Behind the Album: ‘King of America,’ the Foundation of an Impressive New Elvis Costello Reissue

On the just-released King of America & Other Realms, Elvis Costello takes a novel approach to the task of reissuing a classic album. That makes sense because the album itself was a departure for Elvis, as he left behind both the rock thrust of his normal backing band and the poppy excursions he had attempted on his previous few records.

King of America, released in 1986, didn’t do great business, but it helped Costello find his artistic footing by recasting him in rootsy singer/songwriter mode. As the reissue shows, it also set the standard for future efforts wherein this British legend unabashedly embraced Americana sounds.

Costello at a Crossroads

Frustrated that the brilliance of his records with the Attractions in the late ’70s and early ’80s were producing diminishing commercial returns, Elvis Costello attempted to go in a pop direction. He hired hot producers Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley for the albums Punch the Clock (1983) and Goodbye Cruel World (1984), and almost immediately rued his new direction.

Costello has always been harsher on these records than their actual quality deserves, but it’s true his wordy songwriting seemed constricted within the sunny pop structures. In the aftermath of these records, he struck up a working relationship with producer T Bone Burnett. We now know Burnett as a producing legend, but at the time, he hadn’t amassed that many credits. He proved to be the ideal collaborator for Costello.

For one, he helped E.C. assemble an impressive array of guest musicians from all different locations and eras of music. Costello had already decided that he was only going to use the Attractions for a portion of the album. It was an early indication of the artistic restlessness that would continue throughout the remainder of his career.

Once Costello got rolling with the new musicians, ranging from legends like James Burton and Earl Palmer to sharp up-and-comers such as Mitchell Froom and David Hidalgo, he liked that they played in a way that put the spotlight on the lyrics. The Attractions ended up playing on just one track (“Suit of Lights”), in part because of Costello’s comfort with the new collaborators, and in part because relations with his longtime band had soured.

King of America failed to do much on radio, perhaps because Columbia Records, Costello’s U.S. label, chose his cover of “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” as a single even though his voice was largely in tatters when recording it. Nonetheless, the album helped restore Costello’s critical reputation, and his relationship with Burnett would be sustained on several other projects over the years.

Revisiting the Music of “King of America”

Costello wisely included several rabble-rousing uptempo tracks on King of America, which keep the album from dipping into too much of a ballad-heavy rut. He sounds completely at home on country-flavored rave-ups like “Lovable” and “Glitter Gulch” in a way he never quite managed on Almost Blue, his album of country covers with the Attractions.

With those songs acting as a palette-cleansers, King of America is free to deliver some of the finest slow ones of Costello’s career. The heartbreaking metaphors of “Indoor Fireworks,” the killer one-liners of “Brilliant Mistake,” the brilliant way he combines the storytelling of “American Without Tears” with his own personal turmoil—these are profoundly moving songs, rendered by the ace players in the tenderest fashion.

In terms of the reissue, you get a wonderful live performance from that era, and another disc of outtakes and demos. (Among those, believe us when we say that “Shoes Without Heels” is one of the best Costello songs you’ve never heard.) The final three discs are devoted to music Costello made years down the road; all of which is indebted to the approach he first took on King of America.

You won’t find any bumpy patches throughout the entirety of the “Other Realms” explored by this impressive reissue package. None of it would have been possible without King of America, the album where Elvis Costello found the musical home away from home to which he often would return.

Photo by Dave Hogan/Hulton Archive/Getty Images