Elvis Costello - Best Album Opener (a poll)

oh damn, good idea, this'll be tough

"No Action" was a close second, but "Beyond Belief" is sublime. As is "Clubland".

Between "Accidents" and "Clubland" for me.

tough choice between the first two albums, can't pick between the first lines "i don't wanna kiss you i don't wanna touch" and "now that your picture's in the paper being rhythmically admired"

"Beyond Belief" without a second thought.

I'll be honest, I haven't heard any of these albums past Blood and Chocolate
Up until then though every single one of these is excellent save "The Only Flame in Town" (barrrf)
Probably going to vote for "Beyond Belief", but this is a really hard choice, even "Welcome To The Working Week" is incredible in its own right

No Action

Either 'No Action' or 'Love For Tender.'

Even though I prefer "Beyond Belief" as a song, "Accidents Will Happen" is so much better as an album opener.

even the very up and down later albums generally have ace opening tracks, "45" and "Button My Lip" and "The Other Side Of Summer" are great

last one i listened to is "Welcome To The Working Week" and I had "Uncomplicated" in my head this morning, but i will probably go for "No Action," which just jams an insane amount of music an energy into a short burst

tough choice between the first two albums, can't pick between the first lines "i don't wanna kiss you i don't wanna touch" and "now that your picture's in the paper being rhythmically admired"

or "oh I just don't know where to begin"

Brilliant Mistake.

Great poll idea.

i would happily take "Beyond Belief" or "Brilliant Mistake" over the entire remainder of the albums they're on

"45" too actually

"Love For Tender" is good but probably has the lowest ratio of opening track greatness to overall album greatness for me

"Beyond Belief" without a second thought.

― Mike Love's Jagger (Spectrist), Tuesday, 27 September 2011 19:40 (3 minutes ago) Permalink

^^^

probably between "accidents" and "beyond belief" for me. if i was feeling really challopsy, maybe "other side of summer."

"no action" or "accidents." franklin bruno has a fantastic essay on elvis' early album openers in his "armed forces" book.

"Love For Tender" is good but probably has the lowest ratio of opening track greatness to overall album greatness for me

I dunno, for me it's among "Black & White World", "New Amsterdam", and "King Horse" as the best on that album. It's really just a quick and fun pop song but there's a ton of stuff going on.

"No Action," followed by "Brilliant Mistake."

The opening of opener "This Town" is more exciting than the rest of the song: the only time the hysterical over-arrangements of the later years manifested itself in a genuinely interesting collage (12-string guitar riff, martial drums, organ).

No Action, Accidents or The Other Side of Summer. Or Brilliant Mistake. Shit, this is hard!

"The Other Side of Summer" is a good opener and terrible song.

i voted WTTWW since it seems like no action is getting lots of votes

"No Action," but just barely.

I actually sort of can't stand it anymore because I listened too it too much but "Beyond Belief" is just great.

'No Hiding Place'.

"No Action" is a fab song & opener but I love the beat on "Welcome to the Working Week" & it's gotten me pumped & ready to work a whole buncha times so it's my pick.

No Action

yeah i have probably played "Welcome To The Working Week" in the car almost every time i have driven to a new job for my entire adult life

"No Action" vs. "Beyond Belief."

it's kind of a feat to put one of the album's shortest songs on track 1 and have it feel substantial and not at all like just an 'intro track,' especially since he's done it multiple times

Gotta be Beyond Belief

ILX polls repeat the old conceits

"The Only Flame in Town" isn't a bad single.

will vote for a classic, but these 2 are good

The Other End of the Telescope (All This Useless Beauty)
45 (When I Was Cruel)

ILX polls repeat the old conceits

― Anakin Ska Walker (AKA Skarth Vader) (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn),

well played

"Beyond Belief" ... by miles

Trust should win every poll

I love "Clubland" and Trust is my second favorite Costello but I don't care for "Clubland" as an opener.

I think EC would make a good artist poll; post-Attractions hate has unfairly tainted his reputation on this board, imo.

yeah maybe i'll volunteer to run that at some point if noone else steps up

probably going with beyond belief

Yr doind "Spike" a disservice by omitting the bracket bits:

"(You're Nobody Till Everybody in) This Town (Thinks You're a Bastard)"

whenever i think of how bored i am of elvis costello, i should look at this poll to rekindle my appreciation.

exactly

just realized that all this useless beauty is a total cover connection with LULU

all this useless lulu

"at the end of the telescope" has a very good EC-style classic album-opening line even though it's very clearly written by aimee mann

Now I want to make a mix of just EC openers. Anyway, decided to go with "Accidents" just because the older brother in "E.T." is singing it when he comes home and Elliot reveals E.T. to him.

i always wonder if EC made Reese's Pieces-level bank off of that

Haha, kid was mangling the melody so badly that if you didn't know the lyrics you wouldn't even recognize it. Probably didn't even have to license it!

