Elvis Costello - 1981-02-06 New Brunswick (JEMS)

<<   1981-02-06 New Brunswick

Elvis Costello And The Attractions
Rutgers University, Rutgers Gym
New Brunswick, NJ
6 February 1981


01. Just A Memory - EC & Steve Nieve
02. Accidents Will Happen
03. Strict Time
04. (The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes
05. Pretty Words
06. Oliver's Army
07. Watch Your Step
08. This Year's Girl
09. The Imposter
10. Clowntime Is Over
11. Clubland
12. Alison
13. Big Tears
14. New Lace Sleeves - Martin Belmont joins the band
15. Lovers Walk
16. I've Been Born Again - King Horse
17. Secondary Modern
18. (I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea
19. He's Got You
20. Temptation
21. Mystery Dance
22. You Belong To Me
23. Need Your Love So Bad
24. (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding?
25. Radio, Radio
26. Big Sister's Clothes
Encore 1
27. From A Whisper To A Scream - with Glenn Tilbrook
Encore 2
28. Watching The Detectives - including Master Blaster (Jammin')


Elvis Costello - vocals, guitar
Steve Nieve - keyboards
Bruce Thomas - bass guitar
Pete Thomas - drums

Martin Belmont - lead guitar
Glenn Tilbrook - vocals, guitar on track 27


Recorder: Unknown
Lineage: Unknown

Comments by area51GM:

40 years (and a bit ) on ....................................

We are nearing the end of this extraordinary tour which I believe marked the transition for Elvis from "pop star" to a serious musician and composer with a portfolio of unique and memorable songs. It also indicates the rapid evolution of the whole ensemble as a performing troupe able to effortlessly switch across musical genres and styles with ease, finesse and proficiency enabling Elvis to provide a spectrum of moods and emotions in any given concert. From here until the end of the following year, the live performances were of an unmatched standard and only the blazing conflagration provided by the T.K.O. Horns in 1983 would reduce the effectiveness and versatility of all four musicians.

So, to "The Barn" in New Brunswick. This audience recording has a much higher dominance of keyboards than most of the other recordings offered here in recent weeks and it's interesting to compare how different many songs sound with Steve's contributions more to the fore. Particular examples include the playing throughout "Pretty Words", appearing for only the fourth time on the whole tour and on the slow "Clowntime Is Over" where the organ playing is stately and hallowed. Elvis manages to muddle up the closing lines of "This Year's Girl" with the lines "those disco synthesisers" getting garbled as he progresses or rather doesn't. He's not alone in meandering as Bruce seems to lose himself in the bass line in "Big Tears" around the vocal lines "You wouldn't like me if you'd ever had a drink". Only Pete seems unflappable and unmoved by the madness around him (!) Martin Belmont's arrival is seamless and subtle and the band again play a number of songs back to back to heighten the drama and Steve's contribution to "Chelsea" is more to the fore again and he plays an unusual riff in "Temptation" at the lines "itching to break their secret law". Elvis drops his voice in "Radio, Radio" in the lines "the radio is in the hands" which adds to the edginess of the song. Steve again appears conspicuous in "From A Whisper To A Scream" where he plays lines from J.S.Bach's "Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring" towards the end of the song something he has quoted many times with Elvis even in the classic anti-love song "I Want You" - truly brilliant!

This is from a fresh transfer from a first generation JEMS cassette and needed no work from me apart from adding track marks. Many thanks to the original recorder and everyone again at JEMS.

Lineage: JEMS fresh transfer from original cassettes > wav > Nero 9 for track separation and pitch checking > TLH > FLAC > you