The Cure - Boys Don't Cry

Boys Don't Cry was the US release of the first album of The Cure, and comprised of most of Three Imaginary Boys, plus the first three singles - "Killing An Arab", Boys Don't Cry" and "Jumping Someone Else's Train". With the inclusion of three outstanding non-album singles, and the exclusion of some of the lessor songs on "Three Imaginary Boys", "Boy's Don't Cry" is obviously a much better album to listen to.

The songs from TIB that were replaced were understandably "Foxy Lady", "Meathook", "So What", "The Weedy Burton" and perhaps more surprisingly "It's Not You" which was in the opinion of this writer, one of the better "post-punk" songs on TIB.

"Jumping Someone Else's Train" was a real shock when it was released as the "tinny" sound from "Three Imaginary Boys" had been replaced with a totally different mix with the guitar much more to the fore. "Boys Don't Cry " is possibly the best "pop" song the Cure have ever released so obviously it's inclusion would add to any Cure album.

Actually listing the song titles, as opposed to the obscure hieroglyphics on TIB, is also a huge positive for this LP ! 

I can't remember where I purchased the US import from but the sticker on the album cover shows I paid £3.99 from Our Price Records....

Track Listing :

Side One :

1. Boys Don't Cry
2. Plastic Passion
3. 10:15 Saturday Night
4. Accuracy
5. Object
6. Jumping Someone Else's Train
7. Subway Song

Side Two :

1. Killing An Arab
2. Fire In Cairo
3. Another Day
4. Grinding Halt
5. World War
6. Three Imaginary Boys

Released : 1980
UK Chart Position : N/A

Singles :

Killing An Arab ( - 1978 )
Boys Don't Cry ( 22 - 1978/1986 )
Jumping Someone Else's Train ( - 1979 )

The Cure - Three Imaginary Boys

 

The list of famous people to come from Crawley, my home town, is not a particularly long one. Growing up, there was boxer Alan Minter, who won the World Middleweight title and an Olympic Bronze medal, and twice Olympic decathlon champion Daley Thompson. Nowadays there is England football coach Gareth Southgate, and perhaps comedian Romesh Ranganathan, and maybe TV presenter Dan Walker. Below this we are really scraping the barrel. However, to me, Robert Smith ( and some of the other members of The Cure ) are the ones to be most proud of, and the easy winners of the "Most Famous To Come From Crawley" award.

I was in the Sixth Form at Thomas Bennett Comprehensive when Three Imaginary Boys came out. Robert Smith, Lol Tolhurst and Michael Dempsey had attended St Wilfried's Roman Catholic School but were two school years higher, so I wouldn't have played any schools sports against them, even if they played any sport ! 

There was a lot of excitement when it was reported that The Cure would be playing at Northgate Community Centre, one of the neighbourhoods of Crawley, just after the release of "Three Imaginary Boys". The internet records this concert as being on April 29, 1979. Myself and some friends made the walk over to Northgate, but got nowhere near to the Community Centre due to the vast number of people who had turned up in the hope of getting into the tiny venue, so we turned away and went to the pub instead.

I had to wait until I was at Cardiff University until I finally saw The Cure in concert. My memory was that this was in 1981 on the "Faith" tour, where the film of "Carnage Visors" was the opening act, and I was pretty sure that "Primary" was one of the songs played. However, there is no trace of this concert listed anywhere I can find on the internet, although there is one from November 1980, where "Primary" is not on the set-list, and it was before "Carnage Visors" was released. Perhaps I am I going senile.............

Three Imaginary Boys was notable for its cover, with the record label deciding that The Cure should be anti-image, and so the three band members were represented by household appliances, namely a lamp, a fridge and a vacuum cleaner. More annoyingly the song titles were not listed and instead were represented by a symbol or a drawing. It was only when I purchased Boys Don't Cry, the repackaged US version, that I knew the titles for sure !

