what this lacks in being "revolutionary" it makes up for in being a damn great tracklisting -- i'm working on a costello mix myself, though of the complete opposite type -- his best known songs with some great album tracks thrown in for good measure, as an intro for a friend of mine. anyhow, once again, top job

Great mix cobbling together a lot of personal faves from the classic years. Elvis is pretty much impossible to do justice to, given the wealth of material (particularly considering the various b-sides/outtakes on multiple reissues) and divergent styles; I tried it myself with a 2-cd collection (here and here) and was only partially satisfied.
I do have to say that the games the lables play with his back catalog are getting frustrating. Ryko did a great job on the first go-round of reissues, with terrific sound and healthy bonus tracks. But then Rhino upped the ante with even more bonus tracks, raising the issue of just how many times you want to plunk down your cash for the same albums just to snag a few more inessential demos. And now I guess it's happening another time, right? Talk about abusing the consumer. Personally, I'd be much happier if they'd just stick all the rarities together and stick them together in one place so you don't need to repeatedly invest in the original album.

A fine exercise. It's always nice to see a posting from you....

Oh, and I want to back up what Pop Kulcher said below. If what you're writing is true and those CDs are being reissued for the *fourth* time, I absolutely, positively refuse to fork over money for them. I honestly think the Ryko versions were just dandy and am actually kind of pissed at myself for investing in the Rhino issues.

Hey folks. The new Hip-o reissues of the Costello catalogue are completely useless for those who have purchased either the Rykos or Rhinos. They contain absolutely no bonus tracks, no liner notes from Costello and less artwork than the previous releases. The mastering is identical to the Rhinos (done by Dan Hersch at Digiprep).