Rhino / Wea
1995
Kojak Variety (Bonus Disc)
About This Album
Elvis Costello recorded the 15 songs that comprised his covers album Kojak Variety in 1990, but the album sat in the vaults for five years, with some songs trickling out on soundtracks, with the entire album eventually leaking out as a bootleg prior to its release in 1995. Given this slow, steady crawl to release and the nature of bootlegs and B-sides, it's reasonable to assume from its slow unveiling that the album was a collection of covers that he recorded with different bands over different years, when quite the opposite was true -- all 15 songs were the cut with the same band, all sequestered away in Barbados. However, the bonus disc that accompanies Rhino's 2004 expanded, double-CD reissue of Kojak Variety is indeed a crazy quilt of covers, taken from different sessions recorded during the '90s. Many of these have been previously released, either as B-sides or more often as contributions to various-artists tribute albums (or, in the case of Dave Bartholomew's "That's How You Got Killed Before," Costello sang it for an album by the Dirty Dozen Brass Band). While these aren't exactly rare, it is nice to have them all collected in one place, but it's even nicer to have all of the "George Jones Tape" finally see the light of day.
Track List

Disc 1 (try tracks 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 and 11)

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Disc 2 (try tracks 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14 and 15)

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