Keeping up his breakneck streak, Elvis Costello released his seventh album in as many years in 1983. Punch the Clock was a departure from the baroque pop of Imperial Bedroom and Costello’s most commercial-sounding album to date.

Punch the Clock was produced by Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley, a pair of Brits I’ve seen described as “hit-makers,” though I don’t recognize any of the so-called hits they produced. They brought a high-gloss sheen to Costello’s tunes, including a jaunty brass section and a pair of girl-group backing vocalists known as Afrodiziak.

Continue reading →