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The ever-prolific and always unexpected Elvis Costello returns to the one-two combination that originally brought him to the top of the pops, as he re-unites with producer Nick Lowe and the ever-reliable Attractions — Bruce Thomas, Pete Thomas and Steve Nieve — for his 13th album in America, Blood & Chocolate. A simultaneous release in the U.S. and U.K., the album is also heralded in both countries by a new single therefrom, "Tokyo Storm Warning," a seven-minute track co-written by Declan Patrick Aloysius MacManus and Cait O'Riordan (of the Pogues), released here and abroad in a Part 1/Part 2 single format. As always, Elvis' flair for the unusual remains typically infallible.
1976: Unknown and unannounced, Elvis Costello walked into the offices of Stiff Records one day, struck up an instant rapport with Stiff's then-supremo Jake Riviera, was signed to the label immediately, and plans were made to launch him on a public that had been starved for talent too long. Yet it would be an understatement to say that the singer-songwriter's initial attempts at revitalizing a stale music scene were successful.
1977: Three arresting and imaginative singles were issued on Stiff in England, "Less Than Zero," "Alison" and "The Angels Wanna Wear My Red Shoes," followed by his debut LP, My Aim Is True, produced by Nick Lowe. It remained on the U.K. chart 12 weeks, reached the #14 spot, and was given an excited vote of approval by the media who, like his discerning record-buying audience, sensed a change in the air, a feeling that artists like Elvis were about to change drastically the then-current state of rock. His first gig was a solo spot supporting the Rumour at the Nashville in London; three months later at the same club, an estimated 700-plus people were locked out in a scene that London rock shows seldom enjoy.
The Attractions were formed in June, a trio with sufficient talent to interpret Elvis' rich musical imagination. He spent the remainder of the year on tour in England, most notably on the "Live Stiffs" all-stars package with Nick Lowe, Ian Dury and Wreckless Eric; while a fourth single, "Watching the Detectives," reached #15 on U.K. charts.
The latter part of the year saw him conquering America as the release of his first single here on Columbia, "Alison," immediately preceded the pre-Christmas release of My Aim Is True. His first U.S. tour began November 15th at the Old Waldorf in San Francisco with a memorable KSAN-FM live broadcast. He worked his way East over the next month, climaxing in New York with two nights at the Bottom Line, December 13-14th. Then it was back to England for a month of recording on the next album.
1978: The beginning of the year in England brought a record label switch from Stiff to Radar with the first new single going to #16, "(I Don't Want to Go to) Chelsea." In the U.S., having vanquished stage and radio, My Aim Is True was the most-mentioned album of '77 on every top ten list of the nation's rock critics, including the Rolling Stone Critics Award as Album of the Year, Crawdaddy's New Artist of the Year, and even Record World's Import Album of the Year. A full-page feature story in Time magazine ("England's Elvis: Gut Emotions") and an historic first appearance on NBC's Saturday Night Live (the then-highest rated show in their history) brought him to millions.
The second leg of Elvis' continuing North American tour took him cross-country, from late-January (back-to-back nights at the Armadillo in Austin and the CBS Records Convention), through the first week of March (two nights at Toronto's El Mocambo). The stage was set for the release of the second album, This Year's Model, again produced by Nick Lowe. Its appearance marked the opening of another U.S. tour, sharing the bill with Mink DeVille and Rockpile (with Lowe and Dave Edmunds), climaxing at San Francisco's Winterland on June 7th. During the final week, Elvis headlined three high school concerts, the last of which, "The Extravaganza of Extravaganzas" at Hollywood High, was recorded.
In England, This Year's Model entered the album chart at #4 and stayed in the top 50 for four months. Less than a fortnight off the road, Elvis' touring schedule picked up with European dates the last two weeks of June. The remainder of the year. except for two months of recording on the next album (September-October), combined a hectic worldwide touring schedule with more single releases, culminating in December with seven sold-out nights at the Dominion Theatre in London.
1979: Elvis' third album was released in January, Armed Forces, which charted #2 in England and was entrenched at the top of the best-seller lists on the strength of the hugely successful single (#32 in the U.K.) "Oliver's Army." The new record drew breathless admiration from the media and Elvis did a 31-date British tour in support.
