Rhino / Wea
2005
King Of America (Bonus Disc)
About This Album
Unlike the other installments of Rhino's ongoing Elvis Costello expanded reissue series -- started in the summer of 2001 and only now coming to an end in the spring of 2005 -- King of America is not released as part of a set of three albums. It is released on its own, reportedly because the album is Costello's personal favorite and so he and Rhino wanted to spotlight it via a stand-alone release. That makes a certain amount of sense, but bear in mind, there is only one other album in his 1977-1996 catalog that has yet to be reissued in this campaign and that is his 1993 collaboration with the Brodsky Quartet, The Juliet Letters, which isn't exactly his most beloved album, and wouldn't have made a good companion to King of America, which certainly is among his best-regarded and most-loved albums. Fittingly, King of America has been given a generous 21-song bonus disc, a lengthy new set of liner notes from Costello, and in a series first, a slightly altered cover shot (the black-and-white photo of Costello in a crown, which was once sepia-toned, now has shades of color, so his cheeks are now a rosy red and there's gold highlights on the crown). Of these 21 songs, 11 appeared on the 1995 Rykodisc/Demon reissue -- the two sides of the Coward Brothers single ("The People's Limousine," "They'll Never Take Her Love From Me"), the demo "Suffering Face," the outtakes "Shoes Without Heels" and "King of Confidence," plus a covers-heavy set of six live tunes that was initially released as a bonus disc in 1995 -- leaving ten new songs.
Track List

Disc 1 (try tracks 6,9,11,12,13,14 and 15)

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Disc 2 (try tracks 5 and 12)

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