I bought the album more out of loyalty to the local boys made good, and without having heard any of the songs, although I had heard and liked the single "Killing An Arab", which isn't included on the album. I was pleasantly surprised how good some of the songs were, particularly liking the first three songs and also tracks 4, 5 & 6 on side two. I thought there were a couple of duds though.  I couldn't see the point of the Jimi Hendrix cover "Foxy Lady", which didn't seem to fit in with the rest of the album, and I thought "Meat Hook" was dreary, and "Subway Song" an awful filler.

The sound was minimalist and stark, dominated by the bass lines and vocals, with the guitar and drums sounding very "tinny", and it very much fitted into the "post-punk" label that was applied to it at the time. Unlike later Cure albums, where keyboards feature heavily, this is very much a three-piece band of guitar, bass and drums.

"10:15 Saturday Night" is probably the song which is best remembered from the album, usually being the track taken to represent the LP in any compilation set, and is included on the "Staring At The Sea" singles collection, having apparently been released as a single in France ! With the line "And the tap drips, drips, drips, drips, drips....." featuring regularly the guitar replicates the sound of a dripping tap. The song is quite hypnotic, and the structure of the song is quite mature for a young band's first album.

"Accuracy" is quite funky and catchy, driven along by the bass line. "Practice all day for accuracy" could suggest they were signing about playing darts, but probably isn't.

"Grinding Halt" could be a Buzzcocks song, with a sharp, jerky rhythm and the bass line repeating the melody. As the title suggests, the song ends with a halt.

"Another Day" is a slower number which wouldn't have been out of place on the subsequent "Seventeen Seconds" or "Faith" albums if it had a different arrangement. It also points in the direction of "Faith" lyrically with "Winter in watercolours, shades of grey"

"Object" is another Buzzcocks "post-punk" style song "But don't try to fool me 'cause I can see through your disguise, you're just an object in my eyes" whereas "Subway Song" is mainly jazz style bass and a spoken vocal, with finger clicking and harmonica in the fade-out. Personally, I think it is spoilt by the scream to finish but actually, it wasn't as bad as I remembered.

There are probably a lot of better Jimi Hendrix songs than "Foxy Lady" that could have been covered and this sounds very much like it was recorded in one take or as a demo. It's not even sung by Smith, with Michael Dempsey singing instead.

"Meat Hook" has an echo added to some of the vocal and features another jazzy bass-line,. It also sounded better 40 years later. 

The urgent pace returns with "So What" and it is probably about as angry as The Cure have ever sounded. "And if you knew that nothing could replace you. If you were sane your heart wouldn't ache, but so what ?"

"Fire In Cairo" retraces the Arabian vibes of "Killing An Arab", with the chorus having each letter of the title sung rapidly. It's probably the most easily accessible "pop" song on the album.

"It's Not You" is another "post-punk" track with a great guitar riff, bordering into pop territory. "You wear your smile like it's going out of fashion, dress to inflame but douse any idea of passion". "I would murder you if I had the alibi here in my hand, but you just laugh cause you don't understand"

"Three Imaginary Boys" also hints at the direction of both the song "Seventeen Seconds" and the album itself with a slower tempo but still manages to be a toe-tapper. There's quite a catchy chorus and it has one of the few guitar solos on the album. "Close my mind and hold so tight, scared of what the morning brings. Waiting for tomorrow never comes".

"The Weedy Burton" wasn't credited on the album sleeve or the label of the record and is a short jazz flavoured instrumental outro. It's best to think of it as a bonus filler.

In summary, "Three Imaginary Boys" sounded ever better now that what I remember from 40 years ago. However, anyone who first discovered The Cure at the time of the "Disintegration" album will probably be disappointed by that this is nothing like the atmospheric, but gloomy Gothic reputation the band subsequently acquired. 

