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King of America

King of America
Elvis Costello-King of America (album cover).jpg
Studio album by The Costello Show featuring the Attractions and Confederates
Released 21 February 1986
Recorded Ocean Way, Sunset Sound & Sound Factory Studio
Los Angeles, 1985-86
Genre Alternative rock, folk rock
Length 57:36
Label F-Beat (UK)
Columbia (US)
Demon (UK) (5 September 1995 Reissue)
Rykodisc (5 September 1995 Reissue)
Rhino (26 April 2005 Reissue)
Hip-O (1 May 2007 Reissue)
Producer J. Henry (T-Bone) Burnett, Declan MacManus a.k.a. (The Coward Brothers)
Elvis Costello chronology
The Best of Elvis Costello and The Attractions
(1985)
King of America
(1986)
Blood & Chocolate
(1986)
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic 4.5/5 stars
Blender 5/5 stars
Chicago Tribune 4/4 stars
Christgau's Record Guide A−
Entertainment Weekly A
Pitchfork Media 8.7/10
Q 5/5 stars
Rolling Stone 4/5 stars
The Rolling Stone Album Guide 5/5 stars
Uncut 4/5 stars

King of America is the tenth studio album by the British rock singer and songwriter Elvis Costello, released in 1986 in the United Kingdom as F-Beat ZL 70946, and in the United States as Columbia JC 40173. It was billed as by "The Costello Show featuring the Attractions and Confederates" in the UK and Europe and "The Costello Show featuring Elvis Costello" in North America. It peaked at #11 on the UK album chart, and at #39 on the Billboard 200.

During late 1984 and early 1985, Costello undertook a series of solo tours, sharing the bill with musician T-Bone Burnett. Costello and Burnett recorded a single together in early 1985, and ventured to imagine appropriate backing musicians for Costello's new songs. They booked time at Ocean Way and Sunset Sound studios in Los Angeles, and assembled members of the TCB Band who had backed Elvis Presley in the 1970s (Costello being more familiar with their work on records by Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris). Other sessions included the jazz bassist Ray Brown and New Orleans drummer Earl Palmer, and a group of musicians dubbed 'the Confederates,' featuring T-Bone Wolk, Mickey Curry, and producer Mitchell Froom. Elvis's usual backing musicians the Attractions appear on only one track, "Suit of Lights", but returned to record in full Costello's next album, Blood & Chocolate.


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