April 18: EC solo at the Orpheum Theatre, Boston, MA, in 1984

(Click on the above and go to the bottom right for a link to download a recording of the show. An mp3 version is available here.)

Did you all hear Elvis, the other day, dropping in on Steve Nieve’s daily improv session? What did you think? It’ll come as no surprise to hear I found it pretty wonderful — every day Steve plays us some music is fantastic; this was fantasticker than usual — and if Costello & Nieve feel like gifting us with a new tune, I’m probably not alone in saying I’m there, every time. Still, I couldn’t help feeling there was something strange about it, not bad strange but strange nonetheless. For a few days I’ve been struggling to put my finger on what it is, and funnily enough it took listening to this recording of one of my all-time favorite EC shows, from this day thirty-six years ago, for me to find the fumbling beginnings of a way to articulate it.

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