Elvis Costello 2: This Year’s Model

Now armed with a band of his own, Elvis Costello hurdled the sophomore jinx with a set of songs inspired by—according to him—a new life on the road, the Rolling Stones’ Aftermath and a rhyming dictionary. This Year’s Model offers much of the same approach as My Aim Is True, but gets heat from the three guys who were arguably the best backing band on the planet. The two Thomases (Bruce on bass, Pete on drums) were not brothers, but were locked as tight as any rhythm section should be. Classically trained Steve Nieve, barely out of his teens, colors the stereo picture with manic organ swirls and occasional piano. And of course, they had those incredible songs to play with.

This album runs the gamut from punk energy to catchy pop with a few anthems in between. The urgency of the music matches the attack in the vocals, helped by Nick Lowe’s simple, highly competent production.

The pounding “No Action” provides another crashing opening, with the Attractions at full throttle. “This Year’s Girl” is another indictment of fashion modes, while “The Beat” is more repetitive on the surface with some forced rhymes, but listen for Bruce’s terrific bass fills. The track’s shortcomings are more apparent when followed by “Pump It Up”, a caffeinated update of “Too Much Monkey Business” and “Subterranean Homesick Blues”. (Its own influence would endure ten years later when The Escape Club had an international hit with the soundalike “Wild Wild West”.) That onslaught is tempered by the piano driving “Little Triggers”, but it’s back to thrash with the Stonesy, paradoxical “You Belong To Me”.

Side two fades in on a strange combination of feedback and backwards voice before “Hand In Hand” continues as a more standard track. “Lip Service” crackles with catchy pop, but the burbling organ of “Living In Paradise” hasn’t aged very well, mirroring “The Beat” somewhat. This is forgiven by the dizzying drums that kick off “Lipstick Vogue”, an absolute tour de force of a band performance. Here in the US, the album ended with another anthem in “Radio, Radio”, which takes on a favorite sore subject.

Whether taken song by song or as a whole, This Year’s Model is a very satisfying listen. Elvis still performs these songs onstage today, and for good reason. While his debut startled listeners, it’s arguably this album that gets held up as his greatest success, and the one against which any of his other “rock” albums are matched.

In a disturbing trend, the album has also been reissued several times, none of which filled a CD to capacity. The Rykodisc version followed the UK sequence, which included the single “(I Don’t Want To Go To) Chelsea” as the second song on side two and ended with the mildly menacing “Night Rally”. After the requisite silence gap came “Radio, Radio”, plus the B-side “Big Tears” and “Crawling To The USA”, which was recorded over a year later and included on a movie soundtrack. Another gap prefaced three demos: two songs that would make the next album, and the unfinished two-chord ramble “Running Out Of Angels”.

Rhino’s version followed the same sequence as the Ryko up through “Radio, Radio” on one disc, and began the second disc with the extra Ryko tracks. Two more “demos” recorded for a radio session were previews for future tracks, but more welcome was the B-side cover of the Damned’s “Neat Neat Neat”, recorded on the “Live Stiffs” package tour. A version of Ian Dury’s “Roadette Song” wasn’t as interesting as the two alternate takes of album tracks, but the BBC take of “Stranger In The House” with the Attractions is the best version.

The Hip-O “Deluxe Edition” confusingly included the same contents of the Ryko version along with four of the Rhino extras (and “Tiny Steps”, which had been a bonus track on a different album altogether) on one disc, paired with a disc containing a complete 1978 concert. This theater show is not identical setlist-wise to a club show recorded a week later, though “Less Than Zero” already has its alternate lyrics. It’s a little less raucous, and notable for a solo encore that was a preview of his next album (and already used as a bonus track for that one). As nice as these bonuses are for collectors, they’re merely a footnote to the album’s original 11 (or 12) tracks.

For some reason, Elvis bankrolled a re-imagining of the album in 2021, wherein the original backing tracks were remastered for even more clarity, but the vocals were added karaoke-style in Spanish by native speakers. Spanish Model was joined on the shelves by another edition of the original album, again using the original UK sequence with “Big Tears” and “Radio Radio” tacked onto the end.

Elvis Costello & The Attractions This Year’s Model (1978)—5
1993 Rykodisc: same as 1978, plus 7 extra tracks
2002 Rhino: same as 1993, plus 7 extra tracks
2008 Hip-O Deluxe Edition: same as 1993, plus 22 extra tracks
2021 remaster: same as 1978, plus 3 extra tracks