Elvis Costello Announces Massive ‘King of America’ Reissue With Unreleased Recordings

Shortly before U.S. citizens elect a president this fall, Elvis Costello fans will be able to return to the days when he was “King of America,” with a new six-CD super-deluxe set titled “King of America & Other Realms” that will focus not just on the classic album that gives it its name but a wealth of the material he has done in a related vein in the years since.

The 97-track collection spans the period from the demo and recording sessions for 1986’s “King of America” to a live version of “Brilliant Mistake” that was recorded earlier this year. It includes stops along the way to resurrect or unveil live and studio material associated with albums including “Spike,” “The Delivery Man,” his Allen Toussaint collaboration “The River in Reverse,” “Momofuku,” “Secret, Profane & Sugarcane,” “National Ransom” and “Look Now,” as well as the Dylan-related group project “Lost on the River: The New Basement Tapes.” The common thread in material drawn from the last four decades of work is that it was all recorded in America or done in a style that evokes Americana, much (but not all) of it done in conjunction with producer T Bone Burnett.

For anyone who might have wanted a sequel to Costello’s memoir of some years back, there is a king’s feast’s worth of printed material included in the set as well, with an essay written by the artist about the material, which runs to tens of thousands of words, taking up 35 pages of a 57-page booklet.

If fans are interested but won’t want to spring for the super-deluxe set, there will also be a slimmed down edition that includes the new 2024 remastered version of “King of America” on one CD and another disc filled with highlights from the larger collection. Universal Music’s UMe division will also be issuing 140-gram vinyl versions of the original LP in its remastered form, in basic black and also limited-edition gold.

Scroll down for the complete track listing for the six-CD deluxe edition. All the different versions and variations of the releases can be pre-ordered here.

In the 6-CD set, the first disc is devoted to the aforementioned remaster of “King,” followed by a Disc 2 that includes demos and outtakes from those sessions and what led up to them, including not just alternate versions or early starts of the songs that ended up on the album but also many that didn’t, like “Blue Chair” (which was eventually released in a very different form on “Blood and Chocolate”) and “Deportee” (which the press announcement notes was “brutalized and distorted” on “Goodbye Cruel World”). Some of Costello’s newly rediscovered demos are said to have radically different lyrics from the released versions.

Disc 3 is devoted to a complete live album recorded at the Royal Albert Hall on Jan. 27, 1987, with a band that included famous players James Burton, Jerry Scheff, Jim Keltner, Benmont Tench and T-Bone Wolk. The multi-track recordings include not just songs from the then-fresh “King of America” but also covers of outside classics associated with artists from Buddy Holly to Waylon Jennings to Ray Charles, including “Only Daddy That’ll Walk The Line,“ “It Tears Me Up,” “Sally Sue Brown,” “That’s How You Got Killed Before” and “True Love Ways.”

The remaining three discs cover Costello’s subsequent dives into the realm of Americana (a term he uses sparely, with some hesitation and explanation, in the enclosed essay). Among the previously unreleased tracks are three live cuts that were recorded just this year: “Indoor Fireworks (Memphis Magnetic Version),” “That’s Not The Part of Him You’re Leaving” with Larkin Poe and “Brilliant Mistake.” The latter is performed in what Costello describes as a new arrangement “over a habanera rhythm in a minor key to mark the dark passing of the years and our elusive hold on hope, taking a detour into the 1933 Harry Warren/Al Dubin song ‘Boulevard Of Broken Dreams,’ rather than just alluding to it in the lyric of the last verse.”

The assortment of tracks in the final three discs also includes such unreleased material as “Lost On The River #12” and “Quick Like a Flash” from the “Lost on the River” sessions (the album in which Costello and others set new music to unreleased Dylan lyrics) and “National Anthem” outtakes “Condemned Man” and “For More Tears.” Live tracks include a version of the Oscar-nominated “Cold Mountain” theme “The Scarlet Tide” done with Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings at the Grand Ole Opry. It also includes songs that have been previously released but never on a Costello album, like “April 5th,” his collaboration with Rosanne Cash and Kris Kristoffson, and the moving climax of the collection, a spectacular version of “That Day is Done” (a Paul McCartney co-write) that appeared only on an album by the Fairfield Four.

Many of the songs included among the 97 tracks here — from “Brilliant Mistake” to “That Day Is Done” — were included on Variety‘s recent ranking of Costello’s 70 best songs, published last month on the occasion of his 70th birthday.

