COSTELLO & NIEVE

LOS ANGELES — LIVE AT THE TROUBADOUR, MAY 14, 1996 (26:03)
  1. Temptation (3:48)
  2. Poor Fractured Atlas (4:58)
  3. I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself (3:27)
  4. It's Time (5:54)
  5. Man Out Of Time (4:53)
  6. Shallow Grave (2:54)
SAN FRANCISCO — LIVE AT THE FILLMORE, MAY 15, 1996 (27:35)
  1. Just About Glad (3:59)
  2. Why Can't A Man Stand Alone? (4:09)
  3. My Dark Life (7:13)
  4. All This Useless Beauty (5:57)
  5. Ship Of Fools (6:10)
CHICAGO — LIVE AT THE PARK WEST, MAY 18, 1996 (21:55)
  1. The Long Honeymoon (4:23)
  2. Starting To Come To Me (2:47)
  3. The Other End Of The Telescope (4:31)
  4. All The Rage (4:02)
  5. Watching The Detectives (6:08)
BOSTON — LIVE AT THE PARADISE, MAY 20, 1996 (25:57)
  1. You Bowed Down (4:54)
  2. The Long Honeymoon (4:46)
  3. Distorted Angel (4:45)
  4. The Angels Want To Wear My Red Shoes (2:49)
  5. Little Atoms (5:37)
  6. My Funny Valentine (3:01)
NEW YORK — LIVE AT THE SUPPER CLUB, MAY 22, 1996 (19:57)
  1. Black Sails In The Sunset (3:17)
  2. You'll Never Be A Man (3:16)
  3. Just A Memory (3:43)
  4. I Want To Vanish (3:21)
  5. Alison / Living A Little, Laughing A Little / Tracks Of My Tears / Tears Of A Clown / No More Tearstained Make-Up / Clowntime Is Over (6:16)
Elvis Costello and Steve Nieve's first tour as a duo was a short swing through the US designed to coincide with the release of All This Useless Beauty in May 1996. Five of these concerts were broadcast live on local radio stations. A few months later, Warner Bros. released five separate promo-only CDs with highlights (5 or 6 songs each) from these shows. Aside from the odd inclusion of two fairly similar versions of "The Long Honeymoon," the overall effect approximated a full-length concert.

The end of the year saw the commercial release of Costello & Nieve, a limited edition five-disc box set with different packaging but identical musical content. It was originally priced like a two-disc set, which made sense since only two hours of music were contained on the five CDs. However, with only 30,000 copies available worldwide, it sold out quickly, and the box sets are now considerably more expensive.

Although there can be little doubt that this material will be reissued in some form eventually, there have been no reports to indicate that Costello & Nieve is among Rhino's plans for the near future.

A hypothetical reissue could easily reconfigure the five discs into a more conventional two-disc release. There is also some possibility for expanding the set to include unreleased bonus material. Eight songs played at the five concerts went unrepresented on the original box set: "Complicated Shadows," "God Give Me Strength," "Accidents Will Happen," "Unwanted Number," "Pills And Soap," "Passionate Fight," "God's Comic," and "Oliver's Army." There were also additional songs played at Costello & Nieve's unbroadcast shows and assorted promotional appearances the same month, but it is unclear how many of them were professionally recorded beyond the VH1 Storytellers appearance (which included "Veronica," "Almost Blue," an abbreviated "Mistress And Maid," and an unbroadcast "Indoor Fireworks").

Three additional live performances from May 1996 are already commercially available: "All This Useless Beauty" on Live From 6A: Great Musical Moments From Late Night With Conan O'Brien, "Just A Memory" from VH1 Storytellers, and another "All This Useless Beauty," this one a solo performance, from Live From The Musical Hall Volume Three. (See the All This Useless Beauty page for details.) These performances could also be used as bonus material, although they would be a bit redundant when versions of both "All This Useless Beauty" and "Just A Memory" already appear on Costello & Nieve.


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