Elvis was back in the U.S.A. the first week of February for his third tour, and the St. Valentine's Day Spirit was realized on a delicious promo single of "My Funny Valentine" (previously unreleased) b/w "(What's So Funny 'bout) Peace Love and Understanding," the old Brinsley Schwarz number written by Lowe (off Armed Forces). Two weeks later came the new single, the LP's opening track, "Accidents Will Happen." The U.S. tour played an historic April Fool's Sunday night in New York, as Elvis ripped through sets at Great Gildersleeves, the Lone Star Cafe and the Bottom Line — the first and last time anyone did that. The tour closed two weekends later, Elvis' last U.S. appearance for 21 months.
His debut as a producer, the Specials' first album for Two-Tone in England, and the breakdown of Radar as a label filled out the rest of the year and paved the way, at the beginning of a new decade, for a new and exciting phase of his career.
1980: Determined to retain personal involvement and more control over his recording career, after a series of frustrating legal wrangles, F-Beat Records was formed in England. Elvis' first single for the label was the old Sam & Dave number "I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down," which extended his chart success as it reached #4. The LP whence it came, Get Happy, produced by Nick Lowe in Holland, featured an unprecedented 18 new compositions by Elvis, plus the Sam & Dave cut, and the Merseybeats' "I Stand Accused." Twenty songs in all on one long-play album!
The year saw a slight let-up in road work, but this was made up for in even more wide-ranging & prolific songwriting. The immediate result was another LP the same year, Taking Liberties, once again featuring 20 songs of "unreleased masters, rate B-sides, English album cuts and collectors' items" (as the liner notes crowed). Among these were 18 of Elvis' compositions, plus "My Funny Valentine" and Van McCoy's "Getting Mighty Crowded." Elvis produced nearly half the tracks, the remainder handled by Nick Lowe.
1981: Elvis' return to North American touring began the first weekend of the new year in the Pacific Northwest, five weeks with Squeeze that ended at Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens Underscoring the tour was the release of Trust, an LP of 14 new compositions produced by Lowe. Included was a duet with Glenn Tilbrook of Squeeze, "From a Whisper to a Scream"; and the single "Watch Your Step." Elvis' TV appearance on Tom Snyder's late night show was commemorated with an interview disc that documented their encounter.
A surprising and controversial move involved Elvis' love of country music. As far back as '79 he'd slip the occasional C&W song into his sets, like Jack Ripley's chilling "Psycho." So in May, Elvis and the Attractions descended upon the country mecca of Nashville and, with the help of lead and pedal steel guitarist John McFee (Doobies), made the critically-acclaimed album Almost Blue. The LP was produced by Billy Sherrill, a character who, as much as anyone, profoundly influenced the course of modern country music. It contained a collection of standards and personal favorites to which Elvis lent his unique and sympathetic interpretations.
Such a bold and unorthodox gesture might've backfired disastrously. but in fact the opposite happened — resounding commercial and critical success greeted the LP in England. proving once and for all that Elvis was capable of a range of styles unmatched by any of his contemporaries. Two singles were issued in the U.K. off the LP, "A Good Year for the Roses" (also issued in the U.S.), which reached #6 on the chart• and Don Gibson's "Sweet Dreams." In this country, Elvis supported the record with a brief series of dates at year's end, the Los Angeles Sports Arena, New Year's Eve at the Palladium in New York and Nashville's Tennessee Theater three nights later.
1982: A new peak was scaled in London in January 7, when Elvis and the Attractions combined with the mighty 92-piece Royal Philharmonic Orchestra for a memorable and moving concert at Royal Albert Hall. With arrangements by Robert Kirby, the program highlighted material from Elvis' entire career, embellishing songs like "Alison" and "Watching the Detectives" with a sense of drama and power that took the breath away. Of course there was a fair amount of time given over to the country songs, and the arrangements added to their poignancy and emotional impact.
A version of "I'm Your Toy," recorded with the orchestra that night, was issued as a U.K. single, in effect the end of Elvis' country project. It hadn't been, contrary to some informed opinions, a permanent change of style, merely a reverent and worthwhile attempt to make the sort of record he'd always wanted to make.
