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Chris Willman
Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic
ChrisWillman See All
Estate Of Keith Morris/Redferns/Getty Images Oh, it’s so funny to be seeing you after so long, “My Aim Is True”… but not so very peculiar to have Elvis Costello‘s 1977 debut brought back to mind, because, well, talk about an aim that’s been unswerving in its impact for 50 years. Or make that almost 50, since the title of the new boxed set we’re here to discuss with Costello is “My Aim Is True (49th Anniversary Edition).”
The fact that his landmark is being celebrated with an expansive and exhaustive five-CD collection one year shy of its golden-jubilee mark has at least a little with Costello being too mischievous to commemorate anything so painfully obvious as a big round number. But it’s also because the set isn’t just about ’77. It’s about the huge wealth of demos he was recording in 1976 (and even before that)… as well as the unforgettable live shows he and the Attractions were doing behind the album in ’77 and ’78 that put a nervous turbo charge into the material. Whatever number he or you want to place on it, this set represents several years’ worth of Costello’s origin story and seemingly near-immediate transformation into one of rock ‘n’ roll’s all-time greats.
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