My Aim Is True [EXTRA TRACKS]

Elvis Costello

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 19, 1993)
• Original Release Date: August 1977
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Extra tracks
• Label: Rykodisc
• ASIN: B0000009UR
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #48,854 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Track Listings

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

14. Radio Sweetheart [*]

15. Stranger in the House [*]

16. Imagination (Is a Powerful Deceiver) [*]

17. Mystery Dance [*]

18. Cheap Reward [*]

19. Jump Up [*]

20. Wave a White Flag [*]

See all 22 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential recording

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 Rykodisc CD restores the album's British sequence, adds the eternal "Watching the Detectives," and kicks in a slew of bonus tracks, including the intriguing "Honky Tonk" demos. --Rickey Wright

From the Label

Hard to imagine life before this album, isn't it? But yes, there was once a time when all the world knew about this guy was that he had a funny name, wore gawky glasses, and had the gall to splash "Elvis is King" all over his album cover. Once Elvis Costello was a promising new artist instead of a musical institution. And once upon a time, you really had to convince your friends that "Alison," "Less Than Zero" and "The Angels Want to Wear My Red Shoes" were great songs.

Recorded in a mere 24 hours during sick time from his computer job at an Elizabeth Arden factory, MY AIM IS TRUE is one heck of a debut, boasting at least five classics (those named above plus "Mystery Dance" and "Watching the Detectives," the latter a UK single that was tacked onto the US album). And the loose, guitar-driven sound remains unique for a Costello album, since it was the only time he recorded with the band Clover (without their usual frontman, Huey Lewis).

The Rykodisc edition includes a stack of bonus tracks, notably a couple of the bedroom demos that drew Stiff Records' attention in the first place.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Pop/Rock With Intelligence and an Attitude!, March 3, 2000

By	Bob Martinez (Brooksville, FL USA) - See all my reviews

Dylan may have changed the lyrical content of rock and pop, but I feel Elvis Costello with this debut, changed the song structure of rock. These are punchy 3 minute gems with strong melodies. But it's the lyrics that stick to your mind like a character from your past. The album starts off with "Now that your picture's in the paper being perfectly admired.." Well, you know this guy is different..but he writes so good. My favorites are The Angels Want To Wear My Red Shoes, Alison, Miricle Man and Watching The Detectives. But really the whole album is a rock and roll joy! When I first purchased the album over 20 years ago, the lady working at the album store said "My he looks like Buddy Holly, but his name is ELVIS?...COSTELLO? There's a little bit of all of the best of rock in E.C. If you don't like this album, you are not a true rocker. The new CD sound by the way, is marvelous!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ONE OF THE BEST DEBUT ALBUMS EVER., October 18, 2000

By	Walter Moynahan (USA) - See all my reviews

Costello's debut albums is one of the best in music. It was appropriately the first one I heard of his. When I first heard it , I skipped around settling on such instantaniously catchy tunes like "Blame it on Cain", "Allison," and "Watching the Detectives". It was much later that I took it with me on a car trip and listened to it all the way through. It was on of the most gratifying experiences I've had listening to music. Track after track these tunes would enter my head and remain to replay themselves throughout the day. I really couldn't get this album out of my mind for days. I was a kind of impassioned discovery where each day I had new favorite song on the album. My favorite now seems to be "Imagination". Unlike a few opinions around, this albums is in no way a "lesser" effort. To say that this is beneath his usual creative force is approaching a snoobish-aloofness. He gives more in 24 hours(the time it took to lay down all of the studio tracks) than most can give in mo nths of studio time and doesn't falter for a second. I must give his band some credit too, to actually commit themselves to this hyperactive little English fellow; and they play very well. I really enjoyed the suprisingly textured guitar work on "Allison"and the B.B. King inspired playing on "Blame it on Cain." While truly interested listeners should next go after his more thematic and richer(and yes, even better) albums with the Attractions, this is unquestionably a necessity for any music collection.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the birth of the cool, May 8, 2006

By	SooZee (Downtown) - See all my reviews

When I was a senior in high school, Elvis Costello came out with My Aim is True, and it totally blew us all away with its cynical, on-the-money lyrics and terrific pop hooks. With heavy radio rotation of songs such as (The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes (which I made sure to get not long afterward), Alison, and Watching the Detectives, as well as Welcome to the Working Week, Mystery Dance, and Radio Sweetheart, Elvis was suddenly all over the FM dial, and we heard tell of concerts in which the 'angry young man' named Declan McManus spit on his audiences and told them off. A real regret was not getting to see him play live the first time he toured here, which I didn't have the opportunity to do 'til 1983, and a couple of times thereafter - always excellent shows, I might add (alas, no spitting). I have such specific memories of riding in a car singing Watching the Detectives and listening to these tunes while crossing the Long Island Sound by ferry on a trip to Shelter Island in New York on an early summer morning, Elvis' music the indelibly-etched soundtrack to that period that will forever play in my mind. Since this LP, Elvis has gone on, as we all know, to explore and master many genres of music, but - even given his wonderful subsequent work with Burt Bacharach - none hold as much power and meaning for me, even twenty five plus years on, as this LP does. Long live this King!!