Elvis CostelloBest Elvis Costello Albums Ranked

My Aim Is True

rollingstone

10

“In November 1977, just three months after the death of Elvis Presley, along comes a gangly, bespectacled twenty-three-year-old Brit clutching a red Fender Jazzmaster guitar, looking like some knock-kneed punk version of Buddy Holly, complete with the skinny tie and jacket that would become the de rigueur costume of late-1970s New Wave. The tiny black-and-white-checkerboard […]”

My Aim Is True

pitchfork

9.8

“One of three versions of the Elvis Costello's debut album currently in print, this 2xCD "deluxe" version packs the original album, outtakes, and the singer-songwriter's solo demos on the first disc, as well as an entire 1977 live show from the Nashville Rooms (complete with soundcheck) on its second.”

King of America

pitchfork

8.7

“Originally credited to the Costello Show, this is a newly reissued and expanded version of the 1986 LP that saw Declan ditch the Attractions and return to his pub-rock roots.”

My Aim Is True

consequence

8.5

“Another clever collection ranging from "loud and jagged to intimate and beautiful"”

Secret, Profane & Sugarcane

rollingstone

8.0

“What is is this time? Schubert lieder? Balkan fusion? Elvis Costello’s genre-hopping can be exhilarating and, often, exhausting. But here he’s in one of his comfort zones, rootsy Americana, reunited with T Bone Burnett, who produced the similarly flavored 1986 ringer King of America. Recorded in Nashville in three days, it’s tight and uncluttered, with […]”

When I Was Cruel

rollingstone

8.0

“As its title suggests, When I Was Cruel hearkens back to those bitter days when Elvis Costello was as vicious as the punks with whom he was first lumped. You know the man is back on track on "Alibi," when he conjures a sentiment that sums up the central conflict of nearly all his greatest […]”