the songs." Despite the fraught atmosphere, Costello stated the sessions progressed quickly and productively. The band limited the tracks to only one or two takes before moving on to the next. Over 25 songs were recorded during the sessions, although a good portion attempted were never in serious contention for inclusion on the album; many lacked vocals and were not mixed until Costello returned to England and entered a studio with Riley at a later date. At one point the band attempted Costello's original "Tears Before Bedtime", which Sherrill found non-country and disapproved of. In the final days, Sherrill identified the recordings of Jones' "Good Year for the Roses" (1970) and Don Gibson's "Sweet Dreams" (1955) as potential hits so he added strings by Tommy Millar and backing vocals by Nashville Edition at a later date. After mixing, Costello and the Attractions had to dinner with Johnny Cash and his family to celebrate the occasion. Composition In a departure from Costello's previous works, Almost Blue is composed of 12 country songs that all reflect a "blue" state of mind. In his review for Melody Maker, Allan Jones stated that the tracks are divided between "driving, shitkicking honky tonk tunes and exquisitely poignant ballads". Costello's troubled personal life at the time, including his failing marriage and alcoholism, were reflected in the song choices, particularly Haggard's "Tonight the Bottle Let Me Down", Rich's "Sittin' and Thinkin" and Jones' "Brown to Blue". Rolling Stone Will Hodge argued that other than the "amped-up" version of Williams' "Why Don't You Love Me (Like You Used to Do)?" that opens the album—which Costello himself later stated "sounded like Rockpile on amphetamines"—the album itself bears little resemblance to the artist's previous works. Author Mick St. Michael also added that the opening track does not represent the album as a whole, a statement supported by Costello, who said "the meat of the album is the ballads". Arrangement-wise, the songs are mostly straightforward renditions of their original counterparts, although Nieve devised new piano lines for "Brown to Blue" and "How Much I've Lied". Hinton feels his piano playing, in particular, stands out amongst the album. Costello also based some of the tracks off of other cover versions rather than the originals: having known of Patsy Cline's version of Gibson's "Sweet Dreams", Costello based his rendition on Tommy McLain's, while the arrangement for Big Joe Turner's "Honey Hush" (1953) was