| All This Useless Beauty | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 14 May 1996 (1996-05-14) | |||
| Recorded | 1995–1996 | |||
| Length | 48:21 | |||
| Label | Warner Bros. | |||
| Producer | Geoff Emerick, Elvis Costello | |||
| Elvis Costello andthe Attractions chronology | ||||
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| Singles from All This Useless Beauty | ||||
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| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    [1] |
| Chicago Tribune | [2] |
| Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [3] |
| Entertainment Weekly | A−[4] |
| The Guardian | [5] |
| Los Angeles Times | [6] |
| NME | 7/10[7] |
| Pitchfork | 7.5/10[8] |
| Q | [9] |
| Rolling Stone | [10] |
| Uncut | [11] |
All This Useless Beauty is the seventeenth studio album by the English singer-songwriterElvis Costello, released in 1996 byWarner Bros. Records. It is his tenth and final album with his long-standing backing bandthe Attractions, and the last album he delivered under his contract to the Warner Bros. label, his contract expiring with a further compilation album,Extreme Honey. It peaked at number 28 on the UK album chart, and at number 53 on theBillboard 200.
In its original conception, the album was to be a two-disc set of songs written for other artists, entitledA Case for Song, with backing by a diverse array of musicians, influenced by his participation in the 1995Meltdown Festival.[12] Aspects of this concept survived to the final album, as four songs previously released by others made it to the final track listing: "The Other End of the Telescope", co-written withAimee Mann and originally recorded by'Til Tuesday; "You Bowed Down", recorded byRoger McGuinn; "All This Useless Beauty" and "I Want to Vanish", recorded byJune Tabor.[13] The title is a sarcastic reference to what Costello thought would be the fate of the album.[14]
Instead, Costello hired the Attractions, and recorded the songs atWindmill Lane Studios in Dublin andWestside Studios in London with production byGeoff Emerick and engineering by Jon Jacobs. "Complicated Shadows" had been intended forJohnny Cash, and "Why Can't A Man Stand Alone?" forSam Moore, but neither singer elected to record them.[15] Another of his collaborations withPaul McCartney appears, "Shallow Grave".
Unusually, six tracks were released as singles in either the United Kingdom or the United States; "It's Time", "Little Atoms", "The Other End of the Telescope", "Distorted Angel", "All This Useless Beauty" and "You Bowed Down". Four of these—"Little Atoms", "The Other End of the Telescope", "Distorted Angel", and "All This Useless Beauty"—were released the same month as part of a limited-time promotion campaign, with each single featuring covers of songs from the album by other artists, such asLush,Sleeper, andTricky.[16] Costello, who described the release as a "pop art project" where each single was deleted one week after its initial launch, explained:
It's like leaving trails everywhere. What it is it's fun. The danger of making a record, particularly one that reconsiders older material, is that it's too easy to define. Inside the easy definition, there's all this life, melodies, ideas, loads of things. There's a danger of putting music like this into a glass case, and I refuse to do that.[16]
"It's Time" charted at number 58 in the UK, while all of the four limited promotional releases but "Distorted Angel" reached the 90s on the UK charts. "You Bowed Down" reached number eight on theBillboard Adult Alternative Songs chart.
The album was released initially on compact disc, cassette & LP in 1996. As part of theRhino Records reissue campaign for Costello's back catalogue fromDemon/Columbia and Warners, it was re-released in 2001 with 17 additional tracks on abonus disc. Additional tracks continued the album's initial concept, tracks intended for recording by or in collaboration with other artists.[17] "The Days Take Care of Themselves" and "The Comedians" had been written forRoy Orbison, his recording of the latter appearing onMystery Girl, while "The Only Flame in Town" had been intended forAaron Neville. "The World's Great Optimist", another collaboration with Aimee Mann, appeared on herBachelor No. 2 album (as "The Fall of the World's Own Optimist"), andJohnny Cash recorded "Hidden Shame" onBoom Chicka Boom (1990).[17] This reissue is out of print, the album reissued again byUniversal Music Group after its acquisition of Costello's complete catalogue in 2006.
All tracks written by Elvis Costello, except where noted; track lengths taken from the 2001 Rhino reissue.
Tracks 4, 6, 7, and 9–16 are solodemo recordings.
The Attractions
Additional musicians
| Chart (1996) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums (ARIA)[18] | 98 |
| USBillboard 200[19] | 53 |
Single
| Year | Title | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | "It's Time" | UK Singles Chart[20] | 58 |
