He didn’t yet have the Attractions as his backing band, instead relying on a San Francisco outfit called Clover (a few of whom would go onto join Huey Lewis’ band the News) as his backing group. But Elvis Costello already had plenty of brilliant songs at his disposal on his groundbreaking 1977 debut album My Aim is True.
With Nick Lowe as producer, Costello came out of the gate with his trademark fast-talking, eloquent lyrics already in place. Read on to find out our choices for the five best songs on one of the best debut albums of the ‘70s.
5. “Welcome to the Working Week”
The opening track on My Aim is True clocks in at less than a minute and a half. Yet because of Costello’s rapid verbal pace, “Welcome to the Working Week” contains more lyrical goodness than some songs that are three times as long. There’s something cheeky about the Beach Boys-style backing vocals that open the song, but they turn out to be a bit of misdirection for a song that churns away at a pretty straightforward, albeit speedy clip after that. It also contains a pretty amazing career-opening line: Now that your picture’s in the paper being rhythmically admired.
4. “No Dancing”
When the Attractions came aboard for his second album (This Year’s Model) in 1978, they helped Costello develop a bit of a signature sound, all swirling keyboards and a bottom end that was fierce and melodic all at once. By contrast, My Aim is True almost comes off like a singer/songwriter album, albeit one that had a lot more bite than the typical troubadour record of the time as Costello bounces around to different styles and vibes to see what fits. On “No Dancing,” a dissection of a fading relationship, he convincingly slides into a retro ‘60s classic pop-soul feel.
3. “(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes”
Costello wrote the song all in one sitting on a train, and, as often happens with songs that come out so quickly, it was just perfect in that fashion. It also flies in the face of the “Angry Young Man” label that was often attached to him in those days. If anything, “(The Angels Wanna Wear) My Red Shoes” leads with humor, with couplets like this one helping the cause: I said I’m so happy I could die / She said, “Drop dead,” then left with another guy. Not to mention Costello, who never gets enough credit for his melodies, pens an extremely catchy pop tune here.
2. “Less than Zero”
This is the song that Costello famously interrupted during his U.S. live TV debut on Saturday Night Live, choosing to play “Radio, Radio” (which would eventually get tacked onto This Year’s Model) instead. It wasn’t because he had anything against “Less than Zero.” He just thought that the subject matter would be lost on U.S. audiences, dealing as it did with the appearance of a former fascist leader on a British television show. It’s one of Costello’s very best tracks that could be labeled as a protest song, with the young songwriter throwing sharp lyrical elbows at all the hypocrisy he sees.
1. “Alison”
Before we even get to the lyrics, we have to mention the outstanding guitar work by John McFee, whose soulful fills are completely apropos to a song whose music was partly inspired by Costello’s love of a Spinners song. Costello’s way with the ballads would come to the fore again and again as his career advanced, which is why “Alison” doesn’t sound all that surprising now. It manages to be both a telling character sketch of a girl who’s settling for less than she deserves in life, and an exploration of the raw feelings of a narrator who can’t convince her of that fact.
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Photo by Richard E. Aaron/Redferns
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