|
"Home Truth," Elvis Costello and the Attractions.
Talking to Elvis now and you've chosen a record now actually that isn't off your album, a band called Los Lobos.
Yeah.
You talked briefly about them on Roundtable a couple of weeks ago, but what's the appeal of this lot?
I just think it's a great record, it's just so full of life, it's sort of kind of doesn't know, it's not got a big axe to grind or anything, y'know. Sometimes I think everything can be taken a bit too seriously, as I say, some of the songs on our album are, they're about stuff but they're not like deadly serious, this is really important y'know — more so than I think people are aware of really.
You think people sometimes over-analyse what you do?
Oh, definitely, yeah — and this band it's just because it's just. It's thrilling, that's what I think about it, it's just, y'know.
Tell us about them, where do they come from, things like that.
All I know about them is that I think they're from east Los Angeles or something — I don't know anything about them really, I just... T Bone Burnett who was supporting me on my solo tour of America, he produced this album and he said "You've got to get hold of this.", and he gave me a copy of the cassette and I put it on, just went "Woooooow.", y'know — "This is it! Marvellous." y'know — and this is only a mini-album, they're doing their album at the moment, so y'know, the best is yet to come I hope.
It's good time music basically.
Well, y'know, that's sort of a bit glib, but it is yeah.
Well I am glib sometimes, I can't help it.
Y'know, it's just great, that's what it is.
Alright, and it's called "Let's Say Goodnight," a track from the album by Los Lobos.
Los Lobos, "Let's Say Goodnight."
We'll have more from our live guest Elvis Costello in a moment, that's after the news at eight thirty with Andrew Turner reporting.
Richard Skinner on the radio with my guest Elvis Costello, we're discussing his album.
That sounds like the Kane Gang that. (Commenting on jingle following news).
That was the Kane Gang, well spotted.
I love their new record.
It's super isn't it, a beautiful ballad. In fact we played it on the show a couple of months ago as a sort of first play, and I think it's a real stand-out and quite different for them.
When I say I love it, I mean I love the song, I haven't actually heard the record yet. I heard a live TV thing of it which was terrific.
It is excellent. Your album's called Goodbye Cruel World, we're going to play a track which to me in my glib way sounds like it's a bit jazzy — coming up now, "The Comedians."
He's got it really in the neck now because I said glib.
Ha ha ha, but you are sort of into jazz, you listen a lot to jazz anyway don't you?
Well, no, not that much actually.
Well you borrowed a record from the BBC didn't you? A while back, it must be true.
I am yeah, I listen to some jazz but I wouldn't say it was a major influence. This is really just, the reason this comes, anybody would say this was jazzy because it's in five four instead of four four or three four and it was only because this song is about insecure friendship and I wanted it to sound kind of peculiar, a little bit off centre as it were, and five four has that effect on you. And it was written originally as a ballad but the sentiments of the song weren't really — didn't require it to be a ballad. It wasn't that serious or... it didn't have to be that dramatic. It's much better that it's kind of off the cuff really, and this has that kind of slightly humourous sort of sound to it, I think it's a pretty humourous song.
Right.
Appropriate for "The Comedians."
Absolutely, right.
"The Comedians," Elvis Costello and the Attractions.
You've, erm.
It's like that advert for the fruit gums, y'know, can you put one in your mouth without chewing? — Can you play that without laughing? It has a really strange effect on audiences, we did it in France and they just seemed to warm to it so much, maybe it sounds French, I dunno.
It does have a sort of continental feel to it...
Does it? A track on the other side, "Love Field," which I think is French. I want to have it translated into French and get some...
Are you going to sing it yourself in French?
No, no, no. I want...
Sacha Distel or something?
Oh, no. I want a woman to sing it, it should be a woman singing it in a breathy sort of French accent.
Ah, good. You're also involved in this record label aren't you? Imp Records
Yeah, well, I mean I kept it going after I'd released the Imposter record — the first one. Actually the "Peace In Our Time" record wasn't on Imp, it was an RCA release and we did the Philip Chevron record, The Captains And The Kings, which came out.
That should have been a hit y'know. I don't know why it wasn't in the end.
