Elvis: The Warner Years.

He managed to crank out 6 albums of unnerving diversity (even for his fans) during his tenure at the home of Bugs Bunny. 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.

First, in response to the reviewer below me, I understand your underwhelmed reaction to Extreme Honey at first listen; Costello's later work takes a certain amount of time to sink in, unlike his more immediate Rykodisc/Demon work. But it IS remarkably impressive. Just more subtle. Give it some time.

Anyway, Extreme Honey is a far better retrospective of the era it covers than the Rykodisc compilation The Very Best Of Elvis Costello I reviewed elsewhere. Covering most of the finest moments from Costello's recording career from 1989 to 1997, it features comprehensive liner notes where the prior disc had none, as well as sporting an intelligent running order which sets songs in contrast with one another.

This last point is especially appreciated, as the juxtaposition of songs from the different LPs here really works well. I never liked "Kinder Murder," for example, until it came after "The Other Side Of Summer": the perfect snarling antidote to all that summer-of-love production. And strangely enough, the spooky "The Birds Will Still Be Singing" (from The Juliet Letters, of course) SHOULD have stuck out like a trout wedged into a can of sardines, but slots in beautifully between the spooky macho-deflation of "Poor Fractured Atlas" and the spooky travelogue of "London's Brilliant Parade." (Alright, "haunting" is a better word, but I wanted to use "spooky" three times in a row. Wouldn't you?)

So the song selection is mostly pretty fine, but (as always) there are a few gripes. Mainly, that they really misrepresented All This Useless Beauty by including only the three mopey ballads, and not say, "You Bowed Down." In fact, Elvis MENTIONS this in his liner notes, saying that he knows that people would've liked that song (along with "God's Comic" and "Rocking Horse Road," although I was never spun about by that last one) to be here, but "there just wasn't space." Pish-posh! "Hurry Down Doomsday" did NOT need to be here. Everything else arguably did, but that one not only isn't great, it DETRACTS from the CD, just making you go "ugh!" (Yes, just "ugh!" Not "bleaggh" or "yak!" but "ugh!" Strange how that works out, isn't it?).

Other than that, I can't really complain. I mean sure, "God's Comic" and "How To Be Dumb" and "You Tripped At Every Step" aren't here, but - to quote Mick Jones of The Clash - I'm not down, no I'm not down! And also, what IS here, as bait to the hardcore fans, is pretty darn great: you get a new song, the not-bad experiment of "The Bridge I Burned" (I love it when he sings, but I just try to ignore the Portishead-style rapping, for his sake and mine), and you get quite possibly the best song of his career in "My Dark Life," which was thrown away on the Songs In The Key Of X CD.

Okay, maybe not the BEST song of his career (don't you hate constant overuse of hyperbole? It makes it impossible to trust fan reviews), but certainly an absolute highlight of the WB years, and a collaboration with everyone's favorite shiny-domed soundsmith, Brian Eno. Long. Creepy. About the fall of the Soviet Union. What else could you want?

You want what?

Hey dude, that's illegal!

For those who knew and loved Elvis C. in the early years with the Attractions, this CD will probably disappoint. It's altogether too dark and moody, but it does show the range and diversity of EC. There are some good rockers reminiscent of the Attraction years: 13 Steps Lead Down, Veronica, The other Side of Summer, and Kinder Murder. It's good for those who want a more complete collection without making the investment in the more recent CDs. If this is the "best" of the Warner Bros. years, the CDs must ahve been largely forgetable. For my money, I'm sticking by all the stuff he did with the Attractions--you still can't beat My Aim is True, Armed Forces, and Get Happy--Classic Elvis!

I've written tons of reviews on amazon, but not a one has gotten 5 stars. Except this one. I know it's not a true album, but there are so many good songs on this record, it's ridiculous. Every time I turn around, I find a new favorite. Right now, it's "Couldn't Call It Unexpected #4", but every song on this record is amazing. From the deeply personal "Bridge I Burned" (you can almost hear him bleeding), to the happy-go-lucky melody and depressing lyrics of "The Other Side of Summer", to "Veronica" (which has a certain Beatle's name written all over it), to the mystery of "My Dark Life" to the shrug of the shoulders at relationships that is "All the Rage" to the deathbed wish of "The Birds Will Still Be Singing" to the noise of "13 Steps Lead Down". This record is a must for anyone who can appreciate inventive, clever, new, different, and eclectic songwriting. Costello is simply unparallelled in the late 20th century as a pop songwriter. (And if pop is this eclectic, what is "pop", anyway? And who cares?)

He managed to crank out 6 albums of unnerving diversity (even for his fans) during his tenure at the home of Bugs Bunny. 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. 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.