Elvis Costello Spectacle (Sundance)
There was a show on TRIO called MUSICIANS about 4/5 years ago. It was probably the best show ever for music fans of the singer/songwriter variety. They had a guy like James Lipton (seriously) who interviewed a group every week about their songs, lives, etc. Throughout the hour, the group would get on stage and run through an acoustic set of their big hits and favorite deep cuts. I think it ran a year or so and - well, we all know what happened to Trio. In case you don't, the entire channel got canceled. It was probably my favorite non-network channel of all time.
For more info on TRIO, go here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trio_(TV_network)
(for some reason, the page makes no mention of MUSICIANS. In fact, I have not been able to find any info on that show since it aired. Too bad someone hasn't put together a DVD of the performances or the episodes.)
This brings me to the newly svelte Elvis Costello's SPECTACLE. I guess because this show reminds me a lot of that other show I used to love.
This is in that same category. Not only does Elvis have guests who talk about their music and run through some hits and covers, but Elvis Costello himself is one of my top 5 artists of all time. So not only do you get these artists doing great versions of their own songs in an acoustic setting (the POLICE episode had amazing stuff in it) but you also get the bands doing covers of Elvis songs, Elvis doing their songs, and at least every episode has an Elvis tune sung by the man himself.
Last season was great - an hour with Elton John, The Police, James Taylor, Elvis doing "Carpetbaggers" with She and Him....great stuff indeed. But last year the guests sometimes were a bit too eclectic, and the song choices a bit too obscure. Don't get me wrong. I loved it last season, but this season Elvis has hit the show out of the park.
He's had U2, an incredible episode where the man himself was interviewed by Mary Louise Parker and ran though insanely good versions of his own songs like "Town Cryer," "Brilliant Mistake," "I Threw It All Away," and "So Like Candy." Those are some of the best deep cuts Elvis has. Then when I thought he couldn't top that - well, he didn't. He brought on Lyle Lovett and put the world to sleep.
But the following week he had on Bruce Springsteen who not only proved a great interview (Bruce is a very tough interview but this really worked because of Elvis' brand of asking the questions that music fans want to hear) but ran through an acoustic set that included a beautiful version of "Wild Billy Circus Story," "The River," and "New York City Serenade." Elvis did an amazing version of "She's The One."
Part 2 airs next week.
It's a shame Elvis claims this is the last season. I would've like this to go on forever. I would've liked to see The Eels, a retrospective on Elliot Smith, Prince, Billy Joel...I can't believe he's ending it.
The Springsteen wrap up is tonight I believe and that's it. But a job well done and as far as musicians and their music, it doesn't get much better than this.
SPECTACLE: A +
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