Elvis Costello – My Aim Is True Review

Staggering does not begin to cover it. Perhaps the reason Elvis Costello enjoyed so many years on top as the post-punk, new wave spirit is that his efforts were often shorter bursts. This sub-half-hour debut, for instance, is free of filler. A career-best lead single in the form of Watching the Detectives and some of his best-known songs appear on this debut album, one which would capture not just the spirit of the times, but a vibrancy and energy still found today if you dig deep enough. There’s a desire to play with the roots of 1950s pop. Costello is influenced as much by the rough break-up of The Beatles as he is by their influences. Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, those classics Costello and his peers grew up listening to are as much at play here as the punk spirit. That latter part is the driving force behind My Aim Is True, a magnificent first album effort which still sets the counterculture standard.  

Costello may be a figurehead of success, but during these early years, when all he had was his instrumental skill and a talent for writing brutal songs of love and hate, his roots in the underdog story are clear. This was no guaranteed success. He stuck true to his word in the albums to follow, not just fighting against the pop view of the world in protesting on Saturday Night Live and staking his claim in out-there projects. My Aim Is True is a blueprint for his style, one which is decades old at this point. All-time great songs like Alison don’t have that anger to them, not in the instrumental parts, anyway. There’s a loss heard in this Costello hit, which would inform the biting anger of his future songs. But away from that, with just My Aim Is True at hand, is a collection of songs quite unlike anything at the time. Nervousness becomes a part of the music, mistakes an accepted trade-off.  

Humanising music with a truth to the wordplay is what makes Costello a still brilliant performer. My Aim Is True has plenty of that in its first half, with both No Dancing and Blame it on Cain fantastic examples of Costello as a confident performer. Sneaky Feelings and the songs to follow find a lot of love in those quality, older records. Swinging, blues-adjacent rock and roll which feels somewhat traditional in its structure. Less Than Zero does a magnificent job of knocking back fascists like Mosely and it remains an excellent protest of ignorance across the United Kingdom. That ignorance is growing still, but it takes just three minutes to issue a brilliant breakdown of their ridiculous argument. Costello writes a “slandering fantasy”, as he once called it, and every note is perfectly placed. A punk spirit is crucial here, and it’s exactly what the song presents.  

Mystery Dance is a bit of a dud, but there’s room for experimentation on an early album. It’s to be expected as any artist finds themselves ironing out the details of their sound. Costello does just that on My Aim Is True. His follow-up, This Year’s Model, would be a spirited and honed example of his protest punk sound. But that’s not to detract from the ongoing qualities of My Aim Is True, an album as smart as it is sharp. Even in the strongest days of the counterculture movement, there is a soft futility at play. Album closer Waiting for the End of the World howls on and eventually fades out. If it were not for including the standalone single Watching the Detectives on future prints of the album, My Aim Is True would end as Costello intended. A howl against forces which are still, in new ways and dangerous forms, around.