EC #3 - All This Useless Beauty

And that brings us to 1996's All This Useless Beauty, which was recorded as Elvis Costello & The Attractions.

This is a pretty divisive album. People either love it or hate it. I fall in the love it category. In fact, it's probably my favorite late EC album. It's good from beginning to end and on the new rerelease, there are a ton of good bonus tracks and demos and shit.

This is also a clear example of something EC likes to do every so often and that is write songs with other people in mind. "You Bowed Down" sounds like a Byrds song and the reason for that is that he wrote it hoping that Roger McGuinn would record it. This album also features a couple tracks written with Aimee Mann. She recorded "The Other End of the Telescope" in her days with 'Til Tuesday and "World's Great Optimist" (which is in the bonus material for this album) saw light of day on one of her solo albums. Also included is the Johnny Cash rejected, "Complicated Shadows," and a song written to be in Sam Moore's key, "Why Can't a Man Stand Alone?".

There's a fair amount of variety on this album, but it tends more toward the pretty than the super pissed. I find it to be a very easy album to listen to and on this one, the bonus disc is essential. This is probably the best of the bonus discs in the series of rereleases.

Instead of just being demos and live cuts, the other songs ("That Day is Done" with the Fairfield Four, "Almost Ideal Eyes", and "What Do I Do Now?") are easily as good as anything that made the cut to be on the album. I rate this album very high and it would be an excellent entry point for the uninitiated who might prefer the pop to the punk.

Rating: 9