My Aim Is True 30th anniversary deluxe reissue

Pretty self-explanatory
johnfoyle
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Post by johnfoyle »

http://www.amazon.com/My-Aim-True-Elvis ... 826&sr=1-5



Syd (Chicago) comments -

(extract)

This Hip-O issue is just awful. There is a lot of high-midrange/treble distortion in the recording. The demos on the Deluxe issue also have it which suggests something wrong. Add to this Watching the Detectives is particularly butchered as it suffers from that awful imbalance between the loud and quiet parts you get with bad mastering sometimes. The instruments and vocals all sound like they are in the background and the loud parts, like when it goes '...And They Shoot Shoot Shoot...' just jumps out at you real loud. It sucks something bad. However, the good news is that the bonus disk on this new deluxe issue has the entire LP live, except I'm Not Angry. And - get this - the sound quality on the live stuff is far superior to the studio stuff, which tells you there is something wrong with this recording. Keep in mind I am assuming this 'original' sounds the same as my deluxe issue of this, as Hip-0 put out both. I sampled here and yes, I hear the mid-range distortion, even thru cheap head phones.
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Post by kilburn_bhoy »

The Deluxe Edition of 'Too-Rye-Aye' by Dexys Midnight Runners which was released earlier this month was recalled because of audio problems/bad mastering, but in this case only on the album (not the bonus tracks).

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Too-Rye-Ay-Dexy ... 082&sr=8-1

Judging from the user reviews, these editions are closer to half arsed than deluxe. I have other deluxe editions from the same series by other bands and have not encountered any problems. Seems their quality control is lacking...
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Post by migdd »

Just got this a few days ago and have given it a good listen over the weekend. I have to agree that the main album sounds hideous and trebly. MAIT was never a "hi-fi" recording to begin with but both the Ryko and Rhino reissues clarified the sound without losing the ambiance of the original recording. It is apparent that the folks at Hip-O did not know what to do with the lo-fi sound of the album. On the other hand, the live CD sounds fantastic - much better than any version of El Mocambo!
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Post by johnfoyle »

http://blog.cleveland.com/top_entertain ... im_is.html

Cleveland Plain Dealer



http://blog.cleveland.com/top_entertainment/
Gary Graff

Special to The Plain Dealer

Sept. 17 '07

The new "Deluxe Edition" version of Elvis Costello's debut album, "My Aim is True" (Hip-O) commemorates the set's 30th anniversary. But Costello isn't waiting around to blow out any celebratory candles.

"I've never thought about it, really," Costello says. "I'm not a great one on anniversaries or dates. I don't know why 30 is more important than 29 or 31, really. But it flags a certain time. It seems to be a time people reconsider things, so we have to accept the fact that's what the process is."


The new "My Aim is True" is a two-CD set that fills out the original 13-song album -- which featured the hits "Alison" and "Watching the Detectives"-- with four outtakes, eight demos, a 1977 concert from Nashville and the sound check to that show. Costello, however, says that the way the album was made renders any anniversary date a bit specious.

"The record was recorded over a six-month period and little sessions when Stiff [his label at the time] could afford it and I could get time off work," he recalls. "I think the idea was eventually that Stiff said, 'You have enough songs. You've done enough sessions. There's an album's worth of material, so we're gonna [release] it.'

"But then they said to me, 'Now you've got to go professional. You've got to quit your day job.' I had family responsibilities, so I had to say, 'Well, you can pay me the same . . .' We worked it out, so that's where it all started for me, really."


The "My Aim is True (Deluxe Edition)" is part of an extensive series of reissues and new compilations from Costello's catalog that will be rolling out over the next few years.
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Post by And No Coffee Table »

migdd wrote:I have to agree that the main album sounds hideous and trebly. MAIT was never a "hi-fi" recording to begin with but both the Ryko and Rhino reissues clarified the sound without losing the ambiance of the original recording. It is apparent that the folks at Hip-O did not know what to do with the lo-fi sound of the album.
I find the complaints about the sound quality completely mystifying because the main album has not been remastered for the new release. It should sound exactly the same as the Rhino CD — and my copy, at least, does sound exactly the same. They also look the same when I compare the files with a wave editor.

