03.17.2017
WHEN PAUL MCCARTNEY TEAMED UP WITH ELVIS COSTELLO, THE BEATLE GOT BACK ON TRACK
The Washington Post: Geoff Edgers: March 16th 2017
The 1980s had not been going well for Paul McCartney. A series of commercial flops left even the artist taking stock. “It was time to prove something to myself,” McCartney said back then. That he did. “Flowers in the Dirt,” released in 1989, marked a rebirth.
But the most intriguing element of “Flowers” was shelved for decades. In 1987, McCartney had invited Elvis Costello to work with him. Four of their songs ended up on “Flowers,” but a few others never came out. And both McCartney and Costello agree that their nine initial demo recordings remain the best part of their collaboration. On March 24, those demos are being released as part of an elaborate, box-set reissue of “Flowers in the Dirt.”