This Year's Model

''This Year's Model'' was well received on release.{{sfn|Thomson|2004|loc=chap. 5}} Many critics deemed it superior to ''My Aim Is True'', praised the Attractions as a better band than Clover, and highlighted the strong songwriting and performances.{{efn|Attributed to multiple references:<ref name="Crawdaddy" /><ref name="Kent NME" /><ref name="Sounds" /><ref name="Trouser Press">{{cite magazine |last=Robbins |first=Ira |title=Elvis Costello: ''This Year's Model'' |url=https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/elvis-costello-this-years-model |magazine=[[Trouser Press]] |date=May 1978 |access-date=1 March 2022 |via=Rock's Backpages {{subscription required}} |archive-date=20 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200920052711/https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/elvis-costello-this-years-model |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="RAM" /><ref name="LA Times" /><ref name="Billboard" /><ref name="CashBox" /><ref name="WashingtonPost" />}} ''[[Melody Maker]]''{{'s}} [[Allan Jones (editor)|Allan Jones]] called it "an achievement so comprehensive, so inspired, that it exhausts superlatives". He wrote that "the penetration of the language matches the vaulting hysteria of the performance" and concluded that the record "promotes its author to the foremost ranks of contemporary rock writers", such as [[Bruce Springsteen]].<ref name="Jones">{{cite magazine|last=Jones|first=Allan|author-link=Allan Jones (editor)|title=Elvis on Revenge|magazine=[[Melody Maker]]|date=11 March 1978|page=17}}</ref> ''[[Cashbox (magazine)|Cash Box]]'' remarked that ''This Year's Model'' allowed Costello to surpass early comparisons of Springsteen and [[Graham Parker]] to establish his own identity.<ref name="CashBox">{{cite magazine |title=Album Reviews |magazine=[[Cashbox (magazine)|Cash Box]] |date=8 April 1978 |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Cash-Box/70s/1978/CB-1978-04-08.pdf |page=18 |access-date=21 August 2022 |via=worldradiohistory.com |archive-date=10 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220410040046/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Cash-Box/70s/1978/CB-1978-04-08.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> ''[[Rock Australia Magazine]]''{{'s}} [[Anthony O'Grady]] dubbed ''This Year's Model'' "the best collection of...fashion-conscious songs since [[Ray Davies]] [of the Kinks] started his '[[Dedicated Follower of Fashion]]' period."<ref name="RAM">{{cite magazine |last=O'Grady |first=Anthony |author-link=Anthony O'Grady |title=Elvis Costello & The Attractions: ''This Year's Model'' (Radar) |url=https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/elvis-costello--the-attractions-ithis-years-modeli-radar |magazine=[[Rock Australia Magazine]] |date=5 May 1978 |access-date=1 March 2022 |via=[[Rock's Backpages]] {{subscription required}} |archive-date=19 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210419062326/https://rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/elvis-costello--the-attractions-ithis-years-modeli-radar |url-status=live }}</ref> Tom Zito of ''[[The Washington Post]]'' had a hard time recalling an artist whose sophomore record surpassed their "already impressive" debut.<ref name="WashingtonPost">{{cite magazine|last=Zito|first=Tom|title=Costello's stormy rock|magazine=[[The Washington Post]]|date=3 May 1978}}</ref>

''This Year's Model'' was well received on release.{{sfn|Thomson|2004|loc=chap. 5}} Many critics deemed it superior to ''My Aim Is True'', praised the Attractions as a better band than Clover, and highlighted the strong songwriting and performances.{{efn|Attributed to multiple references:<ref name="Crawdaddy" /><ref name="Kent NME" /><ref name="Sounds" /><ref name="Trouser Press">{{cite magazine |last=Robbins |first=Ira |title=Elvis Costello: ''This Year's Model'' |url=https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/elvis-costello-this-years-model |magazine=[[Trouser Press]] |date=May 1978 |access-date=1 March 2022 |via=Rock's Backpages {{subscription required}} |archive-date=20 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200920052711/https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/elvis-costello-this-years-model |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="RAM" /><ref name="LA Times" /><ref name="Billboard" /><ref name="CashBox" /><ref name="WashingtonPost" />}} ''[[Melody Maker]]''{{'s}} [[Allan Jones (editor)|Allan Jones]] called it "an achievement so comprehensive, so inspired, that it exhausts superlatives". He wrote that "the penetration of the language matches the vaulting hysteria of the performance" and concluded that the record "promotes its author to the foremost ranks of contemporary rock writers", such as [[Bruce Springsteen]].