Bad Elvis
Elvis Costello is Evil himself.
*He stole the name from the the Good Elvis
*He can't sing.
*He has not composed one good song.
*He snatched Diana Krall.
*He has totally ruined and vandalised others' good songs:
-"Good year for the roses" by George Jones
-"On your way down" by Little Feat/Allen Toussaint
-"London Calling" by the Clash.

I would've picked some different songs
This CD lacks three of my favorite songs: "New Amsterdam," "Green Shirt," and "Big Sister's Clothes." How could they leave out the song with Elvis's greatest (of many great) lines:

"She said that she was working for the ABC News.
It was as much of the alphabet as she knew how to use."

On the other hand, the CD includes tracks that I'm not excited about: "Pump It Up," "Oliver's Army," "Almost Blue," "Good Year for the Roses," and "I Want You." Well, each of us has different preferences. Of the 22 songs I agree with 80% of the choices, so I'll give this 4 stars. Also I couldn't download the bonus material (a vintage interview, from 1981).

A Casual Fan Semi-Review...
Being a fan,but not a fanatic of Elvis,I came across this new collection of hits from him and thought it was a great time to buy. I had purchased an old hits of his from the 80's, on cassette.Of course,I know the standard hits.Alison,Pump It Up,Accident's Will Happen and my fave, What's So Funny...,among a couple of others. Noticed a whole bunch of songs I wasn't familiar with and look forward to hearing them,when I receive this new set.Of late,I am digging deeper into many classic artists I listen to.Elvis fits into that. For that reason,I am giving this collection,4 stars.For the songs I know. After listening to the others,perhaps I can raise it to 5 stars.

"The Only Elvis That Matters" Done Justice
In my opinion, this is the best single-disc Elvis Costello compilation anyone has ever released. In fact, it may even be the best introduction to E.C. out there (He's so stylistically diverse that no single album is an effective introduction, and both of the more extensive collections - "Girls Girls Girls" on Columbia and "The Very Best of Elvis Costello" on Rhino - would probably be overwhelming to someone unfamiliar with the majority of his work). Also, the collection "Rock and Roll Music," as is evident in the title, ignores his non-"Rock and Roll" songs.

But this disc finally gets it right. There was a "The Very Best of Elvis Costello & the Attractions" single-disc issued on Rykodisc in 1994 that came close, but as good as that disc was, this collection makes three substitutions that are actually improvements: "(The Angels Want to Wear My) Red Shoes," "New Lace Sleeves," and "Almost Blue" replace "Watch Your Step," "New Amsterdam," and "Love Field."

Not only are the substitutions slightly better songs in my opinion, they also paint a more complete picture of Elvis Costello as an artist and writer. Especially "Red Shoes" - if you'd only heard the ballad "Alison" and the reggae-influenced "Watching the Detectives" from his debut album, you'd have no idea what to expect from the rest of the CD, but "Red Shoes" really sets the tone for the rest of that disc (and it's just an amazing song). Some people complain that these songs have been repackaged too many times, but I have a hard time arguing with the final result.

The remastering of this collection sounds as good as the Rhino remasters (which managed to be a slight improvement over the already great-sounding Rykodisc versions), and I really don't understand why some people complain about the sound (but I never owned any of the vinyl records, so maybe I am missing something). Still, the sound is the best that I've heard on CD, and in terms of song selection, this is a near-perfect set. For some, this will be all the Elvis Costello they ever need. For others, it will be the beginning of a long journey into the career of one of the best, most insightful and most interesting singer-songwriters in popular music. Either way, it's hard to go wrong with this collection.

Same Old Music in Yet Another New Sleeve
Now that thirty years has passed since his debut, it is apparent to me that Elvis Costello has a lot more in common with his namesake than a singing career. Case in point - Almost immediately upon his arrival at RCA, Elvis Presley's recordings were packaged with little regard to the consumer, and then re-packaged so relentlessly that nobody except the most dedicated, wealthy, and mentally unbalanced collector could possibly hope to amass all of Presley's catalog. With blithe regularity, RCA executives would abuse their position as the historic caretakers of a rock and roll legend by digging deeper and deeper into obscurities, then packaging them with recycled classic recordings. Very, very little was genuinely `new' except the package itself. These collections are innumerable, and I pity the poor soul who suffers the disease of being a completist collector, because it can cost you your bank account, your house, and maybe even your marriage, all in the pursuit of owning all that is Elvis.
It now appears as though the same type of abuse has befallen the recorded works of Elvis Costello. I should know. I was one of those `mentally unbalanced' individuals who felt the need to own every Elvis Costello item released on the marketplace. In the beginning, it was kind of fun. Costello had numerous singles with non-LP b-sides, and plenty of `alternate' versions to keep fans quite busy. I was a part of that vinyl junkie set, a cult of obsessed lunatics who lived to find the rarest single, or an alternate package. After three years and hundreds of dollars spent, I remember feeling betrayed when Columbia issued "Taking Liberties," a collection of Elvis' rare b-sides. In an instant, one five-dollar album made twenty rarities commonplace. Nevertheless, I soldiered on; buying 10" collector's singles, alternate mixes, and all sorts of oddities. Then, the CD era began, and it started to happen all over again. Elvis changed labels (from Columbia to Warner Brothers), and his catalog albums were subjected to not one, not two, but three separate repackagings, each of them containing unique `rarities' that could be obtained nowhere else. A dedicated collector would require four versions of each Elvis Costello album. At this point, I finally surrendered, but I already spent enough to finance a Hawaiian vacation for some record executive and his family of four. Nowadays I simply stand by, amazed as the repackaging craze continues unabated. By my count, the above named collections represent the 10th and 11th re-compilation of Elvis Costello's `hits'. I'm not saying they are bad collections. The booklets contain song lyrics, which is a nice touch, especially for the older material. Naturally, the songs are great and I should know, because I bought each of these tracks at least a half-dozen times already. If you still don't own them, then go ahead and buy them. You will enjoy them. I, however, will stare at my room full of Elvis-related plastic and acknowledge the reason that I never made that trip to Hawaii myself.
B+ Tom Ryan