This Year's Model (Deluxe)

In the middle of 1978, it would be easy to understand why Nick Kent, noted music journalist for the NME, would come to anoint Elvis Costello with the dubious moniker Horn Rims From Hell. Having just completed a barnstorming first ever tour of the US of A, which included enduring a week long visit from none other than Geraldo Rivera (?!), Elvis was done with being polite. His timid by comparison 1977 debut MY AIM IS TRUE, would become a distant memory, replaced by the far less kind and gentle racket Elvis, and new band the Attractions (keyboardist Steve Nieve, bassist Bruce Thomas and drummer Pete Thomas (no relation)) unleashed onstage night after night, illustrated in the now (in)famous, and what may be the best performance in the history of Saturday Night Live.

Though many of the songs on Model were written at the same time as those from Aim, Costello and the Attractions performed them with perfect reckless abandon, a distinct and complimentary departure from the timid by comparison Aim backing band Clover. From the opening thunderous attack of No Action to the closing anthemic indignation of Radio, Radio, Costello and the Attractions, in the words of All Music Guide writer Stephen Thomas Erlewine, never rocked this hard, or this vengefully, ever again.