Track Listing :

Side One :

1. 10.15 Saturday Night
2. Accuracy
3. Grinding Halt
4. Another Day
5. Object 
6. Subway Song

Side Two :

1. Foxy Lady
2. Meathook
3. So What
4. Fire In Cairo
5. It's Not You
6. Three Imaginary Boys
7. The Weedy Burton

Released : 1979
UK Chart Position : 44

Singles : None

Elvis Costello - Taking Liberties

 

"Taking Liberties" was only released in the USA and Canada and consisted of B-sides and other Elvis Costello tracks not previously released in North America. I have no idea how I came across a copy, but I suspect I may have found it in a record shop in Cardiff whilst at University there. Wherever it was, the ticket on the cover informs it was reduced from £7.98 to £4.99.

Like "Get Happy !", twenty songs are on the album but at the time I was disappointed, but after all most of the tracks are B-Sides or not previously released for a reason. I do remember the versions of "Girl's Talk", "Getting Mighty Crowded" and "Crawling To The USA" whilst "( I Don't Want To Go To ) Chelsea" was a big hit single and the quaint "Sunday's Best" was omitted from the US version of "Armed Forces" as it was considered to be "too English". "Night Rally" was on the UK release of "This Year's Model".

A session version of  "Hoover Factory" had received some late night airplay on Capital Radio as had "My Funny Valentine". Stranger In The House" was part of a limited released single with the first album "My Aim Is True" but the other tracks had been wiped from my memory.

The punkish "Clean Money" was previously unreleased and probably shouldn't have been. Dave Edmunds covered "Girl's Talk" in 1978 and his much faster, guitar orientated version is miles better than Elvis' own. "Talking In The Dark" is instantly forgettable.

The Country and Western "Radio Sweetheart" is quite catchy though and there is a hint of "Pay It Back" from "My Aim Is True". "Black And White World" was one of the worst songs on "Get Happy !" and whilst this slower demo version is very different, it is no better. "Big Tears" was the B-Side to "Pump It Up" and sounds like a poorer version of "Less Than Zero".

"Just A Memory", a slow piano based ballad is OK but nothing special, whilst "Stranger In The House" is another Country and Western song which was excluded from "My Aim Is True" as it didn't fit with the angry, new wave sound of the rest of the album. Together with "Radio Sweetheart" it gave a clue to the direction that led to the 1981 album "Almost Blue", in which Elvis recorded covers of Country and Western songs.

The version here of "Clowntime is Over" is really slow and I much prefer the hectic beat of the performance of it included on "Get Happy !"

"Getting Mighty Crowded" was written by Van McCoy and was the B-Side of High Fidelity. With it's lively dance beat it would fitted perfectly on "Get Happy !"

Listening now to "Hoover Factory" was disappointing as I had thought it was a good song, but now it sounds dreary, and it's now understandable why it wasn't previously released

"Tiny Steps" sounded very familiar and had me thinking it must have been on "Armed Forces", but having checked I confirmed it wasn't ! It was the B-Side of "Radio, Radio", which is where I must have remembered it from, but going through my collection of singles I don't have "Radio, Radio"..........

"Dr Luther's Assistant" has an almost sing-along chorus and the R&B flavoured "Crawling To The USA" was not nearly as good as I thought it was. The frantic "Wednesday Week" is just noise until an odd slower, melodic ending.

Elvis' cover of Rodgers and Hart's "My Funny Valentine", written in 1937 and recorded by hundreds of artists, is tenderly performed, but I think you have to be in the right mood for it !

"Ghost Train" is pretty mediocre, being a jumble of different ideas that somehow don't fit together.

The album would have been better if songs not included on UK album releases so as "Radio Radio", "Watching The Detectives" and the outstanding "(What's So Funny 'Bout ) Peace, Love and Understanding had been added. The other observation is that "Taking Liberties" is generally lacking in the inventive and clever lyrics that are a noticeable feature of the main studio albums.

Track Listing :

Side One :

1. Clean Money
2. Girl's Talk
3. Talking In The Dark
4. Radio Sweetheart
5. Black And White World
6. Big Tears
7. Just A Memory
8. Night Rally
9. Stranger In The House
10. Clowntime Is Over

Side Two :

1. Getting Mighty Crowded
2. Hoover Factory
3. Tiny Steps
4. ( I Don't Want To Go To ) Chelsea
5. Dr Luther's Assistant
6. Sunday's Best
7. Crawling To The USA
8. Wednesday Week
9. My Funny Valentine
10. Ghost Train

Released 1980
UK Chart Position : N/A ( No 28 in the USA )

Elvis Costello And The Attractions - Get Happy !