<ref name="Jones">{{cite magazine|last=Jones|first=Allan|author-link=Allan Jones (editor)|title=Elvis on Revenge|magazine=[[Melody Maker]]|date=11 March 1978|page=17}}</ref> ''[[Cashbox (magazine)|Cash Box]]'' remarked that ''This Year's Model'' allowed Costello to surpass early comparisons of Springsteen and [[Graham Parker]] to establish his own identity.<ref name="CashBox">{{cite magazine |title=Album Reviews |magazine=[[Cashbox (magazine)|Cash Box]] |date=8 April 1978 |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Cash-Box/70s/1978/CB-1978-04-08.pdf |page=18 |access-date=21 August 2022 |via=worldradiohistory.com |archive-date=10 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220410040046/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Cash-Box/70s/1978/CB-1978-04-08.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> ''[[Rock Australia Magazine]]''{{'s}} [[Anthony O'Grady]] dubbed ''This Year's Model'' "the best collection of...fashion-conscious songs since [[Ray Davies]] [of the Kinks] started his '[[Dedicated Follower of Fashion]]' period."<ref name="RAM">{{cite magazine |last=O'Grady |first=Anthony |author-link=Anthony O'Grady |title=Elvis Costello & The Attractions: ''This Year's Model'' (Radar) |url=https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/elvis-costello--the-attractions-ithis-years-modeli-radar |magazine=[[Rock Australia Magazine]] |date=5 May 1978 |access-date=1 March 2022 |via=[[Rock's Backpages]] {{subscription required}} |archive-date=19 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210419062326/https://rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/elvis-costello--the-attractions-ithis-years-modeli-radar |url-status=live }}</ref> Tom Zito of ''[[The Washington Post]]'' had a hard time recalling an artist whose sophomore record surpassed their "already impressive" debut.<ref name="WashingtonPost">{{cite magazine|last=Zito|first=Tom|title=Costello's stormy rock|magazine=[[The Washington Post]]|date=3 May 1978}}</ref>

{{quote box|quote=Costello is currently the best. There's simply no-one within spitting distance of him. He has his finger on the pulse of this desperate era and his perceptions are so disquieting because all too often they're too damn real to be strenuously ignored.{{nbsp}}... Meanwhile, ''Model'' is just too powerful, too dazzling to be ignored or {{no wrap|sidestepped.<ref name="Kent NME">{{cite magazine |last=Kent |first=Nick |author-link=Nick Kent |title=Elvis Costello: ''This Year's Model'' (Radar Records) |url=https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/elvis-costello-ithis-years-modeli-radar-records |magazine=[[NME]] |date=11 March 1978 |page=37 |access-date=1 March 2022 |via=Rock's Backpages {{subscription required}} |archive-date=22 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200922145054/https://rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/elvis-costello-ithis-years-modeli-radar-records |url-status=live }}</ref>}}|source=—[[Nick Kent]], ''[[NME]]'', 1978|width=30%|align=left|style=padding:8px;}}

{{quote box|quote=Costello is currently the best. There's simply no-one within spitting distance of him. He has his finger on the pulse of this desperate era and his perceptions are so disquieting because all too often they're too damn real to be strenuously ignored.{{nbsp}}... Meanwhile, ''Model'' is just too powerful, too dazzling to be ignored or {{no wrap|sidestepped.<ref name="Kent NME">{{cite magazine |last=Kent |first=Nick |author-link=Nick Kent |title=Elvis Costello: ''This Year's Model'' (Radar Records) |url=https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/elvis-costello-ithis-years-modeli-radar-records |magazine=[[NME]] |date=11 March 1978 |page=37 |access-date=1 March 2022 |via=Rock's Backpages {{subscription required}} |archive-date=22 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200922145054/https://rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/elvis-costello-ithis-years-modeli-radar-records |url-status=live }}</ref>}}|source= — [[Nick Kent]], ''[[NME]]'', 1978|width=30%|align=left|style=padding:8px;}}

