The Very Best of Elvis Costello and the Attractions by Elvis Costello (CD, Aug-1999, Universal Distribution)

Album Features
UPC:	766485439123
Artist:	Elvis Costello
Format:	CD
Release Year:	1999
Record Label:	Universal Distribution
Genre:	New Wave, Rock & Pop

Track Listing
1. Peace, Love, And Understanding (What's So Funny 'Bout?)
2. Oliver's Army
3. Watching the Detectives
4. Alison
5. Chelsea (I Don't Want to Go to)
6. Accidents Will Happen
7. Pump It Up
8. I Can't Stand up For Falling Down
9. Radio, Radio
10. Clubland
11. Good Year For the Roses
12. Man Out of Time
13. I Wanna Be Loved
14. Everyday I Write the Book
15. Brilliant Mistake
16. Other Side of Summer, The
17. Tokyo Storm Warning
18. Sulky Girl
19. So Like Candy
20. Veronica
21. She
22. Big Tears
23. Beyond Belief
24. Lipstick Vogue
25. Green Shirt
26. Pills & Soap
27. Tramp Dirt Down
28. Ship Building
29. High Fidelity
30. New Lace Sleeves
31. Red Shoes (The Angels Wanna Wear My)
32. Talking in the Dark
33. New Amsterdam
34. I Hope You're Happy Now
35. Riot Act
36. My Funny Valentine
37. Indoor Fireworks
38. Almost Blue
39. I Want You
40. God Give Me Strength
41. That Day Is Done
42. I Want to Vanish

Details
Distributor:	Phantom Import Distributi
Recording Type:	Studio
Recording Mode:	Stereo
SPAR Code:	n/a

Album Notes
Full title: The Very Best Of Elvis Costello & The Attractions (1977-86).Producers include: Nick Lowe, Billy Sherrill, Geoff Emerick, Clive Langer, Alan Winstanley.Producers include: Nick Lowe, Geoff Emerick, Elvis Costello, Mitchell Froom, Clive Langer.Recorded between 1976 and 1999.This excellent British compilation brings together some of Elvis Costello's very best songs, dating back to "Alison" and continuing through mid-career songs like "Tokyo Storm Warning." There are 42 songs in all, some of which are quite rare.This definitive collection offers the most penetrating overview available of Costello's work with the Attractions. Costello's early albums changed the face of pop music by harnessing punk's energy to a leaner, more incisive aesthetic that included pop hooks, virtually inventing new wave in the process. While the Attractions didn't appear until Costello's second album, his debut's moving, unsentimental ballad "Alison" nevertheless remains one of his most loved songs. The sound tightened up when the Attractions appeared, as evidenced by the angular, reggae-influenced "(I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea" and the Dylan-meets-Johnny-Rotten anthem of the disillusioned, "Pump It Up."Elvis moved further afield in the following years, from the lush, almost baroque pop of ARMED FORCES' "Accidents Will Happen" to the heartbreaking ballad "Good Year For The Roses," from EC's C&W album ALMOST BLUE. "Everyday I Write the Book" is as close as any mere mortal will ever come to writing a Smokey Robinson tune. True to Costello's jittery, neurotic image, things close out on an obsessive note with "I Want You," an unsettling tale of uncontrolled desire. The depth of Costello's oeuvre is too vast to be captured on one disc, but this one comes mighty close.

Editorial Reviews
5 Stars - Indispensable - ...a filler-free disc that includes all the hit singles, a selection of near-misses and other terrific tracks by common consent...
Q (19941201)