+ " (rock) music critics " are a corporation full of bitter pseudo-writers who fantasing about the Pulitzer Prize while writing on the last Limp Bizkits
I think that Sting or Neil Finn are better songwriters than Elvis Costello,and I don't even talk about their voice!But unfortunately for Sting he's handsome,he's millionaire+ he seems happy, bad case for rock music critics.
& for God's sake Prince has written The Glamorous Life!

TRON said:

to quote the man himself

if u dont know by now, the shock id brobably kill u

rdhull said:

he does an awsome pop life live

he wanted to do it as a cover and

princy wouldnt allow it

spooky girlfriend for the funk yo

elvis costello is the true

KING OF AMERICA

he is one of the greatest living musical resourses around

in my hum ble mo fo kin o pin i on




dont gotta bend the sentence

if i wanna end the sentence

jnoel said:

nothing more ironic then shellin out $100 to one of the most "allegedly" prolific artists around and getting

NOT MUCH

NO

NOT

MUCH AT ALL

IceNine said:

i really cant expand upon the matter better then the above statement !


sorta . . .


says it all



\/,\/,\/OO/\/\

IceNine said:[quote]Elvis Costello is consistently brilliant and I believe that his songwriting skills are far superior to Prince's...


Four things you didn't mention in Costello vs. Prince:

1). Elvis Costello hasn't released a decent album since 1986 ("Blood & Chocolate"). Prince has released at least three masterpieces, including "Sign OTT", which El could only dream about making.

2). Like Prince, Elvis Costello was on WB for a while (coincidentally AFTER he made his last great album). Like Prince he too fell out with WB. As a parting shot he recorded a bizarre version of "Pop Life", which Prince wouldn't let him release because it was TOO bizarre. Costello rewrote the song as "The Bridge I Burned" and released it.

3). Elvis Costello isn't anywhere near as talented as Prince. Nor as pretty. Nor as slim. And he can't dance.

4). Those new Elvis Costello reissues have already been out once, albeit as single discs with less bonus tracks.

nas3110 said:[quote]

IceNine said:

witness the ramblings of a true closet Elvis Costello fan


\/

0

0

/\/\
s

IceNine said:

Prince has severely miscalculated with the VAULT material.

I think his plan was to release it all eventually, after he is old and retired, or dead, to keep the $$$ coming in and create a legacy, and have the world listen in awe, saying, "he kept this stuff away!?!?"

Reality: the media/record label games, the gun shy public is unwilling to be burned again after buying percieved WEAK contractual obligation discs, his "cool" act having no power in this day and age, an awareness of how he goes after fans websites and the mistreatment of his problem filled NPGMC, the sheer weight of too much product and too little quality...

NOBODY beyond the people that visit this site care if he ever releases another damn thing. EVEN a box set of his very best vault stuff will not cause a ripple.

It's too bad; but then again: BE HONEST: as good as a lot of the vault stuff IS, IT SOUNDS DATED, a lot of it, so that hurts it too.

I'm not sure after finally getting a LIVE album, if I can get it up for any more Prince music. The Live album is kind of a book end fr me. Anyone else?

laurarichardson said:

You can bet I am. (Nicely said, IceNine )



And what would have happended to Prince if he had not listened to the music of James Brown, for example?

And for clarification: Am I not getting it right when someone doesn't like Costello for being white and nerdy, that this person at least has some racist attitudes?

Greetings

Anachronist

My whole life, I've only heard one E Costello song.A duet he did with Paul Mccartney, and I hated it.

nas3110 said:[quote]

IceNine said:

And if I hadn't listened to TRC, I would say the same for Prince (since 1995). Please listen to "When I Was Cruel", and decide again.


You don't want anybody seriously to comment on that, do you?


And why did I miss those superb Prince reissues that have been out with lots of bonus material right from the start?

Greetings

Anachronist

lovebird said:

this is a true pity

Anachronist said:

I don't care I have enough musical diversity from Dionne to Joint 2 Joint (wake me when Mr IQ will release something like this one)


You don't want anybody seriously to comment on that, do you?
you trip on the vast intellectual superiority of E Costello but you don't want to hear about P live performances? we're talking about pop music, not litterature, aren't we?


And why did I miss those superb Prince reissues that have been out with lots of bonus material right from the start?
so, when Michael Bolton will do the same thing (remastered releases with extra tracks)will you start a "Why I think that Michael Bolton is better than Prince" thread?

Greetings

Anachronist[/quote]
[This message was edited Mon Nov 18 8:17:09 PST 2002 by jnoel]

jnoel said:

I'm trying to wake you Elvis bashers since my first post on this thread, but you all must have taken an overdose of ignorance since you feel threatened by intellect.

joel said:

You're right, we aren't talking about 'litterature' for sure. But concerning Elvis's lyrics I bet some people like IceNine or Shausler would love to do that.

And please tell me, jnoel, where the h*** did I point out that I didn't "want to hear about P live performances"?!

I attended a show four weeks ago, and I never questioned Prince being the best live performer nowadays.

jnoel said:

The question was this:

What is better?

1. Reissues as single discs first, followed by the same reissues as double discs with vast bonus material, take Costello or Bowie for example

or

2. No reissues at all, e.g. Prince?

Greetings

Anachronist

"I'm trying to wake you Elvis bashers since my first post on this thread, but you all must have taken an overdose of ignorance since you feel threatened by intellect." thank you for the enlightenment,would you please orgnote me a list of books to read?
one last thing a good songwriter is not someone who fill his lyrics of litterary references
"The question was this:

What is better?

1. Reissues as single discs first, followed by the same reissues as double discs with vast bonus material, take Costello or Bowie for example

or

2. No reissues at all, e.g. Prince? " guess?

Anachronist said:

---
A young black man growing up in the sixties and early seventies could not be in a position to not hear James Brown.
If Prince missed James growing up he still would not have produced nerd rock. I think he would have just been a mellow soul singer.

No, you are not getting it right about my so-called racist attitude(LOL) It someone said that Laura is a black bookworm. I would agree because I am black and I am a bookworm. No offense would taken. I am sorry you are reading something racist into my Elvis comments but that nerd rock thing is a white thing.

As far as the same critics liking Prince and Elvis well we all make mistakes.

Anachronist said:

Any Prince reissues would come from Warner Brothers. WB owns the master tapes. Instead of putting a decent Prince box set they would rather spend time putting out a Elvis box that maybe 5,000 people will buy.

laurarichardson said:

I seriously suspect that more people purchase Elvis Costello records than Prince records at this point.

"When I Was Cruel" came in at number 20 on the charts... while "The Rainbow Children" made it to 108.

1) If the 2 disc Elvis Costello sets were like the new Stones 'greatest hits' set, and included an SACD second layer, that would be what record buyers deserve. As it is, these sets are obsolete even before they're produced. In a few years the dumb fans will be forced to buy the same damn albums yet AGAIN. This is just a money hoovering exercise, squeezing the last drop out of 1970s technology.

2) Imperial Bedroom was a masterpiece. I would love to hear that on SACD or some such format. I still think Chet Baker's version of Almost Blue is the definitive one though. That is the perfect marriage of singer and song.

3) Paul Simon writes better songs than EC AND Prince put together.

IceNine said:

Which one had the benefit of major label backing?

I've got some Costello - and yes, I think he is great, and by far a better lyricist than Prince. As for what his fans are getting, the two artists are playing very different games, so obviously the rules are going to differ. As to whether Costello is 'cooler' I suggest you read your One Nite Alone tour programme (if you bothered to shell out all that cash!).

So, Costello can write better lyrics than Prince, but can he sing as well as him (both in terms of range and beauty)?
Can he play any instrument as well as Prince does? Has he tried to break down conservative barriers of race and gender both through his music and the way he presents both it and hiself. Has he made an album as jaw-droppingly stunning as SOTT? Has he ever really challenged people in any way? How many of his songs have been covered in the last year or so? In years to come will people refer to him as an inspiration in terms of the way he conducted his career, the choices he made, the amount of great songs he wrote, the incredible live shows he put on, and the effect he had on the music industry both artistically and financially? And, at the end of the day, is Costello half as interesting, frustrating, amusing, and awe-inspiring as Prince?

Personally speaking I don't think so.

laurarichardson said:

I'm so sorry I didn't know that the term 'nerd' can only be applied to white people, whatever reason that may come from...

Anachronist said:

People who are painfully unaware of the kinds of things that Elvis Costello does will say things like that... I am just ignoring it...

I can promise you that Elvis Costello is a better technical musician than Prince, as far as reading and writing music goes. Elvis Costello can actually write chamber music and orchestral music as well, while Prince writes things like "Kamasutra" that are not very good at all.

EXAMPLE: "The Juliet Letters" by Elvis Costello with the Brodsky Quartet.

Elvis also writes music for movies/television: "GBH"

Elvis has written for and recorded with opera stars: "For the Stars" by Elvis Costello and Sofie Von Otter.

Elvis has recorded a country and western album: "Almost Blue" - not including the jazz song "Almost Blue."

Elvis has written a song that will become a jazz standard: "Almost Blue" - written for Chet Baker.

Elvis has recorded far more true jazz than Prince.

I am certain that Shausler could provide even more examples as well.

...
[This message was edited Tue Nov 19 5:15:50 PST 2002 by IceNine]

vivid said:

No, he can't, but that doesn't make his music any worse. (see Dylan, Young, Cash for example)



Costello's definitely more as half as interesting as Prince, and since this thread is about the 'cool' reissues of Costello's classic catalouge, I have to say that all one can buy of an artist is his music in form of an album, and concerning albums ("TRC" vs. "When I Was Cruel") both Prince and Costello musically and in this sense artistically are on the same level.

And sales or the number of covers are not related to the quality of music. If that would be the case Beethoven and/or Miles Davis would have to be constantly at the top of the charts because their work is still unknown to the majority of potentially interested music listeners.

Greetings

Anachronist

jnoel said:

No, I won't. But Prince sure would appreciate it if you took a look into a JW edited version of the Bible.

Greetings

Anachronist

hum genius do you know where does you idol's album title "All This Useless Beauty " come from?

jnoel said:

I don't have any idols. I'm my own one. Period.