{"id":10621,"date":"2013-08-12T16:16:25","date_gmt":"2013-08-12T23:16:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/?p=10621"},"modified":"2013-08-12T16:16:25","modified_gmt":"2013-08-12T23:16:25","slug":"elvis-costello-the-roots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/2013\/08\/elvis-costello-the-roots\/","title":{"rendered":"ELVIS COSTELLO &#038; THE ROOTS"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-10622\" alt=\"Elvis-Costello-and-the-Roots-Issue-No28\" src=\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Elvis-Costello-and-the-Roots-Issue-No28.jpg\" width=\"660\" height=\"440\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Elvis-Costello-and-the-Roots-Issue-No28.jpg 660w, https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Elvis-Costello-and-the-Roots-Issue-No28-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 660px) 100vw, 660px\" \/>ELVIS COSTELLO &amp; THE ROOTS<\/h1>\n<p><b><i>Wise Up Ghost<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p>[Blue Note]<\/p>\n<p>If he weren\u2019t such a great and versatile singer\u2014irritable punk one album, tender balladeer the next, something entirely different the one after that\u2014Elvis Costello might have made a fantastic rapper. Thankfully, he doesn\u2019t prove it on this surprise collaboration with eclectic Philly\u00a0hip-hop collective the Roots, but he does rely more on words (always his best friends) and grooves than he does on melodies and song structures. There\u2019s plenty of soulful singing\u2014on \u201cTripwire,\u201d he\u2019s practically whispering in your ear\u2014but the best cuts (\u201cRefuse to Be Saved,\u201d\u00a0\u201cWake Me Up,\u201d \u201cViceroy\u2019s Row\u201d) find Elvis spitting vitriolic wit over spare and menacing funk backings.\u00a0The album is a surprise only in the sense that it wasn\u2019t announced until nearly completed. Costello met the Roots when he appeared in 2009 on\u00a0<i>Late Night With Jimmy Fallon<\/i>, where they serve as house band, and it\u2019s no wonder they became fast friends. The Roots\u2019 TV gig means nightly team-ups with everyone from Carly Rae Jepsen to Bruce Springsteen, and Costello has spent his career working with seemingly anyone who will say yes.\u00a0<i>Wise Up Ghost<\/i> is a coming-together of chameleons\u2014a chance for Costello to jam out with fellow music geeks and, in some truly inspired moments, sling acidic rhymes like a freestyling MC.\u00a0Originally, the plan was to rerecord a bunch of Costello\u2019s early\u00a0classics, and while they wisely scrapped that idea,\u00a0\u201cStick Out Your Tongue\u201d updates \u201cPills and Soap,\u201d a\u00a0rap-inspired gem Elvis cut back in \u201983. It\u2019s historical justification for a project that, in theory and practice, already makes\u00a0perfect sense. \u2013Kenneth Partridge<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ELVIS COSTELLO &amp; THE ROOTS Wise Up Ghost [Blue Note] If he weren\u2019t such a great and versatile singer\u2014irritable punk one album, tender balladeer the next, something entirely different the one after that\u2014Elvis Costello might have made a fantastic rapper. Thankfully, he doesn\u2019t prove it on this surprise collaboration with eclectic Philly\u00a0hip-hop collective the Roots, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[196,1485,7040,6978,7041],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10621"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10621"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10621\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10624,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10621\/revisions\/10624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}