This Year's Model (1978) was Elvis Costello's second album and his first with The Attractions. It was recorded mainly at Eden Studios in West London.
It was voted the best album of the year in The Village Voice Pazz & Jop critics poll blank">http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/pnj/pjres78.php. In 2000, _Q magazine placed This Year's Model at number 82 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever. In 1987, Rolling Stone magazine ranked it number 11 on its list of the best albums of the period 1967-1987. . In his 1995 book, "The Alternative Music Almanac", Alan Cross placed the album in the #7 spot on the list of '10 Classic Alternative Albums'.
Early issues of the album have an apparently misprinted sleeve, which cuts the 'E' from 'Elvis' off the front cover and shows a printers' color bar along the right side (see cover right). This was a deliberate mistake (a favourite technique of cover designer Barney Bubbles), as was pressing "Special pressing No. 003. Ring 434 32 32. Ask for Moira for your prize" between the holding spirals on Side A.
