Rhino / Wea
2002
Blood And Chocolate
About This Album
This is what most die-hard Elvis Costello fans -- or at least those who valued restraint in either their budget or shelf space -- were dreading when they heard that Rhino would be reissuing his entire Columbia catalog again, just a few years after Rykodisc had already released expanded editions of each album. That is, this expanded, double-disc version of Blood & Chocolate may have a full disc of 15 bonus tracks, but it leaves material behind that was on the Ryko edition. True, they aren't particularly great tracks -- a version of "Forgive Her Anything," which has been replaced by a new version that Costello calls superior in his liners (and it is), plus "A Town Called Big Nothing (Really Big Nothing)," which admittedly is a curiosity at best -- but it's the principle of the thing. Deluxe editions should be comprehensive, and it's not really fair to the legions of dedicated fans who need to own versions of every song to effectively force them to keep two versions of this album just so they can keep two lousy tracks. That said, this is probably the best bonus disc of all of the second set of Rhino reissues, with a wide range of strong B-sides (such as the terrific Jimmy Cliff duet, "Seven Day Weekend"), good unreleased songs, covers (a good version of "Pouring Water on a Drowning Man," another raving version of "Leave My Kitten Alone") and, best of all, alternate versions of songs that actually offer a different interpretation instead of a tentative first foot forward. Plus, there's enough different, new, and excellent here to make it worth a purchase for those who already have the Ryko (even the notes are different) -- it's just a shame that the other two tracks didn't carry over, especially since there's room for them. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
Track List

Disc 1 (try tracks 1,2,3,4,6,7,8,9,10 and 11)

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.

Disc 2 (try tracks 3,4,5,6,7,8,10 and 11)

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.