''King of America'' is the tenth studio album by

British rock British rock describes a wide variety of forms of music made in the United Kingdom. Since around 1964, with the "British Invasion" of the United States spearheaded by the Beatles, British rock music has had a considerable impact on the develop ...

singer and songwriter

Elvis Costello Declan Patrick MacManus Order of the British Empire, OBE (born 25 August 1954), known professionally as Elvis Costello, is an English singer-songwriter and record producer. He has won multiple awards in his career, including a Grammy Award in ...

, credited to "The Costello Show featuring the Attractions and Confederates" in the UK and Europe and to "The Costello Show featuring Elvis Costello" in North America. Released on 21 February 1986, it peaked at No. 11 on the UK album chart and No. 39 on the ''Billboard'' 200. In ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...

''s annual

Pazz & Jop Pazz & Jop was an annual poll of top musical releases, compiled by American newspaper ''The Village Voice'' and created by music critic Robert Christgau. It published lists of the year's top releases for 1971 and, after Christgau's two-year abse ...

critics poll for the year's best albums, ''King of America'' finished at No. 2, and it was also selected as one of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' magazine's top twenty albums of the year. In 2000, it was voted No. 540 in

Colin Larkin Colin Larkin (born 1949) is a British writer and entrepreneur. He founded, and was the editor-in-chief of, the ''Encyclopedia of Popular Music'', described by ''The Times'' as "the standard against which all others must be judged". Along wit ...

's ''

All Time Top 1000 Albums ''All Time Top 1000 Albums'' is a book by Colin Larkin, creator and editor of the ''Encyclopedia of Popular Music''. The book was first published by Guinness Publishing in 1994. The list presented is the result of over 200,000 votes cast by the ...

''. Released in the United Kingdom as F-Beat ZL 70946, and in the United States as Columbia JC40173, some songs have a

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

feel, reflecting Costello's interest in Americana, whilst "American Without Tears" deals with the experience of Irish immigrants in the US and "Little Palaces" references Costello's working-class roots.

Content

During late 1984 and early 1985, Costello undertook a series of solo tours, sharing the bill with musician

T-Bone Burnett Joseph Henry "T Bone" Burnett III (born January 14, 1948) is an American record producer, guitarist and songwriter. He rose to fame as a guitarist in Bob Dylan's band during the 1970s. He has received multiple Grammy awards for his work in film ...

. Costello and Burnett recorded a single together in early 1985, "The People's Limousine" (credited to 'The Coward Brothers'), and ventured to imagine appropriate backing musicians for Costello's new songs. They booked time at

Ocean Way Ocean Way Recording was a series of recording studios established by recording engineer and producer Allen Sides with locations in Los Angeles, California, Nashville, Tennessee, and Saint Barthélemy. Ocean Way Recording no longer operates record ...

and Sunset Sound studios in Los Angeles, and assembled members of the TCB Band who had backed

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...

in the 1970s (Costello being more familiar with their work on records by Gram Parsons and

Emmylou Harris Emmylou Harris (born April 2, 1947) is an American singer, songwriter and musician. She has released dozens of albums and singles over the course of her career and has won 14 Grammys, the Polar Music Prize, and numerous other honors, including ...

). Other sessions included the

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

bassist Ray Brown and

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

drummer Earl Palmer, and a group of musicians dubbed 'the Confederates', featuring

T-Bone Wolk Tom "T-Bone" Wolk (December 24, 1951 – February 28, 2010) was an American musician and bassist for the music duo Daryl Hall & John Oates and a member of the ''Saturday Night Live'' house band. Life and career Wolk was born and raised in Yon ...

Mickey Curry Michael Timothy Curry (born June 10, 1956) is an American musician. He has collaborated with singer-songwriter Bryan Adams since the early 1980s, but has also worked with Hall & Oates, Cher, Tina Turner, Alice Cooper, David Bowie, Elvis Costello, ...

