Punch the Clock is the eighth studio album by the English singer-songwriter Elvis Costello, and his seventh with the Attractions—keyboardist Steve Nieve, bassist Bruce Thomas and drummer Pete Thomas (no relation). It was released on 5 August 1983 through F-Beat Records in the United Kingdom and Columbia Records in the United States. Produced by Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley, the album was Costello's attempt at making a commercial record following years of dwindling commercial success. It was recorded at London's AIR Studios in early 1983 and features contributions from the TKO Horns and Afrodiziak.
Featuring genres such as new wave, pop rock, R&B and soul, commentators have compared the album's sound to Costello's previous records Armed Forces (1979) and Get Happy!! (1980). The songs are filled with catchy choruses and lyrics covering relationships and political themes. The record contains Costello's version of "Shipbuilding", co-written with Langer and featuring a trumpet solo by Chet Baker. The album takes its title from a lyric in "The Greatest Thing" and the cover artwork was designed by Phil Smee.
Extensively promoted through live performances, Punch the Clock yielded Costello's first US Top 40 hit, "Everyday I Write the Book". "Pills and Soap" was released as a single under a pseudonym and through Costello's own IMP label, which reached number 16 in the UK. The album was his best-selling since Get Happy!!, reaching number three in the UK and number 24 in the US, eventually certified gold in both countries. Despite its success, Costello later expressed disdain for the record, finding its sound dated.
The album received mixed-to-positive reviews from music critics on release and in later decades. Many highlighted individual tracks, particularly "Shipbuilding" and "Pills and Soap", but felt it was below the standards set by his previous works. Nevertheless, NME ranked Punch the Clock the best album of 1983 and, thirty years later, number 345 in their list of "the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". It has been reissued multiple times with bonus tracks.
Background
Elvis Costello released his seventh studio album Imperial Bedroom in July 1982. Despite receiving critical acclaim, its modest commercial performance forced the artist to reevaluate his musical style. His American label, Columbia Records, remained eager for another success akin to 1979's Armed Forces and showed little interest in his less-commercial works. He had garnered a loyal fanbase—largely through his own merits—but Costello knew his heavily artistic and challenging material was doing him more harm than good, so he decided to change direction with his next record. Having already co-written the song "Shipbuilding" with producer Clive Langer for musician Robert Wyatt, whose original version charted at number 36 in the UK in May 1983, Costello chose Langer and his production partner Alan Winstanley to produce his next album. Langer and Winstanley were one of the most popular production teams in Britain at the time, having recently had several hit singles with groups such as Madness, Dexys Midnight Runners and the Teardrop Explodes.
Costello and his backing band the Attractions—keyboardist Steve Nieve, bassist Bruce Thomas and drummer Pete Thomas—toured Britain from mid-September to early-October 1982, road-testing several new songs that would appear on his next album, including his own interpretation of "Shipbuilding" and "Everyday I Write the Book",
Punch the Clock received mixed-to-positive reviews from music critics. In NME, Lock wrote that if it is "a step back from the stunning sophistication of Imperial Bedroom," Punch the Clock is "perhaps a step toward pop survival".
Amongst positive reviews, Pouncey described Punch the Clock as an "enjoyable listening experience" in Sounds, praising the performances of Costello, the Attractions and TKO Horns. He concluded: "If you were to judge this particular 'book' by its cover then you'd probably drop it like a hot potato, but once inside you'll be amply rewarded." In a five-star review for Record Mirror, Mike Gardner declared Punch the Clock "a vital collection that holds its head up high even amongst Elvis' vast legacy". Several felt Costello remained one of the best songwriters of the era. Rolling Stone Christopher Connelly declared it "a satisfying, if unstartling, opus", one that contains what fans expect of him: "terrific tunes, take-it-or-leave-it singing and jaw-breaking wordplay that baffles as much as it enlightens." Other critics commented on Costello's change in musical direction; Langer and Winstanley's production received both positive and negative comments.
Punch the Clock has received mixed reviews in later decades. Writing in 1991, Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune considered the album "a partially successful stab at mainstream success", while Lee Zimmerman of Goldmine wrote that it includes some of Costello's best songs of the era and some of his most successful. More unfavourably, Erlewine deemed Punch the Clock the artist's "least consistent set of original songs" up to that point, finding most of the material falls short of his standards. Erlewine enjoyed the production but found the uneven songwriting means "only portions" of the album as a whole are memorable. A year later in 2022, Michael Gallucci placed it at number 10 (out of 29) in Ultimate Classic Rock, while Spin Al Shipley placed it at number 23 (out of 31). Both gave high praise to "Shipbuilding" but found the production becomes overbearing at times. In 2013, NME ranked Punch the Clock at number 345 in its list of "the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time".
Reissues
Punch the Clock was first released on CD through Columbia and Demon in January 1988. Its first extended reissue through Demon in the UK and Rykodisc in the US on CD came on 24 February 1995, which included a slew of bonus tracks and Bubbles' original artwork.
Punch the Clock was again reissued by Rhino Records on 9 September 2003 as a two-disc set with additional bonus tracks, totalling 40. The 2003 reissue was positively received.
Track listing
All songs are written by Elvis Costello, except where noted.
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| scope="row"|Dutch Albums (MegaCharts)
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| scope="row"|US Billboard Top LPs & Tape
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