316 Hello The Attractions* - ( I Don't Want To Go To ) Chelsea

(*  Elvis  Costello  and.....)

Chart  entered  : 11  March  1978

Chart  peak  : 16

Number  of  hits : 25  ( all  with  Elvis  Costello. At  least  in  the  16th  edition  Guinness  seriously  under-credits  the  Attractions , listing  many  of  the  hits  as  Costello  solo  records. )

After  recording  "My  Aim  Is  True"  with  Clover, Elvis Costello  made  getting  his  own  band  together  a  priority. He  already  had  a  keyboard  player  Steve  Nason  on  board  by  the  time  of "Watching  The  Detectives". Steve  was  a  19 year  old  alumni  of  the  Royal  College  of  Music  and  was  christened  Steve  "Nieve"  (sic)  after  allegedly  asking  Ian  Dury  what  a  groupie  was.

The  rhythm  section  were  considerably  more  experienced. Bassist  Bruce  Thomas   was  pushing  thirty  and  had  been  musically  active  since  the  mid-sixties  when  he  was  in  a  band  in  his  native  north  east  called  the  Roadrunners  with  a  pre-Free  Paul  Rodgers  and  future  Whitesnake  guitarist  Mick  Moody. They  changed  their  name  to  The  Wildflowers  and  moved  to  London  in  1966  but  didn't  find  success  and  split. Bruce  stayed  in  the  capital  and  had  a  brief  spell  in  Steve  Howe's  Bodast  but  first  found  his  feet  in  the  band  Quiver  with  Tim  Renwick. They  provided  much  of  the  backing  for  Al  Stewart's   album  "Orange"  in  1972  although  Bruce  isn't  the  only  bassist  credited  on  the  sleeve.  This  was  quickly  followed  by  the  only  single  bearing  Quiver's  name  alone. "Green  Tree"  is  a  pleasant  folksy  effort  driven  by  Bruce's  melodic  bassline  and  coloured  by  flute  warblings  but  lacks  punch.  Nevertheless  it  attracted  the  attention  of  folk  duo  The  Sutherland  Brothers  who  suggested  they  join  forces  although  both  groups  kept  their  seperate  names  in  the  merger.

The  brothers  were  contracted  to  Island  and  the  amalgamation  had  its  first  hit  straight  away  when  "You  Got  Me  Anyway  "  reached  number  48  in  the  US. I  think  I  mentioned  in  the  Goodbye  Herman's  Hermits  post  that  this  was  an  early  favourite  of  mine  as  it  got  considerable  play  on  Radio  One  ( to  no  avail  here ).  The  lyrics  aren't  too  precise  but  seem  to  be  about  the  disappointment  of  youthful  dreams  and  dissatisfaction  with  your  current  lot  but  it  has  a  dark  doomy  feel  somewhat  ahead  of  its  time, Quiver  add  the  musical  muscle  which  makes  it  sound  like  a  meeting  of  The  Levellers  and  Tom  Petty  and  the  Heartbreakers.

The  single  and  three other  new  tracks  were  spliced  into  a  repackaging  of  the  previous  LP  "Lifeboat"  which  was  then  credited  to  "The  Sutherland  Brothers  and  Quiver"  despite  the  latter  not  being  on  the  majority  of  the  tracks.Bruce's  only  LP  with  the  band  was  1973's  "Dream  Kid"  which  straddles  the  folk / soft  rock  split  competently  enough  but  isn't  quite  immediate  enough. The  title  track  - by  far  the  best , with  Bruce's  bass  carrying  the  melody -  was  released  as  a  single  in  January  1974  but  did  nothing.

Two  months  later  Bruce  was  out. In  a  portent  of  quarrels  to  come  he  had  repeated  clashes  with  singer  and  main  songwriter  Iain  Sutherland  and  was  told  to  sling  his  hook  during  a  European  tour. He  moved  on  to  Moonrider , the  new  vehicle  for  Teenage  Opera  man  Keith  West. I've  only  managed  to  hear  a  single  track - "Gold-digger"   from  their  eponymous  album  but  it  is  quite  good, deploying  that  mid-seventies  rock  sound  heard  on  Cliff's  Devil  Woman  with  some  great  guitar  work  from  John  Weider  ( ex-Eric  Burdon  and  the  Animals ). The  next  stop  for  Bruce  was  the  Attractions.

Giant  drummer  Pete Thomas  was  born  in  Sheffield  in  1954. He  was  picked  up  by  the  folk  duo  Martin  Stone  and  Phil  Lithman   who  were   trading  under  the  memorably  stupid  name  of  Chili  Willi  and  the  Red  Hot  Peppers  and  needed  a  full  band  to  play  on  the  pub  rock  scene. Pete  played  on  one  LP  "Bongos  Over  Balham"  which  is  rather  bewildering. The  single  "Breathe  A  Little"  sounds  more  like  Manhattan  Transfer  than  Dr  Feelgood  and  opening  track  "Choo  Choo  Boogie"  is  a  Louis  Jordan  cover  that  sounds  like  eighties  horrors  Matt  Bianco. "We  Get  Along"  on  the  other  hand  sounds  more  like  The  Eagles  and  "Desert  Island  Woman"  like  America  ( that's  a  compliment; it's  an  excellent  track ). It  should  be  said  that  Pete's  drumming  on  all  these  tracks  is  excellent, switching  from  jazz  brushes  to  rock  sticks  with  equal  aplomb. The  album  failed  to  sell  and  the  band  split.

"( I  Don't  Want  To  Go  To )  Chelsea "  is, if  anything  even  more  tightly  wound  than  "Watching  The  Detectives"  and  all  Elvis's  new  pals  make  their  mark. It  kicks  off  with  a  crisp  solo  from  Pete  before  Bruce's  lurching  reggae-inflected  bass  line  starts  dictating  the  momentum  of  the  song. Elvis  throws  in  a  spindly  riff  nicked  , by  his  own  admission, from  The  Pioneers. Steve's  queasy  organ  starts  adding  to  the  churning  unease  at  the  heart  of  the  song  as  Elvis  starts  taking  potshots  at  the  London  fashion  scene, exploitative  photographers  and  God  knows  what  else. The  precise  meaning  of  it  all  is  elusive  but  there's  no  mistaking  the  concentrated  venom  in  Elvis's  delivery  and  his  band  delivers  the  perfect  musical  setting i.e  knife  edge  tension,  for  it. This  record  defines  the  "new  wave"  sound  and  would  spawn  scores  of  imitators, perhaps  the  main  reason  Elvis  didn't  stick  with  it  for  long,  more's  the  pity.