The first time I saw E.T. after I'd heard "Accidents," I was shocked to realize that that was what the kid was singing, and I made sure to check the song credits at the end. And yep, it was licensed.

Beyond Belief with Brilliant Mistake a very close second

between brilliant mistake and no action i think the latter will get my vote when i replay it. welcome to the working week is pretty damn fantastic but just kinda not quite as strong to me....
"every time i phone you i just wanna put you dowwwwwn"

the pre-Attractions version of "No Action" that was on the last reissue of My Aim Is True is pretty cool to hear, if not a patch on the Model version.

Defend The Indefensible: Elvis Costello's "No Action"

if you dont vote beyond belief then your a god damn scrub.

His greatest album opener.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Saturday, April 1, 2006

I was wrong.

You're not just disagreeing with yourself 5 years ago, you're disagreeing with yourself 5 hours ago!

"No Action," followed by "Brilliant Mistake."

― Anakin Ska Walker (AKA Skarth Vader) (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, September 27, 2011 3

that posts looks like you're maintaining that "No Action" is his greatest album opener and "Brilliant Mistake" is his 2nd greatest.

No compute.

huh? Exactly! I've changed my mind since 2006.

it looks like you didn't change your mind between 2006 and this afternoon, and then changed your mind around dinnertime today.

Is this some sort of Raymond Smullyan/Martin Gardner logic puzzle?

You're confused. When I quoted myself twenty minutes ago it was from the "Beyond Belief" thread that James Redd posted.

We've found the source of confusion: that thread was about "No Action."

(xp)
That was a "No Action" thread, Alfred.

To add further weirdness, this thread doesn't seem to show up on New Answers.

My fault then. But, yeah, "No Action."

Muffs did a great version btw:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGosB-dV0Qo

Elvis's inspired production trickery on "Beyond Belief," what it needed to make the song work from its humble beginnings as "The Land of Give and Take," will forever ingratiate him to me.

"Brilliant Mistake," but holy shit! "Welcome To The Working Week," "No Action," "Accidents Will Happen," "Telescope," "45"...this was tough!

Surprising that more acts don't have a 'killer opening' policy.

Spotify playlist for these tracks: http://open.spotify.com/user/pdennison1/playlist/3UwOLwZvbuVvFXVZH7XLyb

xpost U2 has a pretty firm killer opener policy, at least til recently.

Even though I prefer "Beyond Belief" as a song, "Accidents Will Happen" is so much better as an album opener.

― shake it, shake it, sugary pee (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Tuesday, September 27, 2011 7:44 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

Yeah my only objection to BB is that it promises things that the album then almost completely fails to deliver. Whereas "Accidents" makes you think you're in for something good, and it's true.

I love "The Other End of the Telescope," but it will always be an Aimee Mann song afaic.

Yeah my only objection to BB is that it promises things that the album then almost completely fails to deliver. Whereas "Accidents" makes you think you're in for something good, and it's true.

ehh, I think Imperial Bedroom and Armed Forces are about equal quality-wise, but I do agree that Beyond Belief really makes you expect something a lot more intense than what you actually get

It's definitely the last time he really lets the Attractions - or at least Pete Thomas - loose in the studio as more than just flashy session dudes. Well, that and "Shabby Doll," which is every bit as intense as "Beyond Belief."

You don't think he let them loose on Blood & Chocolate?

Nah, "B&C" is an exercise in restraint. EC is pretty unleashed on that one, though.

(relative restraint, I should say; the frenetic playing is to a minimum)

I don't know. "Tokyo Storm Warning" and "Home is Anywhere..." are savage Attractions performances; they're so clattery they don't sound like flashy session dudes.

I think EC himself is so adenoidal and savage on that record he carries the other guys along. Not that the playing is at all pallid, but they do play to EC's brutal stylistic conceit on that album. You know, songs without chord changes and stuff.

I think the clattering is more down to the production on B&C than the playing. Pete's snare cracks and rings, neither of which it does on Imperial Bedroom; but his playing on the latter is less restrained, for the most part.

Isn't Imperial Bedroom kind of restrained?

glad im not the only one who always found IB a massive letdown after BB

Isn't Imperial Bedroom kind of restrained?