Several reviewers placed Costello as one of the best British New Wave artists.{{efn|Attributed to multiple references:<ref name="MusicWeek" /><ref name="CashBox" /><ref name="WashingtonPost" /><ref name="Billboard" /><ref name="RockwellNYTimes" />}} In ''[[Circus (magazine)|Circus]]'' magazine, Fred Schruers lauded his lyrics, musicianship and angry persona, and cited ''This Year's Model'' as having fulfilled "every new wave expectation".<ref name="Circus">{{cite magazine |last=Schruers |first=Fred |title=Elvis Costello is Angry and Convincing: ''This Year's Model'' Fulfils Every New Wave Expectation |url=https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/elvis-costello-is-angry-and-convincing-this-years-model-fulfils-every-new-wave-expectation |magazine=[[Circus (magazine)|Circus]] |date=22 June 1978 |access-date=1 March 2022 |via=Rock's Backpages {{subscription required}} |archive-date=15 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415172809/https://rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/elvis-costello-is-angry-and-convincing-this-years-model-fulfils-every-new-wave-expectation |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Robert Christgau]] of ''[[The Village Voice]]'' also saw Costello's emotional delivery as full of anger and grimace, which he found "more attractive musically and verbally than all his melodic and lyrical tricks". In the midst of the punk movement, Christgau acknowledged the genre's influence on the album and artist.<ref name="Christgau" /> ''Creem''{{'s}} Alan Madeleine found the artist proves himself "stylistically mindful": he is "distinct enough from any other extant act to be noted, yet cautious of excess experimentation in this establishmental sophomore phase."<ref name="Creem">{{cite magazine|last=Madeleine|first=Alan|title=''This Year's Model'': Elvis Costello|magazine=[[Creem]]|date=July 1978|page=59}}</ref> ''[[Record Mirror]]''{{'s}} [[Tim Lott]] considered the songs "less vicious" than its predecessors, but said the artist remains an "Aladdin's cave of anti-matter". He called Costello's voice "insubstantial but wiry", the music "clever in its very lack of detail", and compared the organ-heavy sound with [[Blondie (band)|Blondie]]: a Sixties sound "trapped for ten years on atmospherics".<ref name="Lott">{{cite magazine |last=Lott |first=Tim |author-link=Tim Lott |title=Elvis Costello: ''This Year's Model'' (Radar Rad 3) |magazine=[[Record Mirror]] |date=11 March 1978 |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Record-Mirror/70s/78/1978-03-11.pdf |page=14 |access-date=1 June 2022 |via=worldradiohistory.com |archive-date=16 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220716054815/https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Record-Mirror/70s/78/1978-03-11.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Naming ''This Year's Model'' the winner of May 1978's "disc derby" in the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'', [[Robert Hilburn]] wrote that Costello's vocals "bristle with conviction and bite that we rarely find in rock in the '70s".<ref name="LA Times">{{cite magazine |last=Hilburn |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Hilburn |title=Pop Music: All Thoroughbreds in This Month's Disc Derby |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/384311115/?terms=elvis%20Costello%20this%20year%27s%20model&match=1 |magazine=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=7 May 1978 |page=77 |access-date=13 March 2022 |via=Newspapers.com {{subscription required}} |archive-date=13 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220313233451/https://www.newspapers.com/image/384311115/?terms=elvis%20Costello%20this%20year%27s%20model&match=1 |url-status=live }}</ref> Other critics highlighted Lowe's production.{{efn|Attributed to multiple references:<ref name="MusicWeek" /><ref name="Jones" /><ref name="Billboard">{{cite magazine |title=Top Album Picks |magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]] |date=8 April 1978 |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/70s/1978/Billboard%201978-04-08.pdf |page=82 |access-date=21 August 2022 |via=worldradiohistory.com |archive-date=24 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210924165015/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/70s/1978/Billboard%201978-04-08.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="SelvinSFChronicle" />}}

