Elvis Costello - Trust

The first six albums (1977-1982) of original material, of which "Trust" is number five, are all as great as it gets- with "Almost Blue" being near great & plenty lovely too... and with the compilation of non-album "Taking Liberties"(U.S.)/"Ten Bloody Mary's & Ten How's Your Father's" (U.K.) being as great as the original six.

1983-1991 ends the first great era for me with two more albums of original material (both from 1996) that rank with his greatest- "King Of America" & "Blood & Chocolate", as well as another comp of non-album tracks "Out Of Our Idiot" that is that great as well.

The quartet of near great/next to top shelf, albums work better for me than any full album after 1991- "Punch The Clock", "Goodbye Cruel World", "Spike" & "Mighty Like A Rose".

 

Probably my 2nd fav EC album, bought the Rhino 2 disc when it came out, just nabbed a MOFI LP a couple of week ago

 

One of my favorites. No hit singles, but one incredible deep cut after the other.

 

It's bizarre to me that Hip-O Trust is the hardest to find.

I had the same experience as you did, but with Hip-O Punch The Clock. I collected mine maybe 3-4 years ago and Trust wasn't a difficult find.

 

Never found the Hip-O Trust in the wild, but I did find two copies of Punch The Clock and a staggering four Goodbye Cruel World, three new and one used, in various record stores for cheap. Online people wanted top dollar for those. Not sure if that's changed since 2014/2015 when I was first seeking them out.

 

Same here. The paranoia, the manic attitude, the anger, the flashes of genuine beauty...it's everything that I love about Costello wrapped up into one tuneful, intense, brilliantly performed and sequenced album.

 

I find it a little frustrating - some good songs but it doesn't really hold together as an album. I like a journey. I have the same problem with Imperial Bedroom.

My top 5 would be:

Get Happy
Armed Forces
Blood and Chocolate
This Year's Model
King of America

 

Some unique songs throughout I think.

You'll Never Be A Man (that flurry of words in melody after the chorus line)
New Lace Sleeves, Somehow in its own minimalist manner, the song continues to grow and evolve, it's like it turns itself inside out as it goes.
Pretty Words. A little like Man in it has those short sections after the chorus or as part of the chorus that supersize the tune.

Much to unpack in Trust!!
'You' best believe

Plus the eternal or nocturnal Clubland. Plus the sly and winning Watch Your Step which when I try to remember the many verses too, 2ndary Modern keeps leaping into my head instead. Not a bad pair if they ever were one!

 

Trust made little impression on first listen (though I liked it), yet it has climbed to my top three for Elvis. One or two, or even ten, listens won't reveal its true rewards.

 

I love Trust...the only thing wrong with the album is that it should have been called by it's original name...."Looking Italian"....

 

Very few artists can come up with a song that is so far removed from their "normal" sound, incorporating all sorts of styles they're not normally associated with, without their regular melodic and harmonic tendencies, and still have it sound like themselves. The Stones' "Moonlight Mile" is always my go-to example for that kind of phenomenon, but "New Lace Sleeves" is my favorite. Such an amazing song.

 

Elvis has a tremendous discography. I have spent the last several days listening to all the albums that I missed or had not payed much attention to. That's pretty much almost every album from the last 25 years. I'm putting together a playlist of favorites from 1993-2020 to see which albums I like and dislike the most. Even if I don't care for a few of them, it's hard to fault him for trying new things. I am particularly not a huge fan of the country/Americana side of Elvis. It's not bad in small doses, but doesn't work for me on an entire album.

I would most likely put Trust in my top five. I also put the often derided Mighty Like A Rose at number one, for the fact that it's his most misunderstood and my most played Elvis Costello record. I still cannot fathom how it's considered one of his weakest. His singing, lyrics, and melodies on that album are phenomenal. I think overall Trust is perhaps slightly better than Imperial Bedroom and about on the same level as Armed Forces.

Mighty Like A Rose
This Year's Model
Get Happy
Armed Forces
Trust

 

All brilliant but 'Secondary Modern' is my all time favourite Costello track. Pure genius.

 

I like Imperial Bedroom better than Trust, but I agree on all counts. They're both a bit of a mess despite a number of very excellent songs. Can't really argue with your top 5 either, although I might order them differently depending on my mood. At the moment it would be

Armed Forces
Get Happy
King of America
This Year's Model
Blood and Chocolate or Imperial Bedroom or Brutal Youth, more or less a tie

My Aim Is True is pretty excellent as well, one of the best debut albums by anyone.

 

I always found Trust to be a weirdly sequenced album, with every other song (on the vinyl anyway) being a loud rocker and the remaining ones being either ballads or groove-type songs. Also that the rockers, for the most part, are not the strongest tracks.

 

Ranking the first ten years for me:

1. Get Happy!!
2. My Aim Is True
3. Trust
4. This Year's Model
5. King Of America
6. Armed Forces
7. Imperial Bedroom
8. Blood And Chocolate
9. Almost Blue
10. Punch The Clock
11. Goodbye Cruel World

Ten Bloody Marys would either be above or below This Year's Model depending on my mood. The bottom four are more or less interchangeable, their level of inconsistency is pretty consistent to me. Goodbye Cruel World doesn't have the highs that Punch The Clock does, but its weaker songs are better, IMO. The top three are five stars across the board.

 

I agree this is a mashup of an album and I love it for that — but hasn’t EC said that he was basically blind drunk for this album? I’m inclined to think it’s less cohesive because he was less focused and simply smashed some songs into an album and left it at that. (Luckily it was still high quality material.)

 

Does anyone have any opinions about all the vinyl pressings? F-Beat or Columbia? UK or other Europe pressings? I always look for F-Beat pressings, but never see them in person.

 

Yeah, I think Big Sister's Clothes is an interesting number too and I like Different Finger also. Not to mention tracks that didn't make it, that would have been better suited with some of the tracks on side 1, like the epic sweep of Black Sails in the Sunset.

 

Fwiw Trust UK LP, FBeat, I much prefer to the Columbia. Ymwv. Nice picture label too. I have the Columbia pressing ready for trade-in. The UK is a porky, and it had more character to it, to my ears.

 

i don't GET IT ...

even though i barely listen to him these days .... THIS is one of his BEST!!! my demon LP from the 80's sounds GREAT.

 

Trust never sleeps.

 

It's a great album. If people think it's not as good as Get Happy or Imperial Bedroom, consider this - 1981 wasn't as good a year for LPs as either 1980 or 1982. At least that's how I see it. Taking that into account, Trust is about as good as virtually any other album released that year.

 

I gave it a fresh listen and think it’s fantastic. Definitely one of his best.

 

WHAT ?!?!

lol

perhaps it's my focus on the visceral cohesion of both these albums that make me put it in my own personal top 5 ....


my aim is true
this year's model
trust
imperial bedroom
blood and chocolate


there's a real sense of urgency in trust .... i find it a fantastically intense work ..... the band is on fire too ........ all these YT vids are a tinny MESS (almost unlistenable to me) .... there is killer bass on this album (so yeah i'm all for finding the best mastering that your format of choice can provide)

strict time


you'll never be a man
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASiRpqc22kY

like another poster stated .... deep cut after deep cut

honestly .... i'd take any song off of 'trust' compared to the song 'oliver's army' which i never really liked and don't care if i ever hear again LOL .... ymmv. lol

anyway .... that's where i'm coming from lmao.

i'm a tad tipsy .... so take that in consideration lol.