THEY CALL HER NATASHA WHEN SHE LOOKS LIKE ELSIE

Before I get started on the music…..I just want to say that if you want evidence of how far we’ve come in terms of interior design and decor then have a look at the sleeve above.  That carpet and wallpaper was incredibly representative of just about everyone’s homes in the late 70s.  Nowadays, you have to go to certain pubs in certain less salubrious parts of towns and cities to get the full effect.  But I digress.

From 1978.  A deserved Top 20 hit for Elvis Costello & The Attractions.

mp3 : Elvis Costello & The Attractions – (I Don’t Want To Go To) Chelsea

Here’s a wonderfully penned review:-

“(I Don’t Want to Go To) Chelsea” is a brilliant ska-inflected rocker from Elvis Costello’s debut with crack backing band the Attractions on the excellent This Year’s Model LP. The track was inexplicably left off the original American CBS release in 1978, U.S. fans having to wait to hear this bristling jolt of pop until a collection of British B-sides, Taking Liberties, was issued in 1980.

“Chelsea” features the flashy yet powerful drumming of Pete Thomas and a taught bass line from (brother in name only) bassist Bruce Thomas locked in an impressively tight groove, providing the surging engine over which Steve Nieve adds some swirling organ. Costello makes economic use of his guitar, contributing a stinging quick riff and well-placed accent chords throughout. The lyrics rain down in a torrent, Costello blurting out accusatory lines with an embittered sneer, “Photographs of fancy tricks to get your kicks at 66/He thinks of all the girls that he’s going to fix/She gave a little flirt gave herself a little cuddle/But there’s no place here for the mini-skirt waddle/Capital punishment, she’s last year’s model/They call her Natasha when she looks like Elsie/I don’t want to go to Chelsea.”

The music modulates for the chorus dropping down as Costello continues his tirade against the shallow nature of vanity and fixations on beauty: “Oh no it does not move me/Even though I’ve seen the movie/I don’t want to check your pulse/I don’t want nobody else/I don’t want to go to Chelsea,” the band slamming to a quick stop on the last line.

An excellent live version can be heard on Live at El Mocambo, recorded in Toronto in 1978. The band plays up the ska quotient, adding a kind of shuffling dance beat, the song played at a furious tempo. Costello adds back slashing reggae accent guitar. The band stretches out making dramatic use of the song’s many breaks, at one point reducing the music to two pulsing notes, Costello expertly milking the vocals for dramatic effect, squeezing as much venom from the word as possible. The band powers through a brisk syncopated finish.

Those words got me to track down said live version:-

mp3 : Elvis Costello & The Attractions – (I Don’t Want To Go To) Chelsea (live)

It is rather tasty if not quite living up to the powerful review.  But it was well worth the 79p download from itunes.

Chelsea was a 45 long gone from the collection but I found a second-hand copy quite recently.  Here’s the b-side:-

mp3 : Elvis Costello & The Attractions – You Belong To Me

A song with its roots in the pub rock sound that was very instrumental in paving the way for punk/new wave here in the UK.  Only a b-side/album track, there’s a lot of bands of that era would have jumped all over it as a single if they had written it…

Enjoy.