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Elvis Costello / King of America & Other Realms

6CD box set

Elvis Costello’s 1986 album King of America has been remastered and expanded for a new 6CD box set called King Of America & Other Realms which is described as “97-track musical journey” and takes in unheard demos, live performances and tracks & rarities related to other albums recorded in America later in Costello’s career.

Discs 1, 2 & 3 in this set focus on King of America with the first offering a 2024 remaster (from the original tapes) and the second home to 17 demos. It seems incredible that there’s anything left after the expanded and double CD sets of the 1990s… but there is! Specifically, there’s six previously unreleased demos cut at Red Bus Recording Studios in London, in the months prior to the King Of America sessions in Hollywood which are mixed from newly discovered multitrack tapes. The third CD offers a 17-song Royal Albert Hall concert from 1987 in London, also mixed from the multitracks.

King of America & Other Realms 6CD super deluxe (click image to enlarge)

Costello himself has compiled this set (with Steve Berkowitz) which probably explains disc 4, 5 & 6 which are “a three-disc compendium of recordings and collaborations from across the last four decades, including previously unreleased demos, outtakes and live recordings”. For example, there’s some songs from Costello and Allen Toussaint’s collaborative album, The River In Reverse, almost half of Costello’s National Ransom record from 2010 (it was recorded in Nashville and Los Angeles) along with some demos and outtakes from the same album.

King Of America & Other Realms culminates with three new recordings recorded in 2024: ‘Indoor Fireworks’ (Memphis Magnetic Version), ‘That’s Not The Part of Him You’re Leaving’ with Larkin Poe and a recent arrangement of ‘Brilliant Mistake’. The final song is ‘That Day Is Done’ a song co-written by Costello and Paul McCartney for McCartney’s 1989 album Flowers In The Dirt, performed with the gospel group The Fairfield Four (this has been available before).

The 6CD super deluxe edition box comes with a 57-page booklet, home to a 35-page essay from Costello with the usual rare photos. The bookset type package is almost album-sized, at 12” x 11.5”.

King Of America & Other Realms is released on 1 November 2024 via UMe. Single LP remasters and 2CD sets are also available.

Tracklisting

King of America & Other Realms Elvis Costello /

    • CD 1: ING OF AMERICA (2024 REMASTER)
      1. Brilliant Mistake
      2. Lovable
      3. Our Little Angel
      4. Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood
      5. Glitter Gulch
      6. Indoor Fireworks
      7. Little Palaces
      8. I’ll Wear It Proudly
      9. American Without Tears
      10. Eisenhower Blues
      11. Poisoned Rose
      12. The Big Light
      13. Jack Of All Parades
      14. Suit Of Lights
      15. Sleep Of The Just
    • CD 2: LE ROI SANS SABOTS
      Demos, Outtakes & Other Realms
      1. The People’s Limousine – The Coward Brothers
      2. Next Time Round (Red Bus Demo)*
      3. Deportee (Red Bus Demo)*
      4. Brilliant Mistake (First Draft) (Red Bus Demo)*
      5. Suffering Face
      6. Poisoned Rose
      7. Jack Of All Parades
      8. Sleep Of The Just (Red Bus Demo)*
      9. Blue Chair *
      10. I Hope You’re Happy Now
      11. I’ll Wear It Proudly
      12. Indoor Fireworks
      13. Having It All
      14. Shoes Without Heels (Red Bus Demo)*
      15. King Of Confidence
      16. They’ll Never Take Her Love From Me – The Coward Brothers
      17. American Without Tears No. 2 (Twilight Version)
      * previously unreleased
    • CD 3: KINGS OF AMERICA LIVE AT THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL
      Royal Albert Hall 27th January 1987
      1. The Big Light *
      2. Only Daddy That’ll Walk The Line *
      3. Our Little Angel *
      4. It Tears Me Up *
      5. I’ll Wear It Proudly *
      6. Lovable *
      7. Riverboat *
      8. Sally Sue Brown/36-22-36 *
      9. American Without Tears *
      10. Brilliant Mistake *
      11. What Would I Do Without You *
      12. Your Mind Is On Vacation /Your Funeral, My Trial *
      13. Pouring Water On A Drowning Man *
      14. Payday *
      15. That’s How You Got Killed Before *
      16. Sleep Of The Just *
      17. True Love Ways *
      * previously unreleased
    • CD 4: IL PRINCIPE DI NEW ORLEANS E LE MARCHESE DEL MISSISSIPPI
      1. There’s A Story In Your Voice – with Lucinda Williams
      2. Country Darkness
      3. The Delivery Man
      4. Nothing Clings Like Ivy
      5. Heart Shaped Bruise – with Emmylou Harris (Live At The Hi-Tone, Memphis) **
      6. Bedlam (Live At Montreal Jazz) **
      7. Either Side Of The Same Town
      8. Wonder Woman
      9. In Another Room
      10. The Monkey * – Rehearsal with Dave Bartholomew & The Dirty Dozen Brass Band
      11. Monkey To Man
      12. Deep Dark Truthful Mirror
      13. Clown Strike (Live At Montreal Jazz) **
      14. Who’s Gonna Help Brother Get Further?
      15. The River In Reverse
      16. The Greatest Love – from Treme *
      17. Ascension Day
    • CD 5: EL PRÍNCIPE DEL PURGATORIO
      1. Stations Of The Cross
      2. Quick Like A Flash (Previously Unreleased) *
      3. Sulphur To Sugarcane
      4. Red Cotton
      5. Lost On The River #12
      6. A Slow Drag With Josephine
      7. I Felt The Chill
      8. Complicated Shadows (Cashbox Version)
      9. She’s Pulling Out The Pin
      10. Condemned Man (Demo) *
      11. Hidden Shame
      12. Red Wicked Wine – with Dr. Ralph Stanley
      13. The Scarlet Tide – with Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welch & David Rawlings (Live at the Grand Ole Opry) *
      14. One Bell Ringing
      15. Bullets For The New Born King
      16. All These Strangers
      17. For More Tears (Demo) *
      18. You Hung The Moon
    • CD 6: DER HERZOG DES RAMPENLICHT
      1. Stella Hurt
      2. Feathers
      3. Under Lime
      4. Jimmie Standing In The Rain
      5. Down Among The Wines And Spirits
      6. Watson, I Presume
      7. Church Underground (Demo) *
      8. A Voice In The Dark
      9. April 5th – with Rosanne Cash & Kris Kristofferson
      10. Indoor Fireworks (Memphis Magnetic Version) *
      11. That’s Not The Part Of Him You’re Leaving – with Larkin Poe *
      12. Brilliant Mistake/Boulevard Of Broken Dreams (Cape Fear Version) *
      13. That Day Is Done – with The Fairfield Four

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