45RPM: #1b Elvis Costello - 1982-85 Pt 2

We pick up where we left off last time. Remember to click on those links to enjoy the music of Mr Costello and his Attractions. There's a couple of tracks that I couldn't find links for but there's a link for pretty much everything else.

Costello having done the whole Country vibe returned to what he did best as he about to release a new album in July 1982 entitled Imperial Bedroom. As preparation he released a brand new single:

1982

June

A-Side: You Little Fool

B-Side: Big Sister / Stamping Ground

Stamping Ground was credited to The Emotional Toothpaste!

The single actually faired no better than the previous two as it stalled outside of the Top 50 at #52.

July

A-Side: Man Out of Time

B-Side: Town Cryer (Alternative Take)

There's something incredibly wrong with the Record Buying Public when they don't get behind a really great song. I can't understand why on earth this single never broke the Top Fifty (stuck at #58) as it is one of Elvis Costello's greatest songs!

September

A-Side: From Head To Toe

B-Side: The World of Broken Hearts

A non-album single and a cover of a Smokey and The Miracles track that appeared on their 1965 album Going To A Go-Go. The B-Side was also a cover of a Doc Pormus and Mort Shuman song that had first been released in 1966 by Cissy Houston. The Amen Corner had released it as a single also in 1967. I recall that the tour dates for The Imperial Bedoom Tour were on the back cover of the single.

November

A-Side: Party Party

B-Side: Imperial Bedroom

Released on A&M Records this was the lead single for the Soundtrack of the Movie Party Party - a British version of the type of films John Hughes was making in the States (but by all accounts a good cast and quite funny but not up to the same standard as say The Breakfast Club etc, watch it here!).

The Soundtrack is quite interesting in the film as it opens with The Rezillos' Flying Saucer Attack (but that wasn't on the Album) and The Clash's Brand New Cadillac and Death or Glory (also not on the album). There's also a number of other songs in the film that I'm guessing they couldn't get permission to use for the album. The actual Soundtrack album is probably worth tracking down for obsucre things like Bananarama doing Sex Pistols' No Feeling, The Selecter's Pauline Black doing No Woman No Cry, and Midge Ure performing Bowie's The Man Who Sold the World!

Elvis' single though was not a big smash peaking at #48!

1983

May

A-Side: Pills and Soap

B-Side: Pills and Soap (Extended Version)

Released as The Imposter on the single but when Punch the Clock was released in August it was on the album as Elvis Costello and the Attractions.

July

A-Side: Every Day I Write the Book

B-Side: Heathen Town

This is another Single that I cannot understand why it wasn't bigger. It only reached #28 in the UK and gave Elvis his first Top Forty placing in the US (#36). It is clearly one of his best songs that he had released up to that date.

September

A-Side: Let The All Talk

B-Side: The Flirting Kind

A month after the album release another new single and yet another that didn't even break the Top Fifty (#59).

1984

April

A-Side: Peace in our Time

B-Side: Withered and Died

Released once again as The Imposter and just snuck into the Top 50 (#48).

June

A-Side: I Wanna Be Loved
B-Side: Turning the Town Red
Once again it was another cover version that took Elvis Costello and the Attractions into the Top 30. It peaked at #25. Green of Scritti Politti sings backing vocals on it.

August

A-Side: The Only Flame In Town
B-Side: The Comedians
Daryl Hall featured on the next single to be released from the Goodbye Cruel World album (a release that Elvis Costello does not like himself). The single bombed (#71) and although the album had reached #10 in the UK it was a pretty miserable affair! Elvis' own personal life was unravelling fast and he was on the verge of bankruptcy!

1985
April

A-Side: Green Shirt
B-Side: Beyond Belief
No doubt released alongside the Demon Records Best of but the single didn't chart.

July

A-Side: The People's Limousine
B-Side: They'll Never Take Her Love From Me
Released as The Coward Brothers (who featured T Bone Burnette). It never charted.

Okay, we'll leave it for there for the moment. There's still lots more to come and it looks more like there will be at least another two parts to this but we'll get back to it soon.