Elvis Costello

[Jorge]

Well, you can convince yourself of anything when you wish both hard and long

[liebzz]

Punch the Clock

If Imperial Bedroom was the kaleidoscope of sound, then Punch the Clock is the essence of the 80s. Perhaps it’s that Everyday I Write the Book just feels like the quintessential 80s pop hit, but everything here just sounds so…80s! Granted, there’s a lot of really good stuff here and I wouldn’t necessarily be complaining by that description - I mean it’s 1983 after all. Album opener Let Them All Talk is great, The Greatest Thing, Shipbuilding, TKO, Charm School, Mouth Almighty, and King of Thieves all good, some with interesting twists and turns. I really loved The Invisible Man, Pills & Soap, and The World & His Wife though. Each very different from each other but he nails it on each of those.

Imperial Bedroom
My Aim Is True
This Year’s Model
Trust
Get Happy
Punch the Clock
Armed Forces
Almost Blue

[liebzz]

Goodbye Cruel World

This is the first Elvis Costello album where I had any issues being drawn in, particularly as it pertains to the middle portion of the album. The Only Flame in Town and Home Truth provide a solid start, but from there, I didn’t feel like I was invested in the songs in the same way as the album progressed. I started coming back around somewhere in Joe Porterhouse and really Sour Milk Cow Blues got me back into hooked. The Deportees was also quite good but something about this one somehow felt more lackluster for me than what has preceded it.

Imperial Bedroom
My Aim Is True
This Year’s Model
Trust
Get Happy
Punch the Clock
Armed Forces
Almost Blue
Goodbye Cruel World

[Jorge]

You've just gone through the two albums that are at the very bottom of my EC list, liebzz. Lots of good songs in there, lots of good ideas, but the Langer / Winstanley production does all it can to hide them.

Compare, for instance, the version of "The Comedians" on Goodbye Cruel World to the one he later re-arranged for Roy Orbison

[Kevin Davis]

"Sour Milk Cow Blues" is awesome! I also think "Inch By Inch" is a perfect little pop song.

By and large, though, both Punch the Clock and Goodbye Cruel World have similar problems -- cluttered arrangements, cumbersome writing, and big-time pop aspirations for songs that (for the most part) really just aren't that catchy. I find both albums enjoyable enough, and you can definitely pluck highlights off both records, but they're rightly seen as a low point of the Attractions' early run and EC was unquestionably right to shift gears with King of America and Blood and Chocolate, two of the finest albums in his catalog IMO.

As a detour I'd highly recommend listening to the acoustic demos of "Deportee" and "The Comedians," which reveal two fantastic songs that were ruined by unduly gaudy arrangements. (At the end of your journey maybe I'll do a mix of highlights of B-sides, one-offs, bonus tracks from reissues, etc. -- you'll get a pretty comprehensive picture with just the albums, but there are definitely some great castoffs along the way.)

This Year's Model
Get Happy
Imperial Bedroom
Trust
My Aim Is True
Armed Forces
Punch the Clock
Almost Blue
Goodbye Cruel World

[tragabigzanda]

[Jorge]

KD, from what I've read those acoustic versions of "Deportee" and "The Comedians" were recorded shortly after the album was released; seems EC himself wasn't happy with how they turned out and was trying to find a way to salvage them.

The re-arranged "The Deportees Club"/"Deportee" also served as the basis to this lovely cover by Christy Moore

[Jorge]

Oh, and

1. This Year's Model
2. Imperial Bedroom
3. Trust
4. Get Happy
5. My Aim is True
6. Armed Forces
7. Almost Blue
8. Punch the Clock
9. Goodbye Cruel World

[Kevin Davis]

KD, from what I've read those acoustic versions of "Deportee" and "The Comedians" were recorded shortly after the album was released; seems EC himself wasn't happy with how they turned out and was trying to find a way to salvage them.

Ah, interesting -- that explains why the acoustic "Deportee" appears on deluxe KOA set, as opposed to the GCW one.

I wonder, did those versions originate on the solo tour he undertook at the time? I'd love an official release of one of those sets. (Sadly EC's archival release program seems to have come to a screeching halt.)

[Jorge]

Actually, I'll put Punch the Clock above Almost Blue. Even with the gaudiness of much of its sound, there are more songs on there that I enjoy than on AB.

1. This Year's Model
2. Imperial Bedroom
3. Trust
4. Get Happy
5. My Aim is True
6. Armed Forces
7. Punch the Clock
8. Almost Blue
9. Goodbye Cruel World

I wonder if I could assemble a great album by putting together the best songs from PTC and GCW. The albums sound similar enough for it to work....

[Jorge]

It's funny how for a brief period in the mid 80s The Attractions sort of morphed into a completely different band

[Kevin Davis]

Actually, I'll put Punch the Clock above Almost Blue. Even with the gaudiness of much of its sound, there are more songs on there that I enjoy than on AB.

