When I Was Cruel [Import]

Editorial Reviews
Album Description
Japanese version of Costello's 2002 release. Backed by old Attractions chums Steve Naive on keyboards & Pete Thomas on drums. 17 tracks including the Japanese only bonus cut 'Smile' & the UK/Japan only bonus track 'Oh Well'.

Dowland - The Collected Works / The Consort of Musicke, Rooley
Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
  • A musical treasure-box
  • a beautiful journey into melancholy
Dowland - The Collected Works / The Consort of Musicke, Rooley
John Dowland , Anthony Rooley , Emma Kirkby , Christopher Wilson , The Consort of Musicke , Colin Tilney , Anthony Bailes , Jakob Lindberg , Nigel North , Glenda Simpson , Peter Holman , and John Donne
Manufacturer: Decca
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Similar Items:
  1. Dowland: Complete Lute Works, Vol.1-5
  2. William Byrd: Consort Songs
  3. Bach: The Landowska Recordings
  4. Britten Conducts Britten
  5. Janácek: Operas

ASIN: B000004CYV
Release Date: 2007-03-13

Tracks:

  1. First Booke Of Songes: I. Unquiet Thoughts
  2. First Booke Of Songes: II. Who Ever Thinks Or Hopes Of Love
  3. First Booke Of Songes: III. My Thoughts Are Wing'd With Hopes
  4. First Booke Of Songes: IV. If My Complaints Could Passions Move
  5. First Booke Of Songes: V. Can She Excuse My Wrongs
  6. First Booke Of Songes: VI. Now, O Now, I Needs Must Part
  7. First Booke Of Songes: VII. Dear, If You Change
  8. First Booke Of Songes: VIII. Burst Fourth My Tears
  9. First Booke Of Songes: IX. Go Crystal Tears
  10. First Booke Of Songes: X. Think'st Thou Then By Thy Feigning
  11. First Booke Of Songes: XI. Come Away, Come Sweet Love
  12. First Booke Of Songes: XII. Rest Awhile, You Cruel Cares
  13. First Booke Of Songes: XIII. Sleep, Wayward Thoughts
  14. First Booke Of Songes: XIV. All Ye, Whom Love Or Fortune Hath Betray'd
  15. First Booke Of Songes: XV. Wilt Thou Unkind Thus Reave Me
  16. First Booke Of Songes: XVI. Would My Conceit
  17. First Booke Of Songes: XVII. Come Again: Sweet Love Doth Now Invite
  18. First Booke Of Songes: XVIII. His Golden Locks
  19. First Booke Of Songes: XIX. Awake, Sweet Love
  20. First Booke Of Songes: XX. Come, Heavy Sleep
  21. First Booke Of Songes: XXI. Away With These Self-Loving Lads

Tracks:

  1. Second Booke Of Songs: I. I Saw My Lady Weep
  2. Second Booke Of Songs: II. Flow My Tears
  3. Second Booke Of Songs: III. Sorrow, Stay
  4. Second Booke Of Songs: IV. Die Not Before Thy Day
  5. Second Booke Of Songs: V. Mourn, Mourn, Day Is With Darkness Fled
  6. Second Booke Of Songs: VI. Time's Eldest Son
  7. Second Booke Of Songs: VII. Then Sit Thee Down
  8. Second Booke Of Songs: VIII. When Others Sing Venite
  9. Second Booke Of Songs: IX. Praise Blindness Eyes
  10. Second Booke Of Songs: X. O Sweet Woods
  11. Second Booke Of Songs: XI. If Floods Of Tears
  12. Second Booke Of Songs: XII. Fine Knacks For Ladies
  13. Second Booke Of Songs: XIII. Now Cease My Wand'ring Eyes
  14. Second Booke Of Songs: XIV. Come Ye Heavy States Of Night
  15. Second Booke Of Songs: XV. White As Lilies Was Her Face
  16. Second Booke Of Songs: XVI. Woeful Heart
  17. Second Booke Of Songs: XVII. A Shepherd In A Shade
  18. Second Booke Of Songs: XVIII. Faction That Ever Dwells
  19. Second Booke Of Songs: XIX. Shall I Sue
  20. Second Booke Of Songs: XX. Toss Not My Soul
  21. Second Booke Of Songs: XXI. Clear Or Cloudy
  22. Second Booke Of Songs: XXII. Humour Say What Mak'st Thou Here

Tracks:

  1. Third Booke Of Songs 1603: I. Farewell, Too Fair
  2. Third Booke Of Songs 1603: II. Time Stands Still
  3. Third Booke Of Songs 1603: III. Behold A Wonder Here
  4. Third Booke Of Songs 1603: IV. Daphne Was Not So Chaste
  5. Third Booke Of Songs 1603: V. Me, Me, And None But Me
  6. Third Booke Of Songs 1603: VI. When Phoebus First Did Daphne Love
  7. Third Booke Of Songs 1603: VII. Say, Love, If Ever Thou Didst Find
  8. Third Booke Of Songs 1603: VIII. Flow Not So Fast, Ye Fountains
  9. Third Booke Of Songs 1603: IX. What If I Never Speed?
  10. Third Booke Of Songs 1603: X. Love Stood Amazed
  11. Third Booke Of Songs 1603: XI. Lend Your Ears To My Sorrow
  12. Third Booke Of Songs 1603: XII. By A Fountain Where I Lay
  13. Third Booke Of Songs 1603: XIII. O What Hath Overwrought
  14. Third Booke Of Songs 1603: XIV. Farewell, Unkind
  15. Third Booke Of Songs 1603: XV. Weep You No More, Sad Fountains
  16. Third Booke Of Songs 1603: XVI. Fie On This Feigning!
  17. Third Booke Of Songs 1603: XVII. I Must Complain
  18. Third Booke Of Songs 1603: XVIII. It Was A Time When Silly Bees
  19. Third Booke Of Songs 1603: XIX. The Lowest Trees Have Tops
  20. Third Booke Of Songs 1603: XX. What Poor Astronomers Are They
  21. Third Booke Of Songs 1603: XXI. Come When I Call

