Elvis Costello releases “No Flag”, recorded in Helsinki, Finland. In the late ’70s, Elvis Costello burst onto the then-fledgling punk scene as the quintessential angry man: getting banned from Saturday Night Live, for example, for playing “Radio, Radio”—the song he was explicitly told not to play. Forty-some years and numerous albums later and Costello’s angriest side has now returned, a bit wiser and a lot more jaded, with his most barbed-wire-filled track in years, “No Flag.” Employing some spooky synth percussion to kick it off, “No Flag” then quickly shifts to a hypnotic tantrum-filled riff, Costello dually assaulting with an aggressive guitar line and lyrics that rage against the weak idols that have let everyone down in 2020: “No flag waving high above / No sign for the dark place that I live / No God for the damn that I don’t give.” As caustic as it is, it’s a refreshing return to form for Costello, at an ideal time for angry, catchy protest songs
Asked about the choice of recording location, Costello, explained, “I wanted to go somewhere nobody knew me. So, this is ‘The Helsinki Sound.’
Elvis Costello releases “No Flag”
The instrumental credits list only: “Elvis Costello – Mouth, Drum, Fender Jazzmaster, Hammond Organ and Bass.”
The Fat Angel Sings 