Three weeks at number from w/e 18th June 1983
There were some very dull reasons underlying this quarter-hearted deception. In 1983, Elvis Costello’s record label F-Beat were undergoing a change in their worldwide distribution arrangements, moving from Warner Brothers to RCA. The protracted legal discussions had delayed the release of his next album “Punch The Clock”, and rather than also delay the release of the first single “Pills and Soap” longer than necessary, Costello opted to release it under a pseudonym on F-Beat’s “indie” subsidiary Imp Records.
There are two possible reasons why he took this path – firstly, there’s a strong chance that he may have been impatient while bureaucratic issues were being discussed in the background, feeing that if he didn’t get something fresh out soon, momentum may be lost. There was also the small matter of the imminent General Election in the UK, which caused the subjects touched upon during this single to potentially feel more relevant, pressing and explosive.
“Pills and Soap” could, to a half-listening person, be referring to animal cruelty with the references to Noah’s ark and melting animals “down for pills and soap”. This was the explanation Costello gave to the BBC when they nervously asked him what the song was about. Closer inspection reveals this to be nonsense, though. Firstly, the chorus refers to “children and animals, two by two”, then points its finger towards the aristocracy and perhaps even the royal family: “The king is in the counting house, some folk have all the luck/ And all we get is pictures of Lord and Lady Muck/ They come from lovely people with a hardline in hypocrisy/ There are ashtrays of emotion for the fag ends of the aristocracy”. There are other sharp, bitter tasting lines on offer besides, such as “You think your country needs you but you know it never will”, which totally give the game away.
If “Shipbuilding” was a sympathetic gaze at a community (and country) in crisis, “Pills and Soap” is unfocused invective – an unfixed list of the malaise that Costello feels the UK fell under in the early eighties; decadence, distraction, blind patriotism, the establishment worshipping view of the tabloid press. The animals and children being melted down are the expendable lower classes; though of course, the fact Costello is a vegetarian isn’t a complete coincidence here.
Musically speaking, it’s absurdly simple, with a drum machine generating simple, clicking beatnik Daddio rhythms which combine with Steve Naive’s thundering, Hammer Horror piano lines. It’s an extraordinarily daring first single to lift from an album, offering the polar opposite of so much eighties pop – while that was often elaborate and multi-faceted, “Pills And Soap” is threadbare and puts the emphasis and weight of the record’s worth on its lyrics.
How you feel about it really depends upon how receptive you are to such earnest singer-songwriter minimalism, and also crucially when you first heard this. In 1983, there’s little doubt that Costello’s observations were controversial and insightful. Britain was under the early spell of Thatcherism and the behaviour of the press and the Government in power was quite radical – earlier Conservative governments obviously held aspirations to defeat Trade Unions, but few had swung the axe with as much enthusiasm and as little regard for communities as Auntie Maggie.
Listening to it again in 2025, though, sometimes feels like being mansplained on social media, because if you’re from any generation from X downwards, this is the country you’ve lived with as an adult and always known. In 1983 at least, the possibility of some reprieve was offered in the form of a left-wing Labour Party, whereas no such thing currently exists, and the insatiable thirst for control the aristocracy and billionaire class have over society currently feels largely unchallenged. “Pills and Soap” by current day standards feels like having an articulate weatherman stood beside you giving you news of the monsoon you’ve spent the last week being drenched by.
As a kid watching this on Top of the Pops, Elvis Costello was a total bafflement to me. It is alleged that David Lee Roth once said "The reason more rock critics like Elvis Costello than us is that more rock critics look like Elvis Costello than us." In my childish world, Costello actually looked more like my local GP – a sincere, thin, bespectacled man who was always rattling off thoughtful and complicated explanations for illnesses which only my parents seemed to understand. This single to me at the age of ten was that doctor on 45rpm offering a strange prescription for eczema.
I knew Elvis Costello was important and intelligent because I’d been told so, but he lived in the strange world of adults with refined tastes who had very careful opinions and large bookshelves. “Pills and Soap” felt implausibly dry, like an unbuttered Cream Cracker sandwiched between two slices of wholemeal bread. Sometimes when I listen to it, that’s what I still get from it – a diatribe that punishes the listener for allowing these things to happen just as much as it curses the powers-that-be. There is no spoonful of sugar on offer here, no brightness or reprieve under Costello’s unwavering gaze, and it feels like one of his harshest singles as a result.
