#41: Elvis Costello and the Attractions - This Year's Model

Hip-O Records just re-released all of Elvis Costello's early records, and some chump from the record label sold a bunch of shrink-wrapped copies to the record store I go to. I'm tempted to run out this whole week on CD Slut with Elvis Costello reissues. We'll see what happens.

Since I already own My Aim Is True, his solo debut, I figured I'd get This Year's Model, his second album, and his first with The Attractions, his first - and best-known - backing band.

For a long time, I was hesitant to get any Elvis Costello records. Now, I'm not sure why that was, but I think I was afraid they'd somehow be too cheesy or to...I don't know, English, although I'm sure I never put it in those terms in my brain. Anyhow, I got over my silly little phobia and picked up My Aim is True and Trust over the last few months, and they're obviously great. I know music appreciation is subjective, but there's not a lot of legroom for arguing anything against Elvis Costello's early work. It's simple, effective, and emotionally-driven rock music with dashes of punk and what would later be called new wave - I'm not sure what there is to gripe about.

With This Year's Model, I think I may have picked up my favorite record of his so far. I really liked Trust the best to this point, as his first record was perhaps a bit schmaltzy - the Attractions weren't around to keep things driving forward - but This Year's Model is just as good as Trust, if not more immediate and gripping. There's a smattering of classics, such as the storied "Radio, Radio," and "Pump it Up," which may have been the track that made me originally think I'd hate Elvis Costello, but since I'm over that by now, I can enjoy it just fine.

"(I Don't Want to Go to) Chelsea" is maybe my favorite track on the record, although "The Beat" may have something to say about that. The album is so direct and full of great melodies that it's hard to single any out, but those are probably the two most interesting songs at this point. Somehow I get the feeling that if I had picked this up in high school, I would have clinched the title of 'class weirdo.' I don't know anyone (among my peers) who listened to anything quite like this back then, and even though these records were released when my dad still had his head in contemporary music, he never exposed me to this. The one Police record that was sitting around the house back then was written off as being something his younger sister had left in his collection and he never bothered with it. But then again, that damn guy had a bunch of The Band and Townes Van Zandt records that he never bothered to play for me back in the day. I'm still pissed about that.

While these new reissues don't have the meaty batch of B-sides that the Rhino reissues featured, and there aren't any witty liner notes, at least this batch means that there's more copies in circulation for me to finally get my hands on. I only wish the similarity between the opening bars of "Little Triggers" and the closing credits music for Saturday Night Live weren't a coincidence. That'd totally be like omg foreshadowing.

"(I Don't Want to Go to) Chelsea"



"The Beat" live