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| The Delivery Man | 
 enlarge | Artists: Elvis Costello & The Imposters, Elvis Costello
Label: Lost Highway
Category: Music
List Price: $13.98
Buy Used: $0.21
You Save: $13.77 (98%)
New (52) Used (49) Collectible (1) from $0.21
Avg. Customer Rating:  63 reviews
Sales Rank: 10222
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
MPN: 000259302
UPC: 602498624296
EAN: 0602498624296
ASIN: B0002VEPL2
Publication Date: 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | Button My Lip | | • | Country Darkness | | • | There's a Story in Your Voice | | • | Either Side of the Same Town | | • | Bedlam | | • | The Delivery Man | | • | Monkey to Man | | • | Nothing Clings Like Ivy | | • | The Name of This Thing Is Not Love | | • | Heart Shaped Bruise | | • | Needle Time | | • | Judgement | | • | Scarlet Tide |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
Take one part This Year's Model, mix with a bit of Almost Blue, and top off with a healthy sprinkling of King of America. Voila, The Delivery Man! Elvis Costello's first album for Lost Highway finds the musician deftly exploring American roots music, from rock 'n' roll to country to soul, with assistance from the Imposters (stalwart Attractions Steve Nieve and Pete Thomas plus ace bassist Davey Faragher) and thrushes Emmylou Harris and Lucinda Williams. It also finds him back digging around in the ashes of a failed relationship. One of the collection's most affecting songs is "The Judgement," a reflective collaboration with Costello's second wife, Cait O'Riordan. Meanwhile, the album is dedicated to his third wife, jazz star Diana Krall. Hmmm. Romantic upheaval may color these songs, but no more than Costello's musical restlessness. For every elegant, wistful ballad ("Nothing Clings Like Ivy," "The Scarlet Tide") there's a raucous rave-up ("Button My Lip," "Bedlam"). The Delivery Man won't make anyone forget his best work; it'll help them recall what they loved about it. --Steven Stolder
Album Description
With The Delivery Man--Elvis Costello and the Imposters' first release for Lost Highway--one of modern music's most admired and prolific talents has delivered a remarkable album that draws on deep American musical roots more than any of his releases since King of America in 1986. It is a collection that ranges from the ferocious, bass-driven opening track, "Button My Lip," which speaks in the voice of a desperate man on the verge of committing a terrible crime, to a tender and timely closing rendition of "The Scarlet Tide," referred to by Costello's co-composer and fellow Oscar nominee T-Bone Burnett as an "anti-fear song." Like a lot of great things in music history, The Delivery Man can be said to have started with the late great Johnny Cash. "The Delivery Man is actually a character imported from a song I wrote in 1986 for Johnny Cash," Costello explains. "He's based on a real character. I read this story in the paper about a man who confessed to murdering his childhood friend thirty years later, having been in prison for a number of other things. I thought this story was very interesting because he'd carried this burden of guilt of this childhood crime."
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| Customer Reviews: Read 58 more reviews...
"In a certain light he looked like Elvis" September 24, 2004
23 out of 27 found this review helpful
Restlessness seems to be Elvis Costello's style of late. He swings from one extreme (the traditional song cycle of "North")to the other ( "Il Sogno" his contemporary classical release that came out the same time as this conducted by San Francisco's Michael Tilson Thomas). I have to be honest, when I firt put this on I wasn't all that thrilled. On the second listen the album's quality and style captured me. Personally, I'd have it no other way. That's the same restlessness that drove EC to create "Armed Forces" and a couple of years later "Imperial Bedroom". That's range. Once again, EC ponies up and creates a near masterpiece. Sure, "The Delivery Man" isn't "Armed Forces", "Imperial Bedroom" or even "King of America" but its pretty darned close to all three in terms of the quality of the songwriting, performances and production. Embracing the rootsy elements that hang at the core of rock 'n' roll and country music, the original Napoleon Dynamite creates music that could be kissing cousins to Lucinda Williams and Steve Earle.
Lucinda Williams does appear on the album. She duets with Costello on the gut wretching "There's a Story in Your Voice". Emmylou Harris makes a cameo appearence on one track and does full blown duets on two others. The best of these the brief, touching "The Scarlet Tide" was written for "Cold Mountain". It's just the two of them performing an intimate, powerful song. Her other two appearences are equally note worthy although "The Scarlet Tide" closes the album with such grace that it's hard to beat.
The Imposters hold it all together while EC performs up a storm. Pete Thomas does his best time keeping suggesting that Charlie Watts and Ringo Starr are no longer the greatest rock'n'roll drummers. Davey Faragher who has performed with John Hiatt sits in on bass and does a stellar job although I still miss Bruce Thomas a bit. Finally, Maurice Worm himself returns to the piano/organ stool. Steve Nieve does his usual stellar job.
A fine return to form after the mixed blessing of "North", "The Delivery Man" finds Elvis' restless heart wandering all over the American musical landscape yet again. He's all the better for it and so are we.
 Rock Lives in the 21st Century! September 23, 2004
16 out of 26 found this review helpful
I really needed this CD to validate my rock 'n' roll mentality as we sink deeper into the audio mess that's become the 21st century. I've had 'bout all of the hiphop.electro.sample.repetitive.gonowhere junk radio feeds us.