Well, I think it's just a bit difficult to fit in really, because with not having drums. Things without drums on, unless they're Christmas records, y'know, of choirs or something or Flying Pickets or something, y'know, it's really hard to fit them in I suppose... erm, and Imp sort of exists in sort of record business limbo, which means, y'know — when I'm available to do something with it. Actually currently there is a project in hand. Philip Chevron is actually producing an album of a woman named Agnes Bernelle, some quite old and fascinating songs which, again, I don't think are actually mainstream — I don't expect them to race to the top of the charts — but the album will be out, hopefully, in September, it's Father's Lying Dead On The Ironing Board, which gives you some idea of the humour of it.
Where does she come from then?
She has an amazing colouful history and I really wouldn't like to talk out of turn. I think, hopefully, when the record comes out somebody can be persuaded to interview her, hopefully, not on the sort of late night arts programmes but, y'know, on Radio One because she's absolutely fascinating.
How old is she then?
Erm, well I think it's a little bit indelicate for me to say.
But she's been around a few years it's fair to say is it?
Well, yeah. Well, let's put it this way, I have a picture in a book of her when she was in a cabaret troup in 1939 — she was 16 then, so work it out for yourself.
Alright, OK.
Y'know, she's a marvellous, marvellous lady with a tremendous personality and, y'know, a fund of absolutely incredible stories and her feeling and her connection with this material albeit German songs that she translated in fact, the humour of them is mostly very grim. I think it's quite — appealing sounds a little bit of a glib phrase — but they're just... I find them fascinating and hopefully the album will be, I think it could be quite compelling listening.
And will this mark a sort of re-activation then for Imp, will you have mare records coming out?
Well, it's always there, y'know, I mean I'm always open to tapes. I mean, this is a sort of cue to be swamped isn't it.
Absolutely, yeah.
But, I have had a few tapes, but the few things that have come up I really did think that the bands, particularly with bands, you feel like they really should have the support and the commitment of, y'know, a bigger record company — somebody that can actually do something for them. I'm always up for putting out a one off single, which is really all that I can commit to unless there's a project that really isn't going to be made elsewhere. I feel, y'know, I'm all for doing... because Demon in the early, which is one of the F Beat subsidiaries, mostly licenses albums from America and puts out singles and we have Edsel which does re-issues.
Those great '60's re-issues and things that you do.
Yeah, and soul things, we've got an amazing — well I say we — Andrew Lauder is like slaving away over a hot, sort of, catalogues of things and, y'know, they're dealing with the — delving into the vaults of the major record companies is quite a full time business, y'know, and I wouldn't want to sort of even vaguely take any credit... but it's just so. fascinating that you can just get these things and nobody's interested and he's trying to put them out and we get good artwork and good sleeve notes that really tell the story. Because a lot of this music is new to people but it's just as good now as when it was made... and we did put out a lot of one off singles on Damon early on and we don't do so much of that now so Imp really, y'know
The new Demon in a way.
Well not, yeah, it's like things that take my interest, that I feel I can really be of some use. I don't want to start stealing bands best song for the Imp label when they really should be going and getting a big advance off somebody and making a career, y'know. It's really unfair when people cream off the best material, I don't want to be like that, but if a band's got something that they think it's like going to be an Imp type thing, there's no rules, there is no ultimate Imp record, it's just got to be something that's good, y'know.
Got a feeling you're going to get some interesting tapes sent to you soon.
This week.
Back to the album, this is a track called "Sour Milk-Cow Blues."
"Sour Milk-Cow Blues" from Elvis Costello.
You've been watching television a lot recently haven't you.
Oh er... never on a Monday night.
Do you enjoy watching yourself on Scully?
As a matter of fact, y'know, I've only seen, because I've been away when the series started, I've only seen one live. I missed last weeks and...
So you had your video out as well I take it?
Yeah, I've been trying to catch up, y'know — it's just very peculiar. A lot of people are going "Well OK, when's he going to come on then?", y'know because I'm not very recognisable without my glasses on.
So how did you come to be in this thing in the first place, was it your idea or did they come to you?
