THIS YEAR'S MODEL is packaged with a 28-page booklet that includes rare photos and printed song lyrics.
Elvis Costello & The Attractions: Elvis Costello (vocals, guitar); Steve Nieve (keyboards); Bruce Thomas (bass); Pete Thomas (drums).
Additional personnel: Mick Jones (guitar); Davey Payne (saxophone).
Producer: Nick Lowe.
Reissue producers: Gary Stewart, Val Jennings.
Recorded between August 1977 and October 1978. Originally released on Columbia (35331). Includes liner notes by Elvis Costello.
All tracks have been digitally remastered.
Personnel: Elvis Costello (vocals, guitar); Davey Payne (saxophone); Steve Nieve (keyboards); Pete Thomas (drums).
Audio Remasterer: Dan Hersch.
Recording information: Basing Street Studios (08/07/1977/10/23/1978); Eden Studios, London, England (08/07/1977/10/23/1978); Waterloo Studios, Sydney, Australia (08/07/1977/10/23/1978).
Photographers: Roberta Bayley; Chalkie Davies; Chris Gabrin.
For his second album, Elvis Costello fine-tuned his aesthetic by abandoning the California studio cat accompanists of his debut for the more aggressive, quirky and very British Attractions, who would define EC's sound over the next several years. Where MY AIM IS TRUE highlighted Costello's rootsy influences (the Band, etc.), THIS YEAR'S MODEL wholeheartedly embraces the "new wave" out-with-the-old mindset, favoring tightly wound ferocity over back-porch-isms.
Irresistibly catchy, in a twitchy, neurotic, white-knuckled way, THIS YEAR'S MODEL is Costello at his edgiest. The classic "Pump It Up" pummels the listener with garage-band organ, pounding drums, and HIGHWAY 61 REVISITED-style ranting. "Radio, Radio" turned into something of an anti-authoritarian anthem for Costello. The snaky guitar and reggae-tinged drums of "I Don't Want to Go to Chelsea" complement his verge-of-a-nervous-breakdown vocal performance nicely. Come to think of it, so does nearly everything else here.
The flagship in the second set of Rhino Elvis Costello reissues -- indeed, the one that's supposed to set the pace, since all of these are "harsh," "angry rock" -- This Year's Model, like all of Costello's Columbia recordings, already received a deluxe reissue treatment from Rykodisc in the mid-'90s. That set was just one disc, compared to Rhino's double-disc 2002 release, but it did have five bonus tracks (six, if you count "Radio Radio," which it was on the Ryko, but is part of the proper album here), all of which were excellent -- partially because there were two B-sides, "Big Tears" and "Crawling to the USA," along with three demos, including the previously unheard "Running Out of Angels." All these are on the Rhino set, along with seven new bonus tracks, all but three alternate versions of songs on the album. Of these, the Capital radio versions of "You Belong to Me" and "Radio, Radio" are spare, electric, solo demos, just Costello with his guitar; the alternate "This Year's Girl" and "(I Don't Want to Go To) Chelsea" are leaner and quirkier than those on the album, yet their edges aren't yet finely honed. Then, there's a moody BBC take on "Stranger in the House" featuring the full Attractions that winds up excising the country out of the song. Finally, there are two live covers that are the highlights of the new bonus tracks -- an insistent version of the Damned's "Neat Neat Neat" that was the B-side of "Radio, Radio," plus a sly take on Kilburn & the High Roads' "The Roadette Song." All of these, particularly the last two, are welcome additions, and Costello's liner notes are much better than they were on the first version, but there are no real revelations, especially for those hardcore fans who already have the covers on some bootleg. So, while this is a better version of This Year's Model, with more music and better packaging, it's hard to unequivocally recommend this, in good conscience, for those who already have the Ryko version, since there just isn't that much new. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine minimize