His birth name is Declan Patrick MacManus, but that moniker doesn’t have the rock buzz of Elvis Costello. His debut album in 1977 solidified this mutant clone of Buddy Holly as a songwriting force to be reckoned with. The band backing him on this disc is Clover, an American west coast band. Costello would soon form The Attractions and later The Imposters to back him.
When the Sex Pistols bagged on playing “Saturday Night Live”, Elvis and The Attractions got the nod. Lorne Michaels forbid the band to play “Radio Radio” because NBC corporate owned a shit ton of radio stations and the song was critical of commercial airwaves. Costello agreed not to play the song. When the show was live, the band started playing “Less Than Zero”–– Elvis yelled “Stop, stop!” and kicked them into “Radio Radio”. Michaels was royally pissed and put the hairy eyeball ban on the band for the next 12 years.
Over his prolific career, Elvis has collaborated with Nick Lowe, Paul McCartney, Burt Bacharach, T Bone Burnett, The Brodsky Quartet, and others. And if you’ve never seen his show “Spectacle” you’ve missed Elvis interviewing songwriting legends about their craft.
This is an important and essential album of the punk/new wave movement and it still sounds fresh.
And “Allison”… well, it’s as good as a song gets. His aim was true.
