Perhaps no more stark a line was drawn in the sand between an already storied hit making past and wildly creative future than when Elvis Costello issued two distinctly different but equally brilliant albums in 1986. Blood & Chocolate featured his longtime new wave rock band The Attractions, recapturing the raw-nerve, punk-fueled angry-young-man energy of 1978’s This Year’s Model. The beautiful, elegant King Of America revolved around an entirely different group of musicians including members of the late Elvis Presley’s original band playing acoustic-flavored country-folk-flavored roots music as well as vintage rock ’n roll.
A new 6CD super deluxe edition hardbound book-style set titled King Of America & Other Realms focuses on this era and the correlating music which Elvis released in its wake over the years. The umbrella term often used these days for this genre of music is “Americana” but Elvis’ work is arguably richer as it written through the lens of a composer born and raised in England. This fine collection presents Costello’s life work across these so called “other realms” as a continuum, ultimately underscoring his role as one of the great songwriters of our times.
King Of America & Other Realms includes a new remaster of the original King Of America album which sounds very nice as CD releases go (note: there is also a corresponding vinyl remaster out). The set also features a fine live concert from the support tour for that album recorded in 1987 at London’s Royal Albert Hall. You also will get a wealth of demos and unreleased recordings, expanding upon earlier reissue bonus tracks (more on that in a moment). There’s way too much in this vast set for me to go into in deep detail here, but I do have to report that so much of the music on this set has been revelatory. Even hearing the previously released music which I already own in this fresh context draws striking attention to the songs in new ways.
The live concert disc sounds terrific and the performances are exemplary including many fabulous songs from the tour which were not on his regular studio releases at the time: “Pouring Water On A Drowning Man,” “That’s How You Got Killed Before,” “Your Mind Is On Vacation,” “Riverboat,” It Tears Me Up” and many more (many of these would eventually be recorded in the studio for 1995’s Kojak Variety album). Some of these tracks seemingly overlap with bonus tracks issued by Rhino Records on the 2005 expanded 2 CD edition of King of America — however, those earlier tracks hail from the 1986 Broadway Theater shows in New York so these new recordings are indeed different performances.
Discs 4-6 are fascinating as Elvis has curated a brilliant continuum presentation of his Americana leaning music, underscoring the notion that his work in this realm was just beginning in 1986.
It’s quite striking to hear some of the previously released songs in new context out of the framework of the fine later period albums which some of you might have overlooked: The Delivery Man (2004), The River in Reverse (2006), Secret, Profane & Sugarcane (2009), National Ransom (2010), etc. Along the way you’ll hear live and studio performances with special guests including Lucinda Williams, Emmylou Harris, Rosanne Cash, Kris Kristofferson, The Fairfield Four, Dr. Ralph Staney and The Dirty Dozen Brass Band.
Generally, the sound quality across this set is outstanding as CDs go. Despite its at times archival nature, in general the fidelity is very enjoyable and well worth approximately $137 purchase price (available at Amazon, click here). If you love this period of Elvis’ career or simply want to learn more about it and to catch up on what he’s been doing in those ensuing years, King Of America & Other Realms is a rewarding deep listening journey worth exploring.
Mark Smotroff is a deep music enthusiast / collector who has also worked in entertainment oriented marketing communications for decades supporting the likes of DTS, Sega and many others. He reviews vinyl for Analog Planet and has written for Audiophile Review, Sound+Vision, Mix, EQ, etc. You can learn more about him at LinkedIn.