 

Get Happy ! was the fourth studio album from Elvis Costello, and marked a distinct change in sound. The angry, new wave sound of the previous efforts was mostly gone, and replaced with an attempt at music to dance to, and it sounded like Northern Soul at times. It was also unusual in that 20 songs were featured on the album, with a total runtime of just over 48 minutes, but with only three of them lasting over three minutes. There was still the hallmark plethora of great rhymes and witty puns though. The sticker on the front of the album cover informs me than I bought it for £1.99 from Woolworths but I have no idea why it was so cheap !

"I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down" was the big hit from the album, and typified the tone of the songs here. In my student days, this was a track that was guaranteed to get just about everyone onto the dance floor, with usually someone drunkenly living up to to the title. It was only years later that I discovered Elvis didn't write the song, and it was a cover from the 1960s. Sam and Dave's version was a lot slower, and, in my opinion, the much faster tempo given to it by Elvis and The Attractions makes it much better.

At the time I thought Side 2 to be significantly stronger than Side 1, with all the best songs ( apart from "I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down" ) coming towards the end of the album. I can still remember "Possession", "King Horse", "Clown Time Is Over", "New Amsterdam" and "High Fidelity", whereas I had no recollection of the other songs on Side 1. 

Listening again to Get Happy ! that impression was re-enforced, with Side 2 being perhaps his most outstanding set of songs up this stage of his career whereas Side 1 was eminently forgettable. There is not a bad song on side 2, in fact they are all outstanding. However, a better album might have been released had some songs on Side 1 been omitted and the run-time reduced.

Focusing on the positives, side 2 opens with "Love For Tender" which has a dance beat with nice hook followed by the smooth, slower "Opportunity" with a soft guitar, organ and the yearning refrain "Whatever you do, don't turn around". Elvis complains "I'm in a foxhole, I'm down in the trench. I'd be a hero but I can't stand the stench". 

"The Imposter" continues at a frantic pace after which comes "Secondary Modern", a slow dance pop number with a gentle vocal and with some stand out drumming

The glorious tunes keep arriving with "King Horse" and "Possession" the latter with the lines "You lack lust, you're so lacklustre, is that all the strength you can muster ?"

"Men Called Uncle" is another highlight, and "Clown Time Is Over" is much faster than the version on the compilation "Taking Liberties". "Who's making lover's lane safe again for lovers ?" Elvis enquires....

"New Amsterdam" is another great song and chock-a-block with more clever lyrics. "Till I step on the brake to get out of her clutches, till I speak double Dutch to a real double duchess"

The album closes with "High Fidelity", the second single and perhaps the blandest song on the side, but swings along nicely.

In comparison, Side 1 falls off a cliff after the outstanding "I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down", and in truth it was hard work to sit through to the end of each song. I'm struggling to think of any other album where there is such a disparity between the quality of the two sides !

Track Listing :

Side One :

1. I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down
2. Black And White World
3. 5ive Gears In Reverse
4. B Movie
5. Motel Matches
6. Human Touch
7. Beaten To The Punch
8. Temptation
9. I Stand Accused
10. Riot Act

Side Two :

1. Love For Tender
2. Opportunity
3. The Imposter
4. Secondary Modern
5. King Horse
6. Possession
7. Men Called Uncle
8. Clown Time Is Over
9. New Amsterdam
10. High Fidelity

Released 1980
UK Chart Position : 2

Singles :

I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down ( No 2 - 1980 )
High Fidelity ( No 30 - 1980 )
New Amsterdam ( No 36 - 1980 )

Elvis Costello - Armed Forces

 

 

Armed Forces was the third Elvis Costello album and although it achieved more sales and charted higher than both of the earlier releases, personally I thought it to be inferior, and looking at the track listing now, there are very few songs I can remember. Those I do are mostly for the wrong reasons ! 

