A little over a week until my first ex-Beatle concert, and I'm thinking about the songs that I'd really like to hear at the show. In the past, I've had good luck a few times with this kind of wishful thinking: Dylan doing probably my favourite of his tunes (it certainly was at the time, anyway), "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" early in a concert a few years back and Lindsey Buckingham doing "Trouble" second in a very memorable set at the Metropolis in 2007 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXTr3e0VPNc). Anyway, among the great McCartney tunes from his solo years, I'd really like to hear "Rock Show" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_UtHHS8xWM) and this one, which was co-written with Elvis Costello, if I'm not mistaken: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h85OGkCaKIg. And of course, anything from Chaos and Creation in the Backyard, which is up there with his greatest stuff in my opinion. I'll post some more requests in the days ahead, including a list of my favourite McCartney tunes from the Beatles.

I read a revealing comment recently in an article about Elvis Costello in the November 8, 2010 New Yorker. His long-time producer/associate T-Bone Burnett said something along the lines of Costello having the ability to "knock off an album in an afternoon". And while I don't like to get negative in this blog, and despite the fact that in my younger years I was a very big Elvis Costello fan, I feel that the remark may explain a great deal about something that has troubled me for a while: why a recording artist's early albums often outshine later ones. This is not the case for Costello only, by the way; the same could be said about other important artists, including the Rolling Stones and David Bowie. And I don't want to extrapolate too much from the comment - Burnett said he could do it, not that he did. All that being said, here was the moment of realization: The only thing that makes music sound good (and last) is work. Without it, all the skill in the world just sounds like going through the motions.

David Ackles, the singer-songwriter from Rock Island, Illinois, made four albums in his short but artistically successful career. Like the Velvet Underground, albeit in a different genre, he had more influence on other artists than sales. Two of the singer-songwriters that are indebted to him, Elton John and Elvis Costello, got a chance to say thanks and to sing one of his songs on Costello's Spectacle in 2008. That song, "Down River" is a very great one that features a lyric with a one-sided and rueful conversation between the narrator and a character named Rosie, whose contributions to the dialogue have to be inferred. The chorus reveals that the title is a beautiful metaphor for things gone by. The song's introduction is also masterful, as a seemingly slightly out-of-tune piano plays a figure based on the overtone series (the natural extra pitches that are heard above a note), then, when Ackles' educated vocal begins, the piano suddenly sounds strong and resonant (as does the voice). It is very interesting to compare the song with Costello's "Alison" and John's "Your Song" (co-written with the lyricist Bernie Taupin, who produced Ackles' third album American Gothic from 1972), because so many of the elements that they contain are also found in the Ackles masterpiece. They (Costello and John) were right; Ackles was indeed a major influence on them. Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iBb5EXi8h0&feature=related

Among his many qualities, Elvis Costello has great taste in music. In fact, this attribute is not talked about enough when discussing musicians - how serious listening and discernment are important in building the other skills. Anyway, he once stated that in his opinion the three greatest American rock bands (I don't remember the order, or if he gave one) were Steely Dan, The Band and Little Feat. I've written about the first two several times, but I don't believe I've mentioned Little Feat yet. I'll correct that tomorrow.

Trying to determine the complexity of a song by counting the number of chords it contains is a mistake. For example, you sometimes hear people complain about "three-chord rock" and so on. First, it's important to remember that chords are resting places and not starting points. Therefore all music will tend to gravitate towards a small number of chords - often three, because all seven notes of a scale can be harmonized in that manner. Second, chords can be used in all kinds of ways - they can provide energy (dissonance) or rest (consonance). "Beyond Belief", the opening track on Elvis Costello's brilliant Imperial Bedroom album from 1982, is an example of both of these points. Check it out.