A new collaborative album between the odd couple of Elvis Costello and The Roots is set to arrive next week (on 9/17) via Blue Note Records. Thanks to NPR, however, the entire record is streaming a week before release.
Thanks to the fine people at NPR, though, you can give the whole album a spin now, more than a week early. Stream the album here, and read some backstory regarding the pairing of Costello with Jimmy Fallon’s house band and hip-hop’s most heavily revered live act.
Fans of either artist will be fascinated to hear shades of Curtis Mayfield and Isaac Hayes, with Steven Mendel’s mixing prowess bringing the intricate details of musicianship to the forefront in full color. The Roots’ inventive funk is somehow a fine mixing flavor with the quirk of Costello, which has spanned genres and styles over several decades of performance and recording.
The pairing came to be as a result of Costello’s three appearances on Fallon’s show, where the band would accompany him on unique renditions of his own tracks. “Over the three appearances I made over as many years, we worked out a methodology for this record without even realizing we were doing it,” Mr. Costello says.
Photo: Danny Clinch
