Elvis Costello & the Attractions - Punch the Clock

2003 remastered reissue of 1983's 'Punch The Clock' contains 26 bonus cuts, 'Everyday I Write The Book' (Studio Merseybeat Version), 'Baby Pictures', 'Heathen Town', 'The Flirting Kind', 'Walking On Thin Ice', 'Big Sister's Clothes/Stand Down Margaret' (BBC Session), 'Danger Zone' (BBC Session), 'Seconds Of Pleasure', 'The Town Where Time Stood Still', 'The World And His Wife' (Solo Version), 'Shatterproof', 'Heathen Town' (Demo), 'The Flirting Kind' (Demo), 'Let Them All Talk' (Demo), 'King Of Thieves' (Demo), 'The Invisible Man' (Demo), 'The Element Within Her' (Demo), 'Love Went Mad' (Demo), 'The Greatest Thing' (Demo), 'Mouth Almighty' (Demo), 'Charm School' (Demo), 'Possession' (Live), 'Secondary Modern' (Live), 'The Bells' (Live), 'Watch Your Step' (Live), & 'Back Stabbers/King Horse' (Live). Rhino/Warner. Album Description

Just Plain Great

I've read so many bad reviews of this album and I just don't get it. This album is packed full of very clever songs and great lyrics with a great big noisy band behind Elvis. It's a real treat for the ears. And for the song writer/musicians out there, these songs are brilliantly written, using thick harmonies and great chord changes.

Don't pass this one by. June 7, 2006

Walking On Eggshells

I enjoy listening to this CD more than Imperial Bedroom. "Beyond Belief" is awesome with an atmosphere that you think is beyond Elvis' songwriting abilities until he does it. "Pills And Soap" matches this song in brilliance and has better lyrics. It doesn't resort to using the ridiculous concept of a soul to express human experience, this an entity that people continue to insist exists and has importance, for not using this archaic, useless concept the lyrics are 10 times better in "Pills And Soap". Another 10 from Imperial is "Little Fool", a favorite song of mine that seems to fly below many peoples radar. "The Greatest Thing" is the equal to this one. Another highlight to Imperial Bedroom is "Whisper To A Scream". There is not really a similar song on Clock, but I find "Charm School" just as enjoyable. "Shabby Doll", "Man Out Of Time", "Long Honeymoon", and "Tears Before Bedtime" are solid songs that define Imperial, but I find "Invisible Man", "Mouth Almighty", "King Of Thieves", and even the strange "TKO Boxing Days" to equal those and have the same function. "Town Cryer" a completely unique tour de force and to a lesser extant, "Kid About It" are also highlights to the excellent Imperial Bedroom, but again Clock has "Let Them All Talk", and "The World And His Wife". Completely different, but I enjoy these songs more. The rest of Imperial I find to be filler. I do appreciate the experimental nature on Imeprial Bedroom for the whole CD including the remaining songs I avoid. Now Clock follows that direction with songs that do nothing for me, but since the weak songs on Clock do not include as many compared to Imperial I enjoy it more. Not only this, but two of the songs I find to be crap on Clock are ones many consider highlights, "Shipbuilding", and "Every Day I Write The Book". That said I have to ask, how can anyone like/love "Shipbuilding"? This 6 minute song is painful for me to listen to. There is NO tension or atmosphere for the entire song. NONE!!! It never builds up to anything. In fact it is slow and tedious with the same tempo for the WHOLE song. It has no redeeming qualities at all. This is on almost every greatest hits package and in the reviews here, both people that enjoy the CD and those that don't, champion this song. I am baffled by this more than trying to figure out the appeal of Full House. Am I the only one to truly hate this song. I mean this song is awful. If I list the worst songs ever made it not only qualifies as the most over rated, but it qualifies unconditionally as just plain awful. The worst Elvis Costello song period. This song just sucks. OK enough of that. Even though I don't enjoy him Writing The Book Everyday, he must need some relaxation time with all that work, I can at least see the appeal of this song to others. Duds round out each release, but I rate Clock as a bit better than Imperial. Over all these are two excellent releases from this incredible artist that continues to produce vital works. Now just because he is excellent at what he does you don't have to like it. A negsative opinion is fine if that is what you think. Were you serious? If so us fans don't mind at all if reviewers form different opinion on Costellos' work than we have. For the person that criticizes this CD, then apologizes endlessly for doing so, please don't. It is not necessary, and to be honest, this can be just as annoying, well actually more annoying. Just share your opinions. There is never a need to walk on eggshells. Fans shouldn't put them down on the floor and if they are a true fan of an artist they find thoughtful criticism more interesting than blind compliments. My opinion is that both CD's I wrote opinions about in this post are fasntastic additions to the catalog of Elvis Costello. I do love this mans work. As fans we are not blind though. I find every release he has ever made has worthwhile material, but even a fan his old and new finds releases like Mighty Like The Rose and Spike to be really bad. Haven't listened to Cruel World enough to decide if I agree with the consensus. Now I'm rambling. Punch The Clock is very good. I love it, but it is only a 4. March 10, 2006

