Mighty Like a Rose

Track list

Disc 1

1. The Other Side Of Summer

   3:56 • Studio version

2. Hurry Down Doomsday (The Bugs Are Taking Over)

   4:06 • Studio version

3. How To Be Dumb

   5:14 • Studio version

4. All Grown Up

   4:18 • Studio version

5. Invasion Hit Parade

   5:34 • Studio version

6. Harpies Bizarre

   3:44 • Studio version

7. After The Fall

   4:36 • Studio version

8. Georgie And Her Rival

   3:38 • Studio version

9. So Like Candy

   Written by Paul McCartney, Declan MacManus / Elvis Costello

   4:37 • Studio version • A

   Marc Ribot : Electric guitar, Spanish guitar Elvis Costello : Acoustic rhythm guitar, Electric guitar, Producer, Vocals Mitchell Froom : Celeste, Chamberlain, Mellotron, Producer Jim Keltner : Drums Larry Knechtel : Tack piano Jerry Scheff : Bass T-Bone Wolk : Intro/outro bass figures Kevin Killen : Producer

   Recording : Late 1990 - early 1991 • Studio Ocean Way, Hollywood & Westside Studios, London

10. Interlude- Couldn't Call It Unexpected No. 2

    0:22 • Studio version

11. Playboy To A Man

    Written by Paul McCartney, Declan MacManus / Elvis Costello

    3:20 • Studio version • A

    Marc Ribot : Guitar section Elvis Costello : 12-string rickenbacker, Big stupid guitar, Cox organ, Producer, Vocals Mitchell Froom : "piano frenzy", Cox organ, Producer Jim Keltner : Drums Larry Knechtel : "piano frenzy", Upright piano Jerry Scheff : Bass Kevin Killen : Producer Benmont Tench : "piano frenzy"

    Recording : Late 1990 - early 1991 • Studio Ocean Way, Hollywood & Westside Studios, London

12. Sweet Pear

    3:37 • Studio version

13. Broken

    3:37 • Studio version

14. Couldn't Call It Unexpected No. 4

    3:49 • Studio version

From Wikipedia:

Mighty Like A Rose is the 13th studio album by the British rock singer and songwriter Elvis Costello, released in 1991 on compact disc as Warner Brothers 26575. The title is presumably a reference to the pop standard “Mighty Lak’ a Rose“, and although that song does not appear on the album, the words of its first stanza are quoted in the booklet of the 2002 reissue. It peaked at No. 5 on the UK Albums Chart, and at No. 55 on the Billboard 200.

Content

Originally this album was to be released under Costello’s actual name Declan MacManus, having grown tired of the Elvis Costello pseudonym. Record label pressures, however, won the day and it was released as an Elvis Costello record.

Mighty Like a Rose continues in the vein of Costello’s previous album Spike from 1989, although with Mitchell Froom taking over the producer’s chair from T-Bone Burnett. This time, the tracks were recorded in one location, Ocean Way in Hollywood, with orchestral and vocal overdubs taking place at Westside Studios in London. Two more songs from his collaboration with Paul McCartney appear, “Playboy to a Man” and a song selected as a single, “So Like Candy“.

Costello refers to this as an angry record, recorded in the aftermath of the Gulf War. The opening track, “The Other Side of Summer” was designed as a Beach Boys pastiche after their style in the early 1970s. The track “Invasion Hit Parade” features a trumpet solo by Costello’s father, Ross MacManus. The album also features a song written by his wife at the time, Cait O’Riordan, “Broken“. The album is dedicated to her.

The lead single, “The Other Side of Summer“, peaked at No. 43 on the UK Singles Chart. Although it missed the Billboard Hot 100 in the US, it reached No. 1 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart and No. 40 on the Album Rock Tracks chart. The second single, “So Like Candy“, did not chart in either nation.

Release history

The album was released initially on compact disc in 1991. As part of the Rhino Records reissue campaign for Costello’s back catalogue from Demon/Columbia and Warners, it was re-released in 2002 with 17 additional tracks on a bonus disc. Several of these were recorded at Costello’s home. […]

Going further

• http://www.elviscostello.info/wiki/index.php/Mighty_Like_A_Rose