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 major career step. 

 

The collection contains 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 all analog).

 

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. 

 

It was produced by Elvis Costello and Steve Berkowitz.

As a preview, Costello has shared a selection of highlights from the box set: “Watching The Detectives” is available to hear as 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; a solo electric performance from the UK television program Good Afternoon, which aired on September 30, 1977, accompanied by a short excerpt from Costello’s first-ever TV interview; and a 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.

 

“When first proposed, I thought the whole idea of celebrating a 50th Anniversary of My Aim Is True was preposterous,” Costello writes at the beginning of the collection. “It made my teeth itch.” He continues: “It couldn’t just be set up like a venerable object in a glass case.”

 

Instead, My Aim Is True (49th Anniversary Edition) presents the album as the beginning of a still-unfolding story. Its first disc pairs the original album with “Watching The Detectives,” creating a hybrid of the original U.K. and U.S. track listings. Recorded with producer Nick Lowe and the Marin County band Clover during four six-hour sessions at Pathway Studios, the album emerged with little budget, limited overdubbing and Costello singing live on nearly every track.

“Last night I listened to this wonderfully wonky record in its entirety for the first time in about 45 years,” Lowe writes in a new note for the set, recalling Pathway’s unforgettably heady atmosphere of “cigarettes, ill-laundered clothes, exposed electrical units, and urinal disinfectant.” He adds that making the album gave him “the priceless opportunity to observe at close range the extraordinary work of one of the foremost composers of popular song of this or any other era.”

The second disc, The Blue Print, gathers 17 recordings from 1975 and 1976, including 13 previously unreleased. The songs span bedroom tapes, early Pathway recordings and 13 performances from a 1976 session at the Hope & Anchor Studio. Also included is a recording preserved by Costello’s ‘70s contemporary Charlie Dore, who just recently discovered a reel she taped of Costello trying out songs during a blazing London afternoon in 1976. 

 

“The more I’ve delved into these notebooks, the more I’ve come to the conclusion that these handwritten notes might actually be ‘The Blue Print’ for a lot of the work I did over the next five or six years,” Costello writes.

The Stranger In The House contains 28 demos, outtakes and early band recordings, 15 of which have never been released, including every surviving outtake and demo from My Aim Is True. The disc reaches back to Flip City, the band Costello describes as “Pre-Professional:” “In the so-called Pub Rock scene, we barely qualified as also-rans. We were ready and we were willing, but the bookings were few and our progress was slow.” It also includes more of Ms. Dore’s tapes, and follows the evolution of songs including “(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes” and “Living In Paradise” through the session that produced “Watching The Detectives.”

Costello’s 72-page liners include commentary and recollections from Nick Lowe, Columbia Records' Gregg Geller, as well as Attractions keyboardist Steve Nieve and drummer Pete Thomas. 

 

The fourth disc, Becoming The Attractions, opens with a solo performance of “Alison,” from Elvis Costello’s U.K. television debut to his first live appearances under his new name. Its 25 tracks, 12 previously unreleased, include live recordings, broadcasts and a Nashville Room soundcheck from the summer of 1977. 

Noted music journalist Bill Flanagan chronicles Costello’s arrival in America. Further recollections from Warren Zanes, Rosanne Cash, Peter Wolf (then of the J. Geils Band), and Jim James of My Morning Jacket (a bandmate in the "New Basement Tapes" studio collective) accompany Costello’s account of the first American trip. 

 

The collection closes with Covered In Clover, an entirely unreleased recording of Costello’s 2007 reunion with Clover at San Francisco’s Great American Music Hall. Performing My Aim Is True in its original U.K. sequence before concluding with “Watching The Detectives,” Costello and the musicians return to the songs they had recorded together three decades earlier. 

 

“Making my first record seemed like the beginning of something that I’d imagined for a long time, before I had any sense of a potential audience, let alone the expectation and the assumptions of others about songs written and performed in mere minutes,” Costello writes. “Nevertheless, I raise a chaste glass to My Aim Is True and all who sail in her.”

My Aim Is True (49th Anniversary Edition) will be released October 2 via UMe as a 5-CD/digital box set. The new remaster of the original album will also be released on 180-gram black vinyl and CD. Pre-order all formats HERE.

Track List
** Denotes previously unreleased

CD1: My Aim Is True

 

1. Welcome To The Working Week - 2026 Remaster
2. Miracle Man - 2026 Remaster
3. No Dancing - 2026 Remaster
4. Blame It On Cain - 2026 Remaster
5. Alison - 2026 Remaster
6. Sneaky Feelings - 2026 Remaster
7. (The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes - 2026 Remaster
8. Less Than Zero - 2026 Remaster
9. Mystery Dance - 2026 Remaster
10. Pay It Back - 2026 Remaster
11. I'm Not Angry - 2026 Remaster
12. Waiting For The End Of The World - 2026 Remaster
13. Watching The Detectives - Single Version

 

CD2: The Blue Print

 

1. I Turn Around - Hope & Anchor Studio**
2. Losing You - Hope & Anchor Studio**
3. Leverman - Hope & Anchor Studio**
4. Citizen Junction - Hope & Anchor Studio**
5. I Hear A Melody - Pathway Studios
6. Poison Moon - Bedroom Recording
7. Wave A White Flag - Bedroom Recording
8. Mercury Wings - Ms. Dore’s Tape**
9. Jump Up - Hope & Anchor Studio**
10. No Star - Hope & Anchor Studio**
11. Walk On - Hope & Anchor Studio**
12. Radio Soul - Hope & Anchor Studio**
13. Clean Money - Hope & Anchor Studio**
14. Don’t Put A Levy On My Love - Hope & Anchor Studio**
15. Play It Safe - Hope & Anchor Studio**
16. Imagination (Is A Powerful Deceiver) - Hope & Anchor Studio**
17. I Can’t Turn It Off - Hope & Anchor Studio

CD3: The Stranger In The House

1. Radio Sweetheart - My Aim Is True Outtake
2. Cheap Reward - Bedroom Recording
3. Mystery Dance - Bedroom Recording
4. Stranger In The House - My Aim Is True Outtake
5. Running Out Of Angels - Hope & Anchor Studio**
6. Just Like A Jukebox - Hope & Anchor Studio**
7. I Don’t Want To Go Home - Pathway Studios
8. Blame It On Cain - Bedroom Recording
9. Blue Minute - Ms. Dore’s Tape**
10. Pay It Back - Bedroom Recording **
11. Exiles Road - Flip City - Hope & Anchor Studio**
12. Knockin' On Heaven’s Door - Flip City - Hope & Anchor Studio**
13. Sweet Revival - Flip City - Hope & Anchor Studio**
14. Pay It Back - Flip City - Hope & Anchor Studio**
15. Imagination (Is A Powerful Deceiver) - Flip City - Hope & Anchor Studio**
16. Living In Paradise - Hope & Anchor Studio**
17. Welcome To The Working Week - Pathway Studios
18. Miracle Man - Bedroom Recording**
19. Miracle Man - Pathway Studios
20. (The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes - