King of America & Other Realms

1986年リリースのT-Bone Burnettがプロデュースした『King of America』2024リマスターと『King of America』関連するソロ・デモ・バージョンから、メンフィス、そしてニューオーリンズの音楽にインスパイアされたレコーディングやコラボレーションまでを過去40年にわたり網羅した豪華6CDセット。

CD1:『King of America』2024リマスター
CD2:1985年録音のソロ・デモを収録。レッド・バス・セッションの録音が6曲収録。
CD3:1987年1月27日にロンドンのロイヤル・アルバート・ホールで録音された17曲のコンサートをマルチトラック・テープからミックスした未公開作品。
CD4～6:スタジオ録音、未発表デモ、アウトテイク、ライブ録音を収録。

In 1986, Elvis Costello was nine years into a successful career as New Waves Angry Young Man, and it was taking a heavy toll. 1984s Goodbye Cruel World had been a severe critical and commercial disappointment, he was not getting along with his bandmates in the Attractions, and he was chafing at the boundaries of the musical persona hed imposed upon himself. Costello decided it was time for a severe reinvention, and 1986s King of America was meant to be a break from his recent past -- it saw him working with a new set of musicians, several of whom had been part of Elvis Presleys TCB Band (guitarist James Burton, bassist Jerry Scheff, and drummer Ron Tutt), and with help from producer T-Bone Burnett, he began exploring the influences of American music that had long been part of his songwriting, but approached from a distance. While Costello had revealed his love for classic country on 1981s Almost Blue, King of America opened new doors for him as a songwriter and performer, and it was a gateway into the stylistic eclecticism that would become his hallmark in the 90s and onward. 2024s King of America and Other Realms is a six-disc box set that celebrates the King of America album and Costellos ongoing exploration of country, blues, jazz, folk, gospel, and other American idioms. Along with a newly remastered edition of the original 1986 album, the set includes a disc of acoustic demos Costello recorded as he was mapping out the project (some of the songs would instead appear on Blood & Chocolate, released later the same year) and a live disc preserving a January 1987 concert in London featuring the Confederates, the touring unit Costello assembled that featured several participants from the King of America sessions. The remaining three discs offer a cross-section of material Costello recorded in the years that followed, including music he cut with Lucinda Williams, Emmylou Harris, and Allen Toussaint, highlights from the albums The Delivery Man (2004), The River in Reverse (2006), Secret, Profane & Sugarcane (2009), and National Ransom (2010), and tracks where he shares the vocal mike with Dr. Ralph Stanley, Rosanne Cash, and Kris Kristofferson. The first half of this set is a welcome expansion on King of America, one of Costellos finest albums; the second half seems scattershot in comparison, but its full of material that ranges from good to brilliant, and skillfully explores his loving embrace of Americas musical legacy. (And if you want to observe Costellos growth as a performer, compare the fine version of "Indoor Fireworks" on disc one with the dazzling live reading on disc six.) Costellos lengthy and detailed liner essay is a marvelous achievement in itself, and its a must read for anyone who cares about his music from this era. King of America and Other Realms sometimes feels almost like too much of a good thing, but its consistently rewarding and a deep-focus study of one songwriters ceaseless evolution. ~ Mark Deming