Whether you know him as Howard Coward, Napoleon Dynamite, or the Emotional Toothpaste, and are familiar with his work with The Attractions, The Confederates, or The Imposters, Elvis Costello’s career has always been about reinvention and his vast catalogue of over 30 studio albums since 1977 is a testament to his prolificacy.
However, this book focuses on his most acclaimed and accessible work, recorded mostly with The Attractions (Steve Nieve, Pete Thomas, and Bruce Thomas) between 1977 and 1986, although some other high-profile friends – Nick Lowe, Billy Sherrill, and T-Bone Burnett, among others – show up along the way. From his modest solo beginnings as a pub rocker with attitude on My Aim Is True to his cacophonous epitaph to The Attractions on Blood & Chocolate, this book follows a hectic and, at times, baffling career trajectory that often ignored commercial fame and fortune in favour of artistic freedom and expression.
Elvis Costello and The Attractions – On Track explores every album, every song, and every non-album B-side or contemporary cast-off from the band’s all-too-brief whirlwind decade of existence.
Georg Purvis is the author of Queen: The Complete Works and Pink Floyd In the 1970s. His first Elvis Costello albums were This Year’s Model and When I Was Cruel, both purchased at the same time in 2002. He has seen Elvis live about a dozen times since 2007 and is always thrilled to report that each concert had been spectacularly different from the previous one. He lives in Philadelphia with his wife, Meredith, and their two cats, Spencer and William.
