Punch the Clock

Punch the Clock is the eighth album by Elvis Costello. Released in 1983, it was his seventh studio recording with The Attractions.[1][2] It was Costello's sixth recording with The Attractions since 1978. The album featured Costello's first US Top 40 hit, "Everyday I Write the Book." It was produced by Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley, who also produced Costello's following album, Goodbye Cruel World.

"Let Them All Talk" redirects here. For the 2020 film, see Let Them All Talk (film).

Punch the Clock
Studio album by
Elvis Costello and the Attractions
Released5 August 1983
RecordedJanuary–April 1983
Genre
Length45:19
LabelF-Beat
Producer
Elvis Costello and the Attractions chronology
Imperial Bedroom
(1982)		 Punch the Clock
(1983)		 Goodbye Cruel World
(1984)

Punch the Clock was ranked as the best album of 1983 by NME; thirty years later, it placed at number 345 in the magazine's list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time".

Critical reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[3]
Blender[4]
Chicago Tribune[5]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[6]
Entertainment WeeklyA[7]
Mojo[8]
Rolling Stone[9]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[10]
Sounds[11]
Uncut[12]
The Village VoiceB+[13]

At the end of 1983, Punch the Clock was named the best album of the year by NME.[14] In The Village Voice's annual Pazz & Jop critics' poll for the year's best albums, Punch the Clock finished at number 11.[15]

In a retrospective write-up, Trouser Press called the album "another tour de force."[16] In 2013, NME ranked Punch the Clock at number 345 in its list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time".[17]

Track listing

All songs written by Elvis Costello unless otherwise indicated.

Side one

  1. "Let Them All Talk" – 3:06
  2. "Everyday I Write the Book" – 3:54
  3. "The Greatest Thing" – 3:04
  4. "The Element Within Her" – 2:52
  5. "Love Went Mad" – 3:13
  6. "Shipbuilding" (Clive Langer, Costello) – 4:53

Side two

  1. "T.K.O. (Boxing Day)" – 3:28
  2. "Charm School" – 3:55
  3. "The Invisible Man" – 3:04
  4. "Mouth Almighty" – 3:04
  5. "King of Thieves" – 3:45
  6. "Pills and Soap" – 3:43
  7. "The World and His Wife" – 3:32

Bonus tracks (1995 Rykodisc)

  1. "Heathen Town" – 3:10
  2. "The Flirting Kind" – 3:00
  3. "Walking on Thin Ice" (Yoko Ono) – 3:52
  4. "The Town Where Time Stood Still" – 3:32
  5. "Shatterproof" (Demo) – 2:19
  6. "The World and his Wife" (Live) – 3:13
  7. "Everyday I Write the Book" (Live) – 2:21

Bonus disc (2003 Rhino)

  1. "Everyday I Write the Book" (Alternate version) – 2:22
  2. "Baby Pictures" – 1:30
  3. "Heathen Town" – 3:10
  4. "The Flirting Kind" – 3:00
  5. "Walking on Thin Ice" (Ono) – 3:52
  6. "Big Sister's Clothes/Stand Down, Margaret" (BBC Session) (Costello, Roger Chalery, Andy Cox, Everett Morton, David Steele, Dave Wakeling) – 5:17
  7. "Danger Zone" (BBC Session) (Percy Mayfield) – 2:18
  8. "Seconds of Pleasure" – 3:44
  9. "The Town Where Time Stood Still" – 3:33
  10. "The World and his Wife" (Solo version) – 2:44
  11. "Shatterproof" – 2:15
  12. "Heathen Town" (Demo version) – 2:17
  13. "The Flirting Kind" (Demo version) – 2:52
  14. "Let Them All Talk" (Demo version) – 2:14
  15. "King of Thieves" (Demo version) – 3:20
  16. "The Invisible Man" (Demo version) – 2:124
  17. "The Element Within Her" (Demo version) – 2:13
  18. "Love Went Mad" (Demo version) – 3:01
  19. "The Greatest Thing" (Demo version) – 2:25
  20. "Mouth Almighty" (Demo version) – 3:03
  21. "Charm School" (Demo version) – 2:17
  22. "Possession" (Live) – 2:29
  23. "Secondary Modern" (Live) – 3:02
  24. "The Bells" (Live) (Johnny Bristol, Marvin Gaye, Anna Gordy, Elgie Stover) – 4:14
  25. "Watch Your Step" (Live) – 3:22
  26. "Backstabbers/King Horse" (Live) (Leon Huff, Gene McFadden, John Whitehead, Costello) – 4:47

Note: The Rykodisc version has the original tracks and bonus tracks on one CD. The Rhino version has two CDs with the original tracks on the first CD.

Personnel
The Attractions
The TKO Horns
Additional personnel
Technical

Charts

Album

Year Chart Position
1983 Billboard Pop Albums 24

Single

Year Single Chart Position
1983 "Everyday I Write the Book" Mainstream Rock 33
1983 "Everyday I Write the Book" Pop Singles 36
1983 "Pills and Soap" UK singles[18] 16

References
  1. Browning, Boo (14 August 1983). "Elvis Costello's 'Punch the Clock'". Archived from the original on 21 June 2020. Retrieved 18 June 2020 – via www.washingtonpost.com.
  2. Holden, Stephen (9 August 1983). "Rock: Elvis Costello and His Band". Archived from the original on 20 June 2020. Retrieved 18 June 2020 – via NYTimes.com.
  3. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Punch the Clock – Elvis Costello / Elvis Costello & the Attractions". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 20 December 2014. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
  4. Wolk, Douglas (March 2005). "Elvis Costello: Punch the Clock". Blender. No. 34. Archived from the original on 4 February 2005. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
  5. Kot, Greg (2 June 1991). "The Sounds Of Elvis, From San Francisco And Beyond". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on 28 October 2020. Retrieved 7 December 2015.
  6. Larkin, Colin (2011). "Costello, Elvis". The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th concise ed.). London: Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0-85712-595-8.
  7. White, Armond (10 May 1991). "Elvis Costello's albums". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 7 February 2021. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
  8. Doyle, Tom (November 2018). "Band Substance". Mojo. No. 300. p. 59.
  9. Connelly, Christopher (1 September 1983). "Punch The Clock". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 14 December 2020. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
  10. Sheffield, Rob (2004). "Elvis Costello". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). New York: Simon & Schuster. pp. 193–95. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8. Archived from the original on 13 December 2020. Retrieved 30 November 2011.
  11. Pouncey, Edwin (30 July 1983). "Time is on my side". Sounds. p. 61.
  12. Wilde, Jon (October 2003). "Mouth Almighty". Uncut. No. 77. p. 132.
  13. Christgau, Robert (11 November 1983). "Christgau's Consumer Guide". The Village Voice. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
  14. "NME's best albums and tracks of 1983". NME. 10 October 2016. Archived from the original on 2 December 2021. Retrieved 13 March 2018.
  15. "The 1983 Pazz & Jop Critics Poll". The Village Voice. 28 February 1984. Archived from the original on 1 June 2019. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  16. Young, Jon; Robbins, Ira. "Elvis Costello". Trouser Press. Archived from the original on 19 June 2020. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
  17. "The 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time: 400–301". NME. 23 October 2013. Archived from the original on 12 November 2021. Retrieved 12 December 2021.
  18. "pills and soap | full Official Chart History | Official Charts Company". Officialcharts.com. Archived from the original on 14 December 2020. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
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