Well, yeah, as soon as I wrote that I thought, "Oh wait, 'The Long Honeymoon,' 'Town Crier,' etc. etc." But there is no drum performance on B&C that's as unrestrained as "Beyond Belief" (or the intro to "Man Out Of Time," or "Shabby Doll").

"Shabby Doll" is all about the bass, not the drums. Drums are pretty steady on that one.

holy shit, "Beyond Belief" is only 2:35?

"Accidents Will Happen" is a perfect song, album opener, and single. And then there is so, so much more excellence ahead on that wonderful album. "Beyond Belief" is great, and then I am pretty much done with Elvis Costello for the rest of the the album, and his career.

Also I am curious: is there anyone on planet Earth who enjoys listening to North?

also, who made a worse North, EC or Rob Reiner?

Beyond Belief is probably my favourite Costello song - an impeccable scene-setter for the rest of the album, all stealth and suspense. Though tipsy is OTM about the rest of IB not quite living up to its promise.

Spotify playlist for these tracks: http://open.spotify.com/user/pdennison1/playlist/3UwOLwZvbuVvFXVZH7XLyb

― Woolen Scjarfs (Phil D.), Wednesday, September 28, 2011 9:08 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark

listening to this right now btw, thanks so much for putting it together man!

To be fair, side one of "Imperial Bedroom" is pretty solid, in my estimation. Then "The Loved Ones" on side two is good, too, but I admit nothing else on the album rings a bell beside "Kid About It." It's nowhere near the drop off after "Brilliant Mistake." Though "Blood and Chocolate" keeps the energy level up for a while. And then we firmly enter the oft dire, occasionally great but mostly hit or miss at best dilettante years. Though he seems to have found solid ground since "When I Was Cruel," aside from "North."

Anyone else read that curious New Yorker profile of him a year ago?

just listened to that whole spotify playlist to refresh my memory and hear a few for the first time, so what the hell here's my definitive ranking:

No Action > Beyond Belief > Working Week > Uncomplicated > 45 > Accidents > Brilliant Mistake > Telescope > Love For Tender > Pony St. > Only Flame > Clubland > No Hiding Place > Other Side > Button My Lip > You Left Me In The Dark > Down Among > This Town > National Random > Let Them All Talk

No Action, obviously, but I'll rep for "This Town." Great McCartney bass lines, plus, that song has one of Costello's most classic lines in the chorus, "you're nobody til everybody in this town knows your (you're) poison, got your number". I'm not sure what the printed lyric for 'your' is but the double meaning has to be intentional.

Easy, straightforward choice for me, completely effortless with no trouble at all,

I'm no EC maven but I always thought Kinder Murder would of made a great album opener...

Hard to beat "Accidents Will Happen".

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

whoa

Beyond belief.

Glad to see the correct choice pull it out here.

Hahah, yes!

perfect results

^^

I always think of "I Hope You're Happy Now" as the opening track of Blood & Chocolate, maybe because he opened with it at a club gig several years ago to great effect.
Didn't get to vote, but I agree with the results.

He opened my first EC concert with it!

"Uncomplicated"/"I Hope" is probably his best opening 1-2 punch

i didn't vote for it but i do love "45"

surprised at the love for "Accidents Will Happen" which is a totally OK song but not even among the best on its own album.

I always think of "I Hope You're Happy Now" as the opening track of Blood & Chocolate, maybe because he opened with it at a club gig several years ago to great effect.
Didn't get to vote, but I agree with the results.

― Jazzbo, Wednesday, 12 October 2011 19:37 (2 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
He opened my first EC concert with it!

― lumber up, limbaugh down (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 12 October 2011 20:29 (2 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

The gig I went to (also my first EC one), he announced it as the new single they were going in to record that weekend.

It never happened, it seemed like a year later it was on the album credited to Elvis Costello and the attractions, as opposed to DPA MacManus etc. which the other tracks were.

Which would suggest that they did indeed record it then,prior to some big identity crisis or summat.

Seem to remember the LP of Get Happy!! having some trickery about what actually was the first side, some kind of Möbius strip thing, so sometimes thought the opener was "I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down."

Tom Carson review is really good: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/get-happy-19800417

every time I see the album title I always think of those rising chords on "Love for Tender"

Was that around the time of the Elvis Costello Repents piece, by Nick Kent (I think)?

The original LP sleeve disagreed with the label as to which was side 1 and which was side 2.

(Subsequent versions agree with the labels)

Figured you would have the scoop. Thanks.