Elvis Costello & The Attractions was the band formed by Elvis Costello in 1977. It comprised Steve Nieve (ne Nason) on keyboards, Pete Thomas on drums and Bruce Thomas (no relation) on bass. He recorded and toured solidly with them until 1984, when he disbanded them to pursue solo projects.
He reconvened the band for one-off albums and tours over the following decade; in particular from 1994 through 1996. He has also enlisted Nieve - and to a lesser extent Pete Thomas - for other recordings and performances, and continues to do so to present day. Costello and Bruce Thomas had a notoriously stormy relationship, documented in Thomas’s autobiographical novel The Big Wheel in 1990. The original Attractions reunited for the Brutal Youth & All This Useless Beauty sessions despite Elvis and Bruce’s differences. Pete Thomas and Steve Nieve, along with Bruce Thomas’ replacement Davey Faragher, now form Costello’s current backing band, The Imposters.
Together, Costello and The Attractions, from London, UK, recorded 10 albums, most of which are critically regarded as among Costello’s finest. They are: This Year’s Model (1978); Armed Forces (1979); Get Happy (1980); Trust (1981); Almost Blue (1981); Imperial Bedroom (1982); Punch The Clock (1983); Goodbye Cruel World (1984); Blood and Chocolate (1986), and All This Useless Beauty (1996). The full band plays on some, but not all, tracks on the 1994 release Brutal Youth, which is credited to Costello alone. The Attractions also recorded an album without Costello, Mad About the Wrong Boy (1980).
They most recently appeared together, although they didn’t play, when they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003. |
