The Paranoid Style - "Are You Loathsome Tonight?"

As she describes herself on her website, Elizabeth Nelson is a journalist, copywriter and songwriter. She's the frontwoman for the Paranoid Style, releasing a series of albums that have received little radio play but have been lauded by all the right critics. The band's most recent album, The Interrogator, is described by Nelson as "sounds something like Elvis Costello's mid-career masterpiece Blood & Chocolate as reimagined by Eliminator-era ZZ Top. Laced with malign landlords, nighttime debauchery, tedious group chats, banana splits and felony murder, no single album of 2024 will better capture the hectic, nervous, dislocating, end-of-Democracy-precipice that is our exhilarating brief. Glam rock for the end times." 

A bit much? Sure, and probably more than a bit tongue-in-cheek. I'm not as jubilant about the record as other critics are, but "Are You Loathsome Tonight?" is my kind of bitter, sad and resigned.

Robert Wyatt - "Shipbuilding"

As I often say, one of the side benefits of going to a festival is being introduced to (or reminded of) some great song that's included on one of the films' soundtracks. So, hello, Robert Wyatt's cover of this Elvis Costello gem. Nice to meet you.

Elvis Costello and the Attractions - "Blue Chair"

For this week's "Songs of Pine," I've chosen a track off Blood & Chocolate, Elvis Costello's 1986 record that I gorged on while obsessing over not one but two women. What's especially fun about that scenario is that the songs really never lose their vitality; if you get tired of projecting the lyrics onto one person, hey, you can just switch to the other.

"Blue Chair" was the focal point, though. I still cannot fathom these lyrics, which actually made the song work even better. The snippets of coherence stung even more...

You say that your love lasts forever 
When you know the night is just hours

And wherever she is tonight
I want her anyway
I suppose she never said to you
You were just in the way

Now when I hear it, I think, "Oh right, I was going through a bad time then, huh?" I'm very grateful not to be sinking into the blue chair anymore.

elvis costello and burt bacharach - this house is empty now

Remember when it seemed like Elvis Costello was making every other album with some sort of high-profile collaborator? 1998's Painted From Memory paired him with Burt Bacharach: "This House Is Empty Now" was a real standout.

elvis costello: pump it up

"This is back when he used to actually be good," I'm sure some of you will say. I like This Year's Model a lot, too -- but what self-respecting Elvis Costello fan doesn't own King of America and Blood and Chocolate as well? Regardless, this song is now more than 30 years old. Let's take a moment to consider that ... but stop thinking about it when it starts to get depressing.

richard and linda thompson: the end of the rainbow

OK, really, it's just a Richard Thompson song. (And if you haven't heard Elvis Costello's version, you should seek it out.) But regardless, "The End of the Rainbow" gets my vote for Most Depressing Children's Song. I don't think I want to know other worthy contenders for the prize.

the hidden gems of elvis costello

Elvis Costello is on the road this summer to promote his new reissues, The Best of Elvis Costello: The First 10 Years and Rock and Roll Music. Over at VH1, I take a look into his lesser-known but still worthy album cuts and outtakes. It was hard cutting my list down to just 10 tracks.