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Elvis Costello and the Roots Made a ‘Brilliant’ Album Together

elvis costello questlove roots album

First came the 2013 Roots Picnic lineup announcement, then the D’Angelo album news, and now the bombshell report that the band has finished recording a secret album with none other than Elvis Costello. The collaboration was probably sparked by Costello and ?uestlove’s joint love of Momofuku Ko while they shared an order of pork buns… or it all started after Elvis made three appearances on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, where the Roots serve as the house band.

“It was really love at first sight,” ?uestlove told Billboard. “The second time he came on, we surpassed the first one. So by the third time, he was like ‘Let’s stop messing around and do something together.'”

The Roots and Costello entered the studio and recorded roughly 20 songs, with the “tightest” fourteen cuts making the album. The LP still needs to be mixed, mastered, and named, but Questo did offer up, “I can just say that it is brilliant.” Still, he’s the same guy who just this week said that D’Angelo’s forever-in-the-works third album is 99% done, so who knows what to believe anymore.

Meanwhile, the Roots themselves are still at work with their next disc & Then You Shoot Your Cousin, due out later this year or early next.