Well no, it came about from becoming acquainted — through another abortive project — becoming acquainted with Alan Bleasdale and he came to see us and announced... y'know we were having a drink afterwards, came round me mum's house in Liverpool and he announced that he thought I could act, so I said "Oh right, it's your play mate!", but he was, y'know, he had the confidence to say "You could do this." and I'd never ever considered acting at all. It's like one of the pitfalls of "Pop Stardom" as they say, y'know, is the minute you get your mooey on the front of a few magazines you immediately presume that you can play Hamlet and... y'know, he just said "Well you could do this and I think you would be good," and I said OK, great, y'know I'll have a go and everybody was I must say that the only thing I regret a little bit about it is that I've sort of got a lot of individual publicity because it's me in it and I feel a little bit bad about that in respect to the other people that are in it who were extremely generous to me in the making of it, because I would have quite understood if they had resented. y'know my sudden appearance.
A sub-star.
Y'know like just waltzing in and taking — although I'm not in it very much, it's a nice role y'know which somebody could have made "their own" and everybody was really helpful as well because I was extremely nervous, particularly Drew Schofield who played Scully he was like really... kind of when we went for takes he'd make little suggestions and things like that because it's just like anything, y'know, like going in the studio for the first time, it's a completely new set of discipline and the fact that I didn't have any dialogue to learn to speak of, y'know, still doesn't make it any easier — well it makes it a little bit easier but you're still really nervous and everything and that was, erm, overall it was a really good feeling.
Do you think you're going to do any more acting in the future?
It's, y'know, it's completely in the... y'know I'm not going to go round like going for auditions.
Looking for scripts.
I'm hoping, y'know, really secretly in my heart I'm hoping to do a re-make of Stardust or Privilege.
(laughs).
I think I could really lend a lot to that role.
Allright. It's funny actually because you're really quite a shy person yet there you go, first of all you can act on telly and then you can also go out-on tour and perform in front of a vast crowd. You don't get worried by all that live performance though?
I do, yeah. I get nervous, I'm unbearable on the days of big gigs to be with, y'know. I can be really horrible because I just get so selfish and single minded about it, that's all that matters, the routine of my day and if it's interrupted or if the shirt I want to wear the button comes off, y'know, I'm not like, don't start running, burst into tears or anything but y'know it really throws me off me stride, little things can, y'know, if something goes wrong like that because I have a sort of terrible superstitious ritual towards it.
How was America as a solo tour? I mean the pressure was really on you there.
Well, like I say I didn't even notice it until about the third gig because I was just so petrified I couldn't tell you anything about the first two or three gigs and then once I got past New York which is daunting in itself for playing New York always, and it was a particularly daunting hall — the Avery Fisher Hall, which is one of the, a bit like the Festival Hall or something and even the audience were like on their best behaviour. And then, y'know I was starting to learn what I could do and take more liberties and I in fact found that far from it being, having to constrict myself more, the freer I was with what I did the better it seemed to be and therefore I changed the show a lot more from night to night and took a lot more chances, and it just, y'know, I sort of gained my confidence and we ended up like doing numbers with T Bone Burnett and I together and things like that which were like jabbing the audience in the chest a little bit and saying look don't take this too seriously, don't sit there and be all reverent and be listening and analysing the lyrics because I was trying to sing, some songs were obviously serious and sad but y'know I did that song "What I Like Most About You Is Your Girlfriend," Jerry Dammers song, just on acoustic guitar and that was, it took the audience the first verse to think "He's singing a funny song!"
(laughs).
Because it is basically a humorous song and, y'know, it took them a little while to adjust to the idea I was singing a humorous song.
That's the one he sings, isn't it, on the album?
Yes, marvellous.
His own lead vocals.
I love that.
Alright, you're going to be touring soon with the Attractions in this country?
Yes, in early September or late September early October I think the tour begins, then there's a few surprises beyond that.
OK, meanwhile you're off to New York to film a video, even as we sit.
Yes, doesn't it sound, just glamorous.
I mean, this business we're always in New York one day or other! Thank you very much for coming in today Elvis, I think it's a good album as people have heard and it's called 'Goodbye Cruel world', you've chosen this last one haven't you.
Yeah, I think this is one for the family show.
Right.
It's called "Inch By Inch."
Cheers.
| 
