Elvis Costello
[#] This Year's Model (1978)
Finding the rock and roll future in the rock and roll past.
Reviewed December 15, 2025
It's not just a long time coming because my Caby requested this of me—artists I love, namely Pixies frontman Frank Black Francis, cite This Year's Model as a big influence. A grower of a spiky pop record, what these days we'd call indie rock, Costello and those he's attracted rip, sneer, and occasionally ska their way through the kind of paranoia and distrust reflected in his glare on the cover here. While, like XTC, he has the occasional tendency to brute force catchy through repetition a la "Hand in Hand", he really doesn't need to. Most of Model's best moments—the strut of "The Beat", the fangs bared on "Lip Service"—sneak up on you over multiple listens.
Costello's rhythm section seriously steals the show on perky numbers like "Living in Paradise" and "Lipstick Vogue", stacked with slippery rolls and fleet-fingered bass parts at times more noteworthy than his own jittery whine. What I find interesting is, through his ways of finding the future in the rock and roll past, how many future famous tunes Costello basically pre-wrote. "You Belong to Me" is "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" a year prior, and Counting Crows cribbed "Little Triggers" far more than they ever did from Van Morrison. (Then there's all the "Subterranean Homesick" business...) Charge him with his ostensible feelings on women all you like; in his hyperliterate ways, his ire is still with the men and the business who chew up this year's girl and spit her back out.
(Thanku for the request Cabyyyy~)
| Essential: | "The Beat", "Pump it Up", "Lip Service" |
|---|---|
| Quintessential: | "(I Don't Want to Go to) Chelsea" |
| Non-Essential: | "Hand in Hand" |
| Rating: |  |