On October 2, UMe will release My Aim Is True (49th Anniversary Edition), a five-CD box set telling the story of how Declan MacManus became Elvis Costello – and how his debut album, recorded in a small London studio, was the first public step in a singular and enduring career. Pre-order all formats here.
Across 104 tracks, demos, masters, outtakes, live performances, interviews, and other rare recordings (52 of them previously unreleased), plus a new 2026 remaster of the original album from the original analog tapes (the vinyl original album is AAA all analog), the collection traces Costello’s transformation from a young computer operator through his brief attempts to break into the London “singer-songwriter” scene while recording songs in his bedroom.
Dreaming of them being sung by other artists; to eventually recording three failed singles for Stiff Records; ‘Less Than Zero,’ ‘Alison,’ and ‘(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes’ with members of the American band Clover, before forming the Attractions and having a U.K. hit single with ‘Watching The Detectives’ on which only Costello and Steve Nieve appeared.
Each of its five discs – My Aim Is True, The Blue Print, The Stranger In The House, Becoming The Attractions and Covered In Clover (the only live performance of Costello and Clover) – is accompanied by extensive new writing from Costello, alongside rare and unseen photographs, handwritten lyrics from his notebooks and diary entries from 1976, and lists of songs he was performing solo, as then he was being rejected by every publisher and A&R man in London before Stiff Records heard something in his songs.
As a preview, Costello has shared a selection of highlights from the box set, illustrating the evolution of one of his most beloved early songs, ‘Watching The Detectives.’ Available to hear today are four previously unreleased recordings: the ‘Pathway Studios Trio Version’ (Costello on guitar/vocals, Andrew Bodnar on bass, Steve Goulding on drums). A mix without either the introductory ‘Spy Guitar’ figure or any keyboards added that would come to define the song.
A formative solo electric performance from the UK television programme Good Afternoon, hosted by Mavis Nicholson, which aired on September 30, 1977, accompanied by a short excerpt from Costello’s first-ever TV interview. And a swaggering live performance with The Attractions from San Francisco’s Winterland Ballroom on July 8, 1978, alongside the newly remastered 2026 version of the original recording. Stream the tracks HERE.
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