If a big Elvis Costello fan should see my compilation at the end, they'll probably be able to suggest 15 songs just as good from other albums, because this is a man whose career has been full of consistently good songs, and I'm not sure I don't know nearly all of them.
He's a great songwriter, surely one of Britain's best, but he seems to exist in a slightly peculiar space of not being loved that much but also not being unknown or passed over. People know who he is, they often know his stuff but, yes, he's somehow not on the highest level of anything, except perhaps pure accomplishment. What's going on there? The voice? Deffo. The face? Maybe. The name? Hmmm. The prickliness? Hard to say.
He's done fine, he even had a few top ten hits, though it's funny, considering just how much of a songwriter supreme he is, that many of his most "famous" songs are covers. Good Year for the Roses, She, I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down, What's So Funny 'Bout Peace, Love and Understanding.
Elvis Costello's a good one for 1977, because I don't really but the myth of Year Zero, that the Sex Pistols and the Clash came along and changed everything, that there was no connection between past and future. Elvis Costello was just a songwriter who'd have done well whatever, it just so happened his career coincided with punk/new wave, so that's what he gets labelled.
This is a debut and it's only a little bit punk. There are some short songs, some fast songs, some angry songs, but it's all very accomplished and varied.
I always loved the album title. Elvis Costello was one of the first people I got into when I got into music (16/17ish) and I listened to his Greatest Hits a lot, and loved 'Alison', which contains the line "My aim is true ..."sang sadly repeatedly and in that context it's obvious that it means he's a well-meaning fellow, he means the best even if he doesn't always show it. But "My Aim is True' out of that context also can mean "I'm a deadeye, I always hit my target", much cockier. I love the ambiguity of that lyric as album title.
'Alison' probably remains the stand-out of this album, a song of masterful misery. Maybe the reason Elvis has never been loved as such is that his love songs always come with a sneer. Paul Weller, for example, could just let it all hang out with something like 'English Rose'. I heard Ray Mears on Desert Island Discs a couple of weeks ago with 'English Rose' as one of his selections. I don't think there are any Elvis Costello songs you'd want at your wedding.
I love 'The Angels Wanna Wear My Red Shoes', 'Pay it Back' and 'I'm Not Angry' too, that easy understanding of Americana and classic rock he has, and some of the neat couplets he comes up with. Probably the most famous song on my version is 'Watching the Detectives' although that was a single tacked on to the album later, apparently. I'd take this album over all the debut albums by the Clash, The Sex Pistols and the Jam, but I suppose it's not half as influential.
Writing about Elvis has caused me to listen to Oliver's Army for the first time in years - what an extraordinary song to be a Number 2 single! I mean, it's genuinely controversial, even shocking, in language and subject matter, far more so than something like God Save the Queen if you actually listen. It helped that it sounded like Dancing Queen, I suppose.
Anyway, he goes on, constructing superb songs. To be honest. I haven't paid that much attention recently. I think I found his voice on a duet with Jenny Lewis called 'Carpetbaggers' pretty hard to deal with. Still, I enjoyed his cameo on 'Treme'.
This is my compilation, actually missing a lot of his classic late 70s singles. Quite a few songs of considerable magnificence here. If I had to pick out four favourites, it would be Shipbuilding, New Lace Sleeves, I Want You and Alison.
Oliver's Army
All This Useless Beauty
New Lace Sleeves
... And In Every Home
Accidents Will Happen
Beyond Belief
Alison
New Amsterdam
I Want You
Tramp the Dirt Down
I Hope You're Happy Now
Man Out of Time
The Angels Wanna Wear My Red Shoes
Shipbuilding
Pay it Back
I'm Not Angry
He is a towering figure for someone who is almost but not quite a household name. His music works in so many contexts, but you're right that it'd be tough to pick out a wedding song. 'Everyday I write the book' maybe, wioth its promise of hope despite an essentially sad ending? I remember feeling goosebumps in the cinema when 'Pump it up' was used in a trailer for a long-forgotten Eddie Murphy/Owen Wilson comedy. A bizarre combination on paper.
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