And they pulled him out of the polled polled ground: Elvis Costello Poll Results

My #1.

This record hasn't aged as well for me, despite some of his best songs.

I listened to it for the first time in a few years for this poll (had gotten burnt out on it) and was happy/relieved at how well it had aged for me. Still not my #1 though.

http://i.imgur.com/yT1Jjez.jpg

4. Trust
720 points
22 votes
5 #1

This has always been my favorite.

Mine too, I think.

Even though Shot With His Own Gun could be his worst song, and Fish N Chip Paper isn't far behind.

http://i.imgur.com/Wbvm5dI.jpg

3. Get Happy!!
867 points
27 votes
5 #1

my aim is true below trust...this is gonna be a weird poll

http://i.imgur.com/97BfZUZ.jpg

2. Armed Forces
997 points
29 votes
7 #1

http://i.imgur.com/KoU04Gc.jpg

1. This Year's Model
1113 points
31 votes
12 #1

Not a real surprise there.

I listened to Trust a bit when putting together my ballot and it remains the I-should-love-it-but-I-just-don't album for me. Didn't represent it at all on my albums list OR my songs list.

I knew TYM would get plenty of luv from everyone else, so it doesn't show up on my albums ballot until #5.

I left TYM off my ballot completely out of protest, because my favorite song from that era is a b-side.

Albums were predictable and somewhat dull. Songs are much better. I'd like to start them when there are more people around. Any suggestions? I think the majority of voters were from the UK and I'm here in New Jersey so time difference may be an issue.

if you started now both the US and UK people would be awake and about for at least the next few hours, right?

Our computer system here at work is down right now, so ENTERTAIN ME!

Alright then...let's get this party started.

SONGS SONGS SONGS SONGS SONGS SONGS SONGS

http://i.imgur.com/lR2uiFP.jpg

60. Veronica
108 points
7 votes

haha perfect

thought this one would make my ballot, as I liked it a lot back in '89, but found it kinda irritating and its production cluttered & oppressive. wound up w/ no post-CBS songs, as it turned out

Spotify playlist! http://open.spotify.com/user/mondosalvo/playlist/1r8PKCoRrPXwEOnOydERVX

http://i.imgur.com/Hizesz7.jpg

59. Uncomplicated
110 points
9 votes

i'm surprised but happy to see TYM, which was my #2, top the poll. surprised because no one seemed to be pushing it, or its songs, on the voting poll. but i think that's the album where elvis turned into elvis, and it's got my favorite opening track in his catalog, and it sounds like a great band discovering itself. MAIT strikes me as the work of a very good songwriter searching for a way forward and only half finding it.

great thread title, korn.

"Uncomplicated" just narrowly escaped being cut from my ballot before I sent it off, so I'm glad leaving it on there helped it make the top 60. great live song, love hearing The Attractions pound away like that when they usually have so much rhythmic sophistication.

x-post

Thanks, cuz. I put quite a bit of thought into it and wasthisclose to going with Poor Napolleon, but then I put on King Of America again...

I'm just glad I figured out how to do the pictures right.

http://i.imgur.com/8rchdSE.jpg

58. Crimes of Paris
112 points
7 votes

I agree about the production clutter on "Veronica," but two things kept it on my ballot -- the chorus has a heck of a hook, and the lyric is possibly his most empathetic one ever. It takes movie-of-the-week material and makes it something loving but unsentimental.

B&C was the first EC record I heard when it was released (so I probably overrate it), and though I was familiar with a few earlier records, "Uncomplicated" simultaneously grabbed me and sent me scurrying back to those records.

Yes, me too. I remember WNEW in New York having a Top Ten at Ten every night where they'd play their most requested songs, and Tokyo Storm Warning was on it for a good month.

Crimes Of Paris has always been my favorite from this record. Such a great chorus.

"Crimes of Paris" made my ballot for some personal nostalgic reasons but mainly for the sheer strength of Costello's singing in it: "heee's irresSISTable TOO".."paper-weight EIFFEL TOWER!"

I wouldn't be shocked if nothing later than "Veronica" made it into the top 60. i voted for six post-'80s songs and that's probably the most anybody voted for.

http://i.imgur.com/AjyGZix.jpg

57. Little Triggers
114 points
5 votes

that song always suffered from me comparing it to "Alison" and "Party Girl" by virtue of it appearing around the same point in the album as the other ballads on the early records, but obviously it's pretty good.