Early buyers of the LP like myself also received a free bonus EP, which contained live performances of "Accidents Will Happen", "Alison" and "Watching The Detectives", the most notable being the much slower, piano version of "Accidents Will Happen", which is completely different to the track on the album.

Having replayed the LP, its tempting to say "I just don't know where to begin" as per the opening line of "Accidents Will Happen", but actually I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed listening to Armed Forces. I hadn't previously been aware of, or maybe had forgotten, the numerous military references in the lyrics on the album but perhaps it isn't too surprising given the title of Armed Forces ! It also surpasses the previous two albums in terms of clever lyrics and rhymes, which is some achievement.

The album version of "Accidents Will Happen" is with the full band and up-tempo, and over time is considered to one of Elvis Costello's most popular songs, despite its modest success as a single. It contains a number of great lines, "though he says he'll wait for ever, its now or never, but she keeps him hanging on".

"Senior Service" is the shortest song on Armed Forces, coming in at just over two minutes, and features a funky chorus, the beat of which is something like Sylvester the Cat sneaking up on Tweetie-Pie, whilst the verse could be out of a soul hit, and the song moves nicely between the two. Senior Service is a cigarette brand and the lyrics play both on this and the military themes "Senior service, junior dissatisfaction, its a breath you took too late, its a death that's worse than fate".

Next comes the huge hit "Oliver's Army", the happy, bouncy tune and jaunty keyboards disguises the angry lyrics of imperialism and mercenaries. "Called careers information, have you got yourself an occupation ?", "There was a checkpoint Charlie, he didn't crack a smile, but its no laughing party when you've been on the murder mile".

"Big Boys" is a hybrid of several different components, starting slowly, moving into almost something from 1960's Motown before quite a delightful "She'll be the one" coda. There are also hints of "No Action" and "Hand in Hand" from This Year's Model in the middle ! It all just about works.

"Green Shirt" is a slow song with a computerized beat, some heavy drumming, an usually tender vocal and synthesized fade-out. "Cause somewhere in the Quisling clinic there's a shorthand typist taking seconds over minutes".

"Party Girl" is the Alison style romantic ballad on the album "they say you're nothing but a party girl, just like a million more all over the world"

Side 2 opens with the bombastic "Goon Squad", a song I hated when I first heard it, but it sounds terrific now. There's a desperate urgency to it, "I got my sentence, I got my command, they said they'd make me major if I met all their demands. I could be a Corporal into corporal punishment, or the general manager of a large establishment"

"Busy Bodies" doesn't really fit in with the feel of the rest of Armed Forces, and would be more at home on This Year's Model, both lyrically and the style of music, although there is also a hint of "Accident's Will Happen".

"Sunday's Best" is an interesting song, played in a faux-waltz style. "Times are tough for English babies, send the Army and the Navy. Beat up strangers who talk funny, take their greasy foreign money". It was considered "too British" by the record label and excluded from the US release of Armed Forces. They replaced it with Elvis' excellent version of Nick Lowe's "(What so Funny 'Bout) Truth, Love and Understanding" and it is a shame that that song was not included in the UK release, even though it still sounds more like Nick Lowe than Elvis Costello !  

"Moods For Moderns" was another song I didn't like at the time. There's a funky beat and a disco type chant to start with as if Elvis is trying to be Chic or Earth, Wind and Fire. The line of the chorus "and what if none of these dreams come true" is quite catchy, but overall its my least favourite track on the LP.

"Chemistry Class" has possibly the most gorgeous tune of all the songs here, which hides the fact the song is about the experimentations of the Nazis. "You've got a chemistry class, I want a piece of your mind, you don't know what you started when you mixed it up with mine. Are you ready for the final solution ? Oh, Oh." 

