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

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

http://i.imgur.com/O4cMHpZ.jpg

woohoo!

you're gonna post the text of the results and not just the images, though, right?

i became a fan in the era of the Rykodisc reissues so i always heard the non-album rarities as bonus tracks on the album and had no need to check for Taking Liberties/Ten Bloody Marys/Out Of Our Idiot/etc. certainly plenty of great songs on those collections, though.

10. Taking Liberties 139 points 5 votes

I played the Taking Liberties cassette to death in the 80s. Still love it.

Im still trying to get this whole thing working right, so let me try this again while we wait for more people.

http://i.imgur.com/O4cMHpZ.jpg

10. Taking Liberties
139 points
5 votes

http://i.imgur.com/AtKx7nM.jpg

9. Punch The Clock
210 points
8 votes

I just skimmed Punch the Clock while making my ballot, but it seems as dull now as it did when I was listening to EC a whole lot in the 90s.

Yes. Not much there besides Shipbuilding.

http://i.imgur.com/z309kkl.jpg

8. King of America
407 votes
14 votes

I was hoping this would be higher. It's always been one of my very favorites.

I guess this was his first steps in figuring out a post-Attractions future. I absolutely loved it when it came out, but it seems disjointed now. It would have made my albums list if I hadn't cut it off at five.

Surprised it's not higher (particularly if anything post-'86 beats it).

I didn't hear it as disjointed at the time, but I can definitely hear it like that now. It's also (along with Spike) the most dated-sounding recording he's made, in terms of production.

xp

More than Goodbye Cruel World?

I'd have to give that honor to Punch the Clock or Goodbye Cruel World.

http://i.imgur.com/zT6m396.jpg

7. Blood and Chocolate
554 points
19 votes
2 #1

More than Goodbye Cruel World?

― Johnny Fever, Thursday, December 26, 2013 11:14 AM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Marginally, but yeah. There's something about the digitalness of the reverb that screams "80s!" moreso than GCW, but tbf, I haven't heard GCW in years.

people are really into Punch The Clock, huh? i guess all four of the post-'80s albums i voted for are getting shut out, damn.

Truthfully, the albums portion of this was not all that exciting. But the songs are the main event anyway. You don't have to be Nostradamus to figure out the top 6.

Top 6 albums, I mean. Nobody will be able to guess the top 6 songs.

yeah...still interested to see the order, though. wouldn't have predicted B&C over King. (xp)

Me neither.

http://i.imgur.com/Gw8EmAv.jpg

6. My Aim Is True
620 points
20 votes

woahhhhhhh

Notice it got no #1s.

there were times in the past when it would've been my #1 but it's never been lower than my #2. hugely important album to me.

I think Clover hurts this record a bit. It really is Elvis Costello and the News.

yep

http://i.imgur.com/M4YJkvW.jpg

5. Imperial Bedroom
620 points
20 votes
2 #1

This got exact same votes as My Aim Is True but the #1s gave it the tiebreaker.

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.

The Thomson bio I just finished sez EC's willingness to shoot the shit in '89 helped Spike's sales (it remains his last gold album of new material to date).

I believe he actually played Madison Square Garden on that tour, too. Probably the peak of his US popularity.

major promotional push from new label, much more favorable radio environment and somewhat more favorable mtv environment - basically the same stuff that worked for lou reed's new york the same year. "featuring paul mccartney" didn't hurt. it's interesting its critical rep has fallen so much, it finished seventh in p&j that year.

basically the same stuff that worked for lou reed's new york the same year.

(upper right-hand corner)
http://www.thedailypage.com/media/2009/06/25/19020YearsAgoAlpineValleyAd.jpg

I went to this show, but Lou Reed broke his ankle the week before, and was replaced with the Violent Femmes. Had crappy seats, and EC's set was disappointing. I mostly remember a long, acoustic "Deep Dark Truthful Mirror" and a perfunctory "Pump It Up."

Surprised by how much people don't like "Spike." It's really no more uneven than many of his later records, but I've never had trouble listening to it. I think it's aged well, and I dig all the cats on loan from Tom Waits.

It's arrangements for trifles like "Pads, Paws and Claws" that get me. The Attractions would've raced through it; now we get spider guitar and keyboard dohickeys to go with unnecessary tempo changes.

Yeah, for me it's the overstuffed arrangements and the introduction of post-singing lessons vocals. And "Stalin Malone" is absolutely cringeworthy.

Spike is too long, but I went back and played it over the weekend and was surprised how well it holds up.

I think it starts out fairly strong, but I had a helluva time getting through the whole thing when I revisited it a couple weeks ago.

Didn't singing lessons follow/dovetail with Juliet Letters?

Juliet Letters a better album than Spike imo

On that same special, he played and sang Bon Jovi's "Bad Medicine" for a few seconds

jon bon jovi has said the first time his wife was ever impressed with his music was when elvis covered him.

elvis costello covers added to the increasingly pointless criteria for whether an album is the artist's "new jersey"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNsgOhIcqNQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TflFwQtE2Q

was in the middle of a move so didn't get a chance to vote in this, but bummed not to see 'pills and soap' or 'tramp the dirt down,' my two fav EC songs during my biggest EC-fan phase (ages 16-19, more or less). my no. 1 would prob have been 'shipbuilding.'

Cool, thanks for posting those!

xp

It's kind of remarkable how many of his albums have at some time been my favorite Elvis Costello album, or how many of them could easily be my favorite again.

i heard the first 3 before anything else, so that's never been the case for me, but the #4 spot has changed over many times.

there may have been times armed forces or trust had it but it's basically always rotated between this year's model-get happy!!-imperial bedroom for me

i still think most people itt are kinda fronting on the first album's greatness. do you want new wave or do you want My Aim Is True?

For the record, the first album has never been my fave. But TYM, Armed Forces, Trust, Imperial Bedroom, Get Happy and Blood & Chocolate all sure have.

I voted a fair few from MAIT but solely based on having just discovered 1977 boots just prior to voting. tunes are overall fantastic, clover kinda bland

Genuinely peeved at myself for not balloting or following along or anything BUT --- very stoked to see that Party Girl got all the way to #4...and a lot of what would have made my 10 ended up in the top 10 :D :D

i am having my own little EC karaoke - headphones & a closed door means that I can pretend noone can hear me singing lol

The anecdote, in Franklin Bruno's awesome Armed Forces book, about the debt that "Accidents Will Happen" owes to "Dancing Queen" has made sure that I'll never hear one without thinking of the other ever again.

Was it not "Oliver's Army" ?

yeah it was "Oliver." also a lyrical nod to "Dancing Queen" much later on in "When I Was Cruel No. 2."

D'oh! "Oliver's Army," not "Accidents Will Happen." Thanks, guys.

"accidents will happen," on the other hand, according to bruno, owes a debt to elvis presley, the supremes, bacharach/david, randy newman and phil spector.

you drink yourself insensitive and
hate some dude in the morning

this was a good poll imo

nothing for 'comedians'!! man

balls, you like The Juliet Letters as much as I do, right?

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.