Elvis Costello and started his latest tour at the Orpheum Theatre in Boston. Elvis Costello and the Attractions, Elvis Costello and the Impostors, now Elvis Costello and the Sugarcanes. To say that this is a new band is an understatement.
T-Bone Burnett was involved as a producer which might explain the hat Elvis was wearing along with his trademark black-rimmed glasses. And lyrics like these from the song Sulfur and Sugarcane:
The women in Poughkeepsie
Take their clothes off when they're tipsy
But I hear in Ypsilanti
They don't wear any panties
This may be my new favorite Elvis Costello song. As he says on his website, "It was startling to find how much applause one can receive for impugning the moral reputation of the ladies of Ypsilanti, even in Ypsilanti." I have been to Ypsilanti.
The band also did some stuff from the songbook, like What's So Funny About Peace, Love, & Understanding. With the fiddle, bass fiddle, mandolin, and accordion:
As I walk through
This wicked world
Searchin' for light in the darkness of insanity.
...
And as I walked on
Through troubled times
My spirit gets so downhearted sometimes
So where are the strong
And who are the trusted?
And where is the harmony?
That was written by Nick Lowe, and was recorded by Elvis Costello on Armed Forces in 1979. You can have your Beatles and Dylan and Rolling Stones. I'll take Elvis Costello, the greatest balladeer of my generation.
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