Week One
8. Subhumans – Evolution (EP) (Bluurg)
Peak position: 8
Bags of old school rock and roll swagger about this punk disc as the kings of the home taping scene commit four tracks to vinyl.
15. Jane – It’s A Fine Day (Cherry Red)
Peak position: 7
Written by artist and poet Edward Barton (and music journalists always felt duty-bound to add “professional eccentric” after that) “It’s A Fine Day” is an absurdly shapeshifting record which either sounds womb-like and comforting or horrific depending on the day you hear it. I occasionally find myself imagining that it’s the voice of a traumatised woman rocking in the corner, singing to comfort herself, and the video doesn’t necessarily help with that idea.
Jane Lancaster would, despite vague, wishy-washy attempts by Barton to rectify the situation, remain known only for this track, which became a number 87 track in the UK charts. Naturally, it was covered by Opus III in the nineties who turned it into a huge dancefloor anthem, but you knew that already.
17. Hit Parade – Bad News (Crass)
Peak position: 15
Agitated synth-pop on the Crass label from this Belfast act, highlighting the Government’s treatment of prisoners in Northern Ireland. Dave Hyndman may have used drum machines and primitive synths, but Hit Parade’s work had the same degree of fury and spite as any of their punk cousins on the label.
20. The Smiths – Hand In Glove (Rough Trade)
Peak position: 10
It’s almost impossible to try to imagine what “Hand In Glove” must have sounded like to some people on the first listen, but it’s curious to remind ourselves of how, despite press plaudits, the public really didn’t bite particularly hard to begin with, treating The Smiths as an indie curiosity rather than an instant phenomenon.
“Hand In Glove” wasn’t a particularly commercial track to open with, sounding like a chorus-free love song that’s almost angry and defiant rather than openly celebratory – “I know my luck too well/ and I’ll probably never see you again!” hollers Morrissey at the end, and it sounds almost threatening – not pitched for sympathy, just as if he just wants you to know that any decision his partner takes to walk away from him will be utterly unjust. It’s a bouquet of flowers doused in arsenic, at the kind of warped anti-balladry even the darkest indie acts have so far backed away from. "And if the people stare/ then the people stare" also hints at all kinds of scenarios, both obvious and less straightforward. Straight away The Smiths have put forward something spiky, awkward and uniquely their own.
It won’t be the last we hear of it - Sandie Shaw will be along with her version in due course.
22. Virgin Dance - Are You Ready (For That Feeling) (Probe Plus)
Peak position: 21
“Are You Ready (For That Feeling)” almost feels like a Sandie Shaw song title. Virgin Dance were from Liverpool and sat on the precipice of New Pop and Post-Punk, as is keenly demonstrated on this single.
There’s a trilling, pie-eyed wonder about this which almost comes close to being too twee, but just about manages to reverse itself out of that ditch with the power of its melody. Bright, superhumanly optimistic and almost angelic, this one really could have become a proper hit.
30. Miquel Brown – So Many Men, So Little Time (Record Shack)
Peak position: 25
Most of the bigger, more popular Hi-NRG and gay club friendly sounds were either US or European imports or found their way on to small indie, enterprising indie labels, with only the occasional crossover sound being picked up by major labels.
Here, ahead of the pack, is Miquel Brown with the Ian Levine produced “So Many Men”, which sold preposterous amounts of records on the continent but merely remained a dancefloor hit in the UK. Meanwhile, some of the men in the video aren’t quite the studs they’re being sold as and I doubt were serious contenders for Miquel, but you can’t have everything (nor even can she).
Week Two
12. Hanoi Rocks – Malibu Beach (Licks)
Peak position: 12
Finnish rockers favoured by people who liked their glam metal to have a spiky, confrontational edge to it. “Malibu Beach” has a crunching, punky sound that almost all of their contemporaries lacked.
Huge in Scandinavia and Japan, Hanoi Rocks still never really became the truly international success story they seemingly promised.
