Albums by this artist

The most astonishing thing about My Aim Is True is that it's a debut album. The 1977 record features nary a flawed song. At least five tracks -- "Mystery Dance," "Allison," "Less Than Zero," "(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes," and of course the unimpeachable "Watching The Detectives" -- are rock classics of such timeless heft that they could be chapters in a textbook. I myself would argue that "Miracle Man," "Waiting For The End Of The World," and two or three others are of the class too. And yet, for all of Aim's range, for all the successful stabs at folk rock, reggae, Stonesy clang, white trash blues, torch song, and pure pop perfection, Elvis Costello was only getting started. I mean, damn.

What we have here, essentially, is the ultimate songwriting demo. Costello sent a tape of his songs to Stiff Records hoping to land a gig writing songs for the label's recently trendy roster of pub rockers like Ian Dury and Wreckless Eric. The songs on My Aim Is True were recorded cheaply and quickly during "sick days" from Costello's day job as a computer programmer, with pal Nick Lowe running the boards and Huey Lewis's pre-News backing band providing the instrumental support. The label originally planned to have Costello split an EP with another Stiff artist, but the songs kept coming. When it eventually saw release, Costello's debut was a 13-song LP for the ages, and still the songs kept coming. "Detectives" was a British single which was attached the later stateside release of the album. "Stranger In The House," a B-side from the period left off the album because it was "too country," is included on the Rykodisc reissue and ranks among Costello's best early work.

So while it was up to later albums, like the manic This Year's Model, the corruptingly pop Armed Forces, and the spectacularly bitter Blood & Chocolate, to add thematic cohesion, My Aim Is True is an album made great just by the sheer force of its individual songs. "Welcome To The Working Week" is an opener that resonates far beyond its minute-and-a-half length, it's a an effective summary not only of the record but of Costello's whole outlook on life. "Less Than Zero" is an astute and specific political song that's also catchy as hell, something Costello's proven his skill at again and again with later zeniths like "Shipbuilding," "Pills And Soap," and even the "Dallas" remake of the same song. "Mystery Dance," where Costello and Lowe madly run drumsticks down a piano's keys to provide proper Jerry Lee Lewis runs, is so lyrically brilliant that it sounds like Bartlett's Familiar Angst Quotations read over a blues progression. The apocalyptic "End Of The World," where a biting slide guitar darts all over thunking drums and Costello's punchy Jazzmaster, is the angriest someone in their early twenties has ever sounded: "You might see 'em drowning / As you crawl along the beach / But don't throw out the lifeline 'til they're clean out of reach."

Even though he never gets the girls (in his songs, anyway) and looks underfed with a serious posture problem judging by the album photos, anyone who's ever picked up a guitar with the notion of writing a song wants to wear Costello's (red) shoes. Even when he's lying through his teeth ("I'm Not Angry"), the guy has more charisma than all other major label output of the last two decades put together. And the songwriting-for-hire thing worked out too -- dude's written for Dave Edmunds, Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash, and even Paul McCartney. I mean, if a Beatle is calling you up for some creative juice, you've obviously got your compositional swerve on. Even it was the late '80s McCartney.

MARK T.R. DONOHUE | Mark T.R. Donohue is a prolific freelance writer whose areas of expertise include Rockies baseball, video games, genre television, English soccer, and pub rock. He lives in Colorado, where he cultivates the largest and creepiest private collection of Alyson Hannigan memorabilia in the Mountain West.