With All My Favorite EC Releases, I Love This!

Man was I missing out for 22 years. EC put out so many albums in this time frame and I had a lot of things going in my life (being a sailor and away from the US, plus getting into all the other music at the time), that this release slipped through the cracks for me. My listening experience for the time till now was the selected tracks from the compilations I had bought (Girls...The Best....The Very Best), so for all this time I'm getting Pills and Soap, Shipbuilding, and Everyday I Write the Book as representation here. Now that I'm getting the real EC releases and listening to all these tunes I'm floored. Yeah it's a EC pop release and I'm saying to myself "All Right!" I'm a big Get Happy lover as well as Imperial Bedroom (the later another of those I settled on selected samplings from the compilations) so I absolutely am digging this cd now. Will it hold up for me for another 20 years? I happen to think it will. Songs I can't keep playing over and over right now because the vocals are awesome; "The Element Within Her", "Charm School", "Love Went Mad", and "The Invisible Man". I love the line in "Element" that goes like this "But back in the bedroom, With her electric heater, I SAY 'ARE YOU COLD?', SHE SAYS 'NO, BUT YOU ARE', La La La " I cracked up over that one, right up there with my favorite EC lyric "They call her Natasha when she looks like Elsie". If your looking for a deal get the Rykodisc release for about half (the bonus stuff is mostly unpolished demo's that I won't listen to regularly) but definitely get this CD it's a very worthwhile disc for EC fans.

Ralph/Working in the Middle East; getting great music through Amazon! November 7, 2005

I disagree with the other reviews.

Before anyone gets upset with what I'm about to write, let me state that I'm a dedicated Costello fan and have been listening to him and buying his records (yes, when records were vinyl LPs) since day one. I think that he is one of the truly great and gifted musicians and songwriters and my favourite musical artist (next to the Beatles).

It's acknowledged by EC cognoscentes that 'Goodbye Cruel World' (the album that immediately followed 'Punch' and was released a year later) marks the nadir of his career and that 'Punch the Clock' isn't far behind. The two albums are often paired together and I think justifiably regarded as parts 1 and 2 of a set. In fact, Elvis lost a sizeable portion of his audience after the release of these two albums. He has been fighting an uphill battle ever since to recover the level of support lost after 'Goodbye Cruel World'.

Despite respectable sales of 'Punch the Clock', I've always suspected that post 'Goodbye Cruel World' a lot of Elvis fans, upon reflection, suffered from buyer's remorse over `Punch' and perhaps even some embarrassment. If this album was in their music libraries, the owners were probably hesitant to admit so and the album probably never left the shelf or the box at the back of the closet until some garage sale called out for it. I also suspect that those who bought the cd edition of this album did so more out of a sense of obligation than anything else.

