Kojak Variety

Kojak Variety is an album by English musician Elvis Costello, released in 1995 through Warner Bros. Records. It is composed of cover songs written by others. In 2004, Rhino Records reissued an expanded, double-CD version of the album, containing a bonus disc.

Background
Costello said in the liner notes this was a "record of some of my favourite songs performed with some of my favourite musicians." but that he didn't want to record songs that were too familiar. Costello had searched independent record shops: Potter's Music in Richmond, Probe in Liverpool, Rock On in Camden Town, and many American thrift stores and pawn shops to discover albums that he previously had only known from singles or compilations. Costello said he made his best discoveries in what he called "the greatest record collecting store in the world", Village Music in Mill Valley, California.

The first song recorded for the album was "Running Out of Fools", while the last was a new rendering of "Days" by The Kinks, which he had previously recorded for the album soundtrack album Until the End of the World, for the Wim Wenders' film of the same name. The title Kojak Variety refers to the name of a variety store in Barbados near where the album was recorded; Costello was amused by the seemingly random name of the enterprise, and in a similar spirit, decided to apply the name to his album.

Track listing

 * Tracks 1 and 5 have slightly longer running times and later fade-outs on the 2004 reissue.

Personnel

 * Elvis Costello – vocals, harmonica
 * James Burton – acoustic guitar, electric guitar, rhythm guitar
 * Jim Keltner – drums
 * Larry Knechtel – piano, Hammond organ, electric piano
 * Marc Ribot – banjo, electric guitar, rhythm guitar, horn, classical guitar
 * Jerry Scheff – bass
 * Pete Thomas – drums