Elvis Costello

[liebzz]

Get Happy isn't my favorite EC album, but I'd put it pretty comfortably in my top five; there's a time when I would have said top three, but a few others have probably leapfrogged it at this point. I do think it is a "whole is more than the sum of its parts"-type album, and that there are a handful of lesser songs that get kind of brought along for the ride by the frantic sweep of the whole program, and manage to glean a bit of extra fairy dust as a result. While I think This Year's Model is probably the Attractions' strongest physical performance on record, I feel like Get Happy is the album that really finds them at a sort of telepathic peak and catches them at a moment where they really could (and damn near did!) do anything, and do it at a comparable level of virtuosity, precision, and interplay, without ever losing support of the songs. They'll expand their repertoire even further over the next few albums (especially Trust and Imperial Bedroom), but those albums also bring about some other things as well -- a squarer focus on the songwriting, lush orchestrations, etc. Get Happy is the band and only the band, shifting gears at will and killing it damn near every time out.

I'd also add that Get Happy feels like the first album where EC really goes on pun/wordplay overkill in the lyrics, in the best possible way. The songs whiz by so fast that the words can be hard to catch, but if you read along, it really is a lot of fun (though I respect Jorge's point about "Riot Act"**).

That said, if I had to make a list of my 20 (or even 50) favorite EC songs, Get Happy probably wouldn't get a lot of representation. Pulling the songs off one at a time doesn't serve them well, and EC is generally an artist that is highly conducive to compiling and shuffling. The album is the proper context for all of these songs.

**Had to edit my formatting of "Riot Act." In PJ world, it's Riot Act, but it's "Riot Act" in EC world.

Yeah you put it much better than I could. I agree with this completely. Also should have mentioned the bass playing which I definitely noticed. Of the four so far, this is probably #3 for me behind My Aim Is True and This Years Model.

[Kevin Davis]

I'd take Get Happy over My Aim Is True, but I agree in putting Armed Forces at the bottom of the first four.

If at any point you get the itch to make a detour, check out the Live at the El Mocambo or Hollywood High live albums to hear the Attractions put their stamp on the My Aim Is True songs. It's good stuff.

[Jorge]

Hey why not, maybe this will help get my ranking in order. I'll add each album as liebzz gets to it.

1. This Year's Model
2. Get Happy!!
3. My Aim is True
4. Armed Forces

[Kevin Davis]

Hey why not, maybe this will help get my ranking in order. I'll add each album as liebzz gets to it.

1. This Year's Model
2. Get Happy!!
3. My Aim is True
4. Armed Forces

Exact same list here. I'll be interested to see how our lists diverge as the exercise goes on.

[Jorge]

I wish evenslow still posted here

[liebzz]

Yeah mine is a little different so far:

My Aim Is True
This Years Model
Get Happy!!
Armed Forces

[flavdave]

1. Armed Forces
2. Get Happy!!
3. My Aim is True
4. This Years Model

[liebzz]

Trust

This is a really fantastic album. On my first listen, it reminds me a lot of Springsteen’s The River, a collection of songs that would probably slay live, have an almost propulsive collective atmosphere about them, but underneath the surface address some darker themes and ideas. This one needs multiple listens and I will go back to it at some point. Every song seems to have its own merit and it’s hard to single them out here. Whereas there may be some hangers on in Get Happy, each song seems important to the whole on this one. Probably #3 so far but further listening would probably put it at #1.

[Kevin Davis]

Trust has some of Costello's flat-out best-ever songs, in my opinion -- "Clubland," "Watch Your Step," "Shot With His Own Gun," and especially "New Lace Sleeves," maybe my favorite EC song from the Attractions' initial run. On the strength of its half dozen strongest tracks, it's probably one of my most played EC albums. That said, I think it's his first album that feels like a mix of styles that don't always go together, and I find myself coming back to it for individual songs more than I do for full listens (it's basically the polar opposite of Get Happy in that way). And there are a few that have just never connected with me for one reason or another. But it's also been a long time since I've played it in full so I think I'm going to rectify that today!

Pre-relisten:

This Year's Model
Get Happy
Trust
My Aim is True
Armed Forces

[liebzz]

Almost Blue

Well, that was unexpected. An album comprised mostly of country covers - not that Costello hasn’t changed it up quite a bit. More surprising is that I found this enjoyable, if not inessential. It’s as if the success of this album is its lack of a need to have a real purpose beyond showcasing some country music that may or may not be delivered tongue in cheek. And when it departs from the country theme, it’s pretty damn great, like on the purely energetic Why Don’t You Love Me (Like You Used To Do) or Honey Hush or the album closer How Much I Lied. There’s a fun and charming quality to many of the country covers as well from Tonight the Bottle Let Me Down to Sutton’ and Thinkin’. An unexpected win here folks.

