Ongoing History of New Music Daily: Elvis Costello and Clover
Back in 1977, Elvis Costello unveiled his new back-up band, which he called The Attractions. The group featured two unrelated guys named “Thomas” on drums and bass and a music student known as Steve Naive on keyboards.
However, this was NOT the band Elvis used for his debut album, My Aim is True.
For that project, he hired an American band called Clover. They were touring the UK, Elvis needed a backup band for the studio and they were available. The only guy with nothing to do was the singer, who just had to hang around while his mates worked.
Once the record was done, Clover went back to the States and decided to change their name and start fresh. They became Huey Lewis and the News.
Check out yesterday’s post on the time a couple of members of STP beat the crap out of a member of the audience. And don’t forget to check out my podcast The Ongoing History of New Music where you listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google, Stitcher, or wherever you get your on-demand audio.
To see Huey from that era, check out the Rockpile documentary, “Born Fighters” on YouTube. About 40 minutes in you see a young Huey Lewis listening to an amazing guitar solo by Albert Lee for a Dave Edmunds track. Nick Lowe produced that session and also the Elvis Costello album (he met Clover on tour in the US). Huey was probably at the Rockpile session because they recorded his song, Bad Is Bad, for the Edmunds album. Edmunds also recorded Girls Talk, a song written by Costello, for what became his Repeat If Necessary album.
Pingback: Ongoing History of New Music Daily: The dangers of being in Nine Inch Nails - Alan Cross' A Journal of Musical Things
Pingback: Ed Sheeran has COVID-and there are concerns - Alan Cross