The Nazi imagery continues with "Two Little Hitlers" where again a delicious melody masks some sinister lyrics. "Two little Hitlers will fight it out until one little Hitler does the other one's will". "She's so calculating she's got a calculator. She's my soft touch typewriter, and I'm the great dictator"

Listing :

Side 1 

1. Accidents Will Happen
2. Senior Service
3. Oliver's Army
4. Big Boys
5. Green Shirt
6. Party Girl

Side 2
1. Goon Squad
2. Busy Bodies
3. Sunday's Best
4. Moods For Moderns
5. Chemisty Class
6. Two Little Hitlers

Released 1979
UK Chart Position : 2

Singles :

Oliver's Army ( No 2 - 1979 )
Accidents Will Happen ( No 28 - 1979 )

  

 

 

 

Elvis Costello - This Year's Model

 

The second album by Elvis Costello was his major breakthrough, building on the ground work of "My Aim Is True". The formation of The Attractions as a real band added a distinctive new wave sound to supplement the anger, cynicism and clever word play, with an emphasis on dramatic keyboards, and a deep and powerful rhythm section to create one of the most memorable albums of 1978, with at least 6 outstanding tracks and not a dud anywhere to be seen. Surprisingly, only two singles were released in the UK, and even more surprisingly neither were top 10 hits. All the songs have a powerful edge to them

Early buyers like me also received a free 7" single with the country music "Strangers In The House" from the "My Aim Is True" recording sessions on one side and a live cover of The Damned's "Neat, Neat, Neat" on the other side. 

Like "My Aim Is True", the albums starts with the shortest song on the album, "No Action" being  frantic, energetic and sneering , leading into "This Year's Girl" probably the best song on an outstanding album.  With vaguely off-beat reggae drumming, scratchy guitar and swirling organ the tale of desire on the latest fashion icon is easily hidden by the gorgeous melody.

"The Beat" has a old fashioned feel, slightly 1960's and with a happy summer feel, but leads into bass driven "Pump It Up", the most hi-energy/punk track on the album. The tempo slows for "Little Triggers", a piano based ballad that is the "Alison" equivalent on the album, and contains some of the most clever lyrics on show here. Side one closes with "You Belong To Me" another frantic, punk song rescued by its hook and organ.

Side Two opens with "Hand in Hand", another fabulous song with more sneering lyrics "If I'm gonna go down, you're gonna come with me", and "(I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea", the hit single from the album, follows. With a reggae style similar to the earlier hit "Watching The Detectives", and more commentary on the fashion industry, "They call her Natasha but she looks like Elsie, I don't want to go to Chelsea", it was famously parodied by impressionist Alistair MacGowan as Sven-Goran Eriksson denying he was about to leave his job as coach of England to join the Roman Abramovich revolution at Chelsea.

“Living in Paradise,” is another pop song, in a similar vain to "The Beat" and “Lip Service” continues the melodic theme of most of the the rest of the LP. "Lipstick Vogue” has more manic enegy and less melody, before the slightly unnerving album closer “Night Rally,” with imagery of the Nuremburg Nazi trails and an abrupt ending.

Overall though, "This Year's Model" is still an outstanding album.

Listing :

Side 1 

1. No Action
2. This Year's Girl
3. The Beat
4. Pump It Up
5. Little Triggers
6. You Belong To Me

Side 2
1. Hand In Hand
2. ( I Don't Want To Go To ) Chelsea
3. Lip Service
4. Living In Paradise
5. Lipstick Vogue
6. Night Rally

Released 1978
UK Chart Position : 4

Singles :

( I Don't Want To Go To ) Chelsea ( No 16 - 1978 )
Pump It Up ( No 24 - 1978 )

Elvis Costello - My Aim Is True

 

The first two Elvis Costello singles in 1977 passed me by, and he first only came to my attention with his debut appearance on "Top Of The Pops", playing "Red Shoes". I instantly liked the song and rushed out to buy the single, but it didn't chart, and I didn't follow up by buying the album, possibly remembering Stiff Records "Help Us Hype Elvis" campaign in the musical press.