Could there be some defective CDs out there?
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Post by bicyclops »

And No Coffee Table wrote:
I find the complaints about the sound quality completely mystifying because the main album has not been remastered for the new release. It should sound exactly the same as the Rhino CD — and my copy, at least, does sound exactly the same. They also look the same when I compare the files with a wave editor.
I did the same comparison in a wave editor - they look the same. I took a couple of tracks and analyzed them further. After adjusting for a tiny fraction of a second difference in silence at the start of the track, I inverted the Hip-O waveform and added it to the Rhino waveform. The result was silence.

The mastering is the same. The waveforms are the same. Unless there are some defective CDs, people are reporting differences that aren't there.
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Post by migdd »

And No Coffee Table wrote:
migdd wrote:I have to agree that the main album sounds hideous and trebly. MAIT was never a "hi-fi" recording to begin with but both the Ryko and Rhino reissues clarified the sound without losing the ambiance of the original recording. It is apparent that the folks at Hip-O did not know what to do with the lo-fi sound of the album.
I find the complaints about the sound quality completely mystifying because the main album has not been remastered for the new release. It should sound exactly the same as the Rhino CD — and my copy, at least, does sound exactly the same. They also look the same when I compare the files with a wave editor.

Could there be some defective CDs out there?
I may have to eat some crow here.

I've been listening to the disc on my usually reliable car stereo while traveling. I have not compared the Hip-O disc to the Rhino release on the same player so perhaps I am mistaken about the sound quality comparison. I'll test both discs when I get home on Friday. Until then, please disregard my comments. However, comparing the live disc to disc one of the Hip-O release, the live tracks still seem to come out ahead, IMHO.
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Post by wardo68 »

I haven't A-B'd them, but my Disc 1 sounds as good as I remember either the Ryko or Rhinos sounding.
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Post by johnfoyle »

The discs and glass have reached here , safe and sound. Now for a suitably 'Dublin' pose/location for a photo of the glass in action..........
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Post by johnfoyle »

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Post by johnfoyle »

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbc ... 1011/SCENE

Louisville Courier-Journal, KY

Saturday, September 22, 2007

Album Review

Costello's fourth reissue of 'My Aim Is True' is off target
Overpriced set is not that deluxe

By Jeffrey Lee Puckett

jpuckett@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal


When Elvis Costello's "My Aim Is True" appeared in 1977, its cover starring Costello as a splay-legged, murderous nerd with no interest in taking prisoners or suffering fools, pop music was changed and challenged.

Who was this gawky, uncomfortable creature crashing the punk-rock party? Punk was in full bloom, the Ramones and Sex Pistols leading the brawl, and while Costello looked as if he might have a nice collection of pocket protectors at home — and there was no missing that incongruous wedding ring — you also got the distinct impression that he had a few bodies in the backyard.

But while Johnny Rotten made it clear that it was us — and them, of course — that he hated so completely, Costello was far more complicated. He was clearly angry with a lot of people but more interesting was the anger and frustration directed at himself. Frustration, in fact, powers the entire record, from the feelings of inadequacy behind "Welcome to the Working Week" to the sexual/homicidal tension that makes "Alison" and "Watching the Detectives" so delicious.

Debut albums, in other words, don't get much better, which is why "My Aim Is True" is getting its fourth reissue — surely some kind of record. This one justifies itself with two hours of bonus material, most of it previously unreleased. There's a complete club show from 1977, including sound check, and four outtakes from the album sessions. More revealing are the Pathway Studio demos, featuring only Costello and his guitar, recorded shortly before the album sessions began.

The live disc, unfortunately, doesn't live up to expectations. While it features the then newly formed Attractions, Costello's finest band, they sound hesitant and uncertain (especially keyboardist Steve Nieve, who can't seem to figure out what he's supposed to be doing). Nearly everything is half a beat off and short on the ferocity that would make Costello's second album, "This Year's Model," essential listening.

A similar lack of ferocity is what keeps "My Aim Is True" from perfection despite its many and venomous charms. The ad-hoc band, featuring several future members of Huey Lewis & the News, is more than adequate but not nearly as inspired as Costello or the songs. Within a year, however, Costello and the Attractions would find that ideal blend of pop smarts, musical aggression and intellectual menace that set standards most bands are still striving to match.

But here's the problem: at $30 this is wildly overpriced, especially given the lack of liner notes and the availability of the cheaper 2001 Rhino reissue, also a two-disc set. If the live set were a better performance, sure. Wait for a sale and grab it. But unless you're a completist, this is clearly a case of essential music carelessly packaged for a quick profit.

