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A scrawny computer programmer with acne, a bad haircut and black horn-rimmed glasses, Elvis Costello looked like, in one critic's words, Buddy Holly after shock treatment. Like the Sex Pistols, also with a 1977 debut, Costello had a nothing-matters sneer.
NBC-TV told him not to play "Radio, Radio" on Saturday Night Live, but after a few chords, Costello brought the alternate number to a screeching halt and played "Radio, Radio" anyway.
But unlike his British partners in rage and ennui, he also had a sense of history, learning from The Band, the Rolling Stones and other predecessors, making him — if there was such a thing — the thinking man's punk rocker.
On 2½ Years, Rykodisc has remixed Costello's seminal first three albums — My Aim Is True, This Year's Model and Armed Forces — and a 1978 show at Toronto's El Mocambo nightclub previously available only in the bootleg bin. With extra cuts thrown in, the package offers a complete picture of the brash songwriter who took the name Elvis the same year the King died.
The remixing is most evident on My Aim Is True, and the California band that backed him up — Clover, which later became Huey Lewis' News — is credited publicly for the first time.
Some of the outtakes were released previously on the compilation Taking Liberties.
My Aim Is True includes several acoustic demos Costello taped in his bedroom, and two early country-tinged songs, "Radio Sweetheart" and "Stranger in the House," which seem out of place but foretell Costello's country album, Almost Blue. Also included is a live piano version of "Accidents Will Happen" and Costello's favorite outtake, "Big Tears," featuring Clash guitarist Mick Jones.
Those discs can be purchased separately, but the El Mocambo concert is available only in the box set, and it is the gem. Living up to his ticked-offest-guy-around billing, and backed by the tight, underrated Attractions (drummer Pete Thomas, bassist Bruce Thomas and keyboardist Steve Nieve) Costello spits out "Pump It Up," "Miracle Man" and 12 others over the top.
Costello would go on to work with horn sections, Paul McCartney and the Brodsky Quartet, but he started out as the latest Angry Young Man, and the El Mocambo concert catches him at his fiery best.
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