Elvis Costello

Goodbye Cruel World is generally regarded as Elvis Costello's worst album, even by the man himself -- at least it was upon the first expanded reissue of the notorious 1984 belly flop, when he wrote in the liner notes to Rykodisc/Demon's 1995 edition, "Congratulations! You just bought the worst album of my career." When it came time to assemble the double-disc Rhino reissue of Goodbye Cruel World in 2004, he recanted somewhat, claiming that "with the benefit of a little more distance I am able to say that this is probably the worst record that I could have made of a decent bunch of songs." To a certain extent this is spin from rock's greatest spinster and leading wannabe rock critic, but Costello has a point -- the bonus disc here is indeed better than the finished album, cutting closer to the emotional quick of the songs. Which isn't to say that this is as cohesive as the finished album, since it's not: it's a 26-track clearing-house of B-sides, alternate versions, demos, and live tracks, containing nine of the ten bonus tracks from the Ryko issue ("Deportee" being moved to the reissue of King of America) and a grand total of 16 previously unreleased tracks. The only new tune to Goodbye Cruel World that has been previously released is Costello's duet with Madness on "Tomorrow's (Just Another Day)," which is not the only time that ska revival is heard here, since Elvis covers "What I Like Most About You Is Your Girlfriend" during a solo acoustic concert that provides the final six tracks on this bonus disc (four of which were on the Rhino edition). These are good live tracks, but the heart of this bonus disc is in the middle, during a selection of demos that roughly run from track eight to track 20 and include early versions of nine of the 14 songs that made it to the finished album. Stripped of the glossy Clive Langer/Alan Winstanley production and given spare, direct arrangements, the songs sound stark and moody, altogether stronger than they did on the finished album. Added to these nine songs are handful of unheard songs and working versions, plus a studio cover of John Hiatt's "She Loves the Jerk" and a previously released cover of Richard Thompson's "Withered and Died." This stretch of songs can be called the divorce album that Costello wrote but did not record in 1984, but since it's buffered by amiable B-sides and a good live show -- and also because these songs are by now familiar -- it doesn't quite have the impact it would have if it had been released as an album styled like King of America. It does make for good, even revelatory listening, a better album than the released Goodbye Cruel World and one of the better bonus discs in this series of Rhino reissues. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide