Elvis Costello & Flip City - The Red Cow, London, Britain, 11-30-1975

"Flip City" is the name of Elvis Costello's first band, before he started to get famous with his first solo album in 1977. Back in January 2023, I posted an album of Flip City demos, with nearly all of the songs sung by Costello. You can get that here:

https://albumsthatshouldexist.blogspot.com/2023/01/elvis-costello-flip-city-flip-city.html

Around the time I posted that, my musical associate MZ had the idea of also posting the sole decent sounding (bootleg) concert recording by Flip City, which took at a small venue called "The Red Cow" in London on November 30, 1975. I wasn't that keen, because the sound quality is merely decent, and not up to my usual standards. However, MZ was keen, and he utilized his editing skills to make the recording sound better. I then also helped a bit, boosting the lead vocals with the UVR5 audio editing program. The sound quality still isn't fantastic, but it's improved. So what the hell, I'm posting it here. If you like this, mainly thank MZ for making it happen.

Back when this concert took place, in 1975, "pub rock "was still a popular musical genre. It basically would get forgotten thanks to the rise of both punk rock and disco around 1977. But at the time, Nick Lowe's band Brinsley Schwarz was the best known pub rock band, and Flip City definitely was following in their footsteps. Costello's songwriting was still a work in progress, so the vast majority of the songs here are covers. I believe the only Costello songs here are: "Sweet Revival," "Radio Soul" (which is an early version of "Radio, Radio"), "Imagination [Is a Powerful Deceiver]," "Pay It Back," "Miracle Man," and possibly "Flatfoot Hotel." (I couldn't find any info about that last one.) So maybe six out of the seventeen songs here.

Still, in addition to hearing these early songwriting efforts by Costello, it's interesting to hear him sing the covers, many of which he would never sing in public again. By the way, I think the sound quality starts off extra rough, but getting better a few songs in, so please stick with it.

This album is an hour and three minutes long.

01 Don't Lie to Me (Elvis Costello & Flip City)
02 Sweet Revival (Elvis Costello & Flip City)
03 You Win Again (Elvis Costello & Flip City)
04 Before I Grow Too Old (Elvis Costello & Flip City)
05 Bring It on Home to Me (Elvis Costello & Flip City)
06 Another Saturday Night (Elvis Costello & Flip City)
07 It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry (Elvis Costello & Flip City)
08 Radio Soul [Early Version of Radio, Radio] (Elvis Costello & Flip City)
09 I Love the Life I Live (Elvis Costello & Flip City)
10 Third Rate Romance (Elvis Costello & Flip City)
11 Gone Dead Train (Elvis Costello & Flip City)
12 Pay It Back (Elvis Costello & Flip City)
13 One More Heartache (Elvis Costello & Flip City)
14 Imagination [Is a Powerful Deceiver] (Elvis Costello & Flip City)
15 On the Road (Elvis Costello & Flip City)
16 Flatfoot Hotel (Elvis Costello & Flip City)
17 Miracle Man (Elvis Costello & Flip City)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15284498/ElvisCost_1975_FlpCityRedCowLondnBritain__11-30-1975_atse.zip.html

There are very few good color photos of Flip City, but I managed to find a decent one. This is from the Stepney Festival in 1974. Costello is on the left in the red shirt.