In 1978, Elvis Costello was angry. This wasn\u2019t a particularly unique sentiment for a new generation of musicians living in the throes of Thatcher-era Britain, but Costello\u2019s animosity took a different form than most. <\/p>\n
The Sex Pistols had a rage that boiled at thermonuclear levels\u2014a blast of indignation and a call to action against dire, unjust circumstances. Costello, on the other hand, had an anger that seethed and simmered behind thinly-veiled sarcasm and biting wit. Where Joe Strummer and The Clash bemoaned life\u2019s harsh realities, Elvis Costello took issue with life\u2019s cruel facades\u2014be that the deceptive nature of the music industry, the false idealism of consumer culture, or the seemingly endless stream of flirts and teases for whom Costello just seemed to have a magnetic attraction. It was out of this anger that This Year\u2019s Model<\/i> <\/i>was born, a record that recontextualizes the ideological framework of the punk movement\u2014and sounds damn good doing it. <\/p>\n
However, This Year\u2019s Model<\/i> is more than simply an Elvis Costello record. Backing him for the first time here are The Attractions, who provide a jittery, rich sonic palette to match the ferocity of Costello\u2019s songwriting. The band inhabits a uniquely warm but unpredictable sound on this record, and plays with a sense of combustible, tightly-wound energy that electrifies so many of the songs here. Forty-five years on, the pure sound <\/i>of This Year\u2019s Model<\/i> still leaps out of your speakers like very few albums in the genre. <\/p>\n
And then there\u2019s Costello himself. On the album\u2019s front cover, Costello is seen posing behind a camera, a skeptical observer of the world around him. The songwriting, as it\u2019s always been with Elvis Costello, is a reflection upon that theme, and it\u2019s never been done with more force and venom than on This Year\u2019s Model<\/i>. Later albums may have featured more nuance, but the lack of a counter-argument is part of this record\u2019s appeal; it\u2019s a sledgehammer, so completely convinced of its disillusionment that it becomes profoundly cathartic. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis Year\u2019s Girl,\u201d the album\u2019s second track, is our first real taste of the sardonic magic this record has to offer. Over a slowly cascading groove from the Attractions, Costello initiates a biting takedown of the all-too-transactional world of sexual politics. As he snarls through lines like \u201cA bright spark might corner the market in this year\u2019s girl \/ See yourself rolling on the carpet with this year\u2019s girl,\u201d it\u2019s hard not to buy into the portrait Costello paints, even nearly a half-century later.<\/p>\n
As the album draws on, This Year\u2019s Model<\/i> continues to dish out highlights, and Costello continues to explore different shades of infectious animosity to similarly electrifying results. Take the song \u201cChelsea,\u201d whose watertight upstroke groove and skipping guitar line are some of the most genius bits of songcraft on the album. Over this foundation, Costello sneers out one of his best and most hilariously mean-spirited songs ever. I\u2019ve never been to Chelsea, but Costello makes me want to hate it. <\/p>\n
No discussion of this record would be complete without discussion of the sexually-stunted rage of \u201cPump It Up,\u201d which has over the years grown to become one of Costello\u2019s signature songs. For such an infectious track, Costello\u2019s lyrics are possibly the loudest internal scream on the entire album. The push-and-pull of hatred and infatuation is so boldly and convincingly pulled off that it becomes difficult to see where one begins and the other ends. And with its nimble use of musical metaphors, it\u2019s one of Costello\u2019s sharpest songs, period. <\/p>\n
But these are just the singles. The deep cuts consistently impress as well, and oftentimes even steal the show. There\u2019s the wildly catchy \u201cThe Beat,\u201d whose choruses underline Costello\u2019s lyrical themes of emotional paralysis. \u201cHand In Hand\u201d comes at the record\u2019s midpoint, where Costello\u2019s romantic scorn gives way to the album\u2019s most potent hint of emotional darkness. The Attractions take center stage on \u201cLipstick Vogue\u201d with a ferocious and blistering performance. And the Byrds-esque beauty of \u201cLip Service\u201d provides the record with a much-needed cooldown moment. This thing just has a rock-solid tracklist and delivers consistent quality for all but a few moments of its 35-minute runtime. <\/p>\n
This Year\u2019s Model<\/i> is a hell of a rock album, but one that I\u2019m slightly embarrassed to enjoy as much as I do. I don\u2019t exactly personify Costello\u2019s nerdy, sexually scorned viewpoint on this album, but there\u2019s a sizable part of me that identifies with this record\u2019s anger, and its lack of interest in whether or not that anger is misguided. It\u2019s a cathartic-as-hell album, and a true high watermark in a discography full of quality releases. If for some reason you haven\u2019t given this album a spin, do yourself a favor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99,"featured_media":34691,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5825],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-46546","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-elvis-costello-the-attractions","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/46546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/99"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46546"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/46546\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46546"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=46546"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=46546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}