Elvis Costello: A Biography [Paperback]

Tony Clayton-Lea (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2000

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.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com 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 --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

In 1977, Elvis Presley died and Elvis Costello emerged from London's iconoclastic punk rock scene. Costello declined to be interviewed for this book and denied permission to reprint his lyrics, so Clayton-Lea, a travel and arts writer for the Irish Times, has relied heavily on interviews from rock magazinesAa strategy that works exceptionally well here. Clayton-Lea's measured narration bleeds into Costello's brutally articulate quotes, creating an intimate, "authorized" rapport. Costello evolves from computer operator to Burt Bacharach collaborator without seeming pretentious or David Bowie-esque. Moreover, Clayton-Lea proves that his subject has put more pop into pop music by incorporating country, classical, and jazz. David Gouldstone's Elvis Costello: God's Comic (St. Martin's, 1990) stops at 1989's Spike, but Clayton-Lea critiques all of Costello's studio albums and many of his side projects with tasteful asides about his personal life. For a nastier, more sensational look at Costello, former Attraction Bruce Thomas's The Big Wheel (Faber, 1991) covers touring life between the late 1970s and 1980s. Recommended for all popular music collections.AHeather McCormack, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 243 pages
• Publisher: Fromm Intl (October 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0880642556
• ISBN-13: 978-0880642552
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,228,792 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Third rate book on one of the greatest performers, November 3, 1999

By 

Peter Savage "seriously" (Near Portland, ME USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Elvis Costello: A Biography (Hardcover)

What a let down! I can't think of anyone more deserving of a good biography than Elvis Costello. The greatest 20th Century songwriter -- and I include Dylan, Gershwin, Porter, et al., in that comparison. Well, this isn't what we've been waiting for, by a country mile. A thrown-together collection of press clips, apocrypha and tired gossip, with absolutely no analysis of his lyrics and songwriting in general. If you're going to read a bio, try "God's Comic" instead. It's no great shakes either, but this is the pits. Why the publisher didn't just sling the MS in the trashcan, I don't know. Obviously done with no cooperation from the subject or anyone who knows the first thing about his music. Save your money.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Costello biography fails to dazzle., July 18, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Elvis Costello: A Biography (Hardcover)

Tony Clayton-Lea's book, "Elvis Costello: A Biography" is about as inspired as its title. It is a mostly a cookie-cutter approach to the life of the greatest singer-songwriter this side of Bob Dylan. Interestingly, previous chronologies of Dylan's life and times have been imaginative, provocative, and literate. It's a shame Costello has yet to receive equal treatment. Clayton-Lea's book reads like a cross between a college term paper and a transcript from VH1's "Behind the Music". Basically, rock star makes it big, is overcome by sex, drugs, and fame, has a few tiffs with his record company, but is able to maintain his artistic integrity throughout. Though it may be true, it's a plot that's been exhausted a thousand times over with a hundred other artists. There has got to be a more creative approach to filling 200 pages about this man's life and work. The book's one saving grace is its ample use of insightful quotes from various interviews throughout the years. If Costello had been on board to lend literacy to this entire project, perhaps quality and originality would have been enforced (and "Damnation's Cellar" would not be referred to as "Damnation's Alley").

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars An informative and reasonably well writen book., July 2, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Elvis Costello: A Biography (Hardcover)

Even though the author says in the beginning that he was rejected by his subject for an authorised biography,he still manages to write an interesting,informative and esoteric piece of work.I think this book will only be worthwhile to someone who is already a fan and is familiar with his discography.It gave some light as to how E.C.'s career has taken so many turns and how he became influenced by so many musical genres.It also became clear that he would'nt be the artist that he is today if he had'nt been some what of a maverick in the music industry.This of course is further supported by ups and downs of his personal life that was often reflected in his music.Overall,the book was tastefully writen and will again,be of interest primarily to fans of E.C. and not to people unfamilar with his work as there are reletively few sensational and trashy stories to entertain the voyeuristic and curious public.