Record Review Time Machine! Elvis Costello - This Year's Model

It's been established: I love old records. I know track numbers, album chronologies, and who played what solo where and the circumstances under which they played it. I will now focus that love into writing recommendations and reviews about albums that came out when "pitchfork" was still primarily known as a tool of satan and when, in most cases, I was yet to begin taking poops and breathing air. Yes, I'm one off those dudes who still goes to the record store and, wait for it, makes physical purchases.

Elvis is forever underrated. I don't care how high you rate him, still the underrating persists. This Year's Model is his second record, and is an absolute must hear on headphones for anyone who likes songwriting, rock and roll, or insanely awesome rhythm sections that don't make you feel like you're listening to jazz fusion. The bass and drums here are nothing short of tremendous.

Check out the opening track. It's a tight little pop song, but the drummer is just going bonkers. Listen to it LOUD.

"No Action"

I'd swear Pete Thomas never settles into a discernible beat, yet somehow this song stays together. Tight like Prefontaine's laces.

The rest of the album roasts a calf and a half. The first thing that I noticed when I listened to This Year's Model was the songwriting. The living Elvis is angry and nervous and clever in this heavenly balance that makes the lyrics and melodies really sting. You have felt these feelings before, you've just never been able to articulate them like Mr. Costello does here on the tape. Solid work, Declan. He's all wrapped up in paranoia and excitement...even the hit songs that I've heard a thousand times still smoke my earholes. "Pump It Up" is young man sexual frustration under guise of stadium applause to beat the band. "Radio Radio" is a sweet pop gem of a rallying call about the state of broadcasting, modern censorship, and the ever-shortening attention span of the world. "Living in Paradise" predates "Every Breath You Take" by a solid 6 years for creepy stalker-y pre-post punk. As this album cover suggests...Costello is definitely watching you

Among many other feats of rhythm on This Year's Model, I think a favorite is the drum fill that opens "(I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea".

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


The song that follows is dark and angular and really shows the Attractions firing on all cylniders. The bass/organ/guitar parts on this one are all scene-stealingly classic.

I quite like all the records I'm going to talk about here, so instead of rating these on a standard linear system, I'll instead be likening them to the career trajectories of actors who appeared in the 1986 film Stand By Me. By that scale, I rate This Year's Model a solid River Phoenix. Eternally cool even when playing a dork (or a male hustler, or a teenage archaeological enthusiast) and even though the drums pound hardest earlier, there are spots of brilliance throughout the tracklist. Finally, after a brief foray some seriously nonsensical shit (see: Lipstick Vogue lyrics / A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon) the record achieves full redemption in the end by "biting the hand that feeds" it on "Radio Radio" in near direct parallel to River's last major role in the perennially awesome "Sneakers".