Smash Hits, February 22, 1979

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Smash Hits

Magazines
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Elvis Costello - One itchy trigger


David Hepworth

Elvis Costello likes to keep his past a mystery. This attitude has led fact-starved journalists to guess that he was once everything from an escaped mental patient to a one-time member of the Sex Pistols. The truth is nothing so exciting.

Costello was born and brought up in Liverpool. His real name is Declan McManus, the son of professional dance band singer Ross McManus.

He moved to London in his late teens, got married, had a child and took a job in the computer room at Eizabeth Arden Cosmetics. One story about him is that he used to study fellow passengers on the train to work, putting them into the songs he started writing.

By nights he played in bands, mainly for an outfit called Flip City. They were a pleasant, countryish group, but low on star quality. Flip City broke up and more or less gave up.

Declan McManus was of a different breed however. Convinced of his own enormous talent, he started to hawk his songs around every major record company in London, getting shown the door at every one of them.

His break came in August 1976 when he turned up on the doorstep of Stiff Records. A shoestring company with wacky ideas and big ambitions, Stiff had then just began operations from behind a sleazy shop front in Bayswater. They had about fifty quid in the kitty, but a lot of faith — and soon they had Elvis Costello.

Jake Riviera, one of Stiff's founders, was impressed by






Remaining text and scanner-error corrections to come...

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Smash Hits, No. 6, February 22 - March 7, 1979


David Hepworth profiles Elvis Costello.


Cliff White reviews "Oliver's Army."


Page 6 features the lyrics to "Oliver's Army."

Images

1979-02-22 Smash Hits page 06.jpg1979-02-22 Smash Hits page 07.jpg
Page scans.

1979-02-22 Smash Hits cover.jpg 1979-02-22 Smash Hits page 03.jpg 1979-02-22 Smash Hits page 24.jpg
Cover and page scans.


Oliver's Army

Elvis Costello

Cliff White







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