ELVIS COSTELLO AND THE ATTRACTIONS – GOODBYE CRUEL WORLD LP – Nr MINT/EXC+ NEW WAVE PUNK

Elvis Costello and The Attractions – Goodbye Cruel World
(F-Beat Records  1984  ZL70317)
Matrix No’s: A8/B8

Sleeve in Very Good+ condition
– some wear to edges/corners and sticker mark top left
Inner Sleeve in Nr MINT condition

Vinyl in Nr MINT/Excellent+ condition
(there are some surface marks visible on the vinyl when held up to the light but they don’t affect the sound quality apart from some light pops/crackles)

Declan Patrick MacManus (born 25 August 1954), better known by his stage name Elvis Costello, is an English musician, singer-songwriter, and record producer. He began his career as part of London’s pub rock scene in the early 1970s and later became associated with the first wave of the British punk and new wave movement that emerged in the mid-to-late 1970s. His critically acclaimed debut album, My Aim Is True, was released in 1977. Shortly after recording it, he formed the Attractions as his backing band. His second album, This Year’s Model, was released in 1978, and was ranked number 11 by Rolling Stone on its list of the best albums from 1967–1987. His third album, Armed Forces, was released in 1979, and features his most successful single “Oliver’s Army”. His first three albums all appeared on Rolling Stone‘s list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

Goodbye Cruel World was Elvis Costello’s ninth album overall and the eighth with his backing band The Attractions. It was released in 1984 by F-Beat Records in the UK and Columbia in the US.

Track listing

“I Wanna Be Loved” is a cover of a Hi Records single by Teacher’s Edition and features backing vocals by Green Gartside of Scritti Politti. “The Only Flame in Town” features vocals by Daryl Hall.

All songs written by Elvis Costello, except as indicated.

Side one

1. “The Only Flame in Town” – 4:01
2. “Home Truth” – 3:12
3. “Room with No Number” – 4:13
4. “Inch By Inch” – 2:29
5. “Worthless Thing” – 3:04
6. “Love Field” – 3:26

Side two

1. “I Wanna Be Loved” (Farnell Jenkins) – 4:47
2. “The Comedians” – 2:36
3. “Joe Porterhouse” – 3:29
4. “Sour Milk-Cow Blues” – 2:50
5. “The Great Unknown” (Costello, Clive Langer) – 3:00
6. “The Deportees Club” – 2:54
7. “Peace in Our Time” – 4:06

Personnel

• Elvis Costello – vocals, guitars
• Steve Nieve – keyboards
• Bruce Thomas – bass guitar
• Pete Thomas – drums
• Gary Barnacle – saxophones
• Jim Paterson – trombone
• Luis Jardim – percussion
• Daryl Hall – vocals on “The Only Flame in Town”
• Green Gartside – vocals on “I Wanna Be Loved”

The album credits keyboard player Steve Nieve with providing “random racket” under the name, “Maurice Worm”.