In Praise of East Side Story

It’s 34 years since East side Story was released on 15 May 1981. It was produced by Roger Bechirian and Elvis Costello and recorded in just a few weeks. There’s a story about the recording that Glenn Tilbrook has told many times over the years. It’s the story of how he played Elvis Costello a demo cassette and Glenn heard a small snatch of Labelled With Love so he fast forwarded the cassette, thinking that “It wasn’t a Squeeze song”. Elvis asked what it was, insisted that Glenn rewind it and they then rehearsed it and recorded it. The rest is history!

I thought you might like to see the demo cassette Glenn played that day. Here it is:

East Side Story Demo cassette
East Side Story Demo cassette

And here’s the back of it:

East Side Story Demo cassette
East Side Story Demo cassette

How cool is that?

You can buy Glenn’s East Side Story demos on a CD called The Past Has Been Bottled

Is That Love
Depression
Someone Else’s Bell
Someone Else’s Heart
There’s No Tomorrow
F-Hole
Labelled With Love
Tempted
Woman’s World
Vanity Fair
Heaven
Mumbo Jumbo
Messed Around
In Quintessence
I Don’t Like Love
Misunderstanding
Holiday Makers
Trust

Enjoy :)

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