I am not critizing Elvis' decision to try something different (i.e. a more "pop" oriented sound). (Although doing something different in and of itself does not guarantee that the results will be interesting, entertaining, artistically successful or even done well). Perhaps he was motivated by an understandable sense of disappointment over the sales of 'Imperial Bedroom'. I get the feeling from this album that Elvis' desire to do something different is a bit forced; done out of a sense of frustration or from some obligation or determination to do so but his heart was never truly in it, unlike `The Juliet Letters' or 'Painted from Memory'. These two albums were very different directions for Elvis, each of which he obviously believed in and enjoyed. (Look at his dour portrait on the front cover of 'Punch'. That should tell you something. It's not exactly a happy face to go along with the upbeat pop music on the disc.)

Yes, the album does deliver some clever, witty, entertaining and even thoughtful lyrics. There are some standout tracks ('Everyday I Write the Book', 'Shipbuilding', 'Pills for Soap') but unless you're an Elvis collector/ completist, I recommend picking up one of his compilation albums to hear those songs. The real problem with this album is its production. No, I'm criticizing it because it is too "pop" oriented or too polished. The production is technically well done, and I should add that Rhino's remastering sounds great. The real problem is that too many of the tracks sound alike. When listening to this cd, I find myself wondering if I hadn't already heard this tune or that. Some of the tracks are not distinguishable from one another. Many of the songs that should be memorable, which deserve to be memorable, simply aren't. In all the upbeatness, I find a weary tedium.

For the Elvis collector/ completist, I would recommend this cd for the commendable remastered sound quality of the original album and for the tracks on the bonus disc. (There are many demos including 'Shatterproof' which supplied Rockpile's Billy Bremner with a hit single. There is also a two song medley from a BBC performance that includes a cover of the Beat's `Stand Down Margaret'.) For the general music fan who is interested in Elvis, I would recommend purchasing a compliation "best of" album instead. December 25, 2003

Have we come this far to find a soul cliche?

Flush with artistic raves and the critical success of "Imperial Bedroom," Elvis Costello did exactly what we should have expected him to do. He made an album absolutely nothing like the one we'd all been listening to for the entire previous year. I even remember a scathing review of this album at the time that opened with a comment akin to "Well, nobody's going to call this album a masterpiece."

OK, so that was a pretty accurate assessment. "Punch The Clock" was a maniacally obsessive pop album, primarily due to the choice of Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley as producers. Their track momentum was unstoppable at the time, and they wrapped EC and the Attractions with soul vocals, punchy horns and a free swinging style of production that was the polar opposite of Nick Lowe's. If you can, imagine "Get Happy" with more breathing space in the songs.

The result might have been "Punch The Clock's" irresistibly catchy opening track "Let Them All Talk." L&W layered the production with what was common to the period...the lush horns, the steamy r'n'b pulse, etc. Just as important was their finger on the popbeat of the moment, which suddenly saw Elvis flirting with the American Top 40 via "Everyday I Write The Book." While the video was more topical than the song, it didn't mean Elvis was shying away from biting lyrics. "Punch The Clock" is loaded with such notable quotes like "I wish you luck with a capitol F" and "He said 'are you cold,' she said 'no but you are,' la la la."

It also didn't mean that Elvis' definition of "pop" didn't include some heartfelt jabs at the current state of England. This being the era that produced Reagen-Thatcher and the Falklands War, the songs "Pills and Soap" and "Shipbuilding" were remarkable for their inclusion among the giddy pop of "The Greatest Thing" or "Mouth Almighty." The understated, elegant lyric, along with a perfect solo from Chet Baker made "Shipbuilding" not only the best song on "Punch The Clock," but one of the outstanding songs in EC's library.

Given the success of the album (it was one of EC's first albums to reach gold status in sales), it made sense that L&W would be around for the next. If you really want to gauge how underrated "Punch The Clock" usually is, just give an re-listen to "Goodbye Cruel World," the undisciplined follow-up. The bonus disc here is strictly hit and miss, and is interesting in that you can hear just how much architectural work L&W invested. The live cuts are, as usual, great. (But missing a couple from the Ryko CD.)

Over twenty years later, "Punch The Clock" has definitely aged well. Which means the answer to the opening line is no cliches here, but some strong 80's pop as only Elvis and the Attractions could shape it. December 14, 2003

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