Jeffrey Lee Puckett is SCENE's pop music editor and oversees this page.
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Post by johnfoyle »

http://blog.masslive.com/playback/2007/ ... ood_t.html

The Republican - MassLive.com, MA

Kevin O'Hare, Playback
September 23, 2007


Elvis Costello, "My Aim is True" (Hip-O/UMe) 5 stars.


Elvis Costello not only releases a lot of albums, he re-releases a lot of albums.

The new wave pioneer's voluminous archives have been tapped by several different labels previously and now that he's with Universal he's unleashed the mother of all editions of his classic 1977 debut "My Aim is True."

This double disc, 48-track "deluxe edition" of "My Aim is True," includes 29 live cuts and demos that are either new to CD or completely unreleased previously. It's a reissue overflowing in material, but the heart of the set remains the majestic 13 songs from the original album that can be found on the first CD. "Alison," "Watching the Detectives," "Sneaky Feelings," and "(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes," are just a few of the selections here that helped turn Costello into a star who's still shining 30 years later.

A variety of outtakes and demos fill out the first disc, but it's during the second CD when things really get interesting. The centerpiece is a 17-song complete concert from The Nashville Rooms in London on Aug. 7, 1977, as well as five songs from the show's soundcheck - including the rarely heard diamond "Radio Sweetheart." Costello's band, The Attractions, had only been playing together for two months at that time, and things are occasionally rough around the edges. No matter. Listen to the cheap keyboard sounds dominating "(I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea," the fascinating arrangement of "The Beat," the surging take of "Lipstick Vogue," or the frenzied fever of "Mystery Dance," and you're listening to the birth of a sound that would rock the world.
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Post by invisible Pole »

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/r ... xe-edition

Elvis Costello
My Aim Is True [Deluxe Edition]
[Stuff; 1977; r: Universal/Hip-O; 2007]
Rating: 7.0

There are now three different versions of Elvis Costello's 1977 debut album My Aim Is True for sale. For about $15, you can purchase the one-disc "Original Masters" version released this May by Universal/Hip-O. For about $20, you can purchase Rhino's 2001 reissue, which features the original album on one disc plus a bonus disc of assorted demos, live tracks, and outtakes. And now, for about $30, you can purchase Universal/Hip-O's 2xCD "deluxe" version, which packs the original album, outtakes and Costello's solo demos on the first disc, and an entire 1977 live show from the Nashville Rooms (complete with soundcheck) on its second.

In a sense, it's an interesting model of consumer choice, or at least it could be: three incrementally priced versions of an album, geared towards three different levels of interest. But this new reissue not only falls short of being the final, definitive word on the album-- it falls short of the Rhino reissue as well. The bonus material on the 2001 reissue seemed more carefully curated, giving a complete picture of Costello's work at the time and making for a compelling listen throughout. The gestures towards completism on this reissue are appreciated, but much of the bonus material fails to be of more than just passing interest.

A good deal of the first disc's better bonus material has appeared on previous reissues. Outtakes "Stranger in the House" and "Radio Sweetheart" heighten the country-tinged tone of the record, and are on par with some of its weaker tracks. The Pathway Studio demos, most of which are previously unreleased, sound like what they are: high-quality demos recorded in anticipation of making a record. Four of these unreleased tracks didn't make it onto the record, and all are serviceable, if not spectacular. But a lot of the better tracks from the Rhino reissue are noticeably absent here, including a cover of the Burt Bacharach/ Hal David standard "I Just Don't Know What to Do With Myself". While this reissue offers an interesting glimse into Costello's creative work immediately before and after the release of My Aim Is True, it lacks the reverent and enthusiastically geeky perspective of the Rhino reissue.

The live disc provides a fascinating window into how backing band the Attractions changed the course of Costello's work. You can hear Steve Nieve's keyboard begin to take prominence over Costello's guitar work, but the band has yet to account for these changes in their arrangements. You can also hear drummer Pete Thomas holding back and falling a bit behind, perhaps trying to emulate the more loose and laid back tone of My Aim Is True. The songs culled from the record sound awkward and uncertain, and an embryonic version of "I Don't Want to Go to Chelsea" is listless and sluggish. At this stage, the band sounds like a pale imitation of the incredibly forceful unit heard on the vastly superior Live at El Mocambo, which was released in a box set with Rykodisc's even earlier reissues, and excerpted on the Rhino reissue.