[Jorge]

I love Trust, definitely an underrated EC album. My favorite song from those sessions is "Black Sails In The Sunset" and it didn't make the final tracklisting, which is a shame.

I like Almost Blue but I almost never listen to it. To be honest, it's the one EC album where I find his singing a little jarring. He goes way overboard with the nasally register and the vibrato on that one. It did show me a bunch of songs I wouldn't have otherwise been exposed to, such as "I'm Your Toy" (or "Hot Burrito #2" lol), that I now love.

Also, hot take: the baby in "Good Year for the Roses" is dead. That's why the couple is splitting up

1. This Year's Model
2. Trust
3. Get Happy
4. My Aim is True
5. Armed Forces
6. Almost Blue

[flavdave]

It did show me a bunch of songs I wouldn't have otherwise been exposed to, such as "I'm Your Toy" (or "Hot Burrito #2" lol), that I now love.

*Hot Burrito #1

[Jorge]

Whatever!

[liebzz]

Updated list through 1981:

My Aim Is True
This Year’s Model
Trust
Get Happy
Armed Forces
Almost Blue

[Kevin Davis]

It’s as if the success of this album is its lack of a need to have a real purpose beyond showcasing some country music that may or may not be delivered tongue in cheek.

I'd lean toward it not being intended as too tongue-in-cheek; I think EC approaches his genre-themed projects with a certain level of respectful distance, somewhat careful not to upset the norms of the thing he's paying tribute to, but in the liner notes to the reissue of this album he speaks very lovingly about these songs and his background with them, while at the same time acknowledging that it isn't lost on him how absurd the record must have seemed to people at the time. It's kind of a weird album sitting right in the middle of that blazing run of early Attractions records, but I like a lot of the songs and performances on it (my favorite is "Sweet Dreams"). It's also an interesting reunion of sorts; John McPhee, the pedal steel player that augments the Attractions on this record, was part of the band that played on My Aim Is True.

This Year's Model
Get Happy
Trust
My Aim Is True
Armed Forces
Almost Blue

*Only semi-related, but if you like EC's version of "Honey Hush" from this album, check out Paul McCartney's version from Run Devil Run. You'd never guess he's "the cute one" from that performance -- one of my favorites.

[Jorge]

Yeah, I was gonna say, I don't think there's much tongue-in-cheek about these performances

[liebzz]

Respectful distance might be the better phrasing.

[liebzz]

Imperial Bedroom

Kaleidoscope of sounds. That is how I would describe this one. Sonically, Costello is all over the map here and all of the sides here for me make for the most interesting album thus far on this journey. At times, this feels like a studied love affair with late period Beatles, and others almost like he’s a lounge singer, and others straight a head rock star. I didn’t know that this is what I came for, but now that I got it, this is what I came for. Granted, I got a little side tracked somewhere in the second half (I am relistening) by a guy on the train who tried to talk his way out of wearing a mask, but I really liked everything on this. Might be my favorite so far.

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

[Jorge]

Yep, great album. Some tricky compositions there, with a lot of heart. "Man Out of Time" was my first favorite EC song, such a majestic chorus.

1. This Year's Model
2. Imperial Bedroom
3. Trust
4. Get Happy
5. My Aim is True
6. Armed Forces
7. Almost Blue

[Kevin Davis]

I listened to both Imperial Bedroom and Punch the Clock this morning, in anticipation of this!

Imperial Bedroom is no doubt fantastic. The Beatles comparison is well-earned; the album was produced by Geoff Emerick, and so many of the songs are just immaculately arranged (and written). My first listen to Imperial Bedroom sticks out more vividly than my first listen to any other EC album; I remember it was winter 2002, I grabbed this album at Barnes and Noble (along with Armed Forces, both of which were newly reissued), and listened to it while killing time, waiting to meet friends, just utterly beguiled by the "kaleidoscope of sounds," as you rightly call it, coming from my speakers. One of those non-event-type occasions that now feels like a beautiful moment frozen in time that I wish I could step back into, if only for the 45 minute running time of the LP.

That said, there have always been a handful of songs on it that I've appreciated more than connected with on a gut level, and that's always kept it just outside of Tier 1 for me -- though it resides very firmly at the top of Tier 2, and I wouldn't argue with anyone who says it belongs higher.

I'll hold off on discussing Punch the Clock until liebzz gets to it

This Year's Model
Get Happy
Imperial Bedroom
Trust
My Aim Is True
Armed Forces
Almost Blue

Jorge, looks like Get Happy is the only wildcard in our Costello tastes so far; take it out of the mix and our lists are otherwise identical.
(*liebzz is no doubt going to feel like he's being put on when he gets to North and we both immediately put it at the top of our lists -- I promise now it's not a joke!)