Track Listing

1. Alison - Elvis Costello, Elvis Costello & the Attractions
2. Watching the Detectives - Elvis Costello, Elvis Costello & the Attractions
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 - Elvis Costello, Elvis Costello & the Attractions
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 - Elvis Costello, Elvis Costello & the Attractions
21. Indoor Fireworks - Elvis Costello, Elvis Costello & the Attractions
22. I Want You - Elvis Costello, Elvis Costello & the Attractions

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #31428 in Music
• Released on: 1994-10-25
• Number of discs: 1

Album Description
The Greatest Hits 1977-1986 spans classic tracks from Elvis Costello & The Attractions body of work, from the debut album ‘My Aim Is True’, classics such as ‘This Years Model’ and ‘Armed Forces’, right through to ‘King Of America’ and ‘Blood And Chocolate’. Featuring on this 22 track collection are 10 UK Top 40 singles including ‘Oliver’s Army’, ‘I Can’t Stand Up For Falling Down’, ‘Good Year For The Roses’, ‘Watching The Detectives, and ‘(I Don’t Want To Go To) Chelsea’, in addition to the classics ‘Pump It Up’ and ‘Everyday I Write the Book’. This compilation is classic Elvis Costello featuring ‘the’ tracks that really matter from the era, highlighting Elvis as one of the most seminal and relevant contemporary artists of his generation.

Amazon.com
In 1977, Elvis burst out of the gate with a series of poison pen letters set to music. It was wordy, angry, and as catchy as a cold. And the man was prolific; he kept writing and recording like a man possessed, bringing forth a stream of great songs that showed not only an encyclopedic knowledge of music, but also a passion for it. From "Alison" to "Everyday I Write the Book" it was almost impossible to fault what he was doing, and even harder to select a few songs as better than the others. This best-of, which cuts off in 1986 with the Blood and Chocolate album, attempts that impossibility, and does a very good job of it. As good an introduction as there'll ever be. --Chris Nickson

From the Label
The Elvis Costello album to have if you can only have one! Jam-packed with twenty two of the master's best loved songs, hand-picked by the artist himself. Drawing from every album from MY AIM IS TRUE to BLOOD & CHOCOLATE, this set features not only the big hits that we couldn't possibly leave out ("Watching the Detectives," "Alison," "What's So Funny About Peace, Love & Understanding" and the rest); but essential, couldn't-be-missed album tracks like "I Want You," "Shipbuilding," and "Man Out of Time." The most thorough single-CD Costello collection available.

A staggering eleven albums were made in the first nine years of Costello's career, beginning with MY AIM IS TRUE in 1978. Most of them featured the Attractions, who've been widely hailed as one of the greatest rock combos ever, able to absorb pop, soul and country. Costello's songwriting made use of all that and more, starting with the stripped-down songwriting of MY AIM IS TRUE, moving through the blazing punk outbursts of THIS YEAR'S MODEL and ARMED FORCES, taking a soulful turn on GET HAPPY!!, hitting Nashville on ALMOST BLUE, exploring more ornate song structures on TRUST and IMPERIAL BEDROOM, then turning to glossier pop on PUNCH THE CLOCK and GOODBYE CRUEL WORLD, then revisiting country and punk with new perspectives on KING OF AMERICA, and BLOOD AND CHOCOLATE. In their new expanded Rykodisc editions, the albums in this extraordinary catalogue cumulatively contain nearly 200 tracks, of which Costello personally hand-picked 22 of the greatest for THE VERY BEST OF ELVIS COSTELLO AND THE ATTRACTIONS.

Elvis & The Attractions (Steve Nieve on keyboards, Bruce Thomas on bass, and Pete Thomas on drums) reunited in 1994 for BRUTAL YOUTH, their first album together in eight years. On their summer tour of '94, the band played songs which may be found on THE VERY BEST OF..., re-acquainting audiences all over the world with such timeless classics as "Alison," "Watching the Detectives," "Radio, Radio," "Clubland" and "Everyday I Write the Book."

