Extreme Honey (Very Best of Warner Years)

Extreme Honey (The Very Best Of Warner Records Years) (1997) is a compilation album by Elvis Costello, spanning the years 1989–1997. This double album is a good way to become acquainted with Costello’s Nineties’ output. There are a number of hits and singles (“Veronica,” “So Like Candy,” “Sulky Girl,” “13 Steps Lead Down,” “The Other Side of Summer”), and additional album tracks from the same period.

There are a number of great moments here, whether it’s the lilting “The Birds Will Still Be Singing” from the underrated The Juliet Letters or the New Orleans- inflected “Deep Dark Truthful Mirror”. Extreme Honey also contains “My Dark Life”, Costello’s collaboration with Brian Eno (originally featured on The X-Files soundtrack), and the new track “The Bridge I Burned,” a neo-psychedelic/ trip-hop number constructed from backing tapes recorded with his son and Supergrass drummer Danny Goffey.