Several reviewers placed Costello as one of the best British New Wave artists.{{efn|Attributed to multiple references:<ref name="MusicWeek" /><ref name="CashBox" /><ref name="WashingtonPost" /><ref name="Billboard" /><ref name="RockwellNYTimes" />}} In ''[[Circus (magazine)|Circus]]'' magazine, Fred Schruers lauded his lyrics, musicianship and angry persona, and cited ''This Year's Model'' as having fulfilled "every new wave expectation".<ref name="Circus">{{cite magazine |last=Schruers |first=Fred |title=Elvis Costello is Angry and Convincing: ''This Year's Model'' Fulfils Every New Wave Expectation |url=https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/elvis-costello-is-angry-and-convincing-this-years-model-fulfils-every-new-wave-expectation |magazine=[[Circus (magazine)|Circus]] |date=22 June 1978 |access-date=1 March 2022 |via=Rock's Backpages {{subscription required}} |archive-date=15 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415172809/https://rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/elvis-costello-is-angry-and-convincing-this-years-model-fulfils-every-new-wave-expectation |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Robert Christgau]] of ''[[The Village Voice]]'' also saw Costello's emotional delivery as full of anger and grimace, which he found "more attractive musically and verbally than all his melodic and lyrical tricks". In the midst of the punk movement, Christgau acknowledged the genre's influence on the album and artist.<ref name="Christgau" /> ''Creem''{{'s}} Alan Madeleine found the artist proves himself "stylistically mindful": he is "distinct enough from any other extant act to be noted, yet cautious of excess experimentation in this establishmental sophomore phase."<ref name="Creem">{{cite magazine|last=Madeleine|first=Alan|title=''This Year's Model'': Elvis Costello|magazine=[[Creem]]|date=July 1978|page=59}}</ref> ''[[Record Mirror]]''{{'s}} [[Tim Lott]] considered the songs "less vicious" than its predecessors, but said the artist remains an "Aladdin's cave of anti-matter". He called Costello's voice "insubstantial but wiry", the music "clever in its very lack of detail", and compared the organ-heavy sound with [[Blondie (band)|Blondie]]: a Sixties sound "trapped for ten years on atmospherics".<ref name="Lott">{{cite magazine |last=Lott |first=Tim |author-link=Tim Lott |title=Elvis Costello: ''This Year's Model'' (Radar Rad 3) |magazine=[[Record Mirror]] |date=11 March 1978 |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Record-Mirror/70s/78/1978-03-11.pdf |page=14 |access-date=1 June 2022 |via=worldradiohistory.com |archive-date=16 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220716054815/https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Record-Mirror/70s/78/1978-03-11.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Naming ''This Year's Model'' the winner of May 1978's "disc derby" in the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'', [[Robert Hilburn]] wrote that Costello's vocals "bristle with conviction and bite that we rarely find in rock in the '70s".<ref name="LA Times">{{cite magazine |last=Hilburn |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Hilburn |title=Pop Music: All Thoroughbreds in This Month's Disc Derby |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/384311115/?terms=elvis%20Costello%20this%20year%27s%20model&match=1 |magazine=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=7 May 1978 |page=77 |access-date=13 March 2022 |via=Newspapers.com {{subscription required}} |archive-date=13 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220313233451/https://www.newspapers.com/image/384311115/?terms=elvis%20Costello%20this%20year%27s%20model&match=1 |url-status=live }}</ref> Other critics highlighted Lowe's production.{{efn|Attributed to multiple references:<ref name="MusicWeek" /><ref name="Jones" /><ref name="Billboard">{{cite magazine |title=Top Album Picks |magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]] |date=8 April 1978 |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/70s/1978/Billboard%201978-04-08.pdf |page=82 |access-date=21 August 2022 |via=worldradiohistory.com |archive-date=24 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210924165015/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/70s/1978/Billboard%201978-04-08.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="SelvinSFChronicle" />}}