Of course, the album itself is still fantastic. Songs like "Alison", "(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes", "Less Than Zero", and "Watching the Detectives" are among Costello's best, and constitute a vital chapter in the lexicon of punk and new wave. My Aim Is True sounds just as relevant now as it did four months ago, seven years ago, and 15 years ago (when Rykodisc's expanded reissue was first released on CD). Does this reissue do anything to provide a new context for the album? Not really. Whereas the Rhino reissue featured some truly fascinating liner notes from Costello himself, this reissue-- though impeccably packaged-- includes no illuminating liners, old or new. It does, however, include an ad for Elvis Costello ringtones, obnoxiously dating this release and calling into question its motives. Still, this is hardly a case of exploitation or instant obsolescence. None of the bonus material here is bad, and much of it will be of interest to Costello completists. If you have thirty dollars to spare on a batch of demo recordings and an interesting live show, there are worse ways to spend your money. If not, the Rhino reissue makes a much better case for this classic and essential album.

-Matt LeMay, October 01, 2007
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Post by johnfoyle »

http://www.geocities.com/ned3705/maitde.html

Nunki comments -
As for the more familiar songs, "Miracle Man" (demo) has a mostly different final verse.
The third verse is , indeed, entirely different to the finished MAIT album version. It goes -

I hear they're givin' you a bad reputation

just because you've never been denied.

You try to say you've done it all before.

Baby, you know that you just get tired.

Yet everybody loves you so much, girl.

I just don't know how you stand the strain.

Oh, I, I'm the one who's here tonight,

and I don't wanna do it all in vain.


In the demo , Elvis sings

You know seven men who want to be monkeys
Six that never get denied
Five that say they done it all before
And four that say they just get tired
And three of the handsomest men in the country
And two that can do it again and again
But I'm the one who's here tonight,
And I don't wanna do it all in vain


The rather tricksy countdown motif is distracting and serves to emphasis the subtlety of the finished version. Of course , thinking back to various accounts of the Flip City days and reflecting on how much Elvis' relationship at the time with his first wife inspired , in general, MAIT , the lyric takes on a whole new meaning. Of course , it could just be a artist using his imagination but, hey, that would be just boring!
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Post by Fishfinger king »

Got my copy from Amazon UK today (sent by another courier but would have arrived today post-postal-strike anyway). I thought I'd resist it for a while but when it came down to it just couldn't.
The studio demos are interesting but not essential. The original CD sound quality appears just fine to me (not sure if the UK version is any different to the US). The packaging is excellent with some great new photos. I guess I'm a traditionalist and I do like a record you can feel and pore over and liner notes you can read over breakfast - download will never be the same.
The real bonus, though, is the Nashville Rooms live CD. Fantastic sound quality, fantastic performances. Now I remember why I liked him and the Attractions in the first place. I went a couple of times to the Nashville rooms to see them but can't remember if Aug 7th was one of them or not. I certainly heard Price of Love at one, and it's a shame it's still not had an official release, but I guess you can't have everything. Now if only EC could put the same amount of energy and inspiration into his next original CD offering......
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Post by bronxapostle »

bravo FFK!!!!!!
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Post by thepopeofpop »

And No Coffee Table wrote: I find the complaints about the sound quality completely mystifying because the main album has not been remastered for the new release. It should sound exactly the same as the Rhino CD — and my copy, at least, does sound exactly the same. They also look the same when I compare the files with a wave editor.

Could there be some defective CDs out there?
No, but there may be some defective listeners. :wink:

This release is indeed identical sound-wise to the Rhino. It seems that a lot people over at Amazon just want to bitch about this release and so are hearing things. It's a pity some people just can't STFU and enjoy the music (or not buy it at all if they think it's too expensive) :roll:
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Post by Otis Westinghouse »

Fishfinger king wrote:I went a couple of times to the Nashville rooms to see them but can't remember if Aug 7th was one of them or not.
Two years and a month before Joy Division played there. Sept 22, '79, to be precise. I have the bootleg. It's featured in Control. There are no titles or anything, but the period pictures and flyers are lovingly created and you can clearly see various Nashville refs. Always wondered where in London it was.
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Post by Fishfinger king »