Customer Reviews

A welcome introduction to Elvis
So I'm listening to the radio station at work, and "Watching the Detectives" comes on. Now, Elvis Costello had never made a big impression on me -- he was always off in the periphery of my attention, being smarmy and intellectual and lightweight (perceptions I've since abandoned). At the end of the second verse I hear the lines "I don't know how much more of this I can take/She's filing her nails while they're dragging the lake". And the hair stands up on the back of my neck. And I get a chill down my spine. And then at the end of the song, when he sings "Even if it took a miracle to get you to stay/It only took my little finger to blow you away", I jumped out of my chair and did cartwheels down the hall (okay, not really... but I felt like it). And I thought to myself "This is what good pop-songwriting is supposed to be: catchy, upbeat melodies that, upon closer inspection, hide ridiculously morbid but lucid imagery". Reminds me a lot of the Police's best singles ("Every Breath You Take", "Roxanne", "I Can't Stand Losing You"). Mania hidden behind faux-reggae rhythms.

So I get the album for that one song, only to discover that it holds several more nuggets, some of which I am semi-familiar with but never paid close attention to. "Allison" literally hurts to listen to, it's so close to the bone. In the vocals to "I Don't Want to go to Chelsea" you can hear Elvis' snarled lip and clenched teeth. "Radio Radio" has great energy (and is fun to bang out on a guitar). "What's So Funny...?" brushes off the idea that a pop-song needs to rhyme, and is so good you think Elvis actually wrote it himself (kudos to Nick Lowe, who is the most recent addition to my list of favourite pop-bass players). "Everyday I Write the Book" gets caught up in crappy '80's-style production, but manages to be beautiful nonetheless.

So it's apparent that I'm an Elvis-newbie, and have spent much of my time with this album listening to only the popular singles. I admit it. And why not? They're all great songs. That's what a greatest hits album is for: a quick introduction to an artist's work, which should eventually lead to an immersion in their whole catalogue. Anyway, what I've found so far is pretty damn good. And I should mention that the Attractions were a great band, off of which thousands of derivatives were spawned in the eighties.

Quite possibly the best songwriter of the entire rock era.
"The Very Best of Elvis Costello and the Attractions" contains some infuriating omissions--I particularly miss "No Action" and "The Angels Want to Wear My Red Shoes," not to mention "Almost Blue"--but this is probably as complete as a one-disc collection of Costello's best can be. Costello has written some of the best tunes of anyone in the entire rock era, and as a lyricist puts the lie to the considered opinions of Alan Jay Lerner, Sammy Cahn, etc., who insisted that all rock songwriters were illiterates. Songs such as "I Don't Want to Go to Chelsea," "Oliver's Army," "Radio Radio," "High Fidelity," "Alison" and "Every Day I Write the Book" are a treasure trove of incisive wit, cynicism and tenderness. Meanwhile, I understand there's also a two-volume "Very Best" that is probably the better buy, but this will more than do if your funds and time are limited.

Awesome Overview
Far and away, Elvis Costello will always be the best songwriter in modern music with songs that are as hooky musically as they are in their insightful lyrics. The man is the master of the written word in modern pop culture in my opinion and no set displays this better than this "Best of..." with the Attractions. Many of his highlights from the first half of his brilliant career is here, but you could argue that many of his finest 3-minute rock songs aren't on here.

As far as the highlights on the CD, choose your own. The set begins with the passionate yet melancholy "Allison" and it's lyrics of longing. Sexual frustration really comes into play with "Watching the Detectives". Also the new wave rock of songs like cleaver "Accidents Will Happen" and party jam "Pump It Up". And talk about your soul influences, listen to "Everyday I Write the Book". While mostly it's a cool arrangement of guitar, bass, drums and keyboards, the background singers and Elvis's moans of "Ohh..Ohhh" sound like something straight out of the seventies. You also can't argue with the great soft country affect on "Good Year For The Roses". The maturing vocals and melodic brilliance of this mournfully nice piece make it a winner and proof of Elvis branching out. Also symphonic rock can be found on "New Amsterdam". Simple and smart, but the best pieces are. You really find the light crooner Costello yearning out on acoustic rock with heart like "Indoor Fireworks" and the hopelessly loving "I Want You". "I Want You" is full circle to the man that wanted his wife to stop "Watching The Detectives". It has some nice guitar work in it and is very adult.

Is there anything he can't do? This set shows off many shades of Costello and represents some of the most intelligent and undernoticed music in the eighties and late seventies. The tracks are honestly candid or just sweet. Whether it is the new wave rock of tracks like "(I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea", the great experiments like "...Roses" or the just or cool lighter rock like "Brilliant Mistake", there is every kind of Elvis on here to adore. But after this don't be surprised if you want to get all the albums. Might I suggest the 3 first masterpiece albums and the rare live club gig disc that can be found on the box set "2 1/2 Years", but only after this album and maybe the Warner's set "Extreme Honey".