Composing furiously throughout almost the entire period of time when Almost Blue was being rehearsed and recorded, Elvis had a sizeable backlog of material from which to assemble his next album, which he began in the spring time. The ever-present and irreplaceable Attractions provided backup for 15 new compositions (including one co-written with Chris Difford of Squeeze) as Elvis explored new areas as a vocalist and songwriter. The album. Imperial Bedroom, was perhaps his most cohesive work to-date. Mood and tempo varied as did the melodies; the intricate, imaginative Steve Nieve orchestrations all contributed to another impressive chapter in Elvis Costello history, from the colorful surrealistic cover illustration to the "Man Out of Time" single and epic "Town Cryer."
Imperial Bedroom was followed by the usual, almost obligatory touring, as the North American itinerary started in California in mid-July. Elvis worked his way through the southwest and midwest, up into Canada, then wrapped up in Florida after eight weeks out. The British tour culminated in two highly-acclaimed Christmas gigs at Royal Albert Hall.
1983: Ever the music aficionado, Elvis retained his interest and enthusiasm for anything new and good, and so produced the Scottish group the Bluebells. Another notable collaboration resulted in one of the best (and certainly most respected) single efforts of recent times, "Shipbuilding" by Robert Wyatt. Elvis wrote the memorable words and Clive Langer wrote the music, both with Wyatt in mind. The finished work was as poignant and articulate an observation on the far-reaching effects of a modern day crusade like the Falklands incident as one could expect from an otherwise "non-literary" art form.
Meanwhile, Elvis had written, and with the Attractions rehearsed and recorded, his next album. One track, "Pills and Soap," bore particularly on the springtime general election. In order to give the song's message the attention it deserved, it was decided to release it as a single — notwithstanding the fact that F-Beat s agreement with WEA in the U.K. had already lapsed and negotiations with almost every major U.K. label hadn't yet resulted in a new deal. So "Pills and Soap," by "the Imposter," was issued on the mysterious Demon Records. It was given further notoriety when the directors of Demon decided to delete the 45 on Election Day, thereby insuring its place in the annals of rock and music marketing history.
A new worldwide licensing agreement was finally struck between F-Beat and RCA, excluding the U.S. and Canada, where Elvis remained on Columbia. The first release in England was "Everyday I Write the Book," heralding the next album, Punch the Clock, produced by the highly successful team of Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley (Madness' "Our House" and Day's Midnight Runners their then-current credits). The LP featured Elvis' own version of "Shipbuilding" (trumpet solo by Chet Baker) and a "re-modeled" version of "Pills and Soap." It was an album of many moods, intricate subtleties and great authority. If anything, it was more accessible than its predecessors, utilizing the brash power of the TKO Horns, the precision backup vocals of the duo known as Afrodiziak, and the string arrangements of David Bedford. There was soul-searching introspection and incisive objectivity as well; witness "The Invisible Man," an inspired work by a remarkable songwriter.
The summertime release also sparked the Clocking in Across America Tour '83 during August-September, supported on every date by the Scottish band Aztec Camera (Elvis was an early admirer of their leader Roddy Frame). Back in the U.K. early-autumn, the Texas band Rank and File supported Elvis on tour; both U.S. and U.K. tours, as well as the European itinerary in November, were augmented by the "TKO Horns and Afrodiziak. The year ended with a series of Christmas shows in the U.K., another successful year for Elvis.
(Year-end also saw the U.K. release of Keyboard Jungle on Demon, an album of solo piano music from the Attractions' highly individualistic keyboardist Steve Nieve. His solo tour of the U.K. featured lunchtime shows at several colleges, showcasing his classical background from London's Royal College of Music.)
1984: Following February's France performances, it was back in the studio with Langer and Winstanley to start recording the new album. Earlier in January, Elvis had found himself in the producer's scat for a single with the Special AKA (whose first Stiff album he'd produced years back): "Nelson Mandela" (released April) was an ironic 20th anniversary tribute to the jailed leader of the banned South Africa liberation movement ANC (African National Congress), commemorating his sentencing to Robben Island Prison, April 20, 1964, for his anti-apartheid activities. For all its political ramifications, the single still hit the U.K. top 10 that springtime.
The same month as the aforementioned release, Elvis commenced a daring acoustic tour of America, An Evening with Elvis Costello, three weeks of advance sold-out shows here, with T-Bone Burnett as the opening act. Audiences were surprised by his positively brilliant guitar and piano work, and a multifarious repertoire including some very intriguing versions of his "classics." The tour concluded May Day at the Universal Amphitheater in Los Angeles, then Elvis was off to Australia, where he met up with the Attractions for shows in Oz. New Zealand and Japan.
