Blood & Chocolate

Six months after the Los Angeles sessions for King of America, Costello returned to the studio with the Attractions to work on the songs for this album.[10] Costello reported the band's relationship as having "soured", and after the album's completion and one more tour, Costello would not work again with the Attractions for another eight years, until Brutal Youth.[11] Costello explained, "It was recorded just over six months after the Hollywood sessions for King of America. The Attractions' sole contribution to that album, 'Suit of Lights,' had been made during our least successful and most bad-tempered days in the studio. The air of suspicion and resentment still lingered as King of America was released and we entered Olympic Studios, London, to make what proved to be our last record together for eight years."[12]

Recording at Olympic Studios in London, several songs were re-workings from those earlier L.A. sessions, including "Blue Chair", "I Hope You're Happy Now", and "American Without Tears No. 2". An outtake from these sessions, a cover of the 1959 hit by Little Willie John "Leave My Kitten Alone", had also been an outtake for the Beatles during the sessions for Beatles for Sale.

Blood & Chocolate was recorded in a single large room at high volume, with the band listening to each other on monitor speakers and playing at stage volume, an unusual practice in the studio for its time.[13] As Costello recalled, "Nick Lowe was producing us for the first time in five years and, together with engineer Colin Fairley, agreed to an approach that would get the music recorded before the band and I fell out completely. Olympic's control room still contained some of the Bakelite switches and other arcane features left over from the days when it had hosted sessions by Jimi Hendrix and The Rolling Stones. The live room was big enough for a full orchestra, so we filled it with our live monitor system and played at something approaching stage volume. Although it is commonly thought that high volume in the studio creates an uncontrollable sonic picture, this approach seemed to suit the material entirely."[12]

As on his previous album, Costello uses three different names to credit himself: his given name of Declan MacManus; his stage name of Elvis Costello; and the nickname Napoleon Dynamite, his alter ego as master of ceremonies for the Attractions' spinning songbook tour.[14] The name "Napoleon Dynamite" would later be used for a 2004 cult film by Jared Hess, who denies that the title was inspired by Blood & Chocolate.

The album uses Esperanto to list musician credits and LP sides. The line in Tokyo Storm Warning "Japanese God-Jesus robots telling teenage fortunes" refers to a real toy made by Bandai.[15] Elvis Costello created the cover of the album himself.

The album was released initially on vinyl, CD and cassette in 1986, with a reissue, courtesy of Rykodisc Records in the U.S. and Demon Records in the U.K., arriving nine years later with six bonus tracks, including the 1987 single version of "Blue Chair" recorded during the King of America sessions. A 10,000-copy limited-edition version of this release came with a bonus disc entitled An Overview Disc, consisting of a 78-minute interview with Peter Doggett, conducted on 21 July 1995, in which Costello and Doggett discuss his career and releases up to 1986. Five of the six Rykodisc bonus tracks, minus "A Town Called Big Nothing", along with ten others, appeared as the second disc to the double-disc Rhino Records reissue in 2002. These reissues are out of print; the album was reissued again by Universal Music Group after its acquisition of Costello's complete catalogue in 2006.

The tracks "Tokyo Storm Warning", "I Want You", and "Blue Chair" were all released as singles. The "Blue Chair" single was not the recording from the album, but an earlier one made with T-Bone Burnett during the King of America sessions with the Confederates band. "Tokyo Storm Warning" peaked at No. 73 on the UK Singles Chart but missed the Billboard Hot 100. The other two singles did not chart in either nation. Except for a compilation released in the UK, Out of Our Idiot, this album would be the final release on his Demon/Columbia contract, Costello signing with Warner Brothers for his next LP, Spike.

The UK CD included an alternative mix of "Uncomplicated" which "lacks the anvil sound after the 'horse that knows arithmetic' line and a guitar part from the guitar break near the end."[16] This version is also available on the CD-only release of Girls + Girls + Girls.

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
Blender	[17]
Chicago Tribune	[18]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[19]
Entertainment Weekly	A−[20]
Mojo	[21]
Q	[22]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[23]
Uncut	[24]
The Village Voice	A−[25]

In a 4 out-of 5 star AllMusic review, Stephen Thomas Erlewine lauded Blood & Chocolate as "lively" and "frequently compelling."[2]

Blood & Chocolate was graded A− by Armond White of Entertainment Weekly in 1991, and praised as a "blistering" and "wildly infectious" effort.[20]

All tracks written by Declan MacManus (Elvis Costello) except as noted; track timings taken from Rhino 2002 reissue.

• Elvis Costello – electric guitar, acoustic guitar, vocals, harmonium, tambourine, bellows, canes, knives, bass, Vox Continental electric organ
• Steve Nieve – piano, organ, harmonium
• Bruce Thomas – bass, electric guitar, saxophone
• Pete Thomas – drums, alto saxophone

Los Lobos covered "Uncomplicated" on their 2004 EP Ride This.

The Art of Time Ensemble featuring (former Barenaked Ladies singer) Steven Page covered "I Want You" on their 2010 album A Singer Must Die.

• Blood & Chocolate at Discogs (list of releases)