This Year's Model (Vinyl) [Limited Edition, Import]

There is not one weak track here, in fact they are all perfect in every way. I kid you not. I suppose that if I had to pick highlights they would be "(I Don't Want to Go to) Chelsea" "Hand in Hand" and "Radio, Radio." With this record alone, Mr. Costello proves that he deserves to be hailed by some critics as one of the best recording artists of all time. And the fact that it only took him a matter of months to do this? Mind-boggling indeed.

Once again, it is the stark voice of EC that opened the album as he ominously intones "I don't wannna kiss you, I don't wanna touch." When the players kick in, it's a whole 'nother world from "My Aim Is True," and for the first time, "new wave" had a front man. Before this album had been released, one of the central songs had made headlines. Elvis' broadside at narrow-format broadcasting, "Radio Radio," was performed in such a bizarre fashion on Saturday Night Live that he was effectively banned from the show for almost a decade and made this (then) seventeen year-old a fan for life. That performance sealed a decision for me to get into radio and make artists like Elvis accessible to listeners. When I was fortunate enough to tell him this many years later, Elvis kindly autographed a ragged poster of "Armed Forces" "Don't blame me."

Personal nostalgia aside, this double disc version "This Year's Model" contains all the songs that comprised the original US and UK versions and the original UK artwork. These are some of the songs by which EC is measured, like "Radio Radio," "Pump it Up" and "The Beat." The Attractions' playing was melody driven in addition to frenetic, a perfect compliment to Elvis' brilliant lyrics. And it was already becoming apparent that keyboardist Steve Nieve was becoming an architect of what American ears would identify as "punk rock."

The bonus disc contains two finished cuts with "Big Tears" and "Crawling To The USA." "Big Tears" is noteworthy in that Elvis has often said he wanted Dusty Springfield to record it and it was written in the style of Bacharach...and we all know where that ambition eventually led. The liner notes, as Elvis describes the whirlwind of forming The Attractions and heading for the US, are fun as well as the pictures. (I do wish the US album cover shot of Elvis with his face partially obscured by the camera had been included somewhere.) The remainder of the bonus CD provides some hot live recordings that proved what this band of raving 20 somethings were capable in their rock and roll youth.