What The Hell Happened To... 06.22.09: Elvis Costello & the Attractions - Blood & Chocolate

Posted by C.A. Bell on 06.22.2009

Who would ever be brave enough to try and fill Marsicano's shoes? I'll be your Huckleberry....

So, you thought you could just get rid of it, didn't you? After two years of loyal reading, you thought you could just wash your hands of ‘What the Hell Happened To'? Not a chance, ladies and gentlemen. The powers that be have decided that everyone still needs a good dose of the greatest albums you have never heard of and, fortunately or not, I'll be your new tour guide. As a matter of format, I'm going to keep pretty closely to what Dan had set up so well here before. Each week we will take a look at an under-valued work from a great artist and discuss why it seems to have been forgotten by time. So, let's get started with my first foray into the land of the unappreciated with Elvis Costello's 1986 release, Blood & Chocolate.

The Band
Elvis Costello – Guitar and Vocals
Steve Nieve – Piano and Keyboards
Pete Thomas – Drums
Bruce Thomas – Bass

Track Listing
1. Uncomplicated
2. I Hope You're Happy Now
3. Tokyo Strom Warning
4. Home is Anywhere You Hang Your Head
5. I Want You
6. Honey, Are You Straight or Are You Blind?
7. Blue Chair
8. Battered Old Bird
9. Crimes of Paris
10. Poor Napoleon
11. Next Time Around

Bonus songs were included for both a Rykodisc expanded release, in 1995, and a Rhino bonus disc edition, in 2002.

With singer/songwriter Elvis Costello releasing Secret, Profane & Sugarcane last week, it marked his triumphant return to collaboration with Americana producer extraordinaire, T-Bone Burnett. While the trumpets sounded about these two monolith champions of the American Heartland coming together again for the first time since King of America, one thing kept bothering me...namely...what they created the first time around completely overshadowed the momentum of a better album released by Costello that same year.

In 1986, Elvis Costello (at this point the leader in the 'Who Is the Angriest Brit' race between Costello and Joe Jackson) had begun recording an album that was truly personal and introspective...the only problem was that his band, the Attractions, were still waiting to play. In a particularly (in)famous moment, Costello sat in his hotel room in Nashville, contemplating cover art for his next LP. While various pictures of Costello adorned the wall (wearing a king's crown, no less), his Attractions' bass player Bruce Thomas would tell Rolling Stone that the Attractions were 'dead' and that Costello was a 'Megalomaniac, looking at pictures of himself to find the sound'. The recording stopped, Burnett brought in his own players, and Costello would record King of America on his own (though the Attractions would appear on one track). When King of America was released, it was met with high critical acclaim and great sales on both sides of the pond. The album spawned hits like "Indoor Fireworks" and "Brilliant Mistake". King of America would become considered one of Costello's most introspective works and one of his most successful stabs into the heart of Americana (something Costello is still doing today, even on his newest record).

Fast forward six months later; Costello and the Attractions put their differences aside and got back into the studio to record Blood & Chocolate, with producer Nick Lowe at the helm (Lowe had been instrumental in creating the ‘Costello Sound' early in Elvis' career). One thing about what resulted absolutely has to be mentioned, it was THE Elvis Costello and the Attractions album. Gone were the reggae and punk pretensions of My Aim is True and This Year's Model. Gone were the pop pretensions of Punch the Clock and Armed Forces. There were no straight on honky-tonk or country attempts, like on Almost Blue. Almost nothing of the 'old' Elvis Costello remained. The Elvis that was known for taking his voice into another genre and making it work did not exist here. This was angry...pure...simple. This was Elvis Costello.

A large reason for the pure rawness of the record, according to Costello, was the fact that it was recorded in a ‘live' style at Olympic Studios, London. This was the same venue that housed Jimi Hendrix and the Rolling Stones for classic rock records during the sixties. Costello's claim is that this old studio brought both he and Nick Lowe into a sort of reminiscent mood, causing them to record a more straightforward sound.

But, Costello wasn't the only player to stand out on this record. It seemed as if both Costello and the Attractions knew this would be their last go together (for eight years at least). If you listen to a track like "Battered Old Bird", you hear a songwriter AND a band that are playing their very last song. Gone are the ideas of genre and homage. Now there is only this one moment, preserved on vinyl. Costello conveys his anger in "The Blue Chair" and "Honey, Are You Straight or Are You Blind?" and the Attractions are banging just as angrily behind him on "Uncomplicated" and "Tokyo Storm Warning". This sounds like the very last album they will make.






The 2002, Rhino re-release of Blood & Chocolate would include a bonus disc that helps the listener delve even further into what was going on behind the scenes of this record. A straight out rocking version of "Leave My Kitten Alone" is powerful enough to induce ear bleeding, while demo covers of "Pouring Water On A Drowning Man" and "Tell Me Right Now" bring back the classic Costello romanticism that he would utilize later in the 1990s. There is also an interesting duet with Jimmy Cliff, entitled "Seven Day Weekend". This doesn't fit with anything else on the album, but is a really interesting collaboration.



In terms of history, Blood & Chocolate is important because it is the last real Elvis Costello & the Attractions record. Everything after this record just sounds like a comeback attempt and not nearly as dangerous as this release. Furthermore, after this, Costello decided to move into the opposite direction of emotion. While Blood & Chocolate was about disappointment, he would spend the next ten years talking about faith. Most of these attempts weren't all that good. 1996's All This Useless Beauty was good, but Costello didn't do anything really great again, until The Delivery Man in 2004.

Furthermore, I have to mention that this album is also important because Costello first publicly uses the name Napoleon Dynamite as his pen name. The makers of the film consistently deny that they weren't making a Costello reference (and their taste in music would suggest as much), while Costello has dismissed any argument against him being the namesake of the character as 'pure rubbish'. Either way, it is an interesting point to think about and certainly brings the track "Poor Napoleon" into a different light.



Blood & Chocolate is a fantastic album that was overshadowed by a critically acclaimed album released shortly before it, band drama surrounding the release, and just plainly being considered too much like a step back for Costello after so many experiments in genre. Even most of Costello's greatest hits collections might only include "I Want You" or "Tokyo Storm Warning" as any proof that the recording even happened. But, even on first listen, Blood & Chocolate is Costello doing what he does best...writing songs and being angry.




Thanks for reading. As always, feel free to leave any questions or comments. A Dylan album that you've never heard...even though you really have.