I've heard bits and pieces of the album, and I'm pretty much enraptured. Now that it's available in stores here, I'll have to run out and buy it. You can get a taste of the new CD at
www.elviscostello.com.
I understand your viewpoint, smudge, about the whole belonging thing. For me, of course, I find it very touching. And it reminded me of something from a few years ago. The first night Elvis opened for The Police during the last leg of Tourzilla was in Ottawa, the only Canadian stop for The Police with EC. When he came on stage, he shouted his usual "Good evening!", but then he said, "It's nice to be home!" That got a good cheer from the audience. Vancouver and Ottawa are two very different places with a great, huge country between them. To live in one place, and still call the other place home can only happen if you really do feel like you belong in this crazy, sprawling nation. Good for him! And lucky for Canada.
In Dallas, the only game that really mattered was in the word gamelan.