Tracks:

  1. A Pilgrimes Solace: I. Disdain Me Still
  2. A Pilgrimes Solace: II. Sweet Stay Awhile
  3. A Pilgrimes Solace: III. To Ask For All Thy Love
  4. A Pilgrimes Solace: IV. Love, Those Beams That Breed
  5. A Pilgrimes Solace: V. Shall I Strive Wih Words To Move?
  6. A Pilgrimes Solace: VI. Were Every Thought An Eye
  7. A Pilgrimes Solace: VII. Stay, Time, Awhile Thy Flying
  8. A Pilgrimes Solace: VIII. Tell Me, True Love
  9. A Pilgrimes Solace: IX. Go Nightly Cares
  10. A Pilgrimes Solace: X. From Silent Night
  11. A Pilgrimes Solace: XI. Lasso vita mia
  12. A Pilgrimes Solace: XII. In This Trembling Shadow Cast
  13. A Pilgrimes Solace: XIII. If That A Sinner's Sights
  14. A Pilgrimes Solace: XIV. Thou Mighty God
  15. A Pilgrimes Solace: XV. When David's Life
  16. A Pilgrimes Solace: XVI. When The Poor Cripple

Tracks:

  1. A Pilgrimes Solace: XVII. Where Sin Sore Wounding
  2. A Pilgrimes Solace: XVIII. My Heart And Tongue Were Twins
  3. A Pilgrimes Solace: XIX. Up Merry Mates
  4. A Pilgrimes Solace: XX. Welcome Black Night
  5. A Pilgrimes Solace: XXI. Cease, Cease These False Sports
  6. Keyboard Transcriptions Of Dowland's Music By Other Musicians: Lachrimae Pavane
  7. Keyboard Transcriptions Of Dowland's Music By Other Musicians: Can Shee
  8. Keyboard Transcriptions Of Dowland's Music By Other Musicians: Paduana
  9. Keyboard Transcriptions Of Dowland's Music By Other Musicians: The Frogge
  10. Keyboard Transcriptions Of Dowland's Music By Other Musicians: Frog's Galliard
  11. Keyboard Transcriptions Of Dowland's Music By Other Musicians: Pavana And Galiarda
  12. Keyboard Transcriptions Of Dowland's Music By Other Musicians: Paduana Lachrymae
  13. Keyboard Transcriptions Of Dowland's Music By Other Musicians: Can She Excuse
  14. Keyboard Transcriptions Of Dowland's Music By Other Musicians: Pavion Solus cum sola
  15. Keyboard Transcriptions Of Dowland's Music By Other Musicians: Dowland's Almayne
  16. Keyboard Transcriptions Of Dowland's Music By Other Musicians: Piper's Paven And Galliard
  17. Keyboard Transcriptions Of Dowland's Music By Other Musicians: Pavan Lachrymae

Tracks:

  1. Mr. Henry Noell Lamentations: I. The Lamentation Of A Sinner
  2. Mr. Henry Noell Lamentations: II. Domine ne in furore
  3. Mr. Henry Noell Lamentations: III. Miserere mei Deus
  4. Mr. Henry Noell Lamentations: IV. The Humble Suit Of A Sinner
  5. Mr. Henry Noell Lamentations: V. The Humble Complaint Of A Sinner
  6. Mr. Henry Noell Lamentations: VI. De profundis
  7. Mr. Henry Noell Lamentations: VII. Domine exaudi
  8. Lachrimae: Lachrimae Antiquae
  9. Lachrimae: Lachrimae Antiquae Novae
  10. Lachrimae: Lachrimae Gementes
  11. Lachrimae: Lachrimae Tristes
  12. Lachrimae: Lachrimae Coactae
  13. Lachrimae: Lachrimae Amantis
  14. Lachrimae: Lachrimae Verae
  15. Lachrimae: Mr. John Langton's Pavan
  16. Lachrimae: Mr. Nicholas Gryffith His Galiard
  17. Lachrimae: Sir John Souch His Galiard
  18. Lachrimae: Semper Dowland Semper Dolens
  19. Lachrimae: Mr. Giles Hobies Galiard
  20. Lachrimae: The King Of Denmark's Galiard
  21. Lachrimae: Sir Henry Umpton's Funerall
  22. Lachrimae: Mr. Henry Noell His Galiard
  23. Lachrimae: The Earl Of Essex Galiard
  24. Lachrimae: Mr. Bucton His Galiard
  25. Lachrimae: Mr. George Whitehead His Almand
  26. Lachrimae: Captain Digorie Piper His Galiard
  27. Lachrimae: Mr. Thomas Collier His Galiard
  28. Lachrimae: Mrs. Nichols Almand

Tracks:

  1. Sacred Songs: Sorrow, Come!
  2. Sacred Songs: I Shame At Mine Unworthiness
  3. Sacred Songs: An Heart That's Broken And Contrite
  4. Psalms: Psalm 100: All People That On Earth Do Dwell
  5. Psalms: Psalm 38: Put Me Not To Rebuke O Lord
  6. Psalms: Psalm 130: Lord To Thee I Make My Moan
  7. Psalms: Psalm 104: My Soul Praise The Lord
  8. Psalms: Psalm 100: All People That On Earth Do Dwell
  9. Psalms: Psalm 134: Behold And Have Regard
  10. A Prayer For The Queen's Most Excellent Majesty
  11. Instrumental Music: Solus cum sola pavan
  12. Instrumental Music: Lachrimae
  13. Instrumental Music: Galliard
  14. Instrumental Music: Pipers Pavan
  15. Instrumental Music: Lachrimae
  16. Instrumental Music: Lady Rich Galliard
  17. Instrumental Music: Earl Of Essex Galliard
  18. Instrumental Music: If My Complaints
  19. Instrumental Music: Lachrimae Doolande
  20. Instrumental Music: Lord Willoughbie's Welcome Home
  21. Instrumental Music: My Lord Chamberlaine His Galliard
  22. Instrumental Music: Comagain
  23. Instrumental Music: Pavan Lachrymae
  24. Instrumental Music: Sorrow Stay

Tracks:

  1. Lute Music: Preludium
  2. Lute Music: Lachrimae
  3. Lute Music: Can She Excuse
  4. Lute Music: Dr. Case's Pavan
  5. Lute Music: Melancholy Galliard
  6. Lute Music: Sir John Smith, His Almain
  7. Lute Music: Fantasia
  8. Lute Music: A Dream
  9. Lute Music: Almain
  10. Lute Music: The Queen's Galliard
  11. Lute Music: Coranto
  12. Lute Music: Resolution
  13. Lute Music: Mrs. Vaux Galliard
  14. Lute Music: Almain
  15. Lute Music: Mr. Dowland's MIdnight
  16. Lute Music: Fantasia
  17. Lute Music: Loth To Depart
  18. Lute Music: The Most Sacred Queen Elizabeth, Her Galliard
  19. Lute Music: The Earl Of Essex, His Galliard
  20. Lute Music: Pavan
  21. Lute Music: John Dowland's Galliard
  22. Lute Music: Aloe
  23. Lute Music: The Lady Clifton's Spirit
  24. Lute Music: What If A Day
  25. Lute Music: Mr. Giles Hobie's Galliard
  26. Lute Music: Come Away (Song arrangement)
  27. Lute Music: Galliard
  28. Lute Music: Fancy (Fantasia)

Tracks:

  1. Lute Music: Lachrimae (Basic Version)
  2. Lute Music: Galliard To Lachrimae
  3. Lute Music: [Jig]
  4. Lute Music: Galliard On 'Wasingham'
  5. Lute Music: Complaint (Ballad Setting)
  6. Lute Music: Mignarda (Galliard)
  7. Lute Music: Semper Dowland Semper Dolens (Pavan)
  8. Lute Music: The Frog Galliard
  9. Lute Music: A Fancy (Fantasia)
  10. Lute Music: Fancy (Fantasia)
  11. Lute Music: Piper's Pavan
  12. Lute Music: Captain Digorie Piper's Galliard
  13. Lute Music: Lady Laiton's Almain
  14. Lute Music: Dowland's Galliard
  15. Lute Music: Dowland's First Galliard
  16. Lute Music: Tarleton's Jig
  17. Lute Music: Walsingham (ballad Setting)
  18. Lute Music: Lord Willoughbie's Welcome Home (Ballad Setting)
  19. Lute Music: Sir Henry Guilforde, His Almain
  20. Lute Music: Pavan (Related To 'Lachrimae')
  21. Lute Music: Mr. Langton's Galliard
  22. Lute Music: Mrs. Clifton's Almain
  23. Lute Music: Galliard
  24. Lute Music: Lady Hunsdon's Puffe (Almain)
  25. Lute Music: Galliard
  26. Lute Music: Go From My Window (Ballad Setting)
  27. Lute Music: Fancy (Fantasia)

Tracks:

  1. Lute Music: Pavana Johan Douland
  2. Lute Music: Mrs. Brigide Fleetwood's Pavan (Solus sine sola)
  3. Lute Music: La mia Barbara
  4. Lute Music: Sir Henry Umpton's Funeral (Pavan)
  5. Lute Music: Lachrimae
  6. Lute Music: Farewell Fancy (Chromatic Fantasia)
  7. Lute Music: Farewell (On The 'In Nomine' Theme)
  8. Lute Music: The King of Denmark's Galliard
  9. Lute Music: Mrs. Vaux's Jig
  10. Lute Music: Mrs. Nichol's Almain
  11. Lute Music: Galliard
  12. Lute Music: Lord Strang's March
  13. Lute Music: Mrs. Winter's Jump
  14. Lute Music: Can She Excuse (Galliard)
  15. Lute Music: The Shoemaker's Wife, A Toy
  16. Lute Music: Mrs. Norrish's Delight
  17. Lute Music: Galliard
  18. Lute Music: Mrs. White's Thing (Almain)
  19. Lute Music: Mrs. White's Nothing
  20. Lute Music: The Frog Galliard
  21. Lute Music: Solus cum sola
  22. Lute Music: The Lord Viscount Lisle, His Galliard
  23. Lute Music: Orlando Sleepeth (Ballad Setting)
  24. Lute Music: Robin (Ballad Setting)
  25. Lute Music: Galliard (On A Galliard By Daniel Bacheler)
  26. Lute Music: Forlorn Hope Fancy (Chromatic Fantasia)

Tracks:

