ANNE SOFIE VON OTTER Meets ELVIS COSTELLO - "For The Stars" - AUTOGRAPHED LP

$

30

AUTOGRAPHED BY ELVIS COSTELLO AND ANNE SOFIE VON OTTER! Limited Edition 2-LP / 4-side 12" vinyl edition of Elvis Costello and Anne Sofie Von Otter's "For the Stars."  Very Rare.  Unopened, never played.  Mint condition. Details (via amazon): Two renowned artists from musically different backgrounds come together for a truly unique album. Track listing includes "No Wonder," "Baby Plays Around," "Go Leave," "For No One," plus many more. At a time when popular music has been micro-marketed to the far side of ad nauseam, Declan MacManus, a.k.a. Elvis Costello, has traded on his reputation as the brightest songwriter to emerge from the new wave era to foster any number of delightful, cross-genre/generation musical surprises, including soundtracks and collaborations with the Brodsky Quartet, Paul McCartney, jazz artist Roy Nathanson, and songwriting legend Burt Bacharach. The latest fruit of that generous, insatiably curious artistic spirit is this elegant partnership with Swedish mezzo-soprano Anne-Sofie von Otter. Though an admitted pop novice, Otter couldn't have picked a better confederate than Costello, an artist whose taste in songs has seldom been tainted by trend.

Together, they weave material from disparate sources--including a slate of compelling Costello material, a pair of Brian Wilson's evocative "Pet Sounds" confessionals, a Tom Waits song from Francis Ford Coppola's One from the Heart (oddly, though effectively, coupled in medley with McCartney's "Junk"), an Abba song, and the Beatles' "For No One"--into a musical tapestry of stately power and grace. Costello sparingly uses his voice as seasoning throughout, though his masterful touch is everywhere. Otter's novice pop singing reveals an easy knack for jazz phrasing that should tempt further explorations and a warmth that belies the rigidity that's so often a byproduct of classical training. Most gratifying of all, this album ultimately achieves what's become one of the loftiest plateaus in Pop music: common ground. --Jerry McCulley

Track Listing:

Side 1

1)  No Wonder (3:37) (Elvis Costello)

2)  Baby Plays Around (3:13) (Cait O'Riordan, Declan MacManus)

3)  Go Leave (2:50) (Kate McGarrigle)

4)  Rope (3:57) (Elvis Costello, Fleshquartet)

5)  Don't Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder) (3:12) (Brian Wilson, Tony Asher)

Side 2

6)  Broken Bicycles/Junk (4:06) (Tom Waits/Paul McCartney)

7)  The Other Woman (3:36) (Jessie Mae Robinson)

8)  Like an Angel Passing Through My Room (5:03) (Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus)

9)  Green Song (4:38) (Elvis Costello, Svante Henryson)

Side 3

10) April After All (2:52) (Ron Sexsmith)

11) You Still Believe in Me (3:09) (Brian Wilson, Tony Asher)

12) I Want to Vanish (2:41) (Elvis Costello)

13) For No One (2:00) (John Lennon, Paul McCartney)

14) Shamed Into Love (3:47) (Declan MacManus, Rubén Blades)

Side 4

15) Just a Curio (4:18) (Elvis Costello, Fleshquartet)

16) This House Is Empty Now (4:39) (Burt Bacharach, Elvis Costello)

17) Take It With Me (3:17) (Kathleen Brennan, Tom Waits)

18) For the Stars (2:46) (Elvis Costello)