This American Life #336: Who Can You Save?
Description below is from the “This American Life” website at these links:

http://www.thislife.org/

http://www.thislife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?sched=1196

Stories about the pitfalls of trying to do the right thing.

Some Special Notes

This episode features a story from what is arguably the most groundbreaking new show in public radio: Radio Lab, from New York Public Radio. If you haven’t heard it, everything they’ve done is available as free downloads from their website.

Also, in Act Two, Ira interviews a retired diplomat, Kiki Munshi, about testimony she gave to Congress about Provincial Reconstruction Teams in Iraq. You can read her testimony, and The Atlantic ran a story that goes into more detail about Kiki’s experience heading up a PRT.

And Brady Udall, who tells the story in Act Three, also wrote one of the most popular pieces of fiction we’ve ever run: “Otis Is Resurrected,” from our episode In Dog We Trust.

This one is a must have for ALL Elvis Costello Fans.

This one tends to get overlooked because it was released in England under a different name as, “Ten Bloody Marys & Ten How’s Your Fathers” which was initially a UK cassette-only release. Original cassette copies were made of gold plastic and came in a gold case.

“Taking Liberties” sometimes doesn’t even appear on Elvis Costello Discography lists, like at his “official home page” http://www.elviscostello.com/ but it does at the more complete http://www.elviscostello.info/disc/album_index.php

And although this is a 1980 release, most of the songs feel much earlier or more RAW than his previous albums.

Just get it, you’ll like it.

My best friend, who recently died, sent me a copy of this back in about 1995 and it really did “change my life.”

I had heard “Ambiance” style music at clubs before, but I had never had my own, this CD change all that, sending into a mad search for another Ambiance CD that was this good. I never found one.

If you like Ambiance, this is a “must have”

This is a classic.