1. This Year's Model
2. Imperial Bedroom
3. Trust
4. Get Happy
5. My Aim is True
6. Armed Forces
7. Punch the Clock
8. Almost Blue
9. Goodbye Cruel World

I wonder if I could assemble a great album by putting together the best songs from PTC and GCW. The albums sound similar enough for it to work....

I totally think you could. Not sure how I'd sequence this but I really enjoy all of these songs.

Let Them All Talk
Everyday I Write the Book
The Greatest Thing
The Element Within Her
Shipbuilding
Pills and Soap
The World And His Wife
The Only Flame In Town
Home Truth
Room Without a Number
Inch By Inch
Love Field
Sour Milk Cow Blues

Both pretty frontloaded albums IMO.

I also really like the cover of "Walking On Thin Ice" recorded around this time.

[Jorge]

I think the best thing to come out of the Goodbye Cruel World era is the music video for "I Wanna Be Loved," which director Evan English contends was later copied by U2

I really dislike this song, but EC's performance is good, and the video is at least a little less gross than "Numb"

[Jorge]

I also like that they let us hear what he was actually singing in the shoot. The same director did it again with the video for "Veronica" a few years later. It adds quite a bit, I think

[flavdave]

1. Armed Forces
2. Punch the Clock - perfect mainstream album
3. Get Happy!!
4. Trust
5. My Aim is True
6. Taking Liberties - are we including this in the rankings?
7. This Years Model
8. Imperial Bedroom
9. Almost Blue

NR. Goodbye Cruel World - haven't really given this one a fair shake

[liebzz]

Sorry. Short hiatus since I am driving rather than riding on the train to work this and next week. Can’t give a proper listen in the car if I am too busy giving a proper finger to my fellow commuters.

[Kevin Davis]

1. Armed Forces
2. Punch the Clock - perfect mainstream album
3. Get Happy!!
4. Trust
5. My Aim is True
6. Taking Liberties - are we including this in the rankings?
7. This Years Model
8. Imperial Bedroom
9. Almost Blue

NR. Goodbye Cruel World - haven't really given this one a fair shake

Taking Liberties (and its successor, Out of Our Idiot) are interesting ones for me; I got into EC in 2002, when the Rhino reissue campaign was for all intents and purposes just getting started. This turned out to be an absolute prime moment in time to discover Costello, as -- despite the fact that it was frustrating to have to wait a few years for all the albums to be reissued -- all of the Rhino sets came with generous bonus discs containing on occasion upwards of 30 tracks. However, because of this model, these two albums were not included in the reissue program; rather, their contents (with one exception I think, from Out of Our Idiot) were dispersed among the bonus discs of the albums whose sessions originally produced the tracks. (I don't think these albums were reissued by Ryko either, who spearheaded the first EC CD reissue campaign in the early 90's.) I guess this would be akin to discovering Pearl Jam in such a way that had all the songs that later appeared on Lost Dogs being returned to their original session contexts as bonus tracks.

All of which is to say, in my mind, those albums don't really exist in EC's discography, even though I know the songs well (and really like many of them). As luck would have it, I had a friend who some years later bought me a stack of four EC vinyl LP's as a birthday gift, and both of these albums by complete chance happened to be in there, so I've heard them in their original configurations and certainly enjoyed them. They feel like great playlists to me (Liberties in particular has a nice, cohesive sound -- a concentrated dose of early EC), but it's hard for me to place them in an exercise like this.

That said, if they're on streaming services, I definitely say give them a go! Plenty of gems in there for sure.

[Jorge]

I got to listen to The Boy Named If today.

Guys it's really good. Lots of rock and roll, and it's fun as hell, but my natural tendency is to favor the ballads. My favorite was "Trick Out the Truth". "My Most Beautiful Mistake" was also great, just fantastic writing all around. And Pete Thomas particularly shines on this record. I really thought his drumming had mellowed with age (he's been solid but not particularly GREAT in a showy way since after The Delivery Man) but he's tremendous here

Can't wait for the release. I only got to listen through once

[liebzz]

I’m coming back to this soon. Train commute resumes on Monday so it is coming, though I have caught a nasty little Springsteen bug the last few days…

[liebzz]

King of America

After a week plus respite, we’re back, and with arguably the best album so far. Ditching all the bells and whistles that likely contributed to knocking the last 2 albums down a peg, Costello brings this one forth, without the Attractions, in a more stripped down affair. The results are exceptional. Stripped down doesn’t mean one sound here, as he traverses much of the American music landscape here from country to blues to folk, and all of it spot on. While I was really into Brilliant Mistake, Loveable, Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood, and Glitter Gulch, the entire second half of this album is where it’s at for me with Eisenhower Blues taking the prize.