Elvis Costello: This Years Model.

I have a live album of his from around this time period "Elvis Costello Live at Hollywood High" - he plays most of this album. Love the live versions of the songs a bit more than the studio renditions. Highly recommended!

 

I love the guy!

 

I have that too and agree about loving the live versions better than the studio tracks.

 

I think the track, "This Year's Girl" pretty well explains what he was getting at with the album title. I saw them play in a club on that tour (a big club to be fair, but a club nonetheless) and they were pretty good, Elvis seemed a bit ripped, but well worth seeing. I think that was the tour where he made some inopportune comments about Ray Charles and his band got into some kind of fight with Stephen Stills and his band when they crossed paths at some point. Which might have been put on - the PR was probably great for both bands with their audiences at the time. I was into both of 'em, so thought the whole thing a little ridiculous...

 

IIRC it was Bonnie Bramlet who punched him right off of his bar stool.

I never get tired of his music. I have 2-3 bootleg albums from the 70s that are raw, rough, and perfect. Saw him a couple of years ago and marveled at his and the band’s performance.

 

My Aim Is True
This Year's Model
Armed Forces

i was a huge fan of this band on their first three albums...after that meh

 

Live at the El Mocambo is a pretty smokin' performance, too-



The Attractions were a great band, to my mind he never did better than he did with those guys.

 

Great album! A desert island one.

 

which club? I was there, too.

 

H

He toured under the name Elvis Costello and the Imposters 2 or 3 years back. I'm pretty sure Steve Nieve and Pete Thomas were in the band not sure if the 4th one was an original Attraction. They played all the older stuff and it was a gig to remember. Cambridge Corn Exchange which is only about a 1200 venue - so just the right size venue. He used to tour the UK regularly but not sure he's been back for a while. One of the great original talents to come out of the post-punk era imho.

 

he is the pinnacle of tireless self marketing. I saw him live in LA in the 70's and thought it was all a put on... I have remained convinced of that... we want to believe so, we do.... but, there is nothing there... nothing enduring or lasting or important.

 

I want to say that the incident happened in Columbus, Ohio, but I could be wrong. Maybe I wasn't:


https://ultimateclassicrock.com/elvis-costello-racist-remarks/

 

You can believe what you want, but if you have only seen him once in the '70s then you have missed a whole lot.

 

thanks for looking out for me man! maybe with your guidance I will see the light.... i appreciate that you will allow me my own beliefs! the generosity is appreciated!

 

It was in Tucson, so if you were in the Netherlands, probably not the same one! I forget the name of the place - it's been closed for quite a while, but it was right in the University District, just a bock or so from the west gate to the University. It was a big place with a couple of levels, lotta tables, lotta ferns, several bars. They had a couple of places they'd set up the stage, but whichever one they used you could pretty much see and hear from anywhere else in the place. I saw Muddy Waters there, Roy Buchanan, John Cougar (pre-Mellencamp), the Rockets, a bunch of other bands I don't remember anymore. It was trying to be a trendy upscale-ish place and it failed miserably, but they had some really good shows there for a few years, which happened to coincide with when I lived around there and was going to a lot of shows...

-Ray

 

That's right, I forgot the details of that - just remember reading about it at the time. I thought there was some connection to Stills - were Delaney and Bonnie touring with him at the time or something? Or am I just making stuff up again?

I really liked those first three albums but I thought he got a lot better as he aged. Even in the past 10 years he's done some great stuff.

-Ray

 

One the best drummers of all time to me.

 

one too many 'clevers' I believe.