Elvis Costello - 1980-05-14 - London, UK (FM)

Elvis Costello

1980-05-14

BBC Radio

London, UK

FM Broadcast

320 kbps

Artwork Included

01. I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down (missing)

02. The Beat (missing)

03. Temptation

04. Help Me

05. I Stand Accused

06. One More Heartache

07. Secondary Modern

08. He'll Have To Go (missing)

09. (I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea (missing)

10. Little Sister

11. High Fidelity

12. Lipstick Vogue

13. Waiting For The End Of The World

14. Don't Look Back

15. Girls Talk

16. Watching The Detectives

17. You Belong To Me

18. Oliver's Army

19. Mystery Dance (missing)

20. (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding? (missing)

21. Pump It Up

Elvis Costello - 1980-05-14 - London, UK (FM)

Here’s our 3rd new wave post for May, this time featuring Elvis Costello. As mentioned in the Joe Jackson post earlier this month, Costello was one of the 3 Angry Young men of the new wave era. Over time though, all 3 moved away from that persona, diversifying their musical styles. Costello’s 4th studio album, Get Happy, released in February 1980, was one of his ventures in a new direction. The songs on the album were influenced by both R&B and Soul music. In addition, the title may be a reference to gospel music, where the phrase "getting happy" is synonymous with receiving the Holy Spirit. Some sources claim that the R&B and Soul flavor of the disc was Costello’s way of making amends for racist comments he had made about James Brown and ray Charles in a Febuary 1979 argument with Stephen Stills and Bonnie Bramlet, comments that Bramlet had reported to the US news media. Costello denied that was his motivation, though it does seem like more than simply a coincidence. In any event, despite the change in style, the album went to #11 on the Billboard charts, just one slot lower than Costello’s previous disc, Armed Forces. This FM broadcast captures Costello on tour in support of Get Happy, on mAy 14, 1980, 32 years ago today. The show opens with the most famous track from Get Happy, I Can’t Stand Up For Falling Down, and includes 5 other tunes from that disc. Download this one to hear the first of many changes on musical styles from the man born Declan Patrick MacManus.