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Elvis Costello must sometimes feel that there are more people collecting his records than there are buying them. In our Readers' Poll last year, he finished in the Top Ten, confirming his position as one of the most collectable artists of all time, never mind new wave or the 1980s. Yet with very few exceptions, he has remained a cult success, only rarely falling into line with public taste, and apparently only able to score massive hit singles with other artists' material.
That is scant reward for the most consistent songwriter in British music over the last decade. Costello has touched so many bases, raided so many styles, that the breadth of his recorded repertoire is difficult to grasp.
Costello's collectability has been establish-ed by the presence of scores of limited edition items in his discography. Yet he has never had to revert to the easy option of issuing endless `alternate' mixes of the same song. Every one of his rarest releases offers something to his fans, in the shape of new material, edits or extended versions unavailable elsewhere, incisive interviews, or merely a personal autograph. And even his straightforward catalogue of singles has hidden depths. His most recent release looked like a straight coupling of a song from each of his last two albums, with nothing for the collector. In fact, both "Blue Chair" and "American Without Tears" were re-recordings, with the latter in particular challenging the original version, and approaching the song from an entirely new angle.
What follows is a list of some of the tastiest Costello rarities. It is not meant to he comprehensive -- merely a guide to some of the items that every Costello collector will enjoy, and should own.
SINGLES
"Alison"/"Miracle Man" (U.S. Columbia 3-10641; 1977)
"Alison" was Costello's second U.K. single, and its apparently placid nature prompted U.S. Columbia to issue it as his debut release Stateside. They obviously didn't listen to the lyrics, which told rather a different story; neither did Linda Ronstadt, whose 1978 cover version was a complete misreading of the song. In Britain, the song was covered by Barry Christian, for his sole claim to rock and roll fame.
Someone at Columbia decided that the raw U.K. version of "Alison" was likely to grate on more sensitive American ears, so a discreet string section was plastered over the chorus, giving the whole piece a poignant air that doesn't sit too well with the message of the song_ This version has never been issued in Britain, though it did reappear in the States in 1978 as the flipside of "Watching The Detectives" (3-10705). Both these U.S. singles sell for around £4 apiece; the mono/stereo promo of "Alison" fetches about £6, and the orthodox A-side/B-side promo sells for slightly less than that.
"Talking In The Dark"/"Wednesday Week" (Radar RG 1, December 1978)
Costello's second and third albums came with freebies, the first coupling a studio "Stranger In The House" with a live cover of the Damned's "Neat Neat Neat", the second offering three rather unexciting live tracks from the 1979 U.S. tour. Sandwiched between them was this studio coupling, given free to patrons at the band's gigs at the Dominion Theatre in London during December 1978. Leftover copies were shipped to the States for distribution at Costello shows in New York a month later.
Both tracks were apparently out-takes from the Armed Forces sessions: "Talking In The Dark" had a certain pedestrian charm, while "Wednesday Week" was pure throw-away, though welcome for all that. And the single was a nice gesture, though the fact that both songs have subsequently appeared on compilations has prevented the price of this item rising above £15.
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