Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink

By: Elvis Costello

Narrated by: Elvis Costello

The perfect gift for music lovers and Elvis Costello fans, telling the story behind Elvis Costello’s legendary career and his iconic, beloved songs.

Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink provides readers with a master’s catalogue of a lifetime of great music. Costello reveals the process behind writing and recording legendary albums like My Aim Is True, This Year’s Model, Armed Forces, Almost Blue, Imperial Bedroom, and King of America. He tells the detailed stories, experiences, and emotions behind such beloved songs as “Alison,” “Accidents Will Happen,” “Watching the Detectives,” “Oliver’s Army,” “Welcome to the Working Week,” “Radio Radio,” “Shipbuilding,” and “Veronica,” the last of which is one of a number of songs revealed to connect to the lives of the previous generations of his family.

Costello chronicles his musical apprenticeship, a child's view of his father Ross MacManus' career on radio and in the dancehall; his own initial almost comical steps in folk clubs and cellar dive before his first sessions for Stiff Record, the formation of the Attractions, and his frenetic and ultimately notorious third U.S. tour. He takes readers behind the scenes of Top of the Pops and Saturday Night Live, and his own show, Spectacle, on which he hosted artists such as Lou Reed, Elton John, Levon Helm, Jesse Winchester, Bruce Springsteen, and President Bill Clinton.

The idiosyncratic memoir of a singular man, Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink is destined to be a classic.

As it should be

What a wonderful wander through the life of Declan McManus. Charming and touching and in his own words.

Wonderfully candid, tender, comic

I’m a fan already, and this memoir only increases my respect for this man. He’s a very accomplished writer; introspective, self deprecating, illuminating, loving,hilarious (chapter about playing/touring with Dylan left me laughing to tears)

I wish I had the words

There is no way I can adequately articulate the way I am feeling about this audible version of Elvis Costello. I am only on Chapter 25 and look forward to listening on each leg of my commute to work. I have to first say that I he was never on my radar until recently and I wanted to learn about him first before jumping in to listen (and hopefully understand) his music. I hang on his every word and I am able to easily visualize everything he describes. I fear I will be sad when the book ends..

Amazing, rich, and riveting

EC's way with words is evident in his songs and no less so in this book. He weaves the story of his life, his musical accomplishments, and his personal life in his unique style. The audiobook is much richer than the printed book because he reads it himself, and he conveys meaning beyond words in his speaking voice the way his does in his singing.

Even longtime fans will come away impressed with the breadth and depth of his work, some of it virtually unknown in the mainstream of popular music. He tells with his many collaborations and tremendous respect and affection for artists in every corner of the music business. He writes of his roots, his family, his loves and misadventures.

This is a book that is well worth the time and effort of listening to rather than reading on the printed page. It is truly a spectacular memoir.

A Hit and Miss Bag of Memories

In my reader's journal I create seven word summaries for each book. For Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink (UMDI from here on) my seven word summary is "Subtract name-dropping and trivialities to find genius."

This book is about six great hours of entertainment "squeezed" into a nineteen hour package. I love, love, love Elvis Costello. And it was great to hear him read his own autobiography, but holy cow this book needed to go on a diet.

Let me get my griefing out of the way so I can say what I liked.

• The narrative is not delivered chronologically, so it's hard to follow if you don't already have a pretty solid grasp of the' timeline of both his life and career.

• He includes soooo many meaningless details, some of which are just simple name-drops (like he's afraid he'll offend some musician by not naming them), that your mind goes numb while you are waiting for the good part of the story. Sometimes there isn't one.

The good stuff. It's Elvis Costello and he's an amazing lyricist. When he gets around to telling a story behind one of his songs or (more often) a fragment of a lyric, it's pretty neat. Though he really likes wordplay and potential meaning more than true "aboutness" so a lot of times there is no literal connection between a story and a lyric, one just inspired/gave rise to the other.

Also, when he has an interesting story to tell about another musician (and he has worked with some huge names), those parts are great. Often though it is more of just a workman's account of hooking up with someone famous to cut an album in some random studio with musicians you might know from other groups. And you have no idea which kind of story it is until fifteen minutes into the tale.

Costello also has a ridiculously deep and broad knowledge of songs reaching back to the 30's, which I found interesting. I was constantly going to the internet and YouTube to look up/listen to references. That was both annoying and fulfilling.

In the end, this book is for musicians, people who can't get enough stories about musicians (good or bad), and for super die-hard Costello fans.

I can't say I regret listening entirely. After about 12 hours, though, I just let EC's cool voice wash over me, letting my attention wander in and out. I kind of wonder how much I will remember of this book. I expect flashes will come to me while I'm listening to EC songs and that's about it.