Across 6CDs, Elvis Costello: King of America & Other Realms traces his musical travels from Hollywood – where the King Of America album was recorded in 1986 – to a brand new take on “Brilliant Mistake” cut in Cape Fear early in 2024, via Costello’s recording adventures in New Orleans, Oxford and Clarksdale, Mississippi, Nashville and Memphis, Tennessee and guided by Costello’s own 35-page essay which includes numerous rare and never-before seen photos.
The collection is anchored by CD1: a new 2024 remaster of the album King Of America from the original master tapes.
CD2 collects the solo demos from 1985 including six performances from the unheard Red Bus Studios session with radically different lyrical drafts, shedding new light on the intention of key songs from the King Of America album.
CD3 is a never heard before 17-song concert recorded on January 27, 1987 at The Royal Albert Hall in London in the company of James Burton, Jim Keltner, Jerry Scheff, Benmont Tench & T-Bone Wolk.
Newly mixed from multitrack tapes – and featuring live renditions of several King Of America titles – Costello is also heard performing songs by Waylon Jennings, Arthur Alexander, Allen Toussaint, Sonny Boy Williamson, Mose Allison, Ray Charles, Jesse Winchester, Dave Bartholomew and Buddy Holly. A truly great American songbook.
The set closes with a 3CD digest of Costello’s studio recordings, previously unreleased demos, outtakes & live recordings from this wild and wonderfully odd odyssey.
