Elvis Costello: A Biography - Softcover

Clayton-Lea, Tony

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0880642556 ISBN 13: 9780880642552

Publisher: Fromm Intl, 2000

Synopsis

Elvis Costello arrives at the turn of the millennium generally recognized as one of the most important and influential stars of popular music. There are very few songwriters who can match his output on an album-to-album basis and none-perhaps with the exception of Bob Dylan-who can match his depth of passion and lyrical deftness. Born in London in 1955 as Declan Patrick McManus, he left school at seventeen, working as a computer operator by day and a folksinger by night. His first album, My Aim Is True, released in 1977, hit the charts and became the biggest import album of the decade when it crossed the Atlantic on the CBS/Columbia label. On his first U.S. tour, when a clash with Stephen Stills and Bonnie Bramlet turned ugly, Costello flew back home with death threats ringing in his ears. In the twenty years since, there have been twenty-three more albums that have made pop-music history. Tony Clayton-Lea tells the fascinating life story of an icon of the rock world-the hits, the drugs, the drink, the women, the critics, and the record companies-who once said it was his ultimate vocation in life to be an irritant.

About this title

Review:

Tony Clayton-Lea's Elvis Costello is a perfect example of the cobbled-together rock biography. With no cooperation from Costello, and apparently no means by which to contact his past or present associates for comment, Clayton-Lea scoured the press files again and again to fill his thin narrative. The result will fail to intrigue the uninitiated and will tell the committed fan little he or she doesn't already know. Given Costello's status as one of the most impressive and enduring music talents to emerge in the past quarter century, not to mention his many adventures on and off the job, this book must be counted as yet another failed attempt at telling his story. It doesn't help that Clayton-Lea's writing is sloppy and that some of the simplest facts--for instance, how much of "Less Than Zero" Costello and his band the Attractions played on the Christmas 1977 episode of Saturday Night Live before abandoning it for "Radio Radio"--escape his pages. (The author also sets a new record for misspellings of King of America coproducer T-Bone Burnett's name.) Clayton-Lea provides the reader plenty to argue with, but not in the manner of, say, Marcus Gray's entertaining, infuriating Last Gang in Town: The Story and Myth of the Clash. In fact, many lay fans' critical takes on Costello's work are bound to be more interesting than those of this supposed professional critic's. Hardly a must. --Rickey Wright

From the Inside Flap:

Elvis Costello arrives at the end of the millennium generally recognized as one of the most important and influential stars of popular music, a figure of rare integrity in the music industry praised by artists as diverse as Paul McCartney, Tricky and Burt Bacharach. There are few songwriters who can match his output on an album-to-album basis, and perhaps none who can match his depth of passion and lyrical deftness.

Born in London in 1955 as Declan Patrick McManus, Elvis Costello left school at the age of 17. He worked as a computer operator by day and turned himself into a folk singer at night. His first album, released in 1977, My Aim Is True, was recorded during a series of "sick" days from work. Little short of breathtaking, it hit the charts becoming the biggest U.S. import album of the decade when it crossed the Atlantic on the CBS/Columbia label. On his first U.S. tour, when a clash with Stephen Stills and Bonnie Bramlet turned ugly, Costello flew back home with death threats ringing in his ears. In the twenty years since there have been twenty-three more albums that have made pop music history. Tony Clayton-Lea, an award winning music writer, tells the fascinating life story of the elusive icon -- the hits, the drugs, the drink, the women, the critics, and the record companies -- of the man who once said it was his ultimate vocation in life to be an irritant.

About this edition

• Publisher: Fromm Intl
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0880642556
• ISBN 13: 9780880642552
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 243