The track listing for the deluxe edition of “King of America & Other Realms”:

previously unreleased
** first-ever audio release
DISC 1 – KING OF AMERICA (2024 REMASTER)

Brilliant Mistake
Lovable
Our Little Angel
Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood
Glitter Gulch
Indoor Fireworks
Little Palaces
I’ll Wear It Proudly
American Without Tears
Eisenhower Blues
Poisoned Rose
The Big Light
Jack Of All Parades
Suit Of Lights
Sleep Of The Just

DISC 2 – LE ROI SANS SABOTS
Demos, Outtakes & Other Realm
The People’s Limousine – The Coward Brothers
Next Time Round *
Deportee *
Brilliant Mistake (First Draft) *
Suffering Face
Poisoned Rose
Jack Of All Parades
Sleep Of The Just *
Blue Chair *
I Hope You’re Happy Now
I’ll Wear It Proudly
Indoor Fireworks
Having It All
Shoes Without Heels *
King Of Confidence
They’ll Never Take Her Love From Me – The Coward Brothers
American Without Tears No. 2 (Twilight Version)

DISC 3 – KINGS OF AMERICA LIVE AT THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL
Royal Albert Hall 27th January 19
The Big Light *
Only Daddy That’ll Walk The Line *
Our Little Angel *
It Tears Me Up *
I’ll Wear It Proudly *
Lovable *
Riverboat *
Sally Sue Brown/36-22-36 *
American Without Tears *
Brilliant Mistake *
What Would I Do Without You *
Your Mind Is On Vacation /Your Funeral, My Trial *
Pouring Water On A Drowning Man *
Payday *
That’s How You Got Killed Before *
Sleep Of The Just *
True Love Ways *

DISC 4 – IL PRINCIPE DI NEW ORLEANS E LE MARCHESE DEL MISSISSIPPI
There’s A Story In Your Voice – with Lucinda Williams
Country Darkness
The Delivery Man
Nothing Clings Like Ivy
Heart Shaped Bruise – with Emmylou Harris (Live At The Hi-Tone, Memphis) **
Bedlam (Live At Montreal Jazz) **
Either Side Of The Same Town
Wonder Woman
In Another Room
The Monkey * – Rehearsal with Dave Bartholomew & The Dirty Dozen Brass Band
Monkey To Man
Deep Dark Truthful Mirror
Clown Strike (Live At Montreal Jazz) **
Who’s Gonna Help Brother Get Further?
The River In Reverse
The Greatest Love – from Treme *
Ascension Day

DISC 5 – EL PRÍNCIPE DEL PURGATORIO
Stations Of The Cross
Quick Like A Flash (Previously Unreleased) *
Sulphur To Sugarcane
Red Cotton
Lost On The River #12
A Slow Drag With Josephine
I Felt The Chill
Complicated Shadows (Cashbox Version)
She’s Pulling Out The Pin
Condemned Man (Demo) *
Hidden Shame
Red Wicked Wine – with Dr. Ralph Stanley
The Scarlet Tide – with Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welch & David Rawlings (Live at the Grand Ole Opry) *
One Bell Ringing
Bullets For The New Born King
All These Strangers
For More Tears (Demo) *
You Hung The Moon

DISC 6 – DER HERZOG DES RAMPENLICHT
Stella Hurt
Mr. Feathers
Under Lime
Jimmie Standing In The Rain
Down Among The Wines And Spirits
Dr. Watson, I Presume
Church Underground (Demo) *
A Voice In The Dark
April 5th – with Rosanne Cash & Kris Kristofferson
Indoor Fireworks (Memphis Magnetic Version) *
That’s Not The Part Of Him You’re Leaving – with Larkin Poe *
Brilliant Mistake/Boulevard Of Broken Dreams (Cape Fear Version) *
That Day Is Done – with The Fairfield Four

The track list for the condensed two-CD edition:

CD 1 – KING OF AMERICA (2024 REMASTER)

Brilliant Mistake
Lovable
Our Little Angel
Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood
Glitter Gulch
Indoor Fireworks
Little Palaces
I’ll Wear It Proudly
American Without Tears
Eisenhower Blues
Poisoned Rose
The Big Light
Jack Of All Parades
Suit Of Lights
Sleep Of The Just

CD 2 – SELECTIONS FROM THE OTHER REALMS (BEST OF THE BOX SET)

Only Daddy That’ll Walk The Line – Live *
There’s a Story In Your Voice – with Lucinda Williams
American Without Tears – Live *
Jimmie Standing In The Rain
Indoor Fireworks – Live *
Suffering Face – Demo
In Another Room
Wonder Woman
Riverboat – Live *
Sulphur To Sugarcane
Country Darkness
April 5th – with Rosanne Cash & Kris Kristofferson
The People’s Limousine – The Coward Brothers
Live in London, UK, Royal Albert Hall / January 27, 1987