Elvis Costello's favorite album of his own.

@bdp24, i gotta (mostly) disagree with you about the attractions. i think bruce and pete thomas are great at what they do--sure, they push the beat, but so does terry williams of rockpile; it's what makes them rock. as for their sound, i agree steve nieve's organ is overtly 60s/garagey on "this year's model", but i find it a positive--it distinguishes the record from the kinda generic/clinical band sound of "my aim is true". i will concede, however, that nieve has a tendency to overplay and to default to big dramatic flourishes, which works well on denser, more baroque sets like "imperial bedroom" and less well on more straightforward fare--"get happy", for example, never sounded quite right to me. in any event, i always appreciate your insights.

And I yours, @loomisjohnson. I realize my opinion of The Attractions is not universal, and I don’t consider it to be anything more than just my own. My taste in musicians runs to the playing of ensembles such as The Swampers (aka The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, the house band at Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, where Jerry Wexler recorded all those great Atlantic albums he produced: Aretha, Wilson Pickett, Solomon Burke, Dusty Springfield, Boz Scaggs---"Loan Me A Dime"!, and many more), The Band of course, the group assembled for Neil Young’s Harvest album, The Hot Band (Emmylou Harris), the Nashville studio musicians that guys like Rodney Crowell record with, The Fabulous Superlatives (Marty Stuart’s incredible band), and others with the "Southern feel" I just love.

I recommend everyone listen to the drumming, bass playing, and keyboard work of Roger Hawkins, David Hood, and Barry Beckett---Spooner Oldham too. Now THAT is a band! When Wexler took Wilson Pickett down to Alabama to record with The Swampers, Wilson said he walked into the studio and saw all these "crackers" sitting around, and thought to himself "Jerry, what have you got me into?" He then goes on to say "When they started playing I couldn’t believe it. They were the funkiest band I had ever heard!" Talk about a "deep pocket"! The Attractions just sound like young white boys to me, certainly not men.

Others who have gone to Muscle Shoals to record with The Swampers includes Steve Winwood, Eric Clapton, The Stones, Bob Dylan (his fantastic Slow Train Coming), Etta James, The Staple Singers, Paul Simon (attention drummers: try playing along with Roger Hawkins on "Kodachrome". Good luck!), Leon Russell, Bob Seger, and hundreds more. You know, "mellow" artists. Has everyone watched the documentary on The Swampers? Fantastic!

The greatest thing about Rock ’n’ Roll is that it is the melding of the black and white musical cultures in the Southern states during the 1940’s and 50’s. The music contains equal portions of Jump Blues and Hillbilly. Of course Elvis Costello isn’t Rock ’n’ Roll, but his King Of America album comes as close as he’s ever gonna get. I thank T Bone Burnett for that; he assembled the band for the album, and it’s a great one. Much, much "better" than The Attractions imo.

Speaking of "the other Elvis", I am actually going to see him perform tomorrow evening along with Daryl Hall at Ravinia Music Festival in Highland Park Illinois. I've seen Hall and Oates/Todd Rundgren in the early 2000's but this will be my first time seeing Elvis. It's billed as Daryl Hall + Elvis Costello and the Imposters with Charlie Sexton. I'm assuming that means Charlie Sexton is in his band. Can't wait!!!

@danbro: Now THAT oughta be great! Sexton's very cool.