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!

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.

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!!

Elvis Costello's debut is a 70's classic full of sharp wit and punk-rock-meets-the-1950's style. Though the best known song is "Alison" (useless side note: had I been a girl my mom wanted to name me Alison after this song) the CD is full of great tracks. It's sad that major labels rarely release albums like Costello's anymore. He moves through styles, but never loses the sometimes cruel irony that sets the lyrics apart from other bands in the early days of punk. While most of the stuff has an aura about it that makes you think of Buddy Holly and Joey Ramone at the same time, he has other influences too- note the reggae-flavored "Watching the Detectives."

No matter how you look at it though, this album is an essential, and if you haven't heard it yet you're really missing out on a lot.

A friend of mine recently loaned me this album during a lengthy hospital stay, with the specific intent of reducing my boredom. It certainly did that - the slick, fast, to-the-point-and-now-it's-done songs, with (mostly) upbeat tunes and Elvis' unique combination of lyrics and vocal ability is the perfect answer to any slow, grey day or lack of attention span. Pop/rock music for people with taste!

The original album - tracks 1 to 13 - offer a fascinating variety and a lot of fun to be had. My personal favorites are "Welcome to the Working Week" and "Allison", to vastly different songs; one, the ultimate one-minute wake-up-and-dance anthem, the other, a touching love song that is slow and soft without seeming out of place on the record. Other splendid tunes include "Miracle Man", "Blaim it on Cain", and "Mystery Dance", but that's not to say any of the baker's dozen of songs are bad - there really isn't one I can say I dislike.

The only reason this gets four stars instead of five is for the perfectly decent, but somewhat standard additional material on the second half of the album: the last nine tracks of this release of "My Aim is True" feature B-sides and alternate versions of the album's earlier songs. They actually fit in remarkably well, and the whole thing makes for a great start-to-finish listen, but none of these are as remarkable as "Aim"'s original tracks. Originally, though, I thought Costello was intentionally pulling a "Band on the Run" with slower refrains of "Mystery Dance" and "Blame it on Cain" at the end of the album, and even now I must say they do compliment the earlier portion.

This is a very fine album which will grab you up, energize you and make you feel good before you can stop yourself! And really, with all the vacant happy music out there, and the more meaningful depressing music, isn't it nice to have something that combines the best of both worlds into one solid, refreshing item?