  1. Lute Music: The Lady Russell's Pavan
  2. Lute Music: Fancy (Fantasia)
  3. Lute Music: Sir John Langton's Pavan
  4. Lute Music: Earl Of Derby, His Galliard
  5. Lute Music: A Coy Toy
  6. Lute Music: Fortune My Foe
  7. Lute Music: [Almain]
  8. Lute Music: Mr. Knight's Galliard
  9. Lute Music: Sir John Souch His Galliard
  10. Lute Music: Tarletone's Riserrectione
  11. Lute Music: The Lady Rich, Her Galliard
  12. Consort Music: Lachrimae Pavan
  13. Consort Music: Can She Excuse Galliard
  14. Consort Music: Captain Piper's Pavan And Galliard
  15. Consort Music: The Frog Galliard
  16. Consort Music: Round Battell Galliard
  17. Consort Music: Fortune My Foe
  18. Consort Music: Dowland's First Galliard
  19. Consort Music: Katherine Darcie's Galliard
  20. Consort Music: Tarleton's Jigge
  21. Consort Music: Almain a 2
  22. Consort Music: Mistress Nichols Almain a 2
  23. Fullsack And Hildebrandt: Auserlesener Paduanen und Galliarden: Susanna Fair (Galliard)
  24. Haussmann: Rest von polnischen und andern Tanzen: Mistress Nichols Alman a 5
  25. Opusculum: Mr. John Langton Pavan And Galliard
  26. Opusculum: La mia Barbara Pavan and Galliard
  27. Opusculum: Lachrimae Antiquae Novae Pavan and Galliard

Tracks:

  1. Consort Music: Mistress NIchols Almain
  2. Consort Music: Volta a 4 ('Ioh. Douland')
  3. Consort Music: Were Every Thought an Eye
  4. Consort Music: Lady If You So Spite Me
  5. Consort Music: Pavan a 4
  6. A Musicall Banquet: I. My Heavy Sprite (Anthony Holborne)
  7. A Musicall Banquet: II. Change Thy Mind Since She Doth Change (Richard Martin)
  8. A Musicall Banquet: III. O Eyes, Leave Off Your Weeping (Robert Hales)
  9. A Musicall Banquet: IV. Go, My Flock, Go Get You Hence (Anon.)
  10. A Musicall Banquet: V. O Dear Life, When Shall It Be? (Anon.)
  11. A Musicall Banquet: VI. To Plead My Faith (Daniel Bacheler)
  12. A Musicall Banquet: VII. In A Grove Most Rich Of Shade (Guillaume Tessier)
  13. A Musicall Banquet: VIII. Far From Triumphing Court
  14. A Musicall Banquet: IX. Lady, If You So Spite Me
  15. A Musicall Banquet: X. In Darkness Let Me Dwell
  16. A Musicall Banquet: XI. Si le parler et le silence (Pierre Guedron)
  17. A Musicall Banquet: XII. Ce penser qui sans fin tirannise ma vie (Pierre Guedron)
  18. A Musicall Banquet: XIII. Vous que le Bonheur rappelle (Pierre Guedron)
  19. A Musicall Banquet: XIV. Passava Amor su arco desarmado (Anon. Spanish)
  20. A Musicall Banquet: XV. Sta notte mi sognava (Anon. Italian)
  21. A Musicall Banquet: XVI. Vuestros ojos tienen d'Amor (Anon. Spanish)
  22. A Musicall Banquet: XVII. Se di farmi morire (Domenico Maria Megli)
  23. A Musicall Banquet: XVIII. Dovro dunque morire? (Giulio Caccini)
  24. A Musicall Banquet: XIX. Amarilli mia bella (Giulio Caccini)
  25. A Musicall Banquet: XX. O bella piu (Anon, Italian)

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars A musical treasure-box.......2006-09-10

Both the music and this actual product are masterpieces. John Dowland's collected works here - covering 12 compact discs - exhibit the depth and power of this composer, a composer who many now regard as suffering from clinical depression. I doubt that the issue of the diagnosis of Dowland's depression can ever be settled, however, it is certainly obvious from his music, so completely on display here, that he was a man with very dark depths and corners in his mind. Dowland's various manifestations and "takes" on his own tune, "Flow my tears"/"Lachrimae" are here. This tune has haunted me ever since I first heard it when I was a child. It seems to sum up Dowland's feelings - at least Dowland seems to have thought so.

The First, Second, Third and Fourth Bookes of Songes, A Musicall Banquet, the keyboard transcriptions, all the lute music, consort music are here and virtually everything else written or supposedly written by John Dowland. Anthony Rooley and The Consort of Musicke perform this music with style and feeling throughout. This 12 CD set is something of a monument to the ensemble - I only wish they'd finished their collection of Monteverdi madrigals, which was equally good (La Venexiana are currently doing a magnificent job of recording all Monteverdi's books of madrigals for the GLOSSA label).

This is an expensive set, however, you will probably never need to buy another John Dowland CD again after buying and listening to this collection.

I bought this CD set on a mild Summer evening of 1998 and listened to it while sitting in my sun room - which a glorious orange sunset in progress, and a glass of wine. It brought back so many memories.

5 out of 5 stars a beautiful journey into melancholy.......2001-06-15

I'm amazed at how many people tend to associate John Dowland's music with a tragic sense of drama. While no doubt this is art highly based on sadness, the "tragic" sense of it is more a legacy from the Romantic period. During the Renaissance, however, sadness was undestood as a very aesthetic way of approaching life. That is also the reason why Shakespeare's tragedies appear more sophisticated than his comedies.