Gimme some pure rock, driven harder than Peterbuilt on the backroads of Virginia on a hot summer after midnight.
The Delivery Man's pace keeps pulling you forward. EC's attitude never lets up here, even when the sound softens. Dawggoneitall, this is why I fell in love with rock in the first place. My sensibilities get jarred from track 1, "Button My Lip." Subsequent songs surprise me with a wide variety of styles all the way through.
Wherever Elvis Costello is going, I'll follow, "Either Side of the Same Town." Whatever delivery he's making, I'm buyin'.
If you like your Elvis raw October 2, 2004
15 out of 16 found this review helpful
If you thought "North" was just to layered and marshmallow creamy, this is just what you were waiting for. The crashing mesh of "Button My Lip" is the most cacophonous album opener Elvis has led off with since "Uncomplicated." Instruments bleed over into each other, Elvis shouts and stutters his way through the lyric and at times, it sounds like the musicians are barely in time with each other. It's the kind of chaos Elvis has shifted away from over the past few albums.
As soon as he gets that moment out of the way, he jumps back to his country mode with "Country Darkness." It's almost as if the carefully crafted roots music of "King Of America" has been wed to the distorted and venomous "Blood and Chocolate." Elvis has made the comment that he wanted this to be his Johnny Cash album, and "The Delivery Man" frequently hits that mark. It would be easy to envision Cash insinuating "The Judgment," or even "Heart Shaped Bruise." "Bruise," one of two standout duets with Emmylou Harris, again shows Elvis' genuine affinity for country weepers. The Oscar nominated "The Scarlet Tide" (from "Cold Mountain") closes the album as gently as "Button My Lip" tears it open. It's not everyday you hear a rock album with a ukulele solo. And as heartfelt and somber as the moments with Emmylou are, Lucinda Williams' rollicking turn on "There's a Story in Your Voice" plays to the raucous opposite side of the yard.
If you are waiting for that one brilliantly catchy number (something that "North" seriously lacked), there is "Monkey To Man," a sing-along hook about class warfare. It is the most "Elvis-like" song here, and what kept me coming back to "The Delivery Man." Frankly, this is a hard album to like as you listen to it over the first few days. But not after the first week. The extremely raw and scruffy production may put you off at first, but just stay with it. "The Delivery Man" will, eventually, deliver the goods.
Just like the old stuff, but different. September 21, 2004
13 out of 13 found this review helpful
I must preface this by stating that I've been a lifelong fan of Elvis, purchasing "My Aim" Is True" as an import before Elvis had a US label. I have historically purchased everything he's released and enjoyed a great deal of what I've purchased. That's not to say I haven't had my disappointments (last year's "North" didn't stay in heavy rotation - good musically, but it just didn't engage me). "The Delivery Man", on the other hand, is a delight. It has a deliberately sloppy sound - the amps were mic-ed live in the studio and there is obvious spillover of the instruments between the various microphones - and gives you more of a "live" sound. It's also chock-full of the usual comples arrangements without feeling forced. Steve Nieve's keyboards sometimes take you back to "This Year's Model"
or "Armed Forces" and then come back to an immediacy that has been lacking as of late (as talented a musician as Nieve is he can occasionally bog down in some self-indulgent drama - not so here). Pete Thomas is still about the best rock drummer in a Jackson Pollock-y way (takes seemingly simple beats and uses them to perfect rythmic effect). Davey Faragher is just a revelation, he does some great harmonizing, particularly on "Either Side of the Same Town" and hardly makes me even think of that other bass guy. I could probably go on for several hundred more words but to summarize: if you like Elvis, it won't disappoint. If you've been disappointed by him lately, this may win you back. (I'm listening to his "Il Sogno" score - today's other new release - as I write this. I like it).
New and Exciting Stuff from Elvis! September 22, 2004
13 out of 14 found this review helpful
If you enjoy Elvis Costello at all, you'll love this album. I was at the rehearsal sessions in Oxford, MS and all I could tell from them was that it was going to be an absolutely brilliant album because I couldn't stop smiling in amazement, song after new song. The writing is very strong as impressions were made immediately after one listen.
Now that it's here and I've listened to it over five times, I was not let down at all! It's absolutely terrific and keeps with the whole feel from those sessions. The sound is nothing like I've ever heard on an album of his. Elvis and the Imposters sound like they're playing in your living room, Dennis Herring has done a fabulous job with Elvis and the Imposters.
The duets with Emmylou Harris are amazingly beautiful. The songs have wonderful melodies and all fight to become your favorite. Right now I love all of them each for different reasons. I'm partial to "Nothing Clings Like Ivy" and "Bedlam" as well as a favorite from the Oxford show "There's a Story In Your Voice" with Lucinda Williams. I purchased the vinyl edition to get the extra tracks, which is worth it if you can find it, but don't let that stop you from buying this CD or going and getting the UK version for "She's Pulling Out The Pin". It's just an amazing album and I expect it to do really well. When they tour the album in the United States look out for sold out show after sold out show! Until then hear this wonderful album inspired by country, blues, and the South. All the songs are really wonderfully written and they range from rollicking fun songs to heart wrenching country ballads.
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