Just next to West Kensington tube station. It was converted to a gastropub around the mid-eighties.
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Post by invisible Pole »

http://www.popmatters.com/pm/music/revi ... m-is-true/

Elvis Costello
My Aim Is True [Deluxe Edition]
Rating : 10 out of 10

Within a few weeks of the UK release of Elvis Costello’s 1977 debut LP, My Aim Is True, Elvis Presley was dead. The 22-year-old London-born singer-songwriter, known to family and friends as Declan Patrick MacManus, had co-opted the King’s first name only a few months before. It was a piece of provocation dreamed up by Costello’s gonzo manager, Jake Riviera, and quickly resonated as a brazen marketing tactic that took the piss out of a supposedly untouchable piece of pop iconography. ("It sounded like a dare,â€
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Post by Dr. Luther »

bicyclops wrote:
And No Coffee Table wrote:
I find the complaints about the sound quality completely mystifying because the main album has not been remastered for the new release. It should sound exactly the same as the Rhino CD — and my copy, at least, does sound exactly the same. They also look the same when I compare the files with a wave editor.
I did the same comparison in a wave editor - they look the same. I took a couple of tracks and analyzed them further. After adjusting for a tiny fraction of a second difference in silence at the start of the track, I inverted the Hip-O waveform and added it to the Rhino waveform. The result was silence.

The mastering is the same. The waveforms are the same. Unless there are some defective CDs, people are reporting differences that aren't there.
I haven't compared the Rhino issue vs. Hip-O issue of the LP proper, but by memory (and accounting for listening now on a different system than the one on which I last listened to the Rhinos), they sound similar to me.

What I would like to see is a waveform comparison between the duplicated bonus material on this issue. Specifically the No Action outtake.
My Hip-O version of No Action sounds absolutely awful -- to the extent that it actually does sound like defective vinyl. The distortion during the peaks is horrific. (I know that the drums, particularly, had plenty of distortion on the Rhino issue -- but it was perfectly listenable.)

My Hip-O version of No Action is damn-near unlistenable.
Anybody else...?
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Post by johnfoyle »

http://www.nwanews.com/adg/Style/208958/

CRITICAL MASS : Reissued album shows Elvis Costello is no punk

PHILIP MARTIN

Posted on Tuesday, November 27, 2007



You are what you remember, whatever salient moments have accrued. Whole years might be discounted, while a few incidents — colored and bent through the prism of your mind — stab through like the light of long-dead stars. Dante was 9 years old when he caught a glimpse of his Beatrice; old man Kane died whispering the name of his boyhood sled. Whatever the atomic clocks say, all seconds are not created equal.

I don’t remember the year I saw Elvis Costello and the Attractions at the Kingfish in Baton Rouge but surmise it must have been 1980 because a reliable friend says he saw them at the Warehouse in New Orleans that year. It wasn’t the first rock show I ever attended, but it might have been the best, or at least the most influential, concert I ever saw, heard and felt in my chest.

By the time of that show, Costello’s debut album — My Aim is True — was already 2 1 / 2 years old. Costello had released two albums with the Attractions since that first record, This Year’s Model and Armed Forces. I can’t remember whether I bought the first or second album first, but by the time the third was released I was a major fan, actively trying to write songs after Costello with the same kind of pub-punk strained through an autodidact’s paperback library feel, if you get what I mean: More Formica than leather, something like a leaner Dylan meets Ray Davies, snarly as William Zanzinger’s tongue, but in brisk, poppy four-four time.

It was with the devotion of a forger that I studied those three albums and quickly understood that Costello’s musicality was beyond me. His key and chord changes fit my ear but not my fingers; beneath the rattling surface there seemed to be a deep, silent structure, the sense of aptness that attends genuine art. (As with the Beatles, Costello’s songs sound simpler than they are. ) You could simulate a Costello song, you could cop the unusual vocabulary and dramatic tension, but this was no garage band amateur noisemaker. “Geniusâ€
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Post by johnfoyle »

The different colours of the the MAIT sleeve back in '77 could be put down to a lot of reasons. Stiff successfully flogged the story that it was down to them deliberately creating collectible editions. However it has also been suggested that it was down to something as banal as whatever shade of ink they could afford as per new pressings.

This Spanish edition is especially tasty looking.

http://flickr.com/photos/bradley_loos/1828468440/

Image
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And No Coffee Table
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Post by And No Coffee Table »

I have this pic on my hard drive, but I'm not sure where it's from. It's not my collection, that's for sure.

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Post by Otis Westinghouse »

It's John Foyle's coffee table (or is it And No Coffee Table's?).
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