, and producer Mitchell Froom. Costello's usual backing musicians the Attractions appear on only one track, "Suit of Lights", but returned to record in full his next album '' Blood & Chocolate''. In the album credits, Costello uses three different

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

s for himself: his given name of Declan MacManus; his stage name of Elvis Costello; and the nickname given him by producer

Nick Lowe Nicholas Drain Lowe (born 24 March 1949) is an English singer-songwriter, musician and producer. A noted figure in power pop and new wave, The version of " Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood", a song first recorded in 1964 by Nina Simone, was released as a single and peaked at No. 33 on the UK singles chart. However, it missed the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, as did the follow-up single released only in America: "Lovable". The single by Burnett and Costello as the Coward Brothers did not chart in either nation. Though not released in 1986, "

Brilliant Mistake "Brilliant Mistake" is a song written and performed by new wave musician Elvis Costello that was first released on his 1986 album '' King of America''. Written about Costello's experiences in America, the song features introspective lyrics and a ...

" saw release as a single in 2005.

Release history

The album was released initially on vinyl in 1986, with the

Rykodisc Records Rykodisc is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, operating as a unit of WMG's Independent Label Group and is distributed through Alternative Distribution Alliance. History Claiming to be the first CD-only independent record la ...

reissue arriving nine years later on a single compact disc with five bonus tracks, including the Coward Brothers single. Early limited edition pressings also included a six-track bonus disc: ''Elvis Costello & The Confederates – Live on Broadway, 1986''. In 2005,

Rhino Records A rhinoceros (; ; ), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. (It can also refer to a member of any of the extinct species o ...

issued a two-disc, remastered version of the album. The bonus disc contained all five bonus tracks from the Rykodisc version and all six ''Live on Broadway'' tracks, as well as ten more bonus tracks. The Rykodisc and Rhino editions are both out of print. The album was issued a third time on CD by

Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...

, after its acquisition of Costello's complete catalogue in 2006. This release was a standalone version featuring no bonus tracks, and features the same mastering as the Rhino edition.

Track listing

All tracks written by Declan MacManus (Elvis Costello) except as noted; track timings taken from Rhino 2005 reissue.

1995 bonus tracks

# "The People's Limousine" ''(The Coward Brothers)'' (

Henry Coward Sir Henry Coward (26 November 184910 June 1944) was a British conductor and composer. Born in Liverpool to parents in the entertainment industry, Coward took an apprenticeship to a cutler in Sheffield. Educating himself, he became a teacher an ...

and Howard Coward) – 3:43 IMP single No. 006 # "They'll Never Take Her Love from Me" ''(The Coward Brothers)'' ( Leon Payne) – 2:55 IMP single No. 006

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

# "Suffering Face" – 3:08 demo recording # "Shoes Without Heels" – 4:20 released as the B-side to "Blue Chair" # "King of Confidence" – 2:48 session outtake

Live on Broadway, 1986 (limited edition bonus disc)

# "That's How You Got Killed Before" ( Dave Bartholomew) – 3:14 # "The Big Light" – 3:08 # "It Tears Me Up" ( Dan Penn, Spooner Oldham) – 3:27 # "The Only Daddy That'll Walk the Line" ( Ivy J. Bryant) – 2:42 # "Your Mind Is on Vacation" / "Your Funeral and My Trial" (

Mose Allison Mose John Allison Jr. (November 11, 1927 – November 15, 2016) was an American jazz and blues pianist, singer, and songwriter. He became notable for playing a unique mix of blues and modern jazz, both singing and playing piano. After moving to N ...

) / ( Sonny Boy Williamson) – 5:16 # "That's How You Got Killed Before" (Reprise) (Dave Bartholomew) – 7:00 * Recorded at

The Broadway Theatre The Broadway Theatre (formerly Universal's Colony Theatre, B.S. Moss's Broadway Theatre, Earl Carroll's Broadway Theatre, and Ciné Roma) is a Broadway theatre, Broadway theater at 1681 Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway (near 53rd Street (Manhatta ...

, New York City, 23 October 1986.

2005 bonus disc

Tracks 1–8 and 13 are solo

demo recordings A demo (shortened from "demonstration") is a song or group of songs typically recorded for limited circulation or for reference use, rather than for general public release. A demo is a way for a musician to approximate their ideas in a fixed for ...

