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Elvis Costello & The Brodsky Quartet / The Juliet Letters

Limited edition purple vinyl

By Paul Sinclair

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17

Music On Vinyl’s Elvis Costello reissue campaign continues with a limited edition purple vinyl pressing of The Juliet Letters, his 1993 studio album written and recorded in collaboration with The Brodsky Quartet, a British string ensemble, from Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire.

The album’s concept focused on a series of imaginary letters being sent to an imaginary recipient, Juliet Capulet. It was recorded live in the studio with no overdubs and did surprisingly well in the UK album charts, peaking at number 18.

Chronologically, the album is positioned between 1991’s Mighty Like A Rose (reissued next month on gold-coloured vinyl) and 1994’s Brutal Youth. The Juliet Letters actually followed another non-pop offering, the 1991 soundtrack to Alan Bleasdale’s acclaimed political drama G.B.H., which was written with Richard Harvey.

Like most of Costello’s Warner output, this album was later issued as a 2CD set with bonus tracks. This MOV vinyl reissue is the original album only and is pressed on 180g purple coloured vinyl. They are all numbered and limited to 2500 units worldwide.

The Juliet Letters will be released on 5 August 2022, via Music On Vinyl. You can place your order via the SDE shop using this link or the button below.

EU SHIPPING NOTES: If you are ordering from the EU please be aware that that goods may be subject to import VAT when they arrive from the UK. The prices the SDE shop charge you do not include VAT.

Tracklisting

The Juliet Letters Elvis Costello and the Brodsky Quartet / Vinyl reissue

    • Side A
      1. Deliver Us 0:49
      2. For Other Eyes 2:55
      3. Swine 2:09
      4. Expert Rites 2:23
      5. Dead Letter 2:19
      6. I Almost Had A Weakness 3:53
      7. Why? 1:26
      8. Who Do You Think You Are? 3:29
      9. Taking My Life In Your Hands 3:20
      10. This Offer Is Unrepeatable 3:13
      11. Dear Sweet Filthy World 4:18
      12. The Letter Home
    • Side B
      1. Jacksons, Monk And Rowe 3:44
      2. This Sad Burlesque 2:47
      3. Romeo’s Seance 3:33
      4. I Thought I’d Write To Juliet 4:08
      5. Last Post 2:25
      6. The First To Leave 5:00
      7. Damnation’s Cellar 3:26
      8. The Birds Will Still Be Singing 4:27

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17 Comments

17 thoughts on “Elvis Costello & The Brodsky Quartet / The Juliet Letters”

  1. Saw Deep Dead Blue (guess which color) was up for pre-order as well for 2nd of september! Seems like they are coming fast.

  2. A general question for vinyl lovers – do you notice much degradation of quality on tracks towards the centre of an album. I think there is less than half the space for the same amount of information, compared with track one for example. A bit like reel to reel tape comparing 7 1/2 ips and 3 3/4 ips.

    1. If you set your turntable up correctly you shouldn’t hear this. It can be a thing though and I think it’s more of a distortion. I’ve got a reel to reel and the difference in 7. 1/2 and 3/12 is more like FM to AM than inner groove distortion.

      1. Yes, as you say it is meant to be a ‘thing’ though I’m surprised it isn’t more noticeable. The difference on my old reel to reel was very clear (or not!).

  3. I love the album. The initial CD I found a bit harsh-sounding. The typical early 90s “clear, but a bit thin”-mastering.
    Haven’t heard any of the reissues, so I don’t know if they sounded any better.
    This colour I really don’t like at all – it would look better perhaps if it was clear vinyl with a deep purple tint.
    I’m looking forward to the remaining reissues. “Brutal Youth” will certainly be red, “All This Useless Beauty” ( – my favourite – ) probably gold just like “Mighty Like A Rose”.

      1. I remembered there was a red one, but wasn’t sure if it belongs to the same reissue campaign or if there would be yet another new red one. It’s a bit confusing that they don’t release the reissues in the order of the original releases. The “Brutal Youth” reissue was quite a while ago and now they’re suddenly coming in pretty quick succession.
        So I hope “All This Useless Beauty” will come out soon – and I’m really interested in the colour choice.

    2. If someone is a big enough fan of the artist’s work to purchase these coloured-vinyl items, how could one have never bothered with the reissues with copious notes by the artist and unheard, ripe to be discovered and enjoyed bonus tracks?

  4. Does anyone have any recent information on the referred too, by Elvis, special edition of ‘Painted By Memory’. A very long time coming with it seems every album he has ever made having numerous reissues this seems to be always skirted around. There was a BBC broadcast of the Festival Hall concert which would be a good place to start.
    If you have never listened to it please do, an album in my all time top ten.

  7. Awesome!!!! I own the 2CD package from yester-year,but I’ll gladly grab it on Vinyl. Amazing to see this one get reissued, although Costello fans would probably prefer something like Mighty Like a Rose to get a release.

    1. Music On Vinyl already released all Elvis Costello Warner albums on vinyl 2013-15. This is their second run, this time on coloured vinyl (and, judging fromn Spike, with improved quality of the artwork). I don’t see any reason why they wouldn’t go on releasing all 7 of them again.

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