New Lace Sleeves – Elvis Costello & The Attractions (1981)
A precisely constructed, opaque tale of class, control and lost innocence hidden away on Trust, arguably Costello’s most underrated collection of songs.
For the second WIS post in its new format, I have somewhat lazily reached for the artist whose body of work I am most familiar with. While I accept this could be seen as throwing on a musical comfort blanket, I have selected a reasonably ‘deep cut’ from the man’s voluminous back catalogue which will hopefully engage and maybe even entertain new listeners. Although New Lace Sleeves graces a few Costello compilation albums, it was not one of the three singles that literally flopped from his fifth album Trust, a title drenched in irony given the cast of duplicitous characters featured in the songs and the tensions in the studio at the time of recording. That being said, Costello has described the track as one of the greatest recorded performances by the Attractions, of which more later.
I was in my third year at university when the record was released and as a commited Costello-phile, it was an essential purchase. I was enthralled by the sonic wordplay of the This Year’s Model and Armed Forces LPs. I had also adored the career left-turn the band took in 1980 to produce the raucous soul blast of the 20 tracks crammed into the grooves of Get Happy!! But I was pleased to see Declan’s poison pen return to the dark side on Trust. From the opening film noire density of Clubland to the burning torch of the haunting Shot With His Own Gun, it is his lyrical power that drives the record. The latter’s opening couplet is typical: How does it feel now you’ve been undressed/By a man with a mind like the gutter press.
A monochrome shot of Costello masquerading as a dubious member of the Fourth Estate in the 1950s was originally going to be the LP cover image but it got relegated to the inner sleeve. The other side of the sleeve was a tip of the hat to his father’s singing career with a big band image set in the same era, complete with EC monogrammed music stands. The Attractions are joined in the big band by Glen Tilbrook and Martin Belmont (guests musicians on Trust) and Nick Lowe and Roger Bechirian (producer and engineer). They are then supplemented by the band’s road crew, record label staff and the owners of Eden Studios where the album was recorded, all mugging away furiously at their instruments for the photo.
New Lace Sleeves stood out for me as its slower tempo and stripped back instrumentation allowed the words to hit home more than some of the faster, more cluttered songs on the record. Its opening couplet sets the tone for what Costello has described as “the tension between passion and the emotionally suppressing influence of ‘being civilized’ “: Bad lovers face to face in the morning/Shy apologies and polite regrets. The song then dives into the ever-familiar dark world of powerful politicians and aspiring actresses where She’s no angel/He’s no saint/They’re all covered up with whitewash and greasepaint.
But the imagery that really grabbed me came with a military overtone from an older set of lyrics that Costello had developed for the tune. I liked it so much that I wrote it on the inside cover of one of my university folders not knowing that, in 18 months time in the summer of 1982, it would have such resonance in the political aftermath of the Falklands War.
They say daddy’s coming home soon
With his sergeant stripes and his Empire mug and spoon
No more fast buck
When are they gonna learn their lesson
When are they gonna stop all of these victory processions
The opaqueness of the words is contrasted by the agile precision of the music, performed by a band that had honed its sound after four years of hard touring and recording. Nick Lowe challenged drummer Pete Thomas to develop the sparse drum pattern based on something like Devo’s cover of Satisfaction and Thomas threw in a bit of Stevie Wonder’s Superstition on the hi-hat. Bassist Bruce Thomas added to the rhythm by atypically using a pick to create his pulsating bass line. And, as they do across all the tracks on the album, Steve Nieve’s expressive keyboards wind themselves around the melody and provide the flourishes in the right places. Somehow, it all ends up sounding like some great lost 60s lounge-pop ballad, but with bite.
Like Changes and Bowie last week, Costello has taken New Lace Sleeves with him throughout his career and still performs the song today. I first heard it live at the A Tour To Trust gig in the Glasgow Apollo in March 1981 and then in both his 1982 and 1983 shows in Tiffany’s in Sauchiehall St. By this time, the band had worked the song’s arrangement up to the level on this great clip from German show Rockpalast shown in November 1983. It is exactly as I remember it – Elvis riffing on the vocal melody and Steve Nieve’s keyboards being immense throughout.
Last Word
OK – two down and no sign of any extraneous midweek editions of the new format. They will happen – eventually! And after two obvious choices of artists for WIS, I am determined to make next week’s 5 minute epistle something more unusual in keeping with the diverse tastes of the old format. I’m just working out what to choose…
It was pleasing to see some comments last week despite the WordPress sign-in hassles. Remember there is now a dedicated WIS email address (weekinsound@hotmail.com) and that you can also interact with the blog on my BlueSky (agr45rpm.bsky.social) and Facebook accounts should the need take you.
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AR
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