The Roots and Elvis

[Stereophile]

<p><img class="story_image" src="http://www.stereophile.com/images/ElvisAhmir10_PhotoCredit_DannyClinch_0.jpg" /></p> It ain’t easy being 59 and living with the fact that what are arguably your best records are now 30 years old. Okay, <i>King of American</i> from `86 is another career highlight. Yet to his credit, Elvis Costello has, unlike many of his contemporaries, thankfully followed the Neil Young model of still giving a damn about being artistically relevant, no matter how much lucre he has stashed or how young his children are. He continues to explore ways to cover new artistic ground and find new modes of musical expression. He remains open to almost any idea, any new way to showcase his voice. This collaboration, an inspired pairing of Costello and ?uestlove, a pair of deep tracks music historians, seemed promising in the extreme. The resulting <i>Wise Up Ghost</i> is just that. Extremely promising, yet not entirely memorable. Hip Hop’s indefatigable big band, not to mention house band for Jimmy Fallon’s late night show, The Roots, (minus Black Thought) have here built beats and groove borrowings they play live around which Elvis sings. Not songwriting exactly, pieces like “Sugar Won’t Work,” with its fluttering violin intro and subsequent super funky bass line

[Source: http://www.stereophile.com/content/roots-and-elvis]