Coming in late after lunch!

PTC sounded awful yesterday: those horns clutter some shrieking, non-existent songs. OTOH glad to see my #1 Trust so high. I played the shitty pre-Ryko tape in the early nineties to death, unaware until reading Christgau's review that it had a serious claque.

I suspect "clutter" is a word not too far from any criticism of Costello's songs, vocal arrangements, and choice of producer.

"Little Triggers" is the only song I consider skipping when playing TYM, but it's a nice place to land after "Pump It Up" and before "You Belong to Me."

http://i.imgur.com/5cEzPKU.jpg

56. Big Boys
114 points
6 votes
97 points and 3 of the votes were for demo version

Big Boys demo had 1 first place vote

I can live with clutter being the sin of most of the Attractions' lesser music, because at their best they had a wonderful excess of everything: so many words, so many hooks, so many notes, so many details and embellishments in the performances and production.

lololol my Starbucks is playing "The Only Flame in Town."

woooow

now it's a new version of "I Only Have Eyes For You."

Demo version of Big Boys doesn't do a lot for me, but it's great on Armed Forces.

http://i.imgur.com/RGB1laT.jpg

55. Shabby Doll
116 points
7 votes

Wow that's a large pic.

too low

about right

http://i.imgur.com/ZeCJWgj.jpg

54. From A Whisper To A Scream
116 points
8 votes

After listening to KOA a lot recently, I've realized I love its great songs b/c I love Mitchell Froom's keyboard lines and production early Crowded House.

outside of a few cuts i haven't listened to it in forever. i may have had "jacksons, monk, and rowe" on my ballot, it was definitely on the shortlist in any case. in my head i'm still fond of it though, i would guess that other than all this useless beauty and probably brutal youth i like it more or at least would be more likely to listen to it than anything else post-columbia. actually strike that, i still haven't heard the album he did w/ bacharach (i'm not sure i've heard the entirety of any of his post warners albums, i think i've heard all of when i was cruel but i'm not sure), i am curious about that one. very very fond of koa, there are a handful of cuts that are kinda pointless exercises but in the expanse of the album i don't mind them.

Reading the Costello memoir reignited my interest in TJL. It's in my closet, and I can still hum "Jackson, Monk, and Rowe" and "I Almost Had a Weakness" and "The Birds Will Still Be Singing," so that's something (EC sez TJC sold about 300,000 worldwide and thus made a small profit off it). Still haven't heard the Bacharach album.

Just bought a $5 used copy of King of America today!

"I Almost Had a Weakness"

that and the imperial bedroomish "taking my life in your hands" were the two keepers for me.

Dipped into the memoir recently. Seems much better written than a lot of his recent song catalog, although he is too prolific for me to keep track of everything so who knows.

Juliet Letters was a huge album for me when it came out, I played the hell out of it. Haven't listened to it all the way through in years.

Here are ones I'd torch.

I like at least four of them

haha "Pidgin English" was #1 on my ballot. I thought it was odd that it didn't make the cut, but apparently some really dislike it...?

"two little hitlers" is a good tune but a terrible lyric, yeah

I always assumed it was an indulgent reference/sequel to Nick Lowe's "Little Hitler."

"Two Little Hitlers" is a bizarre ditty but the lyric actually works because that part is so damn catchy. It may also be his vocal too which is just right for it - a prettier or "nicer" voice couldn't pull it off. I guess that might apply to a lot of those vitriolic songs on the first three albums.

*actually works for me

I find "Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood" very atmospheric - the pensive marimbas, and startling metallic raking sound in the chorus. I also love the hazy VGPS-era Kinks shuffle feel, and chromatic descending chord hook in "Dr. Luther’s Assistant".

I hate his shouty voice.

Hitler analogies to limn relationships, whether EC or Woody Allen's, were gross even in the Carter era.

Would you have objected to the original title of Armed Forces: Emotional Fascism?

It's the jaundiced perspective of an unreliable narrator. Saying it's gross feels like it's missing the point, especially when you broaden the argument to include Woody Allen - his work never felt like it was anything but his own real life voice, often to a fault.