Disco de Elvis Costello & The Attractions: “Trust [Rhino Bonus Disc]”

"Trust" broke form with earlier Elvis Costello albums in a major way. For the first time, Elvis shifted focus from the brute force of his music to presenting himself more as a vocalist. Where he would often just bellow the songs out (think "Goon Squad" or most of "Get Happy"), on "Trust" he began to explore his range. A fair amount of this might have to do with the liner notes continual references to EC's increased drinking problems, but probably more to his budding relationship with Chris Difford of Squeeze. That friendship led to one of the album's highlights when Difford's bandmate Glenn Tillbrook joined EC on "From A Whisper To A Scream." (Squeeze got the favor returned when Elvis co-produced "East Side Story" and added his voice to the classic "Tempted.")

Elvis was also in the middle of something of a writer's draught, which meant that he polished up a few older tunes from his pre-Aim days, and left a couple of songs sounding less than stellar. "You'll Never Be A Man," "Luxembourg" and "Big Sister's Clothes" were the first times I'd ever felt that the songs on an Elvis album were filler (hence the 4 star rating). Not like it mattered, because along with "New Lace Sleeves" and "From A Whisper to a Scream," there was the magnificent "Shot With His Own Gun," a stunning piano ballad. That particular song upped the ante for Elvis the writer, as well as being perfectly realized as a vocalist. (It could also be viewed as a precursor to "Imperial Bedroom's" "The Long Honeymoon" and "Almost Blue.")

Like many of Elvis' albums, "Trust" has aged delightfully. While many may have dismissed it upon release as EC mellowing out, it was actually the maturation point where Elvis the "Angry Young Man" became the classic tunesmith that would carry into the soon to come "Imperial Bedroom."

As some of the other reviewers have pointed out, its incredibly hard to really pick a "best" EC album between '77 and '86 simply because the man just made some remarkably amazing music. Whats interesting to note about this record is that it followed "Taking Liberties"/"Ten Bloody Marys.." (a collection of b-sides) and "Get Happy!" (an homage to soul). So is this really Costello's fourth album? Theres no denying, its musically closer to the first three releases and by god its really damn good. Theres a few tracks I'm not so hot on like "Shot with his own gun" but the rest is gold. The lyrical maturity shows on tracks like "You'll never be a man", and "Sad about girls" is one the best songs ever left off an album. Listen to this album, weep with joy.

When I was 17 and first got this album I was disappointed that there was a lack of anger and caffeine energy as in his previous albums, I just listened to "Fish and Chip Paper", "Watch Your Step" and "Clubland" over and over again ignoring the rest of the cuts. But 20+ years later as an adult all the stuff just sounds great. Like a great novel there's a certain amount of living that is required to be able to understand the beauty of the art. What sticks out for me now is "You'll Never be a Man", - the instrumental backup of the lyrical gymnastics and piano solo sends me into a melancholly daydream every time.

Not every EC album has aged as well as this one. The songs here aren't as well-known as those on his first four albums, which helps. Also, Nick Lowe's production is brilliant, perfectly complimenting the songs without overshadowing them. Compared to his next few albums, which were occasionally lost in the production (worst being, of course, Goodbye Cruel World). Note to Costello completists: don't ditch your earlier Rykodisc pressing of this; the version of "Seconds of Pleasure" on that one is not on this (and differs from the versions of "Seconds" on the Punch the Clock and Imperial Bedroom reissues).

Somewhat overlooked in the early portion of Elvis's career is this rather unique collection of songs. No classics here, but solid overall. 'Strict Time', 'Lover's Walk' and 'From a Whisper...' are favorites.