14. Felt – Penelope Tree (Cherry Red)
Peak position: 12
Even if they still sounded as if their rhythm section mainly consisted of a hyperactive toddler on bongos, “Penelope Tree” was the first time Felt really began to sound close to an important group. From the mysterious high-pitched twang of the intro to the downright baffling opening lines “I didn’t want to the world to know/ that sunlight bathed the golden glow”, “Penelope Tree” is a deliberately obtuse and puzzling, only occasionally showing its belly to reveal some ugly bruises.
“I was lonely till I found the reason/ The reason was me,” Lawrence admits.
The song, meanwhile, contains dramatic guitar twangs and flourishes as if none of the rest of it matters. A superb single which got a number of journalists to sit up and pay attention, even if John Peel was less enamoured of the group’s pretensions.
26. SepPuKu - Dekompositiones EP (Side Effects)
Peak position: 26
30. Lost Cherrees - No Fighting No War No Trouble No More EP (Riot/Clone)
Peak position: 30
Week Three
14. Icicle Works – Birds Fly (A Whisper To A Scream) (Situation Two)
Peak position: 5
Way before The Stone Roses ever combined rapturous sixties jangle with sledgehammer rhythm patterns on “Elephant Stone”, The Icicle Works were scratching that itch (if you had it). “Birds Fly” aims itself straight off the ground like a concord then soars confidently, the sunlight flashing against its wings.
Easily one of the finest singles the Icicle Works ever released, proving that while the mainstream charts were filled with boundary-pushing electronic innovation, there were still plenty of wonderful songs yet to be written by jangling men in paisley wear.
17. Abrasive Wheels – Jailhouse Rock (Clay)
Peak position: 15
More punk n roll for those who need it. Abrasive Wheels rumbling take on Elvis sounds much as you’d expect it to, probably pushing some Teds close to mutiny at the point of its release. While there’s no disrespect intended in the roughed up version here, there’s also no real purpose – if the message is “Elvis rocked, you know”, well, we knew that already. Another punk cover version to add to the already mighty pile in 1983.
18. Eyeless In Gaza – New Risen (Cherry Red)
Peak position: 18
A piece of romantic synth-infused pop which sounds like nineties Romo before such a thing had even been dreamt of. Eyeless In Gaza jumped from quickly producing and releasing their own singles, inspired by Scritti Politti’s earliest approaches, to gleefully accepting an offer from Cherry Red to release their material.
It never quite reached above the middle ground of the indie chart, but created a cult following which has ensured the group continue releasing material to this day.
Meanwhile, the official “canal boating” video made to accompany this is probably one of the worst promo ideas I’ve ever seen. That it was mainly created with a Cherry Red VHS compilation in mind is no excuse.
20. The Fall – The Man Whose Head Expanded (Rough Trade)
Peak position: 3
More Casio VL-Tone mayhem courtesy of Smith, even if he does yell at the dinmaker to pack it in halfway through (“Turn that bloody blimey space invader off”). “Man” is one of The Fall’s scrappier singles, riddled with hiccups, interruptions and afterthoughts, all anchored by a chorus which sounds like a fragment of a theme from a lost sci-fi serial. Not the one you’d recommend to an aspiring Fall fan for openers.
As a kid watching this on Top of the Pops, Elvis Costello was a total bafflement to me. It is alleged that David Lee Roth once said "The reason more rock critics like Elvis Costello than us is that more rock critics look like Elvis Costello than us." In my childish world, Costello actually looked more like my local GP – a sincere, thin, bespectacled man who was always rattling off thoughtful and complicated explanations for illnesses which only my parents seemed to understand. This single to me at the age of ten was that doctor on 45rpm offering a strange prescription for eczema.
I knew Elvis Costello was important and intelligent because I’d been told so, but he lived in the strange world of adults with refined tastes who had very careful opinions and large bookshelves. “Pills and Soap” felt implausibly dry, like an unbuttered Cream Cracker sandwiched between two slices of wholemeal bread. Sometimes when I listen to it, that’s what I still get from it – a diatribe that punishes the listener for allowing these things to happen just as much as it curses the powers-that-be. There is no spoonful of sugar on offer here, no brightness or reprieve under Costello’s unwavering gaze, and it feels like one of his harshest singles as a result.
New Entries in the Chart
Week One
8. Subhumans – Evolution (EP) (Bluurg)
Peak position: 8
Bags of old school rock and roll swagger about this punk disc as the kings of the home taping scene commit four tracks to vinyl.
