Fred Mills
January 17, 2008
Elvis Costello¹s sophomore release, his first album with the Attractions, This Year¹s Model was voted Album of the Year in 1978 in The Village Voice Jazz & Pop critics poll (among many other polls that year). Now the platter is about to turn 30, and Hip-O is going to give it a big party.
The two-CD This Year’s Model ¬ Deluxe Edition, arrives March 4, 2008, adding 11 B-sides, demos, live tracks, and alternate takes to the original album plus a second disc featuring a previously unreleased concert recorded at the Warner Theater in Washington, DC, on February 28, 1978. Taped on the Starfleet mobile studio, this show was originally broadcast on WHFS in Maryland, and although it has been widely bootlegged over the years on LP and CD, only the song “Chemistry Class” has ever been issued before officially (it surfaced as a bonus cut on Rhino’s 2002 expanded edition of Armed Forces).
Here’s the scoop from the label:
Incidentally, some folks may still want to hold on to their 2002 This Year’s Model twofers that Rhino issued; the new version does not include that collection’s bonus tracks “Stranger In The House” (BBC Version), “The Price Of Love” and “Radio Radio” (demo version).This Year’s Model was produced by Nick Lowe, was harder and rawer than Costello’s debut album, 1977’s My Aim Is True, partly thanks to the singer-songwriter-guitarist’s newly recruited band of keyboardist Steve Nieve, bassist Bruce Thomas and drummer Pete Thomas (no relation). The album outcharted its predecessor by reaching #30 in the U.S. and #4 U.K. The new Deluxe Edition includes the U.K. album-only album tracks “(I Don¹t Want To Go To) Chelsea” and “Night Rally” plus the U.S. album-only “Radio, Radio.”
The added selections, subsequently issued in a 2001 two-CD package, include the B-sides “Big Tears” and “Tiny Steps”; Americathon soundtrack contribution “Crawling To The USA”; demos for “Running Out Of Angels,” “Greenshirt” and “Big Boys”; live “Neat Neat Neat” and “Roadette Song”; and alternate takes of “This Year¹s Girl” and “(I Don¹t Want To Go To) Chelsea.”
TRACK LISTING:
ELVIS COSTELLO AND THE ATTRACTIONS:
THIS YEAR¹S MODEL
DISC ONE:
1 No Action
2 This Year's Girl
3 The Beat
4 Pump It Up
5 Little Triggers
6 You Belong To Me
7 Hand In Hand
8 (I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea
9 Lip Service
10 Living In Paradise
11 Lipstick Vogue
12 Night Rally
13 Radio, Radio
Bonus material: B-sides,demos, live tracks, alternates, etc.
14 Big Tears
15 Crawling To The USA
16 Tiny Steps
17 Running Out Of Angels (demo version)
18 Greenshirt (demo version)
19 Big Boys (demo version)
20 Neat Neat Neat (live)
21 Roadette Song (live)
22 This Year¹s Girl (alternate Eden Studios version)
23 (I Don¹t Want To Go To) Chelsea (alternate
Basing Street Studios version)
ELVIS COSTELLO AND THE ATTRACTIONS
Live At The Warner Theater, Washington, DC, February 28, 1978
DISC TWO:
1 Pump It Up*
2 Waiting For The End Of The World*
3 No Action*
4 Less Than Zero*
5 The Beat*
6 (The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes*
7 (I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea*
8 Hand In Hand*
9 Little Triggers*
10 Radio, Radio*
11 You Belong To Me*
12 Lipstick Vogue*
13 Watching The Detectives*
14 Mystery Dance*
15 Miracle Man*
16 Blame It On Cain*
17 Chemistry Class
* Previously Unreleased