It was only after the second LP, "This Year's Model" was released, that I went back and bought "My Aim is True", and although the sound was very different it made a big impression on me. It remains one of the very few albums where I can look at the track listing and remember what every song sounds like.

Whereas "This Year's Model" was dominated by Steve Nieve's swirling keyboards and the pumping bass of Bruce Thomas as The Attractions definitely felt like a band, "My Aim Is True" was recorded with US country band Clover as the backing musicians, who went on to find fame with Huey Lewis as the News. Clover were not credited on the album due to contractual label issues.

Whilst "This Year's Model" sounded very new wave, "My Aim Is True" contained a mixture of influences, ranging from the Buddy Holly look on the album cover to Van Morrison, Graham Parker, Brinsley Schwarz and even Bob Seger soundwise. Indeed there is a mixture of punk raw energy, new wave, hints of country ( unsurprisingly Clover's background ), a melancolic ballad ( "Alison" ), the slightly psychedelic pure pop of "Red Shoes", honky-tonk, pub-rock, and even a jazz flavour on "Sneaky Feelings". Most songs are under 3 minutes and the 12 song album comes in a shade over 32 minutes in total.

Lyrically, Elvis comes across as a big time loser in love, full of anger and a bit of a nerd. However, it is all expressed with self depreciating wit and cynical humour, bursting with so many great lines couched within some great melodies. Something which had a great impact on an impressionable 16 year old !

The opening track "Welcome To The Working Week" only lasts 1.22, but is arguably the best song on the album, setting the tone with the frustrated anger, before leading into "Miracle Man", which with a slightly slower tempo still expresses the same anger, such as "Why do you have to say that there’s always someone, who can do it better than I can?  But don't you think that walking on water won't make me a miracle man ?"

"No Dancing" has a 60's motown flavour and the jerky, toe tapping "Blame It On Cain" is another memorable tune.

The painful ballad "Alison" is next and surprisingly wasn't a hit, but the pain of heartache and rejection is evident on Elvis's shirt-sleeve. 

"Oh, it's so funny to be seeing you after so long girl, and with the way you look, I understand that you are not impressed, but I heard you let that little friend of mine take off your party dress. I'm not going to get too sentimental, like those other sticky valentines, cause I don't know if you were loving somebody I only know it isn't mine."

The side finishes with the lively "Sneaky Feelings", which wouldn't appear out of place on a Van Morrison album.

Side 2 opens with "Red Shoes", another single which surprisingly was not a chart success, despite the pure pop melody  and more great lyrics ""I said I'm so happy I could die, she said 'drop dead' and left with another guy."

"Less Than Zero" is slightly slower and indicates Elvis's obsession with Oswald Moseley, which was more obviously followed up on "Oliver's Army" on  Armed Forces.

The frantic "Mystery Dance" expresses the frustration of not being trendy - "She thought that I knew and I thought that she knew, so both of us were willing but we didn't know how to do it"

"Pay It Back" is another Van Morrison style song, well from his more jaunty era, but the ire returns with "I'm Not Angry", where he is anything but "There is not such thing as an original sin, I'm not angry !"

The closing song "Waiting For The End Of The World" is a mid-tempo song that now slightly reminds me of Madonna's version of American Pie, "dear lord I sincerely hope you are coming, cos you really started something" and "the bride, the groom, the congregation and the priest all got onto the train when we were three stations east"

The fist UK hit single "Watching the Detectives" was added to the US release of the album but didn't feature on the UK release. However, regardless of that "My Aim Is True" is an incredibly strong debut album !

Side 1

1. Welcome To The Working Week
2. Miracle Man
3. No Dancing
4. Blame It On Cain
5. Alison
6. Sneaky Feelings

Side 2

1. ( The Angels Wanna Wear My ) Red Shoes
2. Less Than Zero
3. Mystery Dance
4. Pay It Back
5. I'm Not Angry
6. Waiting For The End Of The World

Released 1977
UK Chart Position :14

Singles :

Less Than Zero ( - 1977 )
Alison ( - 1977 )
( The Angels Wanna Wear My ) Red Shoes ( - 1977 )