King of America

The album grew out of tours Costello made in 1984 and 1985 with T Bone Burnett as the Coward Brothers, Howard and Henry Coward. Trial sessions at the Sound Factory in January 1985 produced "The People's Limousine", a Coward Brothers single that July. Recording proper began in July 1985, straight after Costello played solo at Live Aid, at Ocean Way and Sunset Sound, with Larry Hirsch engineering.

The first band was James Burton, Jerry Scheff and Ron Tutt, who had played with Elvis Presley in the TCB Band. Ray Brown, Earl Palmer, Tom Canning and Mitchell Froom joined for a second set of sessions, and Jim Keltner, T-Bone Wolk and Mickey Curry played on individual songs. The American players were named the Confederates on the sleeve. About half the songs were finished in three days. The Attractions flew in from England in mid-August, about two-thirds of the way through, and played only on "Suit of Lights". Costello said the sessions with them were a disaster.

Columbia heard no single, so Costello cut Nina Simone's "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood", with Michael Blair adding marimba. It reached number 33 in the UK in January 1986. David Hidalgo of Los Lobos sings harmonies on "Lovable", which Costello wrote with Cait O'Riordan, and Jo-El Sonnier plays accordion on "American Without Tears". The sleeve credits the writing to Declan Patrick Aloysius MacManus and the playing to the Little Hands of Concrete. The UK edition was credited to the Costello Show featuring the Attractions and Confederates, and the North American edition to the Costello Show featuring Elvis Costello.

The album reached number 11 in the UK and 39 in the US, his first release since My Aim Is True to miss the UK top 10. It finished second in the 1986 Village Voice Pazz and Jop poll, behind Paul Simon's Graceland. Nick Kent of Melody Maker called it Costello's best work so far alongside Get Happy!!, and Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic later named it one of his masterpieces.