Wool City Rocker, March 1980

Bibliography   72 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 UK & Ireland weeklies UK & Ireland magazines UK & Ireland newspapers US newspapers US rock magazines US music magazines US magazines US alternative weeklies European magazines European newspapers Canada  •  Mexico  •  Asia Australia  •  New Zealand South America  •  Africa Blogs  •  Fanzines  •  Books Online publications Fanzines  Alternative Rhythms Alternative Ulster Austin Vanguard Aware Back Door Man Barbed Wire Beat It! Beyond Belief Blaze Blitz! Bucketfull Of Brains Burnt Offering Candybeat 504 Censur City Chains Clubland Costello Fanzine Cripes Despair Deviation Street Elvis Costello Chronicles Elvis Costello Info. Service Final Notice Fröken Äsping Gabba Gabba Gazette Gabba Gabba Hey Ghast Up Grinding Halt Hamburger Orgienpost Hannover Spargel Heat High Roller Hoopla Imagine In The City Jet Lag Juice K-79 Kingdom Come Kvinde Hader Klub Larm Live Wire Living In Paradise Loaded Look At The Time Maximum Rock'N'Roll Moods For Moderns Negative Reaction New Pose Nerve No Fun Noise Noise For Heroes Nürtingen Slit Omaha Rainbow On The Beat Ostrich Overthrow Ox Fanzine Pig Paper Poser Public Enemy Raw Power Record Digest Safety In Numbers Shades Shews Slash Sniffin' Glue Snot Rag Spuno Street Fever Substitute Summer Salt Surfin' Bird Talking In The Dark Terminal Wool City Rocker — Costello Bradford Univ. 7th Feb. '80 Nick Toczek The Horace Barlow Band — a late 3rd act on a sold-out bill headlined by Rockpile (with Dave Edmunds & Nick Lowe) & supported by US bluesband The Fabulous Thunderbirds — turned out to be, as rumoured, Elvis Costello & The Attractions. This was a try-out of the set they’d lined up for their forthcoming tour & it featured most of the numbers from their new album Get Happy. They took the stage amid loud cheers & immediately launched into their 1st number. A good clean sound with the band really tight & sharp. Costello, not always the most cheerful of guys, was obviously in fine mood: "Hello, how are you?" (cheers) "This is Horace Barlow..." (nods towards guitarist) "... & this is a number called "The Beat." He gives brief thanks to Rockpile for this guest spot, plugs the album & they go into "Possession" which earns loud approval. They go straight on into another typical E.C. number with a powerful dms/kbds intro & a slow build-up into a pounding rocker. Again, no announcement — it’s 'Less Than Zero' — a good punchy version, but I always feel ít's just a bit slow. "Thank you. Like to do a new song for you now. It’s called '5 Gears In Reverse'." This could make a fine single. It‘s got some good gtr/kbds work that's reminiscent of their earlier hit "Pump It Up." Good rhythm changes too. "This is a great town!" And he jokes about Top of The Pops which he‘s just been watching "... dancing away to The Nolan Sisters in my hotel room... & The Buggles... & Gary Numan ... c'mon, let's hear it for Lena Martell!" (Loud cheers) "Anyway, this is for my great (!) friends The Jags — it’s called 'The Impostor'!" Next up is his own version of a song he wrote for Edmunds "Girls Talk." It’s followed by the final number — their recent hit "0liver's Army." This has been a great set with the excellent Attractions providing subtle back-up vocals as well as the immaculate instrumentation. The audience goes crazy for an encore & they're back for one number — their new single — "I Can't Stand Up For Fallin' Down." "Thank you. That's it... Good night!" A great rock-song writer, E.C.’s rapidly becoming a star-quality singer & performer — if he can hold the pace, he'll be up there for a good few years. If you missed this one, make sure you one, make sure you catch him next time around. The Wool City Rocker, March 1980 Nick Toczek reviews Elvis Costello & The Attractions (billed as The Horace Barlow Experience), Thursday, February 7, 1980, University of Bradford, England. Images Page scan. Cover.

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