Blood & Chocolate

Blood & Chocolate
Studio album by Elvis Costello and the Attractions
Released	15 September 1986
Recorded	March–May 1986
Genre	Alternative rock, hard rock, new wave
Length	47:48
Label	Demon (UK) Columbia (US) Rykodisc (5 September 1995 reissue) Rhino (19 February 2002 reissue) Hip-O (1 May 2007 reissue)
Producer	Nick Lowe and Colin Fairley link
Elvis Costello and the Attractions chronology
King of America (1986)King of America1986 Blood & Chocolate (1986) Out of Our Idiot (1987)Out of Our Idiot1987

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
Blender	[2]
Chicago Tribune	[3]
Entertainment Weekly	A−[4]
Q	[5]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[6]
Uncut	[7]
The Village Voice	A−[8]

Blood & Chocolate is the eleventh studio album by the British rock singer and songwriter Elvis Costello, released in the United Kingdom as Demon Records XFIEND 80, and in the United States as Columbia 40518. After his previous album King of America with producer T-Bone Burnett and different musicians, this album reunited him with producer Nick Lowe and his usual backing group the Attractions. It peaked at No. 16 on the UK Albums Chart, and No. 84 on the Billboard 200.^[9] The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.^[10]

Content

Six months after the Los Angeles sessions for King of America, Costello returned to the studio with the Attractions to work on the songs for this album.^[11] Recording at Olympic Studios in London, several songs were re-workings from those earlier L.A. sessions, including "Blue Chair", "I Hope You're Happy Now", and "American Without Tears No. 2". An outtake from these sessions, a cover of the 1959 hit by Little Willie John "Leave My Kitten Alone", had also been an outtake for the Beatles during the sessions for Beatles for Sale. Blood & Chocolate was recorded in a single large room at high volume, with the band listening to each other on monitor speakers and playing at stage volume, an unusual practice in the studio for its time.^[12] Costello reported the band's relationship as having 'soured', and after the album's completion and one more tour, Costello would not work again with the Attractions for another eight years until Brutal Youth.^[13]

As on his previous album, Costello uses three different names to credit himself: his given name of Declan MacManus; his stage name of Elvis Costello; and the nickname Napoleon Dynamite, his alter ego as master of ceremonies for the Attractions' spinning songbook tour.^[14] The name would later grace the title of the 2004 motion picture.

The tracks "Tokyo Storm Warning", "I Want You", and "Blue Chair" were all released as singles. The "Blue Chair" single was not the recording from the album, but an earlier one made with T-Bone Burnett during the King of America sessions with the Confederates band. "Tokyo Storm Warning" peaked at No. 73 on the UK Singles Chart but missed the Billboard Hot 100. The other two singles did not chart in either nation. Except for a compilation released in the UK, Out of Our Idiot, this album would be the final release on his Demon/Columbia contract, Costello signing with Warner Brothers for his next LP, Spike.

The album uses Esperanto to list musician credits and LP sides. The line in Tokyo Storm Warning "Japanese God-Jesus robots telling teenage fortunes" refers to a real toy made by Bandai.^[15] Elvis Costello created the cover of the album himself.

Release history

The album was released initially on vinyl in 1986, with the Rykodisc Records reissue arriving nine years later on a single CD with six bonus tracks, including the 1987 single version of "Blue Chair" recorded during the King of America sessions. A limited edition version of this release came with a bonus disc entitled An Overview Disc, consisting of an 80-minute interview with Peter Doggett, conducted on 21 July 1995, in which Costello and Doggett discuss his career and releases up to 1986. Five of the six Rykodisc bonus tracks, minus "A Town Called Nothing", along with ten others appeared as the second disc to the double-disc Rhino Records reissue in 2002. These reissues are out of print, the album was reissued again by Universal Music Group after its acquisition of Costello's complete catalogue in 2006.

Track listing

All tracks written by Declan MacManus (Elvis Costello) except as noted; track timings taken from Rhino 2002 reissue.

Side one

1. "Uncomplicated" – 3:28
2. "I Hope You're Happy Now" – 3:07
3. "Tokyo Storm Warning" (MacManus, Cait O'Riordan) – 6:25
4. "Home Is Anywhere You Hang Your Head" – 5:07
5. "I Want You" – 6:45

Side two

1. "Honey, Are You Straight or Are You Blind?" – 2:09
2. "Blue Chair" – 3:42
3. "Battered Old Bird" – 5:51
4. "Crimes of Paris" – 4:20
5. "Poor Napoleon" – 3:23
6. "Next Time Round" – 3:28

1995 bonus tracks

1. "Seven Day Weekend" (with Jimmy Cliff) (Costello, Cliff) – 2:39 released on the soundtrack to Club Paradise
2. "Forgive Her Anything" – 3:51 session outtake
3. "Blue Chair" – 3:41 single version
4. "Baby's Got a Brand New Hairdo" – 3:26 b-side to the "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" single
5. "American Without Tears No. 2" – 3:35 twilight version released as b-side to the "Blue Chair" single
6. "A Town Called Big Nothing (Really Big Nothing)" – 5:44 session outtake
7. "Return to Big Nothing" – 2:54 unlisted track

2002 bonus disc

Tracks 1–6 are session outtakes; tracks 11–15 are solo demo recordings.

1. "Leave My Kitten Alone" (Little Willie John, James McDougal, Titus Turner) – 3:24
2. "New Rhythm Method" – 2:30
3. "Forgive Her Anything" – 3:51 different take to the 1995 reissue version
4. "Crimes of Paris" – 4:38
5. "Uncomplicated" – 3:06
6. "Battered Old Bird" – 4:24
7. "Seven Day Weekend" (with Jimmy Cliff) (Costello, Cliff) – 2:39 released on the soundtrack to Club Paradise
8. "Blue Chair" – 3:41 single version
9. "Baby's Got a Brand New Hairdo" – 3:26 b-side to the "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" single
10. "American Without Tears No. 2" – 3:35 twilight version released as b-side to the "Blue Chair" single
11. "All These Things" (Allen Toussaint) – 3:04
12. "Pouring Water on a Drowning Man" (Drew Baker, Dani McCormick) – 2:35
13. "Running Out of Fools" (Richard Ahlert, Kay Rogers) – 2:35
14. "Tell Me Right Now" (Joe Tex) – 3:06
15. "Lonely Blue Boy" (Ben Weisman, Fred Wise) – 2:04

Personnel

• Elvis Costello – electric guitar, acoustic guitar, vocals, harmonium, tambourine, bellows, canes, knives, bass, Vox Continental electric organ
• Steve Nieve – piano, organ, harmonium
• Bruce Thomas – bass, electric guitar, saxophone
• Pete Thomas – drums, alto saxophone

Additional personnel

• Nick Lowe – acoustic guitar
• Cait O'Riordan – vocals on "Crimes of Paris" and "Poor Napoleon"
• Jimmy Cliff – vocals on "Seven Day Weekend"
• Mitchell Froom – organ on "Blue Chair" single version
• Tom "T-Bone" Wolk – electric guitar, bass on "Blue Chair" single version
• Mickey Curry – drums on "Blue Chair" single version

Cover versions

Los Lobos covered "Uncomplicated" on their 2004 EP Ride This.

The Art of Time Ensemble featuring (former Barenaked Ladies singer) Steven Page covered "I Want You" on their 2010 album A Singer Must Die.

Notes and references