Trust by Elvis Costello & the Attractions

Trust, Elvis Costello's fifth album and his fourth with the Attractions, came out on F-Beat on 23 January 1981, and it's a record made on frayed nerves. Nick Lowe produced it in London across October and November 1980, at DJM and Eden Studios, and the sessions were soaked in booze and drugs, with the band at each other's throats. Costello wanted the melodic sweep of Armed Forces married to the rhythmic kick of Get Happy!!, and he got it, then threw in jazz, rockabilly and country for good measure.

The songs are all about trust gone bad, loaded with puns and double meanings, and some of the sting comes from his own life on the road and a marriage coming apart. Squeeze's Glenn Tilbrook and the Rumour's Martin Belmont both turn up on "From a Whisper to a Scream". Costello soured on the album at first, but he came around, and so has nearly everyone else.

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