Dowland, a contemporary of Shakespeare, discovered that meditating on a sad theme is, at the same time, a way of discovering a special beauty that we tend to avoid (maybe because of the "tragic" heritage of the Romantics). So, in the end, meditating on sadness is an uplifting experience! This box set is a journey into melancholy that includes songs, chamber music, pieces for lute, some rare sacred music and -as a highlight- Dowland's beautiful collection of seven pieces for viola which he called "Lachrimae" (Tears).
When I Was Cruel
Average customer rating: 4 out of 5 stars
  • I thought he was done
  • An excellent addition to your music library
  • Elvis Is Dead
  • Will The REAL Elvis C. Please Stand Up?
  • The parts are more than the whole for me
When I Was Cruel
Elvis Costello
Manufacturer: Island
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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  1. The Delivery Man
  2. North
  3. Brutal Youth (With Bonus Disc)
  4. All This Useless Beauty (With Bonus Disc)
  5. Mighty Like a Rose

ASIN: B000063526
Release Date: 2002-04-23

Tracks:

  1. 45
  2. Spooky Girlfriend
  3. Tear Off Your Own Head (It's A Doll Revolution)
  4. When I Was Cruel No. 2
  5. Soul For Hire
  6. Petals
  7. Tart
  8. Dust 2...
  9. Dissolve
  10. Alibi
  11. ...Dust
  12. Daddy Can I Turn This?
  13. My Blue Window
  14. Episode of Blonde
  15. Radio Silence

Amazon.com

Following a string of tasteful but sometimes bloodless collaborations with Sophie Van Otter, Bill Frisell, and the London Symphony Orchestra, Costello delivers his most visceral and satisfying CD in years with When I Was Cruel. Reunited with half the Attractions, Pete Thomas and Steve Nieve, Costello sticks relatively close to the sharp new-wave melodies that sealed his reputation in the late '70s and '80s, but infuses them with powerful sonic touches: a hypnotic loop of Italian pop singer Mina that carries the title track, the melodica that casts an eerie glow over "Soul for Hire," and the frenetic, klezmer-inspired horns that drive "15 Petals." Costello's guitar is frequently drenched in tremolo, and his lyrical wit hasn't been this consistently spiky and unforced since Blood & Chocolate. Compared to some of his more uptown adventures, When I Was Cruel may seem at first a kind of semi-nostalgic slumming, but the opposite may be the case: like Woody Allen, Costello is at his most artful when he produces perfect pop trifles that will almost certainly outlast his more self-conscious "serious" work. --Keith Moerer

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars I thought he was done.......2006-12-01

I was a big EC fan from early on. Maybe I didn't keep up with him, I admit.

But then I heard "when I was cruel, no.2".

This man is beyond genius. This track is so profoundly creative and genius, words cannot describe.

It led me to hunt down the Mina track from which he sampled. But besides that, this one track references Eric Sate', and ABBA!

In Japan, they designate some people as "national treasures". EC is the closest thing we've got to that.

This is my desert island song.

5 out of 5 stars An excellent addition to your music library.......2006-06-02

Elvis Costello is quite literally the most unique and interesting man in rock-n-roll today. He hit the music scene in the mid-1970s, and no one quite knew what to make out of this strange man with the big glasses and funny stage name. At one point he was labeled Punk, and another New Wave. But, Elvis Costello (born Declan Patrick MacManus) was never easily buttonholed into any category. About the only thing you can say is that he is Elvis Costello.

This album is Elvis Costello's twentieth, and came out in 2002. It contains fifteen tunes carrying that great Elvis Costello sound, which is sure to please his fans - well, it sure did me. Overall, I think that this is a great album, and an excellent addition to anyone's music library. I highly recommend it.

2 out of 5 stars Elvis Is Dead.......2006-04-08

It pains me to say that Declan McManus (his real name) no longer has the chops to fill an album with hits. Sure, he can still write great lyrics, but this album is sadly lacking in melodies. Without the foundation of hummable tunes, the music collapses. I think Costello deserved to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, but I was disappointed...ARRGHH!!!

4 out of 5 stars Will The REAL Elvis C. Please Stand Up?.......2006-03-18

Hey, wait a minute; I remember this guy. Didn't he sing that song about "Alison"? And something about radio and wanting to bite the hand that feeds him? Yeah, that's the guy, and he's back. Again. When I Was Cruel marks the return of the songwriting aggro-monster, the biting, bitter, irreverent caricature who went into hiding since his last flirtation with straightforward, punk-influenced rock and roll on "Blood and Chocolate." In the previous decade, that album was hailed as Elvis' return to form. Naturally enough, most critics agree that this album is the same thing.
Well, sort of. That is true if you feel that Elvis has stretched himself beyond his limits in the past decade or so, and has tinkered with musical forms where he had no business treading. According to sales figures, that argument holds some weight. Most contemporary fans did not pick up on Elvis' venture away from contemporary pop, and his older fans had little use for an ex-punk who fancied himself a classical artist, or a Brill Building songwriter, or a creator of movie soundtracks. As for me, I was glad to see an artist chomping at the bit, one who was willing to ignore commercial boundaries and strike out on his own. Even if he failed, it was a relief from the parade of product that has been dribbled out by most of his contemporaries. For this reason, I see When I Was Cruel more as a creation of something entirely new rather than a deliberately retro maneuver.
The old Elvis dies hard, so a few characteristics remain steadfast. The wordplay is as clever and bitterly wrought as ever, but it seems strangely less organized than usual, as if he's tossing off syllables with little regard to the meter of the melody. One listen to "Episode of Blonde" should amply demonstrate this haphazard trait. The record also features the Attractions, less bassist Bruce Thomas, who has been ably replaced by Davey Faragher, a change that has made little overall impact. Even a few retro keyboard sounds flavor the album, sounds that could hardly be pulled off credibly by anyone else except Steve Nieve while in the employ of Elvis Costello. Costello's guitar playing is as startlingly rough-edged and percussive as ever, too.
No, the changes herein are subtler. Unlike the old Elvis, the new Elvis seems capable of letting a line sit as it is. He doesn't belabor his language with wordy puns, itching to make a phrase `clever clever', which is to say, so deliberately wrought that it spoils the spontaneity of the witticism. "45" turns around the titles reference to a year, a gun caliber, and a 7" record, but it also might refer to what will soon become a classic song from his prestigious catalog of compositions, not because of the clever wordplay, but because of the power imbued in the melody. "When I Was Cruel" is an observer's take on an obscenely wrong wedding, but leaves you to guess if the narrator is the perpetrator or the victim. The old Elvis would have had some difficulty leaving that alone, I'd venture to guess. "Tart" and "Alibi" turn on the title word, in a manner that is only too obvious but still quite effective, if not simply because of the repetition that beats its way into your skull.
Maybe writing pop songs comes too easily to Mr. Costello. Maybe he spends so much energy pursuing non-commercial styles because he wants to challenge himself to write something outside of the box in which he normally thinks. As I said earlier, I find that to be admirable. The only problem with that is that he's so damn good at writing accessible pop songs, especially when he's consciously trying to do so. When I Was Cruel will certainly be appreciated by fans of the stereotyped Elvis, the Elvis of the angular-legs in oversized frames, but rest assured that this album simply is not This Year's Model.
A- Tom Ryan

