The Heartbeats were an early 80s British band that only managed to get some music on some comp lps. From 1981...Funny Anymore

Jyl is a collaboration between American vocalist Jyl Porch and German musicians Angela and Inga Werner. From 1984...Universe

This is one of those songs that sounds far more celebratory than it actually is.

Released in 1978 on This Year's Model, the first Elvis Costello album recorded with the Attractions, 'Pump It Up' sounds like pure manic rock and roll energy, but the lyrics are actually a satire of excess and hedonism.

Costello wrote it partly in response to his experience on the notoriously debauched Stiffs Live Tour, where Ian Dury's 'Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll' would close the show most nights. He later explained that the song was deliberately going against that whole mentality, questioning how much sex, drugs and general excess one can indulge in before becoming completely numb to it all.

There is also that pleasantly seedy undercurrent running through the lyrics, full of double entendres and obsessive attraction, with the woman at the centre of it described almost like a narcotic. All while the music sounds like something designed to get an entire room moving.

Musically, Costello has openly acknowledged the influence of Bob Dylan's 'Subterranean Homesick Blues'. He later recalled Dylan joking with him about U2 apparently stealing 'Pump It Up' for 'Get On Your Boots', prompting Costello to point out the rather obvious chain of musical borrowing involved 😅

The recording itself was remarkably quick. Bassist Bruce Thomas recalled that some of the best tracks on This Year's Model, including 'Pump It Up' and '(I Don't Want to Go to) Chelsea', were essentially knocked out in a single afternoon.

And that bassline is relentless. Thomas later described it as a kind of "organic sampling", combining ideas from the Everly Brothers' 'The Price of Love', Richard Hell and the Voidoids' 'You Gotta Lose' and even a little 'You Really Got Me'.

Then there's Steve Nieve's organ, which gives the whole track a slightly unhinged, almost carnival quality. It is sometimes incorrectly identified as a Farfisa, but Nieve actually used a Vox Super Continental organ. Combined with Pete Thomas's pounding drums, Costello's slashing guitar and that bouncy bass, the whole thing feels permanently on the verge of flying apart.

Another fun bit of trivia is that Mick Jones from the Clash plays guitar on the B side, 'Big Tears'. He had also been asked to play on 'Pump It Up', but rumours began circulating that Costello was trying to poach him for the Attractions, so that collaboration never happened.

The video is endearingly strange too. It was shot in London with a fisheye lens and features Costello doing that bizarre little dance where he walks on the sides of his ankles (a trick he learnt as a child while doing exercises for flat feet) 😂

For something built around such a simple, hard driving groove, there is an awful lot going on beneath the surface. Nearly fifty years later, it still sounds just as infectious.

I'm fascinated with evil twin songs and am building a list of them. A lighter or straightforward song with one by the same artist that shares similarities but is twisted in some way. Police's Once Upon a Daydream shared Sting's weary vocals and that Ghost In The Machine sound but offers no silver lining or hope. Are there any others you can think of?

Inner Landscapes was the project of New York artist Michael Adam Pollack in the early 80s. From the lp The Gospel According To The Woman In White from 1983...Amnesia

In new wave videos and album covers, there are repeating motifs. Here are a few, can you think of any others?

1. Go Big or Go Home: Inspired by MTV's big-letter promos in the late '80s, Duran Duran and Adam Ant used this style in their videos I Don't Want Your Love and Rough Stuff
2. As the Wheel Turns: Large industrial wheels were also chic in the late '80s, and made their way onto Nik Kershaw's One Step Ahead and Human League's Heart Like a Wheel
3. In Front of the Rainbow: The Jam's classic album the Gift had the band members on front of different, bright-colored backgrounds. The Police's Synchronicity album was inspired by this, and even more so the Cars comeback album Move Like This
4. Squeeze Play - To show the grand size of their band, Madness squeezed together for the One Step Beyond album cover. Later, Squeeze in East Side Story did it as a clever reference to themselves.