Flowers In the Dirt

[Kylenz]

Yeah, Looking for Changes would have sounded amazing(er) with Costello singing too. 

True!

Very good point, Macca tends to produce his albums in pairs, I think the same of 'Chaos' and 'Memory Almost Full' (even though one was a band album and the other he worked on by himself).

The only thing about Flowers for me where it lets itself down, is towards the end. 'How Many People', followed by 'Motor Of Love'. Not quite as bad as Side 2 of Pipes Of Peace but luckily it has a lot of quality stuff leading up to those last songs. His voice sounds shot on 'Figure of Eight' but it suits the song. I like the live version he does on 'Tripping The Live Fantastic'! 

[chris]

at this point in paulie's career, i think i had just about given up on him. the decade started okay for him. but then featured a bad album (pipes of peace) and possibly a worse movie (broadstreet). i wasn't sure we were going to get a quality album from him again. glad he surprised with this one. and it was a good one to tour too.

my only criique of this one is it sounded like it was produced in the 80's. some 80's things are perhaps not to be revisited. like the fashion. and mullets. sigh...still can't believe i sported a mullet on my wedding day. if i could bear the shame...i'd show you a pic.

[2 of 3]

I've mentioned this before but...many years ago I saw an interview with Elvis Costello where he said he was the original producer on Flowers In Dirt. When he was finished, Macca thought it sounded too "Hard" and did the whole album over again. What I want to hear is the "Elvis" produced version. I wonder if it will ever come out as a boot someday.

[mervap]

A Punky Paulie? That would be interesting at the very least!

[Kylenz]

Elvis's early takes with Paul were quite raw, I've got them on a bootleg called 'MoMac's Hidden Tracks'. I have an acoustic demo of My Brave Face from 1987 which is quite nice, but here's an early band version from 1988, quite frantic and I like the drumming style, it's a pity they didn't keep that same urgent vibe on the final take. It's a bit loose and disjointed though (they were obviously just having a laugh with it) - http://www.mediafire.com/?7z6a65u2bvgs8te

They also did a lot of great acoustic demos for the album, I like this early version of Don't Be Careless Love, it has shades of Little Lamb Dragonfly about it - http://www.mediafire.com/?fqqz2rg0gedfe5v - in many ways it's much better than the final studio version.

Just goes to show that sometimes albums can be too overproduced and the songs suffer for it. Much like that Lana Del Rey thread we've been discussing lately, sometimes you've got to strip it all back to let the songs shine.

[2 of 3]

Yeah Kyle, I have those tracks you mentioned. I'm wondering now if Elvis meant he produced the songs they wrote together, and not all of FITD. Either way.....WORK TOGETHER AGAIN DAMMMINT!!