Blood & Chocolate

Locations
Call Number: CD Rock Costello Blood 2002
On Shelf At: Downtown Library

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Downtown 3rd Floor, CDs 2-week checkout	CD Rock Costello Blood 2002	2-week checkout	On Shelf

Reissue, with bonus tracks.
Contains previously released and previously unreleased material, recorded 1986-1987.
Compact discs.
Program notes by Elvis Costello (27 p. : ill.), including lyrics, inserted.
Disc 1. Uncomplicated -- I hope you're happy now -- Tokyo storm warning -- Home is anywhere you hang your head -- I want you -- Honey are you straight or are you blind? -- Blue chair -- Battered old bird -- Crimes of Paris -- Poor Napoleon -- Next time round.
Disc 2. Leave my kitten alone -- New rhythm method -- Forgive her anything (new version) -- Crimes of Paris (electric version) -- Uncomplicated (alternate version) -- Battered old bird (alternate version) -- Seven day weekend (with Jimmy Cliff) -- Blue chair (single version) -- Baby's got a brand new hairdo -- American without tears (twilight version) -- All these things -- Pouring water on a drowning man -- Running out of fools -- Tell me right now -- Lonely blue boy.

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Emotional Shrapnel submitted by Caser on April 8, 2010, 10:08am If Elvis Costello developed a 12 step program for recovering from a breakup, step one might be to write an emotionally wrought country album, like King of America, with lamenting songs like "Brilliant Mistake," but step two would almost certainly be to tap into the pools of relationship venom to write the most acerbic album possible. Blood & Chocolate is that album, and it delivers in spades.

Opening with the blistering "Uncomplicated" where he quips, "you think it's over now / but this is only / the beginning" in that characteristic Costello sneer -- but a surprisingly sweet melody -- this song sets the tone for the rest of the record. There is bitterness here, jagged double-entendre, and a seething backing band in The Attractions, making the songs worthy of repeat listens, if for no other reason than to catch more of Costello's flank attacks of his former wife.

My favorite is the second track, titled "I Hope You're Happy Now," which pretty much speaks for itself, but I'll throw in some quotes anyway. In the second verse, the songwriter lays into his ex and her new beau with the dig, "you make him sound like frozen food / his love will last forever," but that's nothing compared to his final stab, "I knew then what I know now / I never loved you anyhow / And I hope you're happy now."

Plenty of caustic quips await the listener, as Blood & Chocolate is easily Elvis Costello's most underrated album with The Attractions. Indeed, one needs not have just suffered a breakup to appreciate the brilliant melodies and innovative songcraft caught here on record, but if you're still stinging from the memory of a bad relationship, here's your suture. Or maybe your vinegar.