; tracks 15–20 are the ''Live on Broadway'' tracks; track 21 is a previously unreleased performance from the Broadway show. # "Having It All" – 3:57 # "Suffering Face" – 3:08 # "Deportee" – 3:35 # "Indoor Fireworks" – 3:50 # " I Hope You're Happy Now" – 3:06 # "Poisoned Rose" – 4:12 # "I'll Wear It Proudly" – 3:26 # "Jack of All Parades" – 3:32 # "The People's Limousine" (The Coward Brothers) (Coward & Coward) – 3:43 IMP single No. 006 # "They'll Never Take Her Love from Me" (The Coward Brothers) (Payne) – 2:55 IMP single No. 006

# "King of Confidence" – 2:48 session outtake # "Shoes Without Heels" – 4:20 released as the B-side to "Blue Chair" # "End of the Rainbow" ( Richard Thompson) – 3:28 # "Betrayal" – 2:25 session outtake with The Attractions # "That's How You Got Killed Before" (Bartholomew) – 3:14 # "The Big Light" – 3:08 # "It Tears Me Up" (Penn/Oldham) – 3:27 # "The Only Daddy That'll Walk the Line" (Bryant) – 2:42 # "Your Mind Is on Vacation/Your Funeral My Trial" (Allison) / (Williamson) – 5:16 # "That's How You Got Killed Before (Reprise)" (Bartholomew) – 7:00 # "True Love Ways" (

Buddy Holly Charles Hardin Holley (September 7, 1936 – February 3, 1959), known as Buddy Holly, was an American singer and songwriter who was a central and pioneering figure of mid-1950s rock and roll. He was born to a musical family in Lubbock, Texas ...

& Norman Petty) – 3:33

Personnel

– acoustic guitar, electric guitar,

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

, lead vocal *

– guitars, backing vocals * Mitchell Froom –

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...

harpsichord A harpsichord ( it, clavicembalo; french: clavecin; german: Cembalo; es, clavecín; pt, cravo; nl, klavecimbel; pl, klawesyn) is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism ...

, organ, doctored piano *

Tom "T-Bone" Wolk Tom "T-Bone" Wolk (December 24, 1951 – February 28, 2010) was an American musician and bassist for the music duo Daryl Hall & John Oates and a member of the ''Saturday Night Live'' house band. Life and career Wolk was born and raised in Yon ...

– electric guitar, piano accordion, electric bass * Jerry Scheff – string bass, electric bass *

– brushes, drums, sticks

Additional personnel

* Michael Blair –

marimba The marimba () is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars that are struck by mallets. Below each bar is a resonator pipe that amplifies particular harmonics of its sound. Compared to the xylophone, the timbre ...

* James Burton – electric guitar,

dobro Dobro is an American brand of resonator guitars, currently owned by Gibson and manufactured by its subsidiary Epiphone. The term "dobro" is also used as a generic term for any wood-bodied, single-cone resonator guitar. The Dobro was originally ...

, acoustic guitar * Tom Canning – piano * Ralph Carney – saxophone * Jim Keltner – drums, sticks, brushes * Earl Palmer – drums, brushes * Ron Tutt – drums, brushes * Ray Brown – double bass on "Eisenhower Blues" and "Poisoned Rose" *

David Hidalgo David Kent Hidalgo (born October 6, 1954, in Los Angeles.) is an American singer-songwriter, best known for his work with the band Los Lobos. Hidalgo frequently plays musical instruments such as accordion, violin, 6-string banjo, cello, requin ...

– harmony vocal on "Lovable" *

Jo-El Sonnier Jo-El Sonnier (; born Joel Sonnier; October 2, 1946) is an American singer-songwriter and accordionist who performs country music and Cajun music. Originally signed to Mercury Nashville Records, Sonnier charted several minor singles on the ''Bi ...

– French

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...

on "American Without Tears" * Steve Nieve – piano, Hammond organ on "Jack of All Parades", "Suit of Lights", and "Betrayal" * Bruce Thomas – electric bass on "Suit of Lights" and "Betrayal" * Pete Thomas – drums, sticks on "Suit of Lights" and "Betrayal"

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1986 albums Elvis Costello albums Albums produced by Elvis Costello Albums produced by T Bone Burnett Columbia Records albums Hip-O Records albums Rhino Records albums Rykodisc albums