Elvis Costello is an English musician, vocalist, songwriter, and producer from Paddington who debuted with the album My Aim Is True on Stiff/Columbia in 1977. After assembling his backing band The Attractions, he issued the popular Radar titles This Year’s Model (1978) and Armed Forces (1979), followed by seven albums on F-Beat between 1980 and […]
Thought experiment: correlate each class of ’77 UK punk/new wave act to their class of ’64 British beat antecedent (or correlate the ’64 beat act to their ’77 doppelganger). I offered ten comparisons for consideration (A–J). Explore the parallels and similarities that distinguished each pair from their respective kin. Class of ’64 vs. Class of […]
Spike is the eleventh album of original material by Elvis Costello, released in February 1989. The album was recorded in four locations — Dublin, London, New Orleans, and Hollywood — with augmented casts of backing players on an assortment of brass and folk instruments. Rapturously received on both sides of the Atlantic, the album and […]
The Specials is the debut album by the namesake Coventry Two Tone/ska band, produced by Elvis Costello and released in 1979 on 2 Tone/Chrysalis. Tracklist: A1. “A Message to You Rudy” (2:54) A2. “Do the Dog” (2:12) A3. “It’s Up to You” (3:25) A4. “Nite Klub” (3:24) A5. “Doesn’t Make It Alright” (3:26) A6. “Concrete […]
This Year’s Model is the second album by English New Wave/singer-songwriter Elvis Costello, paired here with three-piece backing band The Attractions. The album was released in March 1978 on Radar (UK) and Columbia (US). The Columbia issue drops “(I Don’t Want to Go To) Chelsea” and swaps “Night Rally” for the concurrent single a-side “Radio […]
My Aim Is True is the debut album by English singer/songwriter Elvis Costello, originally released in July 1977 on Stiff Records. A subsequent U.K. single, “Watching the Detectives,” was appended to side A of the album’s stateside issue on Columbia Records later that same year. Tracklist: A1. “Welcome to the Working Week” (1:22) A2. “Miracle […]
