Young Costello ultra punk
`My Aim Is True' embodies many of the feelings students struggle with daily
Reviewed by Kevin Doran
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
kad9s2@psu.edu
You know that "emo" look the
cool little kiddies love?
You know, thick, black-rimmed
glasses, suit and tie, Chuck Tay
lors, etc. Well, it may come as a
surprise, but the look was per
fected in 1977 by one young
Declan McManus (known to
most as Elvis Costello). Not only
did young Declan perfect the
look, he had the attitude and the
edge that is missed sorely by
many of today's little "emo" kid
dies. When Elvis Costello made
My Aim Is True, he wrote songs
containing a slight pinch of bit
terness (for our purposes,
"slight pinch" means "a hell of a
lot"). Around the same time,
Johnny Rotten was yelling "Get
pissed, destroy."
Elvis got pissed, all right. But
unlike the Sex Pistols' aggres
sive punk rock, he incorporated
poppy hooks, sing -a-long chorus
es, and gasp! clever lyrics.
My Aim Is True is a great
album for any college student,
because along with the bitter
ness that accompanies a broken
heart, a fear of the pressures of
adulthood permeates many of
the tracks. The album opens
with "Welcome to the Working
Week," and like any good intro
duction, it establishes the theme
Costello masters the art of youthful anguish
buried in the background of bright pop rock
of the album. The song signifies
the beginning of the adulthood
that Costello was just entering
with his "next big thing"
acclaim. The next track, "Mira
cle Man," is a gem that moves
the theme along and includes
some of those clever lyrics and a
sing -a-long chorus. With the
lines, "Why do you have to say
that there's always someone
who can do it better than I can?
/ Don't you think that I know
that walking on water won't
make me a miracle man,"
Costello professes that feeling of
being unappreciated that we all
know too well. And somehow, he
makes the universal connection
without being cliché or generic.
Along with the adulthood
pressure theme, Costello ven
tures into the land of heartbreak
with his classic "Alison," which
bears the lyrics that give the
album its name. The pained
lyrics illustrate perfectly the
feeling of reuniting with a lost
love. Thankfully, the album has
some songs that deal with less
serious subjects, to vary the
mood. "Mystery Dance" is a
short burst of old-school rock
that borrows from Costello's
namesake, Elvis Presley, with its
"Jailhouse Rock" base. The song
jokes about the awkwardness of
sexual encounters, including the
line, "She thought that I knew
and I thought that she knew / So
both of us were willing but we
didn't know how to do it."
If one so dares, I highly rec
ommend a special edition of the
album including an extra disc
full of never-before-released
songs, demo versions of a hand
ful of songs from the original
album and a few live recordings.
The newly released songs on
the second disc are tremendous,
and they make one wonder how
they could go so long without a
proper release. The live tracks
include "I Just Don't Know
What to Do With Myself," the
Burt Bacharach song also
famously covered by the White
Stripes, and an alternate version
of "Less Than Zero." On My
Aim Is True, Costello masters
the art of youthful anguish
buried in the background of
bright pop rock. The album
shows his ability to write his
own angst-ridden, bitter lyrics
without the grungy screaming
or that pseudo-emo whining that
often comes along with the
thick, black-rimmed glasses.
Courtesy www.elviscostelloinfo
Elvis Costello brings out a sense of youth in his album My Aim is True.
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