2 Elvis Costello My Aim Is True

STIFF, 1977

You say: “Announced an extraordinary new songwriting talent; one as unafraid to be angry as he was to write a tender ballad.” Jeremy Shatan, via mojo4music.com

Rarely has a songwriter arrived so fully formed on his debut album as Costello on My Aim Is

True. The fact he’d been quietly perfecting his art for years played its part, but a proper day job meant Elvis still had to bunk off work to record this with Nick Lowe at Pathway Studios in Islington and a backing group later revealed as visiting American country rockers Clover. The intelligence of Costello’s writing and a musical style situated in a fascinating space between The Clash and Little Feat can’t wholly explain the quirky brilliance of Welcome To The Working Week, Less Than Zero, Alison, et al, but history attests whatever Costello was doing was magical.