Elvis Costello Fan Forum

I wouldn't put any stock in the spelling of the quote from the "unspecified source". The record itself is credited to Day Costello. Going through the scrapbook at the end of UM&DI indicates EC's dad used "Ross McManus" professionally in Liverpool (e.g., the Ross McManus Quint...

Once again, fascinating detective work. Thanks, Sulky. The more I think about it, the more it seems likely that EC did write "Red Shoes" on the holiday weekend of August 30. I believe Lilian worked an office job in those days, so it would make sense for him to go up and see her on a weeke...

Related to my previous posting (see above). Bolding mine. Punk Rock: Rebels Against the System Caroline Coon, Melody Maker, 7 August 1976 JOHNNY ROTTEN looks bored. The emphasis is on the word "looks" rather than, as Johnny would have you believe, the word "bored". His clothes, h...

Since we're at the 40th anniversary of the release of EC's first single, I thought it was about time to revive this thread. I don't have any blockbusters to impart, but I did want to follow up on what I last said about ways to figure out the MAIT recording dates. Here are the things that need to be ...

Also, i got a funny feeling there were five or six times that he just HAD TO verify some date and/or factoid at our sister site, THE ELVIS COSTELLO WIKI.... anybody agree? Not that that would at all be disturbing, just sensible as a tool available for verification purposes. Definitely agree, BA. On...

A little more on this at the original link: [...] By Elvis Costello — according to an email, 17.11.16. And then we find that maybe it’s not THE Elvis Costello https://twitter.com/ElvisCostello/status/799801632389152768 and then we receive this in another email (20.11.16): Hi… This parody lyric came ...

So that was "our" Neil? Cool. If we hear any more about this -- which I kind doubt we will -- I suspect it will turn out to be a misunderstanding rather than an intentional deception. As Mr. Getgood said, why pretend to be EC? Meanwhile, I'll leave it to someone else to break it to sulky l...

I'm really hoping to hear or see some of this. I haven't been able to hear any of the songs that supposedly leaked. Are they good? Subjectively: Yes! I've heard ~10 of them, and I think they are great. A bit more objectively: They went over great with audiences at the 4 shows I show where EC played...

Strange, too, that they would post it without comment, as if being personally emailed an original song/poem by Elvis Costello didn't merit any special mention.

Perhaps they didn't recognize the name?

Since EC's guitar does not yet say "Costello" on the neck and still has its original brown finish, these photos are likely some of the earliest taken of EC. I think these Schultz photos must have been taken around the same time as the Anton Corbijn photo that graces the cover of UM&DI,...

Both Kitten Kuroi and YahZarah have been providing a pretty interesting and amusing ongoing, behind-the-scenes commentary on this tour on their Instagram accounts, occasional impromptu performances included. Worth a look.

https://www.instagram.com/kittenkuroi/
https://www.instagram.com/yahzarah/

On a slightly related topic, has there been criticism of Bruce Springsteen not providing an index in his autobiography? That's an excellent question. There are dozens of threads about his book at the BTX site but no one has mentioned the lack of an index. I'll post the question there and report bac...

Very impressive, John!

Being of a somewhat nerdlier temperament myself, I came up with several more inductive lines of inquiry that may yet get us a clearer picture. I'll post more when time allows.

Since tomorrow is the 40th anniversary of EC's first recording session for Stiff, I think we're due for another installment on this thread. The rock weeklies always had the Saturday date on the cover , even when it hit the shelf on Wednesday/Thursday. I don't know why , honest! Thanks, John! I'll ad...

Here's the McCartney part: Q: Would you ever work with Paul McCartney again? EC's answer: Well, I sort of am, in a sense, working with him again. I recently saw the package of an edition of the songs that we wrote together. Unbelievably, 25 years ago, we wrote about 15 songs together-- I worked with...

I was able to turn up an exact date for Wreckless Eric's first session at Pathway that I think is fairly solid. In Richard Balls's book "Be Stiff", Eric recalls that after this session, Nick Lowe and Pathway engineer Barry Farmer took him to see the Damned at the Red Cow. Sure enough, this...

Firstly, can I thank all those who have contributed to this collaborative piece of research. I'll second that emotion. And thanks to MOOT as well. 5.) August 15 -- First (??) play of EC's demos on Gillett show. Plays "Cheap Reward" and "Wave a White Flag". In UM&DI, EC's rec...

This has been going around at least one of the Facebook EC forums today as well. It appears to be a phishing scam. Unfriend and block.

For the record, profile pages like EC's official page cannot have Facebook friends.

It's been an eventful day or so on this thread... Before we move forward, let circle back to what kicked off this latest discussion: My thinking that, if EC was sitting in his kitchen in Twickenham when he listening to himself being played on Charlie Gillett's show for the first time, as he recalls ...

I was thinking he could have erased the session tape after mixing the final takes... although the fact that "Radio Sweetheart" was later remixed for Ten Bloody Marys makes that theory unlikely. Any idea why Elvis' portion is crossed out? Maybe they reused the label, or log or whatever it ...

My god! Some amazing finds, here. I'd seen the January 27, 1977 Pathway mixing receipt before, but I never imagined we'd turn up a dated receipt for EC first session for Stiff. Did Nick erase Elvis' session when he recorded the Damned and the Takeaways? No, these are the versions of "Radio Swee...

The temporal has intersected with the spatial on the thread about EC's first being played on Charlie Gillett's "Honky Tonk" radio show (http://www.elviscostellofans.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=5669#p7727899), so I think we're do for another installment on this thread. The now solidl...

Thanks for putting yourself out there and getting this information out here, John. If it makes Will Birch feel any better, you can tell him we're not actually friends. :) Since EC has said for many years (and says in UM&DI) that Gillet approached him about recording for Oval Records, and that th...

Well spotted. Another explanation suggests itself to me. Charlie's show was on a Sunday night. I can't remember the details but was Ross living in the house in Twickenham in 1976 that he had lived in since the 1960s? Perhaps Elvis was visiting with him & his family that Sunday evening , a thing...

A much quoted date, but a bit dubious, as: 1.) In his recollection of this happening in UM&DI, EC clearly states he was living his flat in Twickenham at the time: When that moment came, I went into the kitchen and turned out all the lights. I didn’t want anyone to see me listening to my own voic...