Editing This Year's Model (section)

==Critical reception==
{{Album ratings
| subtitle = Initial reviews
| rev1 = ''[[DownBeat]]''
| rev1score = {{rating|5|5}}<ref>{{cite journal|title=Elvis Costello|last=Carman|first=Charles|journal=[[DownBeat]]|date=13 July 1978|volume=45|issue=13|page=36}}</ref>
| rev2 = ''[[Music Week]]''
| rev2score = {{rating|4|4}}<ref name="MusicWeek">{{cite magazine|title=''This Year's Model'': Elvis Costello|magazine=[[Music Week]]|date=18 March 1978|page=56|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-Week/1978/Music-Week-1978-03-18.pdf|access-date=21 August 2022|via=worldradiohistory.com|archive-date=30 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210930095019/https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-Week/1978/Music-Week-1978-03-18.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>
| rev3 = ''[[Record Mirror]]''
| rev3score = {{rating|4|5}}<ref name="Lott" />
| rev4 = ''[[Sounds (magazine)|Sounds]]''
| rev4score = {{rating|4.5|5}}<ref name="Sounds">{{cite magazine |last=Savage |first=Jon |author-link=Jon Savage |title=Elvis Costello: ''This Year's Model'' |url=https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/elvis-costello-this-years-model-2 |magazine=[[Sounds (magazine)|Sounds]] |date=11 March 1978 |page=26 |access-date=5 March 2022 |via=Rock's Backpages {{subscription required}} |archive-date=5 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220305220144/https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/elvis-costello-this-years-model-2 |url-status=live }}</ref>
| rev5 = ''[[The Village Voice]]''
| rev5score = A<ref name="Christgau">{{cite book |chapter=Elvis Costello: ''This Year's Model'' |chapter-url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_album.php?id=1153 |access-date=16 October 2004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041106042050/http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_album.php?id=1153 |archive-date=6 November 2004 |url-status=live |title=Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies |title-link=Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies |last=Christgau |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Christgau |location=Boston |publisher=[[Ticknor and Fields]] |year=1981 |isbn=978-0-89919-026-6}}</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;}}
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" />}}

Some critics were less enthusiastic. Savage felt Costello was "less than likable" and the Attractions "spare yet full", but ultimately considered the album "an excellent, soon-to-be-popular" record.<ref name="Sounds" /> In ''Rolling Stone'', Rachlis believed the album was more "musically and thematically" cohesive than ''My Aim Is True'', but not "diminish[ing] the prodigal brilliance" of its predecessor.<ref name="Rachlis RS">{{cite magazine |last=Rachlis |first=Kit |author-link=Kit Rachlis |title=This Year's Model |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/this-years-model-197949/ |magazine=[[Rolling Stone]] |access-date=1 March 2022 |date=29 June 1978 |archive-date=12 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210612171424/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/this-years-model-197949/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Conversely, [[Joel Selvin]] of the ''[[San Francisco Chronicle]]'' found "no new surprises" on ''Model'', but felt the songs improved on the style exhibited on ''Aim'', concluding that it "should satisfy his growing legion of fans, as well as gain new converts".<ref name="SelvinSFChronicle">{{cite magazine|last=Selvin|first=Joel|author-link=Joel Selvin|title=England's Elvis — Solid brash|magazine=[[San Francisco Chronicle]]|date=16 April 1978|page=49}}</ref> In ''[[The New York Times]]'', [[John Rockwell]] described ''This Year's Model'' as a "fine" record that maintains all of the artist's previous angry energy, yet "filling out the arrangements with a richness of texture (organ especially) that is very appealing".<ref name="RockwellNYTimes">{{cite news |last=Rockwell |first=John |author-link=John Rockwell |title=The Pop Life |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1978/04/21/archives/the-pop-life-bob-marley-has-a-strong-new-album.html |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=21 August 2022 |date=21 April 1978 |url-access=subscription |archive-date=21 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220821212344/https://www.nytimes.com/1978/04/21/archives/the-pop-life-bob-marley-has-a-strong-new-album.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Pareles was critical of the overtly misogynistic themes.<ref name="Crawdaddy" />

''This Year's Model'' was voted the best album of 1978 by both ''Melody Maker'' and ''The Village Voice''.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Records of the Year|magazine=Melody Maker|date=30 December 1978|page=19}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/pnj/pjres78.php |title=The 1978 Pazz & Jop Critics Poll |newspaper=[[The Village Voice]] |date=22 January 1979 |access-date=28 October 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090619143455/http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/pnj/pjres78.php |archive-date=19 June 2009 |url-status=live}}</ref> It was highly placed in other year-end lists by ''Rolling Stone'', ''NME'' (3), ''Record Mirror'' (5) and ''Sounds'' (8).<ref>{{cite magazine |title=The Rolling Stone 1978 Critics' Awards |magazine=Rolling Stone |date=28 December 1978 |page=11 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=NME's best albums and tracks of 1978 |url=https://www.nme.com/features/1978-2-1045407 |website=NME |access-date=25 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220609003548/https://www.nme.com/features/1978-2-1045407 |archive-date=9 June 2022 |date=10 October 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title=Top 10 Albums |magazine=[[Record Mirror]] |date=23 December 1978 |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Record-Mirror/70s/78/Record-Mirror-1978-12-22.pdf |page=8 |access-date=17 June 2022 |via=worldradiohistory.com |archive-date=6 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211006155333/https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Record-Mirror/70s/78/Record-Mirror-1978-12-22.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title=Albums of the Year |date=30 December 1978 |magazine=Sounds |page=12 }}</ref>