Costello burst onto the music scene in 1977 with his classic debut album "My Aim Is True." He followed that with three more classic albums in the next three years. That's the exact time frame for this album of BBC studio sessions. All the songs here are from BBC shows hosted by famous DJ John Peel. The first four are from a 1977 session. The next four are from an early 1978 session. Then there's four from a later 1978 session. The last four are from a 1980 session.
When I first put this album together, I included two songs that were from other TV or radio shows, but not the BBC. However, later on I decided to keep this strictly a BBC thing, so those two songs got the axe. But what the heck, I'm still including them here as bonus tracks. "Hoover Factory" is from a Capitol Radio studio session in 1977, and the acoustic version of "Watching the Detectives" is from a 1977 Swedish TV show.
01 [The Angels Wanna Wear My] Red Shoes (Elvis Costello)
02 Mystery Dance (Elvis Costello)
03 Blame It on Cain (Elvis Costello)
04 Less than Zero (Elvis Costello)
05 Pump It Up (Elvis Costello)
06 [I Don't Want to Go To] Chelsea (Elvis Costello)
07 You Belong to Me (Elvis Costello)
08 The Beat (Elvis Costello)
09 Radio, Radio (Elvis Costello)
10 Stranger in the House (Elvis Costello)
11 I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself (Elvis Costello)
12 Really Mystified (Elvis Costello)
13 Beaten to the Punch (Elvis Costello)
14 Possession (Elvis Costello)
15 B Movie (Elvis Costello)
16 High Fidelity (Elvis Costello)
Hoover Factory (Elvis Costello)
Watching the Detectives (Elvis Costello)
https://www.upload.ee/files/16527216/ELVSCSTLLO1977-1980BBSssonsVlum1_atse.zip.html
All I know about the cover photo is that it was taken in concert around April 1978.
Hi, nice collection. A lot of these have been re-broadcast in recent years in very good quality, also there are unique BBC TV performances of early singles, and some session outtakes available, I'd be happy to share these with you along with more BBC stuff from 1979 onwards
ReplyDeletePlease share! I'd love to get things I'm missing, or better versions. I considered including some Top of the Pops performances, but they were so similar to the records that I'm not sure in which cases they're lip-synced.
DeleteMy address is: thompson22 @ runbox. com (remove all the spaces)
By the way, for Volume 2, I'm planning on posting the Hope and Anchor show from 1980, since that was broadcast on the BBC. But I'm frustrated with that one, because the vocals have so much echo/reverb. Perhaps you have a better copy of that? Also, I'm missing a couple of songs from it.
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DeleteThanks for this collection. The first session is probably the first time Elvis Costello had released a studio recording with The Attractions as they hadn't been recruited when he had recorded 'My Aim Is True.' Great stuff.
ReplyDeleteJust so you know, this is one of the best blogs on the net.
ReplyDeleteExcellent pick from a great blog. Thanks! Look forward to hearing it.
ReplyDeleteHi. Thanks for this. I'm currently in the process of putting together a selection of "Odds & Sods" material by EC. Mostly concert material, out-takes, demos etc. Just got to 1982 and I'm 6 volumes in already. The BBC stuff is worth having most certainly..
ReplyDeleteMuchas gracias.
ReplyDeleteHoly FUCK! There songs are gold! The studio recordings are way too lightweight compared to the live gigs from the time, but while the musicians live are on point, Elvis is often so hopped up that he doesn't get the words out straight, or alwasys in tune. Let's face it, when he was writing those songs he didn't make the vocal delivery easy for himself. But these BBC sessions are absolutely LUMINOUS - the band rocks and Elvis sounds just as impossibly musical as he is, both singing and with the guitar. One of the outstanding hits of this amazing blog
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