For years, I've been a huge Elvis Costello fan, gaining a huge appreciation for him since I picked up his When I Was Cruel album in April 2002 on a whim - I hadn't even heard any of his stuff before then, but sort of figured he was the kind of musician I should be listening to - and I think it's really reached it's apex with the re-release of King Of America this past Tuesday.
I'm not sure Elvis has really been all that appreciated, at least in the mainstream. I haven't really seen his name mentioned all that much around here, which leads me to believe that not a lot of people have heard of him or figured he's just some kind of angsty, whiney punk rocker (he's not - far from it). His first three albums started off that way, but he's expanded very much musically after that, while still retaining his acerbic wit and cutting lyrics, and he's delved into Stax, Motown, country, pop, soul - pretty much whatever he wants to do, he does and pulls it off amazingly.
I could really go on, and probably devote pages upon pages of Elvis Costello - the original Napoleon Dynamite, apparently - but that's what this thread is for, to get all the closet EC fanboys out there and helping me explain why Elvis Costello is so great.
Please make note of the title of this thread - APPRECIATION THREAD. If you don't like Elvis Costello, or haven't heard of him but want to post some oh-so-funny off-topic stuff, do so elsewhere.
I've only got a couple of compilation albums (The Best of Elvis Costello & The Attractions and The Best of the Warner Brothers Years), but I do like a lot of his songs.