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My aim synonym1/14/2024 ![]() ![]() When Elvis sweetly intones, "My aim is true," he could as easily be alluding to shooting his ex-lover as trying to win her back. "Blame It on Cain," a typically Costello-ish tale of dissatisfaction, swaggers with twangy country guitar and pained vocals.Ĭlover guitarist John McFee, whose guitar stylings accentuate "Blame It on Cain," makes his grandest statement on the album's next track, "Alison." Besides being one of the great melancholy pop songs of all time, "Alison" is the finest example of Costello doublespeak to be found anywhere in his catalog. "No Dancing," the highlight of the three, introduces a Phil Spector-style effect of massive percussion and multitracked vocals. ![]() "Miracle Man," "No Dancing," and "Blame It on Cain" bring the album down a notch with an off-kilter punky-tonk feel. A lesser man would have just used some goofy synonym for masturbation Elvis went and used the phrase "rhythmically admired." It's more subtle, more original, and infinitely cooler. From the opening line, "Now that your picture's in the paper/ Being rhythmically admired," it's clear that Costello isn't going to stumble into any cheap lyrical traps. The lyrics are rife with brilliant, subtle innuendo. With poppy ooh's, a catchy melody, and an undeniably sharp edge, the song excellently captures the cyanide-laced slab of peanut brittle that is Elvis. The brief kick in the balls of the opening track, "Welcome to the Working Week," is perhaps the album's perfect mission statement. ![]() My Aim Is True is host to some of the best songs Elvis has ever penned. While Lowe's blunt production certainly enhances the record, the real star here, naturally, is Elvis himself. Although it's a studio album, there's a latent energy to Nick Lowe's production that grants My Aim Is True all the immediacy of a live show. While the songs range from mellow country twang to full-on, spitting assault, there's a strange cohesiveness to the album simply by virtue of its rough, rushed feel. On My Aim Is True, Elvis' raw energy comes through in a way that's never completely recaptured on later records. Punks didn't give a fuck Elvis was sensitive enough to not only give a fuck, but smart enough to be pissed off and disturbed by that fuck. He had the seething contempt of a punk, but a transparent intelligence, sensitivity, and melodic sense that made him much more interesting than many of his contemporaries. With his 1977 debut, My Aim Is True, Costello exploded onto the punk/new-wave scene like a mutant hybrid of Buddy Holly and Johnny Rotten. At the helm of this trend towards new-wave geekdom was Stiff Records, a small label operating out of England with a roster including Ian Dury, Nick Lowe, and the mighty Elvis Costello. ![]()
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