Showing posts with label Bruce Thomas. Show all posts

Friday, January 5, 1979

Elvis Costello released Armed Forces

Armed Forces

Elvis Costello

Released: January 5, 1979

Peak: 10 US, 2 UK, 9 CN, 8 AU Click for codes to charts.

Sales (in millions): 0.50 US, 0.30 UK, 0.80 world (includes US + UK)

Genre: new wave

Tracks:

Click on a song title for more details.

* only on UK version
** only on US version

Other Songs from This Era:

The Players:

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

Rating:

4.356 out of 5.00 (average of 23 ratings)

Quotable:

Armed Forces is “the bridge between Costello the ‘punk singer-songwriter’ and Costello the unabashed romantic of rock’s New Wave.” – Tom Moon, 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die

Awards:

(Click on award to learn more).

The Bridge to New Wave

On his debut album, My Aim Is True, Costello established himself as an iconic Buddy Holly-like pub rocker with a punk sensibility. The follow-up, This Year’s Model, showed his “considerable dexterity as a songwriter, and knack for pumping up innocent hooks into expressions of anger, if not outrage.” ^TM His third outing, Armed Forces, is “where Costello realizes that the doors are wide open and he can make any kind of snarly (or idealistic) noise he wants.” ^TM

“Tricked out in sumptuous pop arrangements, these tales of bedroom and boardroom resentment cut sharper and deeper than the flailings of the punks. Costello was originally lumped in with.” ^VB Armed Forces is “the bridge between Costello the ‘punk singer-songwriter’ and Costello the unabashed romantic of rock’s New Wave.” ^TM

“Vocals by male new-wave performers often had a hiccup-y Buddy Holly feel, but the music and songs were ruthlessly nervous, like rockabilly with a chip on its shoulder. Songwriting also became more personal and cryptic. Instead of using universal themes, songs often focused on artists’ pitfalls and flaws, archly cloaked in coded phrases and pop hooks that were far from formulaic.” ^MM

Costello was “one of the most prolific singer-songwriters of the new-wave era.” ^MM He “had a clever complexity that was reminiscent of Tin Pan Alley greats from the 1930s and ‘40s who favored arch phrases and cosmopolitan wit.” ^MM

The Recording

The album was recorded at Eden Studios in London in “a frantic six weeks.” ^RD It was “a distinct step back from the confrontational music of its predecessor, This Year’s Model.” ^RD The album “lashes Costello’s acerbic wit to slightly more elaborate production,” ^TM again provided by “secret power-pop weapon” ^BL Nick Lowe, who’d produced This Year’s Model.

More Pop-Oriented

The album certainly “boasted a detailed and textured pop production” ^AM compared “to the stripped-down pop and rock of his first two albums… but it was hardly lavish.” ^AM “Some of the songs, like the light reggae of Two Little Hitlers and the impassioned Party Girl, build on his strengths, while others like the layered Oliver’s Army take Costello into new territories. It’s a dense but accessible pop record and ranks as his third masterpiece in a row.” ^AM

However, the more spacious arrangements – complete with ringing pianos, echoing reverb, layered guitars, and harmonies – accent Costello’s melodies, making the record more accessible than his first two albums.” ^AM In fact, the album went all the way to #2 on the UK charts. He’d repeat that feat two more times but never top the chart. The album was also the highest charting of his career in the U.S., peaking at #10.

The Impact of the Attractions

“The Attractions, vacuum-tight after a solid year on the road, frame Costello’s show-offishly catchy melodies and acerbic wordplay in grand, tricky arrangements.” ^BL The album’s “pop arrangements betrayed the hand of classically trained keyboardist” ^RD Steve Nieve, who “was exerting an increasing influence on proceedings.” ^RD

Costello also acknowledged the music that had influenced them in crafting the album. He and the Attractions had been listening to Abba, Cheap Trick, Loretta Lynn, and Conway Twitty. ^TM

The Album’s Themes

“Perversely, while the sound of Costello’s music was becoming more open and welcoming, his songs became more insular and paranoid, even though he cloaked his emotions well. Many of the songs on Armed Forces use politics as a metaphor for personal relationships, particularly fascism, which explains its working title, Emotional Fascism.” ^AM

The album is “a songwriting landmark about nasty collisions of the personal and the political.” ^BL “Oliver’s Army and Goon Squad are tales of burgeoning fascism among militaristic buffers, old and young, but with Senior Service or Chemistry Class, Costello examines Fuehrer-and-follower tendencies in work, sex, life generally.” ^MJ

“Armed Forces is no period piece thanks to Costello’s strenuously subtle way with a theme.” ^MJ “Few records in rock nail the details, musical and emotional, the way Armed Forces does.” ^TM

The Music

“Occasionally, the lyrics are forced, but the music never is – the album demonstrates the depth of Costello’s compositional talents and how he can move from the hook-laden pop of Accidents Will Happen to the paranoid Goon Squad with ease.” ^AM

Notes

“The Rykodisc/Demon 1993 CD reissue…restored the album to its original British running order, adding the B-side cover of Nick Lowe’s ‘What’s So Funny ‘Bout Peace, Love and Understanding?’ – which had been substituted for ‘Sunday’s Best’ on the American version of Armed Forces – as one of the disc's bonus tracks. The CD also includes the B-sides ‘My Funny Valentine,’ ‘Tiny Steps,’ ‘Clean Money,’ the free single ‘Talking in the Dark’/‘Wednesday Week,’ which was included with the initial Radar pressings of Armed Forces, and the Live at Hollywood High EP, which was also included on the first Radar edition.” ^AM

The Rhino double-disc released in 2002 added another 9 songs, for a whopping total of 30. Most of the tracks came from an expanded version of the Live at Hollywood High sessions.

The Songs

Here’s a breakdown of each of the individual songs.

Accidents Will Happen

Elvis Costello

Writer(s): Elvis Costello

Released: 5/4/1979 (single), Armed Forces (1979), Best of (compilation, 1985), Girls Girls Girls (compilation, 1989), Very Best (compilation, 1994), Best of the First 10 Years (compilation, 2007)

Peak: 28 UK, 10 CL, 8 CO, 12 DF Click for codes to charts.

Sales (in millions): --

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 7.17 streaming

Awards:

(Click on award to learn more).

About the Song:

“Accidents Will Happen” is “a song that glibly attempted to explain [Costello’s] early infidelities.” ^MM He said, “I’ve had to make peace with my own failings during that time as a husband and a father. All of those years ended in a painful divorce.” ^MM “Back in ’78, I was young and newly famous, and I didn’t have any sense of responsibility.” ^MM “I had gone from being an outsider and not very social to…girls taking an interest because I was somebody they’d heard of.” ^MM “Temptation came along, and I gave in to it more than I should have.” ^MM “That’s what this song is really about.” ^MM

Costello also explained that he shifted perspective throughout the song from first to third person. He said, “If I had used the first person – ‘I’ – throughout, it would have sounded too confessional. The third person distracts from the confidence the singer is sharing with the listener and makes the dram more universal and less personal. That was probably self-defense on my part.” ^MM

Costello also said the song was influenced by the “bell-tolling sensation” in Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s “Anyone Who Had a Heart.” He said it was a sound that Attractions’ band member Steve Nieve “articulated well on keyboards.” ^MM “We could have used ringing guitars, but we had Steve play these cascading arpeggios instead.” ^MM

In addition, Costello was lyrically inspired by the line “I don’t want to hear it” from Randy Newman’s “I Don’t Want to Hear It Anymore.” ^MM Melodically, he said, “I think somewhere in my mind was the song ‘Walk Away Renee.’” ^MM “I remember thinking, ‘I wish I could write a melody that was that airborne.” ^MM

Senior Service

Elvis Costello

Writer(s): Elvis Costello

Released: Armed Forces (1979)

Peak: -- Click for codes to charts.

Sales (in millions): --

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 1.17 streaming

Oliver’s Army

Elvis Costello

Writer(s): Elvis Costello

Released: 2/2/1979 (single), Armed Forces (1979), Best of (compilation, 1985), Girls Girls Girls (compilation, 1989), Very Best (compilation, 1994), Best of the First 10 Years (compilation, 2007)

Peak: 2 UK, 3 CL, 5 CO, 12 DF Click for codes to charts.

Sales (in millions): 0.40 UK

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 50.93 streaming

Awards:

(Click on award to learn more).

About the Song:

“Before critics or his own pretensions persuaded him that he was a literateur, Elvis Costello wrote concise pop songs with a detailed density of sophisticated political and verbal expression the equal of anyone since Bob Dylan.” ^DM This was his “last grasp at the brass ring.” ^DM

“Written following Costello’s first visit to Northern Ireland, at the height of the so-called Irish Troubles. The image of British soldiers on the streets contrasted sharply with the military’s then apparently carefree recruitment advertisements.” ^DT

“Oliver’s Army” “works as a grand melodic pop song…as a quirky political comment on imperialism and as a series of not-quite-opaque puns.” ^DM Steve Nieve’s “piano insists on staying in your brain from the last time you’ve heard it ‘til you rise the next day.” ^DM

Big Boys

Elvis Costello

Writer(s): Elvis Costello

Released: Armed Forces (1979)

Peak: -- Click for codes to charts.

Sales (in millions): --

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 0.87 streaming

Green Shirt

Elvis Costello

Writer(s): Elvis Costello

This song was originally written for Ian Dury, but he rejected it. It was also rejected in the U.S. where it was omitted from the Armed Forces album and replaced with “What’s So Funny ‘Bout Peace, Love and Understanding?,” which was penned by Nick Lowe. It “might have suggested that Costello’s songwriting wellspring was drying up.” ^RD

Moods for Moderns

Elvis Costello

Writer(s): Elvis Costello

Released: Armed Forces (1979)

Peak: -- Click for codes to charts.

Sales (in millions): --

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 0.69 streaming

Chemistry Class

Elvis Costello

Writer(s): Elvis Costello

Released: Armed Forces (1979)

Peak: -- Click for codes to charts.

Sales (in millions): --

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 0.60 streaming

Two Little Hitlers

Elvis Costello

Writer(s): Elvis Costello

Released: Armed Forces (1979)

Peak: 32 DF Click for codes to charts.

Sales (in millions): --

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 0.96 streaming

What’s So Funny ‘Bout Peace, Love and Understanding

Elvis Costello

Writer(s): Nick Lowe (see lyrics here)

Released: Nov. 1978 (single), Armed Forces (US version, 1979), Ten Bloody Marys & Ten How’s Your Fathers? (archives, 1980), Best of (compilation, 1985), Very Best (compilation, 1994), Best of the First 10 Years (compilation, 2007)

Peak: 5 CL, 1 CO, 2 DF Click for codes to charts.

Sales (in millions): --

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 4.3 video, 17.66 streaming

Awards:

(Click on award to learn more).

About the Song:

Singer/songwriter, musician, and producer Nick Lowe was born in 1949 in England. He started his career in 1967 with the band Kippington Lodge, which later became the pub-rock group Brinsley Schwarz. He wrote the song “What’s So Funny ‘Bout Peace, Love, and Understanding” in 1974 for the group. “Like all pub-rockers, Brinsley Schwarz were lapsed hippies, playing folky-funky in flannel shirts and jeans. Unlike most, Nick Lowe combined his hippie roots with an absolute faith in the corruptibility of mankind.” ^DM

Lowe left in 1975 to form Rockpile with Dave Edmunds before launching a solo career. He also wore the producer’s hat for Elvis Costello, helping him launch his career with his first solo album, 1977’s My Aim Is True. Lowe was back for the 1978 This Year’s Model release and 1979’s Armed Forces. The latter album included Elvis Costello’s cover of “Understanding” on the American release. Costello originally recorded it as the B-side for Lowe’s 1978 single “American Squirm.” ^WK

It was Costello’s idea to record the song. He’d been a fan of Brinsley Schwarz, going to see them play. ^WK Costello said the original “seemed almost tongue-in-cheek, a take on that brief period after flower power when Tin Pan Alley staff songwriters seemed to say, ‘Hey, let’s get in on some of this crazy peace and love stuff that the kids are digging today.’” ^WK Critic Dave Marsh said, “Costello eradicated Lowe’s cynicism and replaced it with joyous acceptance and thinly veiled remorse.” ^DM The song oozes with “Springsteen-like idealism.” ^TM

Lowe said, “it was he who really popularized that song. It’s been covered by loads of people, and it would’ve disappeared if it wasn’t for him.” ^WK Marsh called it “the hottest rock and roll [Costello’s] band, the Attractions, ever made.” ^DM Music historian Steve Sullivan says the song “became the most unforgettable of Costello’s early recordings which established him at the vanguard of British rock’s new wave.” ^SS

My Funny Valentine

Elvis Costello

Writer(s): Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart

This was recorded for the Americathon soundtrack, released August 10, 1979.

So Young

Elvis Costello

Writer(s): Joe Camilleri, Jeff Burstin, Tony Faehse

Recorded: 1979

Released: Out of Our Idiot (archives, 1987)

Peak: -- Click for codes to charts.

Sales (in millions): --

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 0.05 streaming

About the Song:

This song was first recorded by Jo Jo Zep & the Falcons and released in September 1978. It reached #48 in Australia. Elvis Costello & the Attractions started performing the song live and made a studio recording of the song in 1979.

Resources/References:

^AM AllMusic.com review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
^BL Blender magazine (March 2005). By Douglas Wolk. Pages 156-8.
^RD Robert Dimery (2006). 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. Quintet Publishing Limited: New York, NY. Page 438.
^DM Dave Marsh (1989). The Heart of Rock & Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made. New American Library: New York, NY. Pages 385-6, 479.
^MJ Mojo. (January 2006). By Phil Sutcliffe. Pages 170-1.
^TM Tom Moon (2008). 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die. Workman Publishing Company, Inc.: New York, NY. Pages 190-1.
^MM Marc Myers (12/6/2022). Anatomy of 55 More Songs. Grove Press: New York, NY. Pages 265-9.
^SS Steve Sullivan (2013). Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings (Volumes I & II). Scarecrow Press: Lanham, Maryland. Pages 868-9.
^DT Dave Thompson (2011). 1000 Songs That Rock Your World. Krause Publications: Iola, WI. Page 267.
^VB Vibe (Dec. 1999). “100 Essential Albums of the 20th Century,” pages 154-164.
^WK Wikipedia page for “What’s So Funny ‘Bout Peace, Love and Understanding?”

Related DMDB Pages:

First posted 3/28/2008; last updated 4/25/2026.

Friday, March 17, 1978

Elvis Costello released second album, This Year's Model, with the Attractions

This Year’s Model

Elvis Costello

Released: March 17, 1978

Peak: 30 US, 4 UK, 26 CN, 21 AU Click for codes to charts.

Sales (in millions): 0.5 US, 0.1 UK, 0.6 world (includes US + UK)

Genre: new wave

Tracks:

Click on a song title for more details.

* U.K. version only
** U.S. version only

Other Songs from This Era:

Big Tears
Tiny Steps
Stranger in the House (with George Jones)

The Players:

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

Rating:

4.428 out of 5.00 (average of 27 ratings)

Awards:

(Click on award to learn more).

From Clovers to Attractions

On his debut album, My Aim Is True, Elvis Costello employed the San Francisco-based band the Clovers, who worked with Huey Lewis. They gave the album an appropriately pub-band feel, but it took a new lineup – the Attractions – to provide Costello the “perfect creative foils” ^BL he needed. The Attractions were an “ad hoc band Costello had assembled for a tour.” ^BL They “were considerably tougher and wilder than Clover.” ^AM

“Keyboard player Steve Nason aka Nieve was a teenage student at the Royal Academy of Music, while bassist Bruce Thomas and drummer Pete Thomas were unrelated jobbing musicians. It proved a devastatingly potent combination.” ^CM When he brought them into the studio, they gave Costello’s second album, This Year’s Model, “a reckless, careening feel. It’s nervous, amphetamine-fueled, nearly paranoid music.” ^AM The Attractions “sounds like they’re spinning out of control as soon as they crash in on the brief opener, No Action, and they never get completely back on track, even on the slower numbers.” ^AM

“They made a New Wave breakthrough, propelled by the frothing skinny-tie attack of Steve Nieve’s organ.” ^BL “His use of organ here was the most non-cheezy utilization of that (admittedly often cheezy) instrument since Manzarek’s psych embroideries in the Doors.” ^JSH He was “the real key to the success…and what made it such a stark contrast betwixt it n’ its predecessor.” ^JSH This was what New Musical Express’ Nick Kent called “uneasy listening.” ^CM “Costello and the Attractions never rocked this hard, or this vengefully, ever again.” ^AM

Recording

The album was recorded at Eden studios in London ^RD “in a total of 11 days and was squeezed between constant touring across the UK and the US on a diet of alcohol and speed, while Costello’s marriage was crumbling around him.” ^CM Costello described the album as “a ghost version of [the Rolling Stones’] Aftermath, the album to which I listened to more than any other at this time.” ^CM

More Punk Than His Debut

With My Aim Is True, Costello “was anointed the premier lyricist of whatever-the-hell-was-happening-these-days. He appeared to be a punk rocker the music establishment could understand.” “Where My Aim Is True implied punk rock with its lyrics and stripped-down production, This Year’s Model sounds like punk. Not that Elvis Costello’s songwriting has changed – This Year’s Model is comprised largely of leftovers from My Aim Is True and songs written on the road. It’s the music that changed.” ^AM

“Costello and the Attractions speed through This Year’s Model at a blinding pace, which gives his songs – which were already meaner than the set on My Aim Is True – a nastier edge.” ^AM The album offers “pumped-up ‘60s sounds from across the spectrum, performances slick and sharp as you like – but it’s all at the service of writing and singing that turn pop music into an acid bath.” ^MJ

Seething Songs

“Of course, the songs on This Year’s Model are typically catchy and help the vicious sentiments sink into your skin.” ^AM “The songs are terse, snarky disembowelments of romantic clichés – Costello described the record as ‘more vicious overall’ than My Aim Is True, which is saying something.” ^BL “Elvis found his acidic groove. This wasn’t acidic as in Randy Newman acidic or Zappa acidic or even Johnny Rotten acidic…it was more overtly sexual than any of them.” ^JSH

Costello said, “I was rapidly becoming a not very nice person. I was losing track of what I was doing, why I was doing it, and my own control.” ^CM He said, “the only motivation points for me writing all these songs are revenge and guilt…Love? I dunno know what it means, really, and it doesn’t exist in my songs.” ^CM “The heart’s ugliness, all the hate and harm, the cruelty and betrayal, are fair game.” ^RD “Revenge and guilt might scare off other songwriters, but among the anger and disgust Costello finds his truth.” ^RD

Lipstick Vogue , Pump It Up, and I Don’t Want to Go to Chelsea are all underscored with sexual menace.” ^AM There does seem to be a hint o’ misogyny…but it’s of the non-smarmy variety.” ^JSH Nearly “every track seethes with love unrealized, longing frustrated, decent human qualities twisted by rejection and jealousy. Whether the object of this pent-up humiliation is a distant beauty (This Year’s Girl and I Don’t Want to Go to Chelsea) or a former lover…Costello’s relentless consistency of tone enthralls like a snake.” ^MJ

He delivers “venom-dipped darts that he projects at just about everybody—women, managers, other musical contemporaries, and music biz smoothies of every description.” ^JSH “Even the songs that sound relatively lighthearted – Hand in Hand, Little Triggers, Lip Service, Living in Paradise – are all edgy, thanks to Costello’s breathless vocals, Steve Nieve’s carnival-esque organ riffs, and Nick Lowe’s bare-bones production.” ^AM

Notes

“The 1993 CD reissue standardized the sequencing of This Year’s Model on both sides of the Atlantic, restoring the album to its original British running order and adding six bonus tracks. The first three tracks are singles and B-sides, including the classic rant ‘Radio, Radio,’ the organ-driven ‘60s pop of ‘Big Tears,’ and the frenetic ‘Crawling to the USA.’ The remaining three tracks – ‘Running Out of Angels,’ ‘Greenshirt,’ and ‘Big Boys’ — are all demos.” ^AM

On the 2002 double-CD reissue, another seven songs were added – alternate versions of “You Belong to Me,” “Radio Radio,” “This Year’s Girl,” and “I Don’t Want to Go to Chelsea” as well as the song “Stranger in the House” and the live covers “Neat Neat Neat” and “Roadette Song.”

The Songs

Here’s a breakdown of each of the individual songs.

No Action

Elvis Costello

Writer(s): Elvis Costello

Released: This Year’s Model (1978)

Peak: -- Click for codes to charts.

Sales (in millions): --

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 3.21 streaming

This Year’s Girl

Elvis Costello

Writer(s): Elvis Costello

Released: 3/17/1978 (single), This Year’s Model (1978), Girls Girls Girls (compilation, 1989)

Peak: -- Click for codes to charts.

Sales (in millions): --

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 4.27 streaming

The Beat

Elvis Costello

Writer(s): Elvis Costello

Released: This Year’s Model (1978)

Peak: -- Click for codes to charts.

Sales (in millions): --

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 7.82 streaming

About the Song:

“The choppy ‘The Beat’ sees [Costello] wrestling with the guilt of a meaningless nightclub encounter.” ^RD

Pump It Up

Elvis Costello

Writer(s): Elvis Costello

Released: 6/10/1978 (single), This Year’s Model (1978), Best of (compilation, 1985), Girls Girls Girls (compilation, 1989), Very Best (compilation, 1994), Best of the First 10 Years (compilation, 2007)

Peak: 6 CL, 2 CO, 24 UK, 13 DF Click for codes to charts.

Sales (in millions): --

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 77.77 streaming

Awards:

(Click on award to learn more).

About the Song:

The last song written for This Year’s Model was “the monster beatfest ‘Pump It Up,’ which was cut in one take.” ^CM It is “a raucous crystallization of Costello’s new sound that’s driven by Steve Nieve’s monotonous organ and Pet Thomas’s snare-heavy backbeat.” ^TB

In true Costello style, the punchy, catchy tune is topped by a barbed lyric about the perils of rock ‘n’ roll decadence, written in late 1977 while he was on tour with Stiff label-mates Ian Dury and the Damned.” ^TB According to Costello it questions ‘Just how much you can fuck, how many drugs can you do, before you get so numb you can’t really feel anything.’” ^CM The song’s “woozy stomp reflects the desperate and frantic rush of an evening of ‘assisted insomnia,’ as Costello euphemistically puts it.” ^RD

Bob Dylan said, “It’s the song you sing when you’ve reached the boiling point. Tense and uneasy…The one-two punch, the uppercut, and the wallop.” This song “comes to you with a lowdown dirty look, exaggerates and amplifies itself until you can flesh it out and it suits your mood.” ^BD

“Most of Costello’s singles, ‘Pump It Up,’ included, were not issued in the U.S.” ^TB but this has still become one of “the best-loved of his early new-wave hits.” ^TB It also says something about Costello’s appeal that despite the lack of success for singles in the U.S., “their parent albums invariably reached the Billboard Top 30 – no mean feat for such an idiosyncratically British artist.” ^TB

Little Triggers

Elvis Costello

Writer(s): Elvis Costello

Released: This Year’s Model (1978)

Peak: -- Click for codes to charts.

Sales (in millions): --

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 1.42 streaming

You Belong to Me

Elvis Costello

Writer(s): Elvis Costello

Released: 3/3/1978 (B-side of “I Don’t Want to Go to Chelsea”), This Year’s Model (1978)

Peak: -- Click for codes to charts.

Sales (in millions): --

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 1.42 streaming

Hand in Hand

Elvis Costello

Writer(s): Elvis Costello

Released: This Year’s Model (1978)

Peak: -- Click for codes to charts.

Sales (in millions): --

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 1.20 streaming

I Don’t Want to Go to Chelsea

Elvis Costello

Writer(s): Elvis Costello

Released: 3/3/1978 (single), This Year’s Model (UK version, 1978), Taking Liberties (archives, 1980), Girls Girls Girls (compilation, 1989), Very Best (compilation, 1994), Best of the First 10 Years (compilation, 2007)

Peak: 27 CL, 10 CO, 16 UK, 22 DF Click for codes to charts.

Sales (in millions): --

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 10.52 streaming

Awards:

(Click on award to learn more).

About the Song:

“The icily staccato ‘I Don’t Want to Go to Chelsea’ sees Costello tearing into self-indulgent posers.” ^RD It is “a miraculous mash of high fashion, low life, lunacy and lechery – just like Chelsea itself.” ^DT Costelo said the song “originally used the same stop-start guitar figure as the Who’s ‘I Can’t Explain (or for that matter the Clash’s ‘Clash City Rockers). Bruce and Pete came up with a more syncopated rhythm pattern and Steve found a part that sounded like sirens.” ^CM

“Pete Thomas pounded up a storm on ‘Chelsea’ with its spastic reggae and staccato guitar as Costello spat out lyrics like ‘They call her Natasha when she looks like Elsie’ – a putdown worthy of Dylan.” ^CM

Lip Service

Elvis Costello

Writer(s): Elvis Costello

Released: This Year’s Model (1978)

Peak: -- Click for codes to charts.

Sales (in millions): --

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 1.41 streaming

Living in Paradise

Elvis Costello

Writer(s): Elvis Costello

Released: This Year’s Model (1978)

Peak: -- Click for codes to charts.

Sales (in millions): --

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 1.24 streaming

Lipstick Vogue

Elvis Costello

Writer(s): Elvis Costello

Released: This Year’s Model (1978), Girls Girls Girls (compilation, 1989)

Peak: 13 CO Click for codes to charts.

Sales (in millions): --

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 2.13 streaming

Awards:

(Click on award to learn more).

