Elvis is King: Costello's My Aim is True by Richard Crouse. ECW Press: Pop Classics, 2015, 126 pages.
Elvis Costello was precocious and ambitious, to say the least, says Richard Crouse in his new monograph on the making of the classic album My Aim is True.
Released in 1977, Costello's 12-track, 32-minute angry-man manifesto came out in a banner year for rock music which also saw long player debuts from the likes of the Sex Pistols, The Clash, Richard Hell, Television and Talking Heads, to name just a few.
This was the heyday of punk, when everything came to a head, and it's a wonder that Costello got noticed at all. With a wife and child in the suburbs Declan MacManus was not a punk for starters but he had something about him that Stiff Records thought they could use.
In the beginning they weren't really sure how to market him (at one point they were planning to release a two-fer album with Costello on one side and Wreckless Eric on the other) but Elvis had an in-your-face quality that could not be denied.
Label boss Jake Riviera noticed early on that his young charge was exceptionally loud just sitting next to him. Imagine what would happen when they put a band behind him.
Clover, a veteran California country rock band, just happened to be hanging out in London and had some time on their hands. They had the chops to power through Costello's tight, intense tunes at Pathway Studio with producer Nick Lowe making sure everything had a live off the floor feel.
There were many obstacles along the way to making a rock star but everybody involved was working from the same script. With the tracks down and a name change Elvis Costello came into the world almost fully formed. By the time Clover returned to London the following year their friend was already famous.
