13 Steps Lead Down

13 Steps Lead Down (1994) Elvis Costello

I bought most of the Rykodisc re-issues and a couple of the Rhino double disc re-issues- all with EC's liner notes, and I read a book about his music called Let Them All Talk, and still I don't know what he's singing about half the time. All the references and wordplay is lost on me.

Anyway, he's got a lot of good songs. In Greenfield, MA I found the CD single for 13 Steps Lead Down and it's got three cool B-sides:
"Puppet Girl"
"Basement Kiss", and
"We Despise You"

For some reason they're not included on the bonus disc of the Rhino re-release of Brutal Youth. It contains a few other B-sides but mostly it's different versions of the album tracks.

Still, I wanna buy it. I like that record. My only problem with it is the same problem I have with all the other EC records: I can't stand the piano and keyboards. Here, Steve Nieve flat-out wrecks songs like "This Is Hell" and "London's Brilliant Parade". I wish I could remix these songs and erase the keyboards. Oh well.