Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Welcome to the Working Week
2. Miracle Man
3. No Dancing
4. Blame It on Cain
5. Alison
6. Sneaky Feelings
7. (The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes
8. Less Than Zero
9. Mystery Dance
10. Pay It Back
11. I'm Not Angry
12. Waiting for the End of the World
13. Watching the Detectives

Disc 2:

1. No Action
2. Living in Paradise
3. Radio Sweetheart
4. Stranger in the House
5. I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself
6. Less Than Zero (Dallas Version)
7. Imagination (is a Powerful Deceiver)
8. Mystery Dance (Honky Tonk Demo)
9. Cheap Reward (Honky Tonk Demo)
10. Jump Up (Honky Tonk Demo)
11. Blame it on Cain (Honky Tonk Demo)
12. Poison Moon (Honky Tonk Demo)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #81268 in Music
• Released on: 2001-08-21
• Number of discs: 2
• Formats: Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered

Amazon.com
Elvis Costello kicked off his debut album with a formal device that would also serve his next two long-players well: the first thing you hear is his voice. That opening phrase--"Now that your picture's in the paper..."--was more than sneakily, if not intentionally, appropriate, since Costello was quickly declared the second coming. It's become de rigueur to dis the pub-rock backing of U.S. band Clover, but their work here is satisfactorily edgy; guitarist John McFee makes some of the arrangements with his wailingly articulate fills. The remastered Rhino reissue includes a full second disc of demos and rarities. --Rickey Wright

Customer Reviews

Opened my doors of perception
Scene One; A sixteen year old boy is happily sitting in suburban Detroit. The soundtrack to his life is what would later come to be known as Classic Rock Radio. There are rumors of punk rock and new wave from England, however these are not audible yet in the midwest. One Saturday evening, he sits down to watch SNL with special musical guest Elvis Costello. Snap! That was the sound of a dropping jaw breaking the coffee table as Mr. Costello (looking like an exhumed Buddy Holly) plays Radio Radio. Scene Two; Said boy brings home My Aim is True. His mind is blown. Every song sounds like a hit single. He is amazed. Maybe there are other unheard things out there like this. Epilogue; This album helped open my doors to Punk, New Wave, Reggae, Ska, Jazz, Blues, World Music, Country, well you get the idea. Thank you Mr. McManus. One classic album.

the first and greatest elvis.
at the time that this album came out i had just lost my little boy, my husband had left me for a woman 24 years my junior, & i had a serious rash all up & down my left side. i was DEPRESSED. then i heard this music & suddenly i wanted to wear lipstick again. i wanted to wear lipstick & i wanted to dance. what a great album. and to this day in 2006 it still is! the best elvis costello album known to man (and that's saying something).

Rhythmically admired
EC's debut must have sounded pretty strange upon release (I was 8 at the time and in love with KISS, so I wouldn't really know), but it sure sounds tame, even quaint, now. But it sure still sounds good -- great songwriting, thankfully, never goes out of style. And although I've always felt this album was a tad overrated (it can't hold a candle to the three spastic masterpieces that followed it), MAIT makes it clear that Elvis was brilliant from the start. Heck, anyone who can write a song as off-kilter and affecting as "Radio Sweetheart" and then put it on the B-SIDE(!) of his first single is obviously someone with talent to burn....