In the liner notes to one of the numerous reissues of My Aim is True, Elvis Costello suggests you might be able to tell which records I had in my collection. I certainly learned quite a bit while shamelessly attempting to copy Randy Newman, Hoagy Carmichael, John Prine, Lowell George, The Band, and many others.
Maybe that’s what made me sit up and take notice the first time I heard the album. I’m not sure about Hoagy Carmichael, but all the others were either part of my own record collection (Randy Newman, Lowell George/Little Feat, The Band) or would have been had I been able to get my hands on them.
Nothing, however, prepared me for the quantum leap that came with Watching the Detectives and This Year’s Model, and from there on it has been a case of grabbing virtually everything I can find that Mr Costello has released.
What follows here isn’t quite the complete discography, but goes close enough to what I’ve got in the CD shelves to act as another index to keep track of things discussed in various parts of the site as well as items reviewed hereabouts.
Studio albums:
1977 My Aim Is True Elvis Costello
1978 This Year's Model Elvis Costello (some reissues credited to Elvis Costello and The Attractions)
1979 Armed Forces Elvis Costello and The Attractions
1980 Get Happy!! Elvis Costello and The Attractions
1981 Trust Elvis Costello and The Attractions
Almost Blue Elvis Costello and The Attractions
1982 Imperial Bedroom Elvis Costello and The Attractions
1983 Punch the Clock Elvis Costello and The Attractions
1984 Goodbye Cruel World Elvis Costello and The Attractions
1986 King of America The Costello Show featuring The Attractions and Confederates
Blood & Chocolate Elvis Costello and The Attractions
1989 Spike Elvis Costello
1991 Mighty Like a Rose Elvis Costello
1993 The Juliet Letters Elvis Costello and The Brodsky Quartet
1994 Brutal Youth Elvis Costello
1995 Kojak Variety Elvis Costello
1996 All This Useless Beauty Elvis Costello and The Attractions
1998 Painted from Memory Elvis Costello and Burt Bacharach
2001 For the Stars Anne Sofie von Otter Meets Elvis Costello
2002 When I Was Cruel Elvis Costello and The Imposters
2003 North Elvis Costello
2004 The Delivery Man Elvis Costello and The Imposters
Il Sogno Elvis Costello
2005 Piano Jazz Elvis Costello with Marian McPartland
2006 The River in Reverse Elvis Costello and the Imposters and Allen Toussaint
2008 Momofuku Elvis Costello and The Imposters
2009 Secret, Profane & Sugarcane Elvis Costello
2010 National Ransom Elvis Costello
LIve albums:
1978 Live at the El Mocambo Elvis Costello and The Attractions
1995 Deep Dead Blue Elvis Costello & Bill Frisell
1996 Costello & Nieve Elvis Costello & Steve Nieve
2006 My Flame Burns Blue Elvis Costello & The Metropole Orkest
2010 Live at Hollywood High Elvis Costello and The Attractions
Compilation albums
1980 Taking Liberties
Ten Bloody Marys & Ten How's Your Fathers
1985 The Man - The Best Of Elvis Costello
The Best of Elvis Costello & The Attractions
1987 Out of Our Idiot
1989 Girls Girls Girls
1990 The Best of Elvis Costello and the Attractions
1994 The Very Best of Elvis Costello and The Attractions 1977-86
1997 Extreme Honey
1999 The Very Best of Elvis Costello
2002 Cruel Smile
2007 The Best of Elvis Costello: The First 10 Years
Rock and Roll Music