this was my first forray into the world of elvis costello. it's one of those b-side collections.

i got this CD after seeing him in the movie "fast times at ridgemont high", and then reading a bit about him in "please kill me". i gotta admit, i LOVE his music... but only about half of it. yeah, about half the songs were shit in my opinion, but the ones i liked were SO GOOD. i mean, REALLY good. costello's voice is the focal point for me, and the spacey rock 'n roll backing on those particular songs were what hooked me. so, as always, i taped the songs i liked, and let the CD sit there. here's a run-down of the songs i thought were phenominal:

"clean money"- straight-out punk rock at it's best. fast loud rules!

"girls talk"- reggae-ish beat, with piano riffs and a great bassline.

"talking in the dark"- spacey sounding rock 'n roll. one of my favorites. the chorus gets a little heavier.

"radio sweetheart"- starts out sounding kinda bluesy, then turns into a country song. i love songs about the radio.

"big tears"- mellower than some of my other faves, but it's a good song anyway.

"stranger in the house"- full-out honkey tonk.

"(i don't want to go to) chelsea"- my absolute favorite costello song! great display of his vocals. it's got a reggae feel to it, the keyboard sends chills up and down the spine, great chorus, everything about this song is fucking genius. and doesnt the title remind you of the ramones?

"crawling to the u.s.a."- can you say PUNK ROCK? ramones/beach boys-style song. great for pogoing to.

"wednesday week"- faster than hell. and it has a cool ending.

"ghost train"- can't really describe this song or why i like it. but i really do. so fuck off.

basically, as long as you can stomp your foot to it and sing along, it's right up my alley. i might have to pick up the first 2 costello records, cos i also have the songs off "best of" that were on those 2 albums and they were pretty much the only ones i liked. so maybe i just hate anything after that. only time will tell.

reviewed by sam sinister.