Elvis Costello and the Attractions
– This Year’s Model
This Year’s Model turns tension into propulsion and makes economy sound fearless.
This Year’s Model snaps with urgency and intent. Elvis Costello writes like deadlines matter and consequences linger. The Attractions play with sharp reflexes, pushing every song forward with clipped precision and nervous energy. Nothing drifts. Everything presses.
Best of…
The record lives on tension. Lyrics spit irritation, desire, pride, and suspicion in quick bursts. Keys jab instead of cushion. Bass lines move with purpose. Drums keep the pulse tight and unsentimental. The album sounds wired for confrontation and clarity.
This Year’s Model treats pop structure as a delivery system for attitude. Hooks arrive fast and exit faster. The voice stays alert, restless, and cutting. Elvis Costello uses craft as a weapon and economy as a virtue. The result feels lean, pointed, and alive.
Choice Tracks
No Action
No Action explodes with clipped chords and rapid-fire vocals that sound impatient by design. The song captures the album’s sense of forward motion, pairing romantic frustration with velocity and bite. Every second feels packed with intention and unresolved tension.
Pump It Up
Pump It Up thrives on a coiled groove that keeps tightening. The rhythm section drives the song with nervous insistence while the vocal lines circle obsession and impulse. Its danceable surface masks a sharp-eyed look at pressure and excess.
This Year’s Girl
This Year’s Girl fires off bright hooks with a sense of unease baked into every line. The melody sticks while the lyrics probe attraction and suspicion. The song balances charm and irritation, turning a pop frame into a critique with teeth.
Radio, Radio
Radio, Radio charges forward with clenched energy and defiant phrasing. The band locks into a relentless pace as the lyrics confront control and conformity. The track feels confrontational and public-facing, built to provoke reaction and recognition.
This Year’s Model presents Elvis Costello and the Attractions in attack mode, pairing tight arrangements with sharp lyrics and restless momentum. The album values speed, clarity, and pressure, delivering concise songs that bristle with attitude and intent.
Elvis Costello and the Attractions’ This Year’s Model is a furious, razor-sharp statement of intent, solidifying Costello’s place as one of the most electrifying songwriters of his era. Released in 1978, the album takes the raw energy of punk and fuses it with a biting lyrical wit and a tightly wound, relentless sound courtesy of the newly assembled Attractions. This Year’s Model pulses with nervous energy, driven by Steve Nieve’s urgent keyboard work, Pete Thomas’ punchy drumming, and Bruce Thomas’ muscular basslines, all propelling Costello’s sneering, acerbic delivery.
What makes This Year’s Model so compelling is its unfiltered attitude. The songs seethe with frustration, disillusionment, and biting social commentary, wrapped in melodies that feel both urgent and instantly memorable. The production, courtesy of Nick Lowe, keeps everything taut and explosive, capturing the band’s chemistry at its peak.
Beyond its sneering confidence and impeccable songwriting, the album is a masterclass in controlled chaos—every note feels precisely placed, yet brimming with barely contained fury. It’s a defining moment in new wave, proving that intelligence, anger, and melody could collide to create something truly groundbreaking. This Year’s Model remains a timeless, essential listen, showcasing Costello at his most defiant and exhilarating.