Elvis Costello x The Roots - "Walk Us Uptown" official video
Elvis Costello and Questlove crank up the hand-powered record player for the "Walk Us Uptown" official video (or official lyric video? or maybe both)--the first release off Elvis' collaborative LP with The Rootson Blue Note. Quiet as kept we here at Okayplayer got to hear a private soundcloud of this track some days ago but this is the first time we can express to the world how amped we are about it--and what it bodes for the whole album, titled Wise Up Ghost. Questlove channels that ill break from the Electric Company pinball animation while Elvis seems to be momentarily possessed by the spirit of The Clash when his voice cracks on the hook of the incredibly tuff vocal--suggesting the titular ghost in question might just be the ghost of the mighty Joe Strummer. It's all held together by a punky rocksteady-meets-James Brown-meets-big band groove that highlights the power of the Legendary at their best, right on down to the extra bombast provided by Tuba Gooding, Jr.
Click play below and prepare to get officially psyched for this record to drop on September 17th (>>>pre-order here: bit.ly/WiseUpG (via Amazon). I would just like to add that as I played this through for the first time a fire truck let off with its siren right outside my window, just at the perfect moment of breakdown circa 2:35. I had to press pause to verify whether it was part of the track and that tells you a lot about the urgency of the sound that's happening on here. It's also the only way to hear it the first time, so I recommend you locate a fire or a riot going on and position yourself safley on the fringes before you indulge--just make sure you got your red flag. And your blue flag too.
