his time working with the Specials, Costello taped demos at Archipelago, a small eight-track studio in Pimlico, London, and played all instruments himself, yielding versions of "Black and White World", "Riot Act", "Five Gears in Reverse", "Love for Tender", "King Horse", "New Amsterdam" and "Men Called Uncle". According to his biographer Graeme Thomson, Costello had grown to hate the sound of Armed Forces and aimed to take a different direction for his next album. Recording Costello and the Attractions regrouped at London's Eden Studios in September and October 1979 to rehearse the new tracks but, having written and performed the material during the Armed Funk Tour in a style similar to Armed Forces, Costello was displeased with the results, finding them derivative and too "new wave". Bruce Thomas recalled: "We sounded like the Jags. Bad Elvis and the Attractions impersonators, basically, who played everything fast and in eights." Thomson states that the band's classic sound was now outdated and the initial attempt at "B Movie" sounded like "a desperate attempt" at rewriting "Oliver's Army" (1979). Wanting a new direction, Costello immersed himself in soul music he enjoyed as a teenager and purchased several soul records at London's Camden Town, such as Motown Chartbusters Vol. 3 and Atlantic Records' This Is Soul, which he gave to the band as inspiration. They then went back and re-arranged many of the songs using an R&B sound. The band also grew tired of Eden and relocated to Wisseloord Studios in Hilversum, Netherlands. Returning as producer and engineer were Nick Lowe and Roger Béchirian, respectively. Recording took place throughout October 1979. Despite the change in scenery, the sessions were enveloped with problems. The band drank frequently, while Béchirian recalled it being a "cocaine haze". Having played the majority of tracks live before going into the studio on previous albums, the new songs were being rearranged frequently and boasted little time to pause. For the Attractions, Nieve suffered an emotional meltdown while Bruce and Pete Thomas were unhappy with their bass and drum sounds, respectively. Béchirian later stated: "It wasn't pleasant at all. You could see the seams coming apart at that point." In addition, Lowe found issues with the studio, even having Costello record his vocals in the booth designed for string instruments: "[It] was extremely Euro. It was like trying to make a record as the Eurovision song contest was going on all around