About the Song:

“The raging ‘Lipstick Vogue’ is hypnotic, as Pete Thomas’ athletic drumming shakes the whole song like a voodoo maraca.” ^RD

Night Rally

Elvis Costello

Writer(s): Elvis Costello

Released: This Year’s Model (UK version, 1978)

Peak: -- Click for codes to charts.

Sales (in millions): --

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 0.92 streaming

About the Song:

“The anti-Nazi Night Rally” ^MJ “touches on a bizarre fascination with fascism that would blossom on his next album, Armed Forces.” ^AM

Radio Radio

Elvis Costello

Writer(s): Elvis Costello

Released: 10/20/1978 (single), This Year’s Model (U.S. version, 1978), Ten Bloody Marys & Ten How’s Your Fathers? (archives, 1980), Best of (compilation, 1985), Very Best (compilation, 1994), Best of the First 10 Years (compilation, 2007)

Peak: 7 CL, 1 CO, 29 UK, 10 DF Click for codes to charts.

Sales (in millions): --

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 17.98 streaming

Awards:

(Click on award to learn more).

About the Song:

“On the cusp of global stardom, Elvis Costello wrote a song attacking mainstream radio, announcing, ‘I want to bite the hand that feeds me.’ It was perhaps his finest moment.” ^TC It is “one of the most dismissive songs ever written about what was, in the pre-MTV era, the single most important marketing tool any artist could have – and an especially effective one as well, given the medium’s propensity for playing any song that mentioned its name in the chorus.” ^DT

The song was originally titled “Radio Soul” and “was a sentimental celebration of late-night broadcasts.” ^TC “Music and the radio were subjects dear to his heart.” ^TC He said, “People used to live their lives by songs…They were like calendars or diaries. And they were pop songs. Not elaborate fucking pieces of music…That’s why I like and write short songs. It’s a discipline. There’s no disguise. You can’t cover up songs like that by dragging banks of fucking synthesizers and choirs of angels. They have to stand up on their own.” ^TC

Big Tears

Elvis Costello

Writer(s): Elvis Costello

Released: 6/10/1978 (B-side of “Pump It Up”), Taking Liberties (archives, 1980), Ten Bloody Marys & Ten How’s Your Fathers? (archives, 1980), Girls Girls Girls (compilation, 1989)

Peak: 39 CO Click for codes to charts.

Sales (in millions): --

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 0.64 streaming

Tiny Steps

Elvis Costello

Writer(s): Elvis Costello

Released: 10/20/1978 (B-side of “Radio Radio”), Taking Liberties (archives, 1980), Ten Bloody Marys & Ten How’s Your Fathers? (archives, 1980), Girls Girls Girls (compilation, 1989)

Peak: 39 CO Click for codes to charts.

Sales (in millions): --

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 0.32 streaming

Stranger in the House

Elvis Costello & George Jones

Writer(s): Elvis Costello

Recorded: July 18, 1978

Released: Taking Liberties (archives, 1980), Ten Bloody Marys & Ten How’s Your Fathers? (archives, 1980)

Peak: -- Click for codes to charts.

Sales (in millions): --

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 0.27 streaming

Resources/References:

^AM AllMusic.com review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
^JSH Blastitude (2003). “A Loaded Proposition: Joe S. Harrington Picks the All-Time Top 100 Or…Who Pulled the Trigger?” by Joe S. Harrington
^BL Blender magazine (March 2005). By Douglas Wolk. Pages 156-8.
^RD Robert Dimery (2006). 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. Quintet Publishing Limited: New York, NY. Page 401.
^MJ Mojo. (January 2006). By Phil Sutcliffe. Pages 170-1.
^TC Toby Creswell (2005). 1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time. Thunder’s Mouth Press: New York, NY. Pages 245-6.
^CM Toby Creswell & Craig Mathieson (2012). 100 Best Albums of All Time. Hardie Grant Books. Page 230.
^BD Bob Dylan (2022). The Philosophy of Modern Song. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster. 7-8.
^DT Dave Thompson (2011). 1000 Songs That Rock Your World. Krause Publications: Iola, WI. Pages 160 and 197.
^TB Thunder Bay Press (2006). Singles: Six Decades of Hot Hits & Classic Cuts. Outline Press Ltd.: San Diego, CA. Page 180.

Related DMDB Pages:

First posted 2/15/2010; last updated 4/24/2026.