Elvis Costello from the top! Blimey can this record really be over 30 years old! Well, a quick primer in why this LP is so great.

In true punk fashion Costello used American country-rock band Clover (at the time led by Huey Lewis, though he's not present here), as his backing musicians, on this, his striking debut album. Costello also toned down his pre-punk singer-songwriter shtick in order to deliver a clutch of bitterly intelligent, new wave pop songs derived from a mixture of genres from the 50's (dig the Buddy Holly specs appeal of the cover) to the 70's.

The quick turnaround and shoestring budget of Stiff Records really helped make the album, it is taut and lean because it needed to be. There is nothing to obscure Elvis observations or lyrical barbs and no room for expensive and redundant reworks or overdubs, apart from Steve Nieve's essential piano and organ on Watching the Detectives. All the tracks here are great, either instant favourites or slow growers with no filler and provide a great starting point to follow Costello and see him grow both as a writer and also explorer of studio techniques and musical styles.

Over the years each CD reissue of this great debut has got larger and more bloated with outtakes and extras than the last. Maybe you only need the original, perhaps you prefer the almost boxed set, admittedly the liner notes in the Rhino edition are ace and you can always be judicious with the program button.