Elvis Costello – My Aim Is True (1977/Deluxe Edition CD Set)
Sound:
B Music: B
Though he
has become an elder statesman of music about something, Elvis Costello began as
one of the great male New Wave vocalists and in 1977 burst onto the scene very
memorably with his debut album My Aim Is
True. By 1978, it was a big selling
hit and he was on his way to a remarkable artistic autonomy accompanied by a
following that constantly bought his product.
Like Joe
Jackson, he had attitude, intelligence, something to say and knew how to put it
to music. Thirty years later, the album
sounds as fresh as ever and offers the following tracks:
1)
Welcome To The Working Week
2)
Miracle Man
3)
No Dancing
4)
Blame It On Cain
5)
Alison
6)
Sneaky Feelings
7)
(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes
8)
Less Than Zero
9)
Mystery Dance
10) Pay It Back
11) I’m Not Angry
12) Waiting For The End Of The
World
13) Watching The Detectives
The last
track did not appear on early U.K. editions of the album, all now collector’s
items. The tracks in total (with to
without that one) can be somewhat uneven, but that seems to fall more in the
Punk side of the New Wave tradition than anything about choppiness or
uncertainly of Costello as a singer/songwriter.
Alison became a radio
favorite, while Less Than Zero was
the first single though it would be a few years before Costello hit the Pop Top
40. This was just before Music Video
broke out, so there are no Videos for this album and few clips around, but just
after cutting the album, Costello formed his backup group The Attractions.
Between
than and the shocking use of the first name at the time, many wondered if there
was an Elvis Presley connection, especially from an artist who looked more like
Buddy Holly to some. Simply put, that he
was serious about Rock heroes of the past and picking up where they may and
many other had left off. He succeeded.
In an
ironic note, before he had The Attractions, he had the band Clover backing him
on this album except that they were missing their harmonica player. He went on to his own commercial success,
though most would consider him the anti-thesis of Costello; the dreaded Huey
Lewis.
Good
thing he was not around to ruin this album.
Originally
issued on Stiff Records (and through Columbia at the time) in the old analog
formats, the master tapes as since reverted back to Costello himself, who has
licensed them to Hip-O Music/Universal Music.
The result is music from the original master tapes, sounding really good
for this format in its old PCM 2.0 16/44.1 Stereo sound. That extends to the many extra tracks on both
CDs in this set.
CD 1 adds
an early version of No Action, early
version of Living In Paradise, Radio Sweetheart and Stranger In The House as out-takes, plus
eight Pathway Studio demos: Welcome To The Working Week, Blue Minute, Miracle Man, Waiting For The
End Of The World, Call On Me, (The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes, I Don’t Want To Go Home and I Hear A Melody. All are very impressive and from all of them,
you can hear how a star was born.
CD 2
takes its whole space for an 8/7/77 concert Live at the Nashville Rooms, split
into two parts. Now joined by The
Attractions, they perform 22 songs, including:
1)
Welcome To The Working Week
2)
Blame It On Cain
3)
No Dancing
4)
Waiting For The End Of The World
5)
Night Rally
6)
Hoover Factory
7)
No Action
8)
(I Don’t Want To Go To) Chelsea
9)
Miracle Man
10) The Beat
11) Less Than Zero
12) (The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red
Shoes
13) Lipstick Vogue
14) Watching The Detectives
15) Lip Service
16) Mystery Dance
17) Alison
[BREAK]
18) Pay It Back
19) Radio Sweetheart
20) Sneaky Feelings
21) Crawling In The USA
22) Alison
There is
also the usually informative and well-illustrated booklet that comes with all
Universal Deluxe Edition CD Sets, but despite lyrics and some tech information,
there are no major notes and I would have liked more tech info besides trying
to read the tape reel cases. Either way,
this is an essential music release and it is nice to see a New Wave classic get
this kind of treatment.
For more
on Elvis Costello, try these links:
The Right Spectacle: The Very Best
Of Elvis Costello – The Videos (DVD)
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/2853/The+Right+Spectacle:+The+Very+Best
Elvis Costello & The
Impersonators – Club Date: Live In Memphis (Blu-ray)
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/4587/Elvis+Costello+&+The+Imposters
DTS DVD
Version
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/2182/Elvis+Costello+&+The+Imposters
- Nicholas Sheffo
