Elvis Costello is a Grammy award-winning musician whose career spans almost four decades. A prolific singer-songwriter, Costello has released several critically-acclaimed albums, and in 2003 was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
"Some of the best writing – funny, strange, spiteful, anguished –
we’ve ever had from an important musician.” –Dwight Garner,
The New York Times
“The book is fantastic - maybe the best about music by a musician
that I've read.... The stuff about the collaborations alone -
McCartney, Burt Bacharach, Allen Toussaint, the Roots, the Brodsky
Quartet - is riveting.” –Nick Hornby
“In a world littered with uneven (and largely ghosted) celebrity
memoirs, “Disappearing Ink” is a beautifully written revelation.
Dare I blaspheme by declaring I liked it even more than the
excellent memoirs produced by Bob Dylan and Keith Richards?
Costello embraces the basic qualities of good storytelling: the use
of detail, tension and humor....The book is also a gold mine for
Costello obsessives who have spent decades dissecting and analyzing
his every lyrical zinger. But it’s not just for fans, more
“Angela’s Ashes” than Motley Crue’s “The Dirt.” “Unfaithful Music”
is a lyrical tale that stretches across generations, geography and
a century of popular song. The book serves as both a musical and
personal anthropology.“ –Geoff Edgers, The Washington Post
"Often brilliant and wholly idiosyncratic." –David Ulin, Los
Angeles Times
”[Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink] is refreshingly free of
salacious gossip and needless name-dropping; it's an intelligent
self-assessment from a musician who went from angry young man to
elder statesman of pop… It's an unexpected memoir from a musician
whose creativity and brilliance changed pop rock
forever.” —Michael Schaub, NPR
“Revelatory, evocatively crafted, [and] highly entertaining.”
–David Fricke, Rolling Stone
“A winningly droll and good-natured guide to his life and many
works throughout.” –Entertainment Weekly
“Punctuated with sardonic and self-aware truths.” –Pitchfork
"Just like his music, Unfaithful Music constantly defies
expectations and the simple pleasures of faraway days. Written in a
clipped, biting style, the book reads like Costello's greatest
songs, equally lyrical and hard to pin down. It's a constantly
illuminating, perpetually idiosyncratic read, fitting for a
musician whose entire life has been one long reinvention…. For 670
brilliant pages, we're allowed to tag along with one of the greats,
witnessing the unchanging beauty of a man who refuses to settle
down on his quest of musical self-exploration—and we're all better
off for it. " –Chicago Reader
“Vivid….It's not surprising that one of rock's most literate
songwriters would pen such a deep, free-form memoir.” –Houston
Chronicle
“Elvis Costello delivers an impeccably detailed autobiography. He’s
often as brilliant at turning a phrase in prose as he is in his
lyrics.” –Paste Magazine
“Enthralling…. This is family history as musical encyclopedia, and
to listen to Costello recount his life is to be buttonholed by an
enthusiastic fan. Fandom for Costello is inseparable from the
compulsion to write songs and, it seems, to understand his own
life…. Fortunately for the fan of Costello’s music the topic of
discussion is often his own songs, and he is, unsurprisingly, a
witty and eloquent guide.” —Paul Grimstad, New Republic
“Long one of music's wittiest, smartest, and most perceptive
lyricists, Costello has done his legacy proud with his new book,
which, thankfully, goes far beyond his angry-young-man days, most
movingly in its frequent reminiscences about the relationship
between the singer and his musician father.” —New York
Magazine
“[Costello] pens books with the same clever writing that he uses in
song.” —Kathy Flanigan, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
“Costello[‘s] book is capacious, clever, and full of heart and
soul.” —Dan DeLuca, Philadelphia Inquirer
“The story unfolds like a movie that jumps across time, more
thematic than chronological, as boyhood anecdotes and obsessions
intersect with mature songs and adult reckoning…. The book doubles
as a selective mini-history of 20th century music, as told by a
discerning guide. He addresses artists both towering (Bob Dylan,
Joni Mitchell, Johnny Cash) and relatively unheralded (David
Ackles, Robert Wyatt) with a fan's affection and music scholar's
insight.” –Greg Kot, Chicago Tribune
"With an encyclopedic knowledge and appreciation for, and deep love
of, music, and with an expressive power and heart, Costello’s
memoir will take its place in the highest echelons of the genre."
--Library Journal (starred review)
“This is a big book, literally, by one of the best rockers in the
business. Given the singular, and eclectic, nature of his career,
it is no surprise that Elvis Costello’s anecdotal autobiography is
an idiosyncratic journey through his music and the people and
places that have inspired him…A must for Costello fans everywhere.”
--Booklist (starred review)
“Costello’s prose cuts with the same spiky wit and observational
power as his well-known lyrics…packed with great lines, vivid
anecdotes…a treat for his many fans.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Plenty of tales to keep the pages turning. Readers will be
fascinated by Costello’s stories…his book feels like a discussion
between friends over a pint.” —Publishers Weekly
"Costello is one the greatest writers of the 20th Century. It's
funny, observant and clear of purpose." --Times
"By turns lachrymose, self-flagellating and impassioned.
Unsurprisingly, it is beautifully written. It is also often
extraordinarily moving." --Dan Cairns, Sunday Times
"Written elliptically, episodically beautiful ... this man's
knowledge is breath-taking." --Observer
"Every page exudes his deep love and knowledge of modern music."
--The Guardian
"His witty, word-playing voice transmits loud and clear....there
are smart snapshots of vanished worlds...all his sins and virtues
are displayed in this stylish, astute book." Victoria
Segal, Sunday Times
"A truly weighty rock memoir ... There's plenty of insight into his
art here, a smattering of gossip, a wealth of pop-cultural
knowledge, and just enough self-flagellation to keep things
interesting." --NME
"A series of wryly comic tales that surely deserve the full Penguin
Classic treatment randomly afford Morrissey." --GQ
"One of the finest musical biographies I have ever read ... an
engrossing and rewarding read." Keith Bruce, The Herald
"It really is stunning. Hugely illuminating, fiercely passionate,
funny, moving and beautifully written." --Mark Billingham
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