Elvis Costello, with guest T Bone Burnett as the Coward Brothers
Theater Carré
Amsterdam, Netherlands
25 November 1984


01. Stranger In The House
02. Girls Talk
03. The Invisible Man
04. Men Called Uncle
05. Green Shirt
06. The Only Flame In Town - slow version
07. Mouth Almighty
08. Shot With His Own Gun
09. Pills And Soap
10. Almost Blue
11. Charm School
12. Kid About It
13. Luxembourg
14. New Amsterdam
15. I Hope You're Happy Now
16. Worthless Thing
17. Little Triggers
18. Love Field
19. High Fidelity
20. End Of The Rainbow
21. Riot Act
22. Man Being Devoured By His Destiny
23. Having It All
24. Everyday I Write The Book - including Do You Want To Know A Secret
25. Image Of Me
26. (The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes
27. Suffering Face
28. Alison - including You Win Again and The Love You Save (May Be Your Own)
29. Ragged But Right - The Coward Brothers
30. Tennessee Blues - The Coward Brothers
31. Baby's In Black - The Coward Brothers
32. I Left My Heart In San Francisco - San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair) - The Coward Brothers
33. She Thinks I Still Care - The Coward Brothers
34. Matter Of Time - The Coward Brothers
35. Inch By Inch
36. I'll Make It All Up To You
37. A Smiling Shore
38. Shipbuilding
39. I Threw It All Away
40. Peace In Our Time


Elvis Costello
The Coward Brothers:
- Howard Coward (Elvis Costello)
- Henry Coward (T Bone Burnett)


Recorder: Unknown
Lineage: Unknown


Comments by area51GM:
---------------------
40 years on .....................................

Back to a more civilised concert with Elvis in a far better and amenable mood after the ugly aura at Geneva and he puts on an extended show compared to Geneva when the sense of wanting to clear off was apparent even though he hardly left them shirt changed considering the amount of heckling that occurred. So, to Amsterdam where the magnificent Carre Theatre hosted Elvis who kicked off with “Stranger In The House” as a surprise. After a few songs on acoustic guitar Elvis had often quipped that he’d like to introduce his special guest “Mr. Elvis Costello and his guitar army” but this time he went to introduce his special guest “Bruce Springsteen”! I hope not too many people were disappointed when The Boss failed to materialise. His first foray onto the keys gave “Shot With His Own Gun”, “Pills And Soap” and “Almost Blue” all songs which ordinarily (or extraordinarily) would feature exemplary playing by Steve Nieve but which somehow come across surprisingly well given the “limited, primitive kind of man” playing. Two lovely album tracks follow on guitar in “Charm School” and “Kid About It” the end of which has a tape flip and the following song “Luxembourg” has a glitch around the middle eight. There are further glitches in the next most obvious choice “New Amsterdam”. The switch to electric piano allows a studied reading of “Little Triggers” and “Love Field” which is more comfortably handled. There’s a nonsense piece of keyboard playing after “Riot Act” which has been dubbed “Man Devoured By His Own Destiny” but is really just the same piece my grandchildren play when let loose on our piano. Another one of Elvis’s gems is then played in “Having It All” which has a lovely tenderness to it and is another song he seems to have undervalued. I remember him describing it as being like the folk song “Scarlet Ribbons” but his lyrics and then gentle sentiments make it a very fine song which somehow seems to be under the radar for most surveys of his fine songwriting. “Suffering Face” is another of these and it’s a delight to hear this in this recording too. The Coward Brothers throw in an extra song in “A Matter Of Time” before Elvis comes back alone to wrap things up with 6 songs ending up with Dylan’s “I Threw It All Away” and his own “Peace In Our Time”.

This is somewhat strange as it appears to be a mix of audience recording and some tracks from the bootleg L.P. “Strangers In Amsterdam” but I cannot recall whether this is my compilation using two different sources or whether some other trader sent me this as their own composite.

Lineage: TDK normal cassette > Nakamichi DR3 (no Dolby) > Marantz DR6000 > EAC > Nero Platinum for track separation and pitch adjustment > TLH > FLAC


Update by JohnE on 01 Mar 2025:
Lineage: FLACs supplied by area51GM > Mp3tag (added tags). Added artwork.

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