15. Jane – It’s A Fine Day (Cherry Red)
Peak position: 7
Written by artist and poet Edward Barton (and music journalists always felt duty-bound to add “professional eccentric” after that) “It’s A Fine Day” is an absurdly shapeshifting record which either sounds womb-like and comforting or horrific depending on the day you hear it. I occasionally find myself imagining that it’s the voice of a traumatised woman rocking in the corner, singing to comfort herself, and the video doesn’t necessarily help with that idea.
Jane Lancaster would, despite vague, wishy-washy attempts by Barton to rectify the situation, remain known only for this track, which became a number 87 track in the UK charts. Naturally, it was covered by Opus III in the nineties who turned it into a huge dancefloor anthem, but you knew that already.
17. Hit Parade – Bad News (Crass)
Peak position: 15
Agitated synth-pop on the Crass label from this Belfast act, highlighting the Government’s treatment of prisoners in Northern Ireland. Dave Hyndman may have used drum machines and primitive synths, but Hit Parade’s work had the same degree of fury and spite as any of their punk cousins on the label.
20. The Smiths – Hand In Glove (Rough Trade)
Peak position: 10
It’s almost impossible to try to imagine what “Hand In Glove” must have sounded like to some people on the first listen, but it’s curious to remind ourselves of how, despite press plaudits, the public really didn’t bite particularly hard to begin with, treating The Smiths as an indie curiosity rather than an instant phenomenon.
“Hand In Glove” wasn’t a particularly commercial track to open with, sounding like a chorus-free love song that’s almost angry and defiant rather than openly celebratory – “I know my luck too well/ and I’ll probably never see you again!” hollers Morrissey at the end, and it sounds almost threatening – not pitched for sympathy, just as if he just wants you to know that any decision his partner takes to walk away from him will be utterly unjust. It’s a bouquet of flowers doused in arsenic, at the kind of warped anti-balladry even the darkest indie acts have so far backed away from. "And if the people stare/ then the people stare" also hints at all kinds of scenarios, both obvious and less straightforward. Straight away The Smiths have put forward something spiky, awkward and uniquely their own.
It won’t be the last we hear of it - Sandie Shaw will be along with her version in due course.
22. Virgin Dance - Are You Ready (For That Feeling) (Probe Plus)
Peak position: 21
“Are You Ready (For That Feeling)” almost feels like a Sandie Shaw song title. Virgin Dance were from Liverpool and sat on the precipice of New Pop and Post-Punk, as is keenly demonstrated on this single.
There’s a trilling, pie-eyed wonder about this which almost comes close to being too twee, but just about manages to reverse itself out of that ditch with the power of its melody. Bright, superhumanly optimistic and almost angelic, this one really could have become a proper hit.
30. Miquel Brown – So Many Men, So Little Time (Record Shack)
Peak position: 25
Most of the bigger, more popular Hi-NRG and gay club friendly sounds were either US or European imports or found their way on to small indie, enterprising indie labels, with only the occasional crossover sound being picked up by major labels.
Here, ahead of the pack, is Miquel Brown with the Ian Levine produced “So Many Men”, which sold preposterous amounts of records on the continent but merely remained a dancefloor hit in the UK. Meanwhile, some of the men in the video aren’t quite the studs they’re being sold as and I doubt were serious contenders for Miquel, but you can’t have everything (nor even can she).
Week Two
12. Hanoi Rocks – Malibu Beach (Licks)
Peak position: 12
Finnish rockers favoured by people who liked their glam metal to have a spiky, confrontational edge to it. “Malibu Beach” has a crunching, punky sound that almost all of their contemporaries lacked.
Huge in Scandinavia and Japan, Hanoi Rocks still never really became the truly international success story they seemingly promised.
14. Felt – Penelope Tree (Cherry Red)
Peak position: 12
Even if they still sounded as if their rhythm section mainly consisted of a hyperactive toddler on bongos, “Penelope Tree” was the first time Felt really began to sound close to an important group. From the mysterious high-pitched twang of the intro to the downright baffling opening lines “I didn’t want to the world to know/ that sunlight bathed the golden glow”, “Penelope Tree” is a deliberately obtuse and puzzling, only occasionally showing its belly to reveal some ugly bruises.