Goodbye Cruel World, his tenth LP, produced February-March by Langer and Winstanley, was once again preceded in the U.K. with a single by "the Imposter" in Demon: "Peace in Our Time," the album's closing track, immediately familiar from the solo tour, was specially relevant to the growing nuclear disarmament movement worldwide.
Supporting the album's release were new singles here and abroad: "The Only Flame in Town" with Daryl Hall on backing vocal was the U.S. choice in 7-inch and 12-inch versions (b/w "Turning the Town Red," a non-LP cut); while the U.K. pick was "I Wanna Be Loved," an obscure B side by Teachers Edition from the early-'70s on the Memphis-based Hi label, re-done by Elvis with guest Green Gartside from Scritti Politti. Both singles featured Gary Barnacle (ex-Leisure Process) on sax. At the same time, Elvis kept up his involvement with new talent with releases by The Men They Couldn't Hang and Agnes Bernell on the Imp label, distributed in the U.K. by Demon.
The Evening with Elvis Costello acoustic tour travelled around Europe with Burnett, culminating in a magical evening at London's Royal Festival Hall in December. The tour marked the birth of the legendary Coward Brothers. Henry and Howard, whose duets at the end of each show had audiences dancing in the aisles.
1985: Elvis began the year producing Rum, Sodomy & the Lash, the debut album by the upstart young Irish band the Pogues. At the same time, the Coward Brothers were unleashed with their first single, "The Peoples Limousine" (Imp), received with overwhelming critical acceptance. The solo show (with Burnett) took off for Australia, New Zealand and Japan. And upon his return home, Elvis took the stage at Live Aid (July 13th), where his solo version of "All You Need Is Love" was judged to be one of the most innovative performances that day. The year also included Elvis' musical contributions to a new movie, Alan Bleasdale's No Surrender.
But the biggest news of the year came with the May/U.K. release of The Best of Elvis Costello and the Attractions, 18 tracks spanning seven years, from the earliest "Alison" through 1984's "I Wanna Be Loved." Accompanying the LP was The Best of Elvis Costello the Man, a videocassette compilation of 22 clips, 14 of which were never aired on MTV in America. Thus, the subsequent release here of both the album (with a slightly different 16 track selection for the U.S., even offering three "bonus" tracks on compact-disc) and the videocassette (same selections as the U.K., but remastered for distribution here by CBS/Fox Video Music) — complemented the successful television marketing plan in England.
1986: Elvis' first studio album in a year and a half, The Costello Show (featuring Elvis Costello) — King of America, was also his first U.S. recording in five years (since Almost Blue). It was recorded in Los Angeles with co-producer (and occasional guitarist) T-Bone Burnett. Rhythm was the key, and the section that backed Elvis Presley 'til the end — guitarist James Burton (also celebrated for his work with Ricky Nelson); drummer Ron Tutt and bassist Jerry Scheff — were heard together on three tracks and individually throughout the LP. From the Hall & Oates band, guitarist/bassist T-Bone Wolk and drummer Micky Curry showed up on a couple of songs. Other guests included David Hidalgo of Los Lobos, New Orleans drummer Earl Palmer and jazz bassist Ray Brown (on a cover of J.B. Lenoir's "Eisenhower Blues"), and Cajun accordion sensation Jo-El Sonnier.
For the first single pick that winter, a new version of the Animals' "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood," the lineup included Burnett, Scheff, ace drummer Jim Keltner, Mitchell Froom on Hammond organ, and giving the track its edge on marimba, Michael Blair of Tom Waits' band. Another single came out in the spring, "Loveable," featuring Hidalgo.
Then at summer's end, Elvis Costello did something he hadn't done in five years, releasing a second album the same year: Blood & Chocolate. The LP's release on Imp in the U.K. marked the end of the RCA deal, while Elvis remained secure with Columbia in the U.S. Its release also signalled the beginning of what could be termed Elvis' most ambitious tour ever, with concerts in America and Europe scheduled for intimate theatres to maximize interaction between artiste(s) and audience. Always the unexpected.
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