3 out of 5 stars The parts are more than the whole for me.......2006-02-03

I agree to a point with the Amazon reviewer here: The album definitely IS a return to the sharp new-wave melodies that established Costello as a force to be reckoned with in the late 70's. The lyrics are still full of clever barbs ("Bass and treble heal every hurt/There's a rebel in a nylon shirt/But the words are a mystery, I've heard/'Til you turn it down to 33 and 1/3..") and musically Costello sounds modern. But in the end, I can't recall as many of these melodies after the disc ends as I do on his better work.

HIGHLIGHTS:
"45" uses the vinyl single as a metaphor for relationship troubles, while "Tear Off Your Own Head (It's A Doll Revolution)" lampoons the domineering housewife. ("You can pull and pinch him/'Till he cries and squeals/You can twist his body 'til it faces backwards/Those plastic features") A loop of Italian pop singer Mina lends the title track the feel of a James Bond movie theme song. "Tart" and "Alibi" are fairly catchy ditties.

LOWS:
"Dust No. 2" is a fairly pointless reprise of "Dust"...which isn't that memorable anyway.

BOTTOM LINE:
Costello fans will likely be split over this one. It HAS grown on me with time, but I doubt this will ever be one I place high in his canon.
Handel: The Masterworks (Box Set)
Average customer rating: Not rated
    Handel: The Masterworks (Box Set)

    Manufacturer: Brilliant Classics
    ProductGroup: Music
    Binding: Audio CD

    TriosTrios | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music
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    ASIN: B00062FLI8
    Release Date: 2004-11-30
    Complete Secular Songs (3cd)
    Average customer rating: Not rated
      Complete Secular Songs (3cd)

      Manufacturer: Hyperion UK
      ProductGroup: Music
      Binding: Audio CD

      Purcell, HenryPurcell, Henry | ( P ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music
      GeneralGeneral | Purcell, Henry | Composers | Baroque (c.1600-1750) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music
      GeneralGeneral | Baroque (c.1600-1750) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music
      GeneralGeneral | Early Music | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music
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      ASIN: B0000DJENT
      Release Date: 2004-01-13
      John Langstaff Sings Archival Folk Collection
      Average customer rating: Not rated
        John Langstaff Sings Archival Folk Collection

        Manufacturer: Revels Records
        ProductGroup: Music
        Binding: Audio CD

        All Works by BrittenAll Works by Britten | Britten, Sir Benjamin | ( B ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music
        Vaughan Williams, RalphVaughan Williams, Ralph | ( V ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music
        GeneralGeneral | Vaughan Williams, Ralph | Composers | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music
        GeneralGeneral | Renaissance (c.1450-1600) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music
        GeneralGeneral | Classical | Styles | Music
        GeneralGeneral | Folk | Styles | Music
        Traditional FolkTraditional Folk | Folk | Styles | Music
        Folk SongsFolk Songs | Songs & Lieder | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
        GeneralGeneral | Vocal Pop | Pop | Styles | Music
        ASIN: B00068CUQS
        Release Date: 2004-11-02

        Tracks:

        1. O Waly, Waly/The Water Is Wide, I Cannot Get O'er
        2. Carrion Crow
        3. All 'Round My Had I Will Wear a Green Willow
        4. Cruel Mother
        5. Farmer's Curst Wife
        6. Riddle Song/I Will Give My Love an Apple
        7. Lord Rendal
        8. Billy Boy
        9. Croodin' Doo
        10. John Barleycorn
        11. Lover's Tasks
        12. Green Wedding
        13. She's Like the Swallow
        14. John Riley

        Tracks:

        1. Bonnie Wee Thing
        2. Pretty Sally
        3. Two Brothers
        4. Teh Deaf Woman's Courtship
        5. At the Foot of Yonders Mountain
        6. Rich Old Lady
        7. There Was a Man in Our Town
        8. Baby Bunting
        9. When I Was a Little Boy
        10. Rosey Boy, Posey Boy
        11. Frog Went Courtin'
        12. Dn Lover
        13. Jockie to the Fair
        14. Pretty Sally

        Tracks:

        1. False Knight Upon the Road
        2. Little Turtle Dove
        3. Seventeen Come Sunday
        4. Sir Patrick Spens
        5. Blow Away the Morning Dew
        6. Trees They Do Grow High
        7. Crawfish Man's Street City
        8. She Moved Through the Fair
        9. Golden Vanity
        10. Rich Old Lady
        11. Nottamun Town
        12. John Barleycorn
        13. Jolly Ploughboy
        14. St. James Hospital
        15. Brisk Young Widow
        16. Six Dukes Went A-Fishing

        Tracks:

        1. Black Is the Color of My True Love's Hair
        2. Bingo
        3. I Wish I Was a Child Again
        4. Hares on the Mountain
        5. Two Magicians
        6. Trees They Do Grow High
        7. Lady Maisry
        8. Edward
        9. As I Walked Through the Meadows
        10. Lark in the Morn
        11. Gypsy Laddie
        12. Go and Tell Aunt Nancy
        13. Soldier, Soldier, Won't You Marry Me?
        14. Cripple Creek Girls
        15. Tottenham Toad
        16. Frog in the Well
        17. Dance to Your Daddy
        18. As I Was Going to Banbury
        19. Swapping Song
        20. Dashing Away With the Smoothing Iron
        21. O My Love, Will You Wear Red?
        22. Frog and the Mouse
        23. Cocky Robin
        24. What'll We Do With the Baby?
        25. Mocking Bird (Hush Up, Baby)
        26. Bye, Bye Baby
        27. Tiny Man
        28. Weekdays and Sundays
        29. Oh Jacky, Stand Still
        30. Turn Round, Turn Round
        31. Basket Full of Nuts
        32. Our Baby Prince
        33. All the Ducks
        34. Polly Perkin
        35. Follow the Leader
        36. Poor Doggie
        37. Baby's Song

        Album Description

        John Langstaff, now 83 years of age, is the founder and director emeritus of Revels, the non-profit performing arts company that produces Revels Records as well as 'The Christmas Revels' annual winter solstice celebrations in 12 cities across the country. This is the complete collection of Langstaff's disc, featuring all four acclaimed previously re-released CDs originally recorded in England. The recordings have been digitally re-mastered at London's famed Abbey Road Studios. Included are many traditional British and American folk songs and ballads, most with simple, art song settings. Legendary pianists Sir Gerald Moore, Sam Mason and John Powell, as well as guitarist Martin Best, are featured.
        When I Was Cruel
        Average customer rating: Not rated
          When I Was Cruel
          Elvis Costello
          Manufacturer: Universal/Mercury
          ProductGroup: Music
          Binding: Audio CD

          GeneralGeneral | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music
          Singer-SongwritersSinger-Songwriters | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music
          Singer-SongwritersSinger-Songwriters | Pop | Styles | Music
          Pop RockPop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music
          Adult AlternativeAdult Alternative | Pop | Styles | Music
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          1. North

          ASIN: B0000658YY
          Release Date: 2003-12-02

          Tracks:

          1. 45
          2. Spooky Girlfriend
          3. Tear Off Your Own Head (Its A Doll Revolution)
          4. When I Was Cruel No 2
          5. Soul For Hire
          6. 15 Petals
          7. Tart
          8. Dust 2
          9. Dissolve
          10. Alibi
          11. Dust
          12. Daddy Can I Turn This
          13. My Little Blue Window
          14. Oh Well
          15. Episode Of Blonde
          16. Radio Silence
          17. When I Was Cruel No 2 (Video)

          Album Description

          The first album of new material in over six years (not counting the Bacharach collaboration). 16 songs including the first single, 'Tear Off Your Own Head (It's a Doll Revolution)' & the UK bonus track, 'Oh Well' which is a lyrical collaboration with Q-Tip. This CD is also enhanced with a performance of 'When I Was Cruel No. 2' filmed live at the Q Awards 2001. 2002.
          Time Stands Still
          Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
          • A Timely Reminder
          Time Stands Still

          Manufacturer: Hyperion UK
          ProductGroup: Music
          Binding: Audio CD

          All Works by DowlandAll Works by Dowland | Dowland, John | ( D ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music
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          ASIN: B000002ZIN
          Release Date: 1993-09-01

          Tracks:

          1. His Golden Locks Time Hath To Silver Turned - John Dowland
          2. Though You Are Young And I Am Old
          3. Come, Cheerful Day
          4. Lost Is My Liberty - Anonymous
          5. It As A Time When Silly Bees Could Speak - John Dowland
          6. Go, Passions, To The Cruel Fair
          7. Far From Triumphing Court - John Dowland
          8. Now Each Creature
          9. Time, Cruel Time
          10. He Whose Desires Are Still Abroad
          11. Pavan
          12. Flow Not So Fast , Ye Fountains - John Dowland
          13. What Then Is Love But Mourning?
          14. Time Stands Still
          15. Gather Your Rosebuds
          16. Mignone Allons - Anonymous

          Customer Reviews:

          5 out of 5 stars A Timely Reminder.......2000-07-08

          This CD is at once a stunning example of vocal virtuosity; an amazing example of the intimacy of LIVE performace captured on a recording; a wonderfully ambient recording; an introduction to the glories of English Renaissance song; and a meditation on the passage of time, on the brevity and sweetness of life, and the spectral, though in some regards rewarding, inevitability of old age and death. As the "Editorial Review" above states, Kirkby's command of "subtle inflection of melody, imagination and taste in added embellishment, and sensitivity to nuance in both text and melody" are truly astounding. But this is too academic for such a powerfully emotional recording. Simply sit down with the text in hand (all the texts are contained in the CD booklet), and notice how Kirkby emphasizes a word here, or alters a musical phrase in a repeat, there. Her mastery of such musical "gimmicks," if you will, is unmatched. The effect is profound: the texts are brought alive. We can hear the melancholy and wistfulness of Dowland, the profound awareness of the deep meaning of the temporality of human existence couched in the formalisms of Elizabethan courtly language, and yet modern in an almost existentialist way. Feel the shiver up your spine, and recognize in this shiver the visceral, and yet not violent, confrontation with your own mortality. This is an album for the ages, and for all the ages of an individual, an album whose meaning reaches across the life-span.
          Beggar's Opera / Polly
          Average customer rating: 3 out of 5 stars
          • One stop on the road to immortality
          • Must Stop Ordering When Drinking - Or Maybe I Got Foxed
          Beggar's Opera / Polly
          Gay , and Austin
          Manufacturer: Symposium
          ProductGroup: Music
          Binding: Audio CD

          GeneralGeneral | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
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          1. John Gay - The Beggar's Opera / Jonathan Miller · John Eliot Gardiner · Roger Daltrey · English Baroque Soloists

          ASIN: B0000799KV
          Release Date: 2003-03-25

          Customer Reviews:

          5 out of 5 stars One stop on the road to immortality.......2006-11-19

          This is a more than competent CD transfer of acoustic recordings of Sir Nigel Playfair's legendary 1920s revivals of The Beggar's Opera and its sequel Polly. Quite sufficiemt to show why the Beggar;s Opera production, meant to fill a few weeks' gap at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, ran for three years. And while Gay's sequel was like most sequels, not up to the original, this recording is the only source for the second-best ballad opera.

          1 out of 5 stars Must Stop Ordering When Drinking - Or Maybe I Got Foxed.......2006-09-02

          Right. Can't remember what state of sobriety I was in when I ordered this cd and I may have missed some key clues about its nature. But I was so excited to find anything claiming to relate to Gay's "Polly" (which otherwise seems to have completely disappeared after it was censored in the 18th century - even internet wise) that I bought this cd. Turns out it is a cd version of some music originally recorded in the early 1920's. It is moderately interesting even for someone who is not primarily interested in antigue recordings (aka "scratchy records") because the style may be closer to that of the original performance. (There is no reason to think that common tastes were better in the 18th century than in 1920.) It is certainly different than contemporaneous performances of BO.

          Don't mean to be sexist - which I am - but the duets, choreses and male performances seem to be less antigue than the soprano pieces. The broads are simply squeaky. Something to do with frequency loss in early recordings, I expect. On the other hand, the bass songs are equally abrasive and archaic.

          Even the notes about "Polly" in this cd are disappointing. No mention of the history of "Polly", no mention of the source for the music. Try googling for a link for Gay and Polly. If you find one, be sure to post - I would love to know.

          Unless you are an academic involved with some of the most obscure corners of the history of recorded music, I would forget this one. Instead, root for someone to find and record Gay's Polly. And buy a more modern interpretation of the Beggar's Opera. I have certainly heard antique recordings restored more vibrantly than this cd - but I would think that depends to a large extent on the quality of what you have to start with.

          The only reason I gave it 2 stars (for some reason, Amazon refuses to record my change from 1 to 2 stars; but that is computers for you) instead of 1 was because of I love the melodies of the songs so much. But I will also admit that it is possible that Gay have been lucky that Polly was suppressed - the melodies and lyrics are not nearly as good as BO. On the other hand, this cd is so antique that is an unfair basis for judgment, But what the H!
          Handel - The Occasional Songs / Kirkby · C. Daniels · Nicholson
          Average customer rating: Not rated
            Handel - The Occasional Songs / Kirkby · C. Daniels · Nicholson
            George Frideric Handel , Paul Nicholson , Emma Kirkby , and Charles Daniels
            Manufacturer: Somm Recordings
            ProductGroup: Music
            Binding: Audio CD

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            ASIN: B00005LVXK
            Release Date: 2001-06-26
            When I Was Cruel
            Average customer rating: Not rated
              When I Was Cruel
              Elvis Costello
              Manufacturer: Umvd Import
              ProductGroup: Music
              Binding: Audio CD

              GeneralGeneral | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music
              Singer-SongwritersSinger-Songwriters | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music
              Singer-SongwritersSinger-Songwriters | Pop | Styles | Music
              Pop RockPop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music
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              ASIN: B00006LENF
              Release Date: 2003-01-07

              Tracks:

              1. 45
              2. Spooky Girlfriend
              3. Tear Off Your Own Head (It's a Doll Revolution)
              4. When I Was Cruel No. 2 [Multimedia Track]
              5. Soul for Hire
              6. 15 Petals
              7. Tart
              8. Dust 2...
              9. Dissolve
              10. Alibi
              11. ...Dust
              12. Daddy Can I Turn This?
              13. My Little Blue Window
              14. Oh Well
              15. Episode of Blonde
              16. Radio Silence

              Tracks:

              1. Smile
              2. When I Was Cruel [No1 Studio Version]
              3. 15 Petals [Live] - Elvis Costello,
              4. Spooky Girlfriend
              5. Honeyhouse [Cruel No. 2]
              6. Watching the Detectives/My Funny Valentine [Live Medley] - Elvis Costello, ,
              7. Dust [Live] - Elvis Costello,
              8. Uncomplicated [Live] - Elvis Costello,
              9. Smile 2

              Album Description

              Collector's edition of 2002 album includes the international bonus track, 'Oh Well' on the first disc & a bonus disc featuring nine tracks, 'Smile', 'When I Was Cruel', '15 Petals' (Live In Sydney), 'Spooky Girlfriend' (Live At KFOG), 'Honeyhouse (cruel no 2)', 'Watching The Detectives/My Funny Valentine' (Live In Tokyo), 'Dust' (Live In Melbourne), 'Uncomplicated' (Live In Tokyo) & 'Smile 2'. Mercury.

              Album Details

              Special Edition featuring a Nine Track Bonus Disc with Remixes, Live Versions of Classic Hits Like "Watching the Detectives" and Previously Unreleased Tracks Including the Japan Only Release Track "Smile".

              Music:

              1. Worlds of Love [Explicit Lyrics]
              2. You Stole The Sun From My Heart Pt.1 [CD-single] [Import]
              3. Ziggy Stardust [Import] [Live]
              4. .02
              5. 13
              6. 13 [Import]
              7. A Flashing of Knives and Green Water
              8. A Ruff Guide [Import]
              9. Acid Space
              10. All The Great Lakes

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              Rock Music rock-music-34

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