“I was lonely till I found the reason/ The reason was me,” Lawrence admits.
The song, meanwhile, contains dramatic guitar twangs and flourishes as if none of the rest of it matters. A superb single which got a number of journalists to sit up and pay attention, even if John Peel was less enamoured of the group’s pretensions.
26. SepPuKu - Dekompositiones EP (Side Effects)
Peak position: 26
30. Lost Cherrees - No Fighting No War No Trouble No More EP (Riot/Clone)
Peak position: 30
Week Three
14. Icicle Works – Birds Fly (A Whisper To A Scream) (Situation Two)
Peak position: 5
Way before The Stone Roses ever combined rapturous sixties jangle with sledgehammer rhythm patterns on “Elephant Stone”, The Icicle Works were scratching that itch (if you had it). “Birds Fly” aims itself straight off the ground like a concord then soars confidently, the sunlight flashing against its wings.
Easily one of the finest singles the Icicle Works ever released, proving that while the mainstream charts were filled with boundary-pushing electronic innovation, there were still plenty of wonderful songs yet to be written by jangling men in paisley wear.
17. Abrasive Wheels – Jailhouse Rock (Clay)
Peak position: 15
More punk n roll for those who need it. Abrasive Wheels rumbling take on Elvis sounds much as you’d expect it to, probably pushing some Teds close to mutiny at the point of its release. While there’s no disrespect intended in the roughed up version here, there’s also no real purpose – if the message is “Elvis rocked, you know”, well, we knew that already. Another punk cover version to add to the already mighty pile in 1983.
18. Eyeless In Gaza – New Risen (Cherry Red)
Peak position: 18
A piece of romantic synth-infused pop which sounds like nineties Romo before such a thing had even been dreamt of. Eyeless In Gaza jumped from quickly producing and releasing their own singles, inspired by Scritti Politti’s earliest approaches, to gleefully accepting an offer from Cherry Red to release their material.
It never quite reached above the middle ground of the indie chart, but created a cult following which has ensured the group continue releasing material to this day.
Meanwhile, the official “canal boating” video made to accompany this is probably one of the worst promo ideas I’ve ever seen. That it was mainly created with a Cherry Red VHS compilation in mind is no excuse.
20. The Fall – The Man Whose Head Expanded (Rough Trade)
Peak position: 3
More Casio VL-Tone mayhem courtesy of Smith, even if he does yell at the dinmaker to pack it in halfway through (“Turn that bloody blimey space invader off”). “Man” is one of The Fall’s scrappier singles, riddled with hiccups, interruptions and afterthoughts, all anchored by a chorus which sounds like a fragment of a theme from a lost sci-fi serial. Not the one you’d recommend to an aspiring Fall fan for openers.
24. Brilliant – Colours (Risk)
Peak position: 11
27. Durutti Column - I Get Along Without You Very Well (Factory)
Peak position: 27
Vini Reilly produces an eccentric, stripped bare version of the old classic, with lead vocals by Lindsay Reade, then Tony Wilson’s wife. Music box melodies meet naive singing and dreamy guitar playing, and you really need to be in the right mood for this – it might work a very late night lullaby, but it’s not going to enhance your life as a piece of mid-afternoon listening.
Peak position: 11
27. Durutti Column - I Get Along Without You Very Well (Factory)
Peak position: 27
Vini Reilly produces an eccentric, stripped bare version of the old classic, with lead vocals by Lindsay Reade, then Tony Wilson’s wife. Music box melodies meet naive singing and dreamy guitar playing, and you really need to be in the right mood for this – it might work a very late night lullaby, but it’s not going to enhance your life as a piece of mid-afternoon listening.
For the full charts, please head over to the UKMix Forums
Number One In The Official Charts
The Police: "Every Breath You Take" (A&M)
Rod Stewart: "Baby Jane" (Warner Bros.)
Note - besides the usual version of "Pills and Soap" below, Spotify is also offering me a karaoke version by an outfit known as The Karaoke Universe. One to dial up the next time you're having a late Friday night at the local Red Lion, maybe.
Miquel Brown: the mother of somebody I guess we'll meet on these pages when we reach 1985/86, or certainly 1987?
ReplyDeleteI haven't checked, but I would think so!
Delete