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Elvis Costello
 
 

My Aim Is True This is probably the last thing a confused, hormonal teen with his head firmly planted in 1970's rock needed - a record full of complicated rage from a spastic geek who had appropriated an icon's name for some unknown reason. Or maybe it was the best thing, I dunno. But of all the stuff that came out in that couple of years, I was probably most intrigued by "Welcome To The Working Week," the 1:22 blast that opens this record. The very gall of releasing a pop song that clocked in at less than half the time that everyone knew they were supposed to run was the first hint of this guy's brilliance.

This Year's Model I actually got on the Elvis bandwagon early, having run across an import copy of his first album even before it debuted in the States. It was a confluence of punk, new wave and regular old pop that appealed to me more instantly than any of the other stuff beginning to intrigue me at the time. As a result, I couldn't wait for this follow-up to come out, and I remember snatching up the last copy on the day it came out at this little record store on what is now Block E on Hennepin Avenue. It was more muscular than My Aim Is True, although muscular is relative when the anger is pouring out of a skinny, palsied geek, and well worth the anticipation.