hypersongs

Elvis Costello and the Attractions

The English trio of Steve Nieve, Bruce Thomas and Pete Thomas who backed Elvis Costello from 1977, through This Year's Model and Imperial Bedroom, and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003.

Forming around Costello

Clover, an American-style country-rock group, backed Elvis Costello on My Aim Is True, and the Attractions formed on the eve of its release in 1977. Steve Nieve, born Steve Nason in London, was classically trained and had never played in a rock band, and Ian Dury gave him his stage name. Bruce Thomas, from Stockton-on-Tees, was at 29 the oldest member and had played in Quiver, the Sutherland Brothers' backing band, in Moonrider, and on sessions for Al Stewart. Pete Thomas, from Sheffield, had made one album with Chilli Willi and the Red Hot Peppers; the two Thomases are unrelated. Their live debut was on July 14, 1977, and in December 1977 they replaced the Sex Pistols on Saturday Night Live, where Costello's stunt angered the producer Lorne Michaels and led to a ban that lasted until 1989.

Pitchfork's Tyler Wilcox wrote that the band stripped away Clover's middle-of-the-road elements for a minimal, hard-edged sound. Martin Belmont joined the live line-up briefly in 1981 but was never an official member, and guested on the single "From a Whisper to a Scream".

The records

With Costello they made This Year's Model (1978), Armed Forces (1979, the first billed to both), Get Happy!! (1980), Trust (1981), Almost Blue (1981), Imperial Bedroom (1982), Punch the Clock (1983), Goodbye Cruel World (1984, with Nieve billed as Maurice Worm), Blood and Chocolate (1986), Brutal Youth (1994) and All This Useless Beauty (1996, the last as a group). King of America (1986) credited the Costello Show and used the Attractions on one track, "Suit of Lights". Without Costello they made Mad About the Wrong Boy (F-Beat, 1980), produced by Roger Bechirian, with Nieve writing as Norman Brain to lyrics by Fay Hart; its singles "Single Girl" and "Arms Race" did not chart. Spanish Model (2021) re-records This Year's Model with new vocalists over the original backing tracks.

They reunited in 1986 for Blood and Chocolate and again in 1994 for Brutal Youth, followed by about two years of touring, and split for good in 1996. Nieve and Pete Thomas continued as the Imposters. Bruce Thomas's break with Costello appears permanent; at the 2003 Hall of Fame induction Costello said he only works with professional musicians. The band is widely described as one of rock's best backing bands, and Imperial Bedroom is often called Costello's masterpiece.

Albums

  • Imperial Bedroom 1982 · F-Beat

    Fifteen songs produced by Geoff Emerick, who engineered The Beatles, from an original idea by Costello, with Nieve's orchestrations.

Songs

  • Man Out of Time Imperial Bedroom · 1982

    The second single from Imperial Bedroom, built from a single main take that Geoff Emerick edited between a harder opening and ending.

Sources

  1. Elvis Costello and the Attractions, Wikipedia
  2. Imperial Bedroom, Wikipedia
  3. Man Out of Time, Wikipedia
  4. The Elvis Costello Wiki, The Elvis Costello Wiki