Elvis Costello
My Aim Is True (Deluxe Edition)
Hip-O/UME
By David Chiu
At the height of punk year ’77 came this bespectacled geeky-looking Brit whose music was more aligned with pub rock. Still Elvis Costello adapted punk’s angry attitude and created one of the classic debuts in rock with My Aim Is True. The sound on this album seems worlds away from the mature rock and pop music this Rock and Roll Hall of Famer is currently making these days. Here on My Aim Is True is classic Elvis Costello at his most rocking and angriest such as on “Blame It On Cain” and “Waiting for the End of the World.” The album’s classic tracks are the reggae-ish “Watching the Detectives” and the ballad “Alison” (Is it a love song or not?). This latest reissue of this album contains a trove of outtakes and demos along with a bonus live disc of EC and the Attractions performing at the Nashville Rooms in August ’77.
Watch an early performance of “Watching the Detectives”:
