| dbo:abstract
|
- Almost Blue is the sixth studio album by English singer-songwriter Elvis Costello, and his fifth with the Attractions—keyboardist Steve Nieve, bassist Bruce Thomas and drummer Pete Thomas (no relation). It was recorded in May 1981 at CBS Studio A in Nashville, Tennessee, and released in October 1981 through F-Beat Records in the United Kingdom and Columbia Records in the United States. A departure from Costello's previous works, it is a covers album composed entirely of country music songs, including works written by Hank Williams, Merle Haggard, George Jones and Gram Parsons. Having already experimented with country during his career, the project originated with Costello's desire to record a collection of covers after Get Happy!! (1980) and Trust (1981) commercially underperformed following Armed Forces (1979). Produced by Billy Sherrill, the recording sessions were marked by a fraught atmosphere, including resistance from Sherrill himself. The Doobie Brothers member John McFee contributed pedal steel as a way to add an authentic country sound. The album's songs are relatively straightforward renditions of their original counterparts, although Costello based some numbers off of other covers rather than the originals. His poor health during recording and troubled personal life, including his failing marriage and alcoholism, reflected in the song choices. All of the tracks express a "blue" state of mind, which is reflected in the cover artwork, an homage to Kenny Burrell's Midnight Blue (1963). The lead single, a cover of Jones's "Good Year for the Roses", received heavy airplay and peaked at number six in the UK, while the second, a cover of Don Gibson's "Sweet Dreams", reached number 42. Upon release, Almost Blue reached number seven in the UK and number 50 in the US due to a lack of promotion. It received mixed reviews from music critics, who were divided on the vocal performances and debated on Costello's success as a country singer. It has continued to receive mixed reactions in later decades from critics and Costello's biographers and has placed low on lists ranking the artist's albums. Nevertheless, Rolling Stone argued in 2016 that the album predicted numerous unexpected musical excursions Costello took later in his career. It has been reissued multiple times with bonus tracks and extensive liner notes written by Costello himself. (en)
- Almost Blue (1981) est un album d'Elvis Costello and the Attractions. Il contient exclusivement des reprises de chansons country. Il portait à l'origine une étiquette affichant : « WARNING : This album contains country & western music and may cause offence to narrow minded listeners. »En français : « ATTENTION : Cet album contient de la musique country & western et pourrait offenser les étroits d'esprit. » "Almost Blue" est également une chanson de son album Imperial Bedroom de 1982. (fr)
- オールモスト・ブルー(Almost Blue)は、1981年発表のエルヴィス・コステロ&のアルバム。全英7位を記録した。 (ja)
- Almost Blue è un album discografico di Elvis Costello & The Attractions pubblicato nell'ottobre 1981. (it)
|
| dbo:thumbnail
| |
| dbo:wikiPageExternalLink
| |
| dbo:wikiPageID
| |
| dbo:wikiPageLength
|
- 59866 (xsd:nonNegativeInteger)
|
| dbo:wikiPageRevisionID
| |
| dbo:wikiPageWikiLink
| |
| dbp:accessDate
| |
| dbp:align
| |
| dbp:alt
|
- The word "blue" in giant blue letters on top of a man covering his face with his hand. (en)
|
| dbp:artist
|
- Elvis Costello (en)
- Elvis Costello and the Attractions (en)
|
| dbp:award
| |
| dbp:certyear
| |
| dbp:cover
|
- Almost Blue - Elvis Costello and the Attractions.jpg (en)
|
| dbp:genre
| |
| dbp:id
| |
| dbp:label
| |
| dbp:name
| |
| dbp:nextTitle
| |
| dbp:nextYear
| |
| dbp:prevTitle
| |
| dbp:prevYear
| |
| dbp:producer
| |
| dbp:quote
|
- I went there in a very depressed frame of mind anyway. I had this sad feeling, I dunno why, it wasn't anything specific in my life, I'd just wound myself up to it. [...] Looking back now, I can't imagine how I was so miserable sounding. It was a genuine feeling, so I never accepted the criticisms that the singing wasn't (en)
- Almost Blue is, like its title, disturbing and depressing; it breathes in and out the feeling of attending the funeral of a casual acquaintance. Worse, [because] Costello has invaded the trusting soul of country music and made a mean-spirited mess of it, I don't expect him to have shame about this; I just want him to go home. (en)
- I was completely obsessed with country music at the time, although I hardly play country records now. I've exhausted that love, though I still have my personal favourites. [...] I listen to [Almost Blue] now and think 'God! I was never this depressed, was I?' It is a very depressing sounding record. (en)
- Nashville didn't do a single thing to promote it. I've heard vague reports that it got played on a couple of obscure country stations, but I guess they thought it was too weird, that an English group at all would do that, let alone an English "new waver." Country and western stations, they probably think I'm a punk still... (en)
|
| dbp:recorded
|
- 0001-05-29 (xsd:gMonthDay)
|
| dbp:region
| |
| dbp:relyear
| |
| dbp:rev
|
- dbr:AllMusic
- Chicago Tribune (en)
- Rolling Stone (en)
- The Village Voice (en)
- Blender (en)
- Encyclopedia of Popular Music (en)
- Entertainment Weekly (en)
- Mojo (en)
- Q (en)
- Record Mirror (en)
- Spin (en)
- The Rolling Stone Album Guide (en)
- Uncut (en)
- Times Colonist (en)
|
| dbp:rev4score
| |
| dbp:rev5score
| |
| dbp:source
|
- —Boo Browning, The Washington Post, 1981 (en)
- —Elvis Costello, NME, 1982 (en)
- —Elvis Costello, The Face, 1983 (en)
|
| dbp:studio
| |
| dbp:style
| |
| dbp:subtitle
|
- Retrospective reviews (en)
- Initial reviews (en)
|
| dbp:title
| |
| dbp:type
| |
| dbp:width
| |
| dbp:wikiPageUsesTemplate
| |
| dcterms:subject
| |
| gold:hypernym
| |
| rdf:type
| |
| rdfs:comment
|
- Almost Blue (1981) est un album d'Elvis Costello and the Attractions. Il contient exclusivement des reprises de chansons country. Il portait à l'origine une étiquette affichant : « WARNING : This album contains country & western music and may cause offence to narrow minded listeners. »En français : « ATTENTION : Cet album contient de la musique country & western et pourrait offenser les étroits d'esprit. » "Almost Blue" est également une chanson de son album Imperial Bedroom de 1982. (fr)
- オールモスト・ブルー(Almost Blue)は、1981年発表のエルヴィス・コステロ&のアルバム。全英7位を記録した。 (ja)
- Almost Blue è un album discografico di Elvis Costello & The Attractions pubblicato nell'ottobre 1981. (it)
- Almost Blue is the sixth studio album by English singer-songwriter Elvis Costello, and his fifth with the Attractions—keyboardist Steve Nieve, bassist Bruce Thomas and drummer Pete Thomas (no relation). It was recorded in May 1981 at CBS Studio A in Nashville, Tennessee, and released in October 1981 through F-Beat Records in the United Kingdom and Columbia Records in the United States. A departure from Costello's previous works, it is a covers album composed entirely of country music songs, including works written by Hank Williams, Merle Haggard, George Jones and Gram Parsons. Having already experimented with country during his career, the project originated with Costello's desire to record a collection of covers after Get Happy!! (1980) and Trust (1981) commercially underperformed followi (en)
|
| rdfs:label
|
- Almost Blue (en)
- Almost Blue (album) (it)
- Almost Blue (album) (fr)
- オールモスト・ブルー (ja)
- Almost Blue (ko)
|
| owl:sameAs
| |
| prov:wasDerivedFrom
| |
| foaf:depiction
| |
| foaf:isPrimaryTopicOf
| |
| is dbo:album
of | |
| is dbo:wikiPageWikiLink
of | |
| is dbp:album
of | |
| is dbp:nextTitle
of | |
| is dbp:prevTitle
of | |
| is dbp:title
of | |
| is foaf:primaryTopic
of | |
