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

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

Same points as Shabby Doll, but more votes is the tiebreaker.

I know there are ilxors who rate that one highly, but it's one of my least favorite from the first 10 years.

yeah i agree, i am baffled it was a single. it's like a failed experiment.

Yes. Especially when you consider all the other songs from Trust that didn't get released.

shabby doll was my no. 4. bruce thomas running wild

http://i.imgur.com/kv5z7df.jpg

53. Blue Chair
118 points
5 votes

I'm still figuring it out whether I like "Blue Chair." I do find myself going DOWN IN DA BLUE CHAIR a lot though.

It's catchy, but I can think of more than 52 songs of his I like better.

It never really stood out for me before now, but I'm enjoying it at the moment.

"Blue Chair" is one of my favorites from B&C but was cut from my ballot at the last minute. it's twinned in my mind with When I Was Cruel's "My Little Blue Window" as a pleasant little cut buried in the second half of a fairly rocking album with 'blue' in the title.

http://i.imgur.com/vOngBb5.jpg

Little Palaces
118 points
8 votes

Once more with numbering...
http://i.imgur.com/vOngBb5.jpg

52. Little Palaces
118 points
8 votes

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

― kornrulez6969

The lyrics are a little clumsy in Shot With His Own Gun but I don't think it's as bad as that. No real problem with Fish N Chip Paper either, it's a harmless song. Glad to see Trust place that highly great album I listened to a lot when I first got into him.

Very happy to see From a Whisper make it. Love that song so much and still don't know how it was a big hit single for him, it's so catchy.

Little Triggers and Crimes of Paris were both high on my list. They are both feature some of my favourite backing vocals on songs ever.

I had 6 post-80s songs on my ballot. Surprised it wasn't more, somehow, since I ranked 4 albums from that period in my top 10.

"Blue Chair" my #2 song.

EC has a lot of "Little" songs. This is my favorite.

which elvis song is angriest

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.