully surprising. He harkens back to the great Louis Armstrong ("Let's Do It (Let's Fall in Love)" and Muddy Waters ("I Love the Life I Live") and forward to 2004 with cuts from Rilo Kiley's cool disc More Adventurous ("Does He Love You?") and (wife) Diana Krall's smoky cover of Costello's own "Almost Blue" from the lovely The Girl in the Other Room.

Along the way he samples familiar cuts from wonderful artists like Aretha Franklin (the immortal "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man") and Joni Mitchell (the wistful "The Last Time I Saw Richard") and well as lesser known tracks from other artists (Paul Simon's "Peace Like a River" from his 1972 solo disc and "You Ain't Livin' Till You're Lovin'" a duet by the classic team of Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell.)

Clifford Brown, Fleetwood Mac (pre-Stevie and Lindsey with "Oh Well, Part 1"), The Band, Nick Lowe, Lucinda Williams, George Jones, Dusty Springfield, Joe Tex, and Randy Newman (the devastating "Real Emotional Girl") are all given shout-outs by Elvis along the way.

The disc closes with Freda ("Band of Gold") Payne's earnest Vietnam-era anti-war song, "Bring the Boys Home", because Costello feels it has a resonance to today's headlines.

This is a grand little collection and I'm glad I braved the coffee fumes to obtain it :-)

Old Friends...Live on Stage

Sometimes you really can't go home again. When Simon and Garfunkel made their surprise reunion at the Grammys a couple of years it didn't seem like that happy an occasion to me...the two of them looked uncomfortable (in the spotlight with each other) and time had diminished their voices the way time will always do (though, that said, they sounded fine.)

This 2-CD set is more of the same. The guys are in fine (if not glorious) voice and all of the old hits are dutifully trotted out (teaming with the Everly Brothers for a sprightly take on "Bye Bye Love" is a nice bonus) but I'm not sure what the point is (beyond the obvious financial considerations...Simon's last couple of albums didn't exactly burn up the charts and Garfunkel...well let's just not go there...) The 1982 reunion concert album..."The Concert in Central Park"...was more fun (though itself still not essential S&G listening) and their original recordings still exist in all of their youthful glory.

Still, if the fellas just needed a few more good pay days (from the concert tour that this album chronicles) , more power to them...maybe we'll see them together again in another couple of decades trotting out "Mrs. Robinson" for us bald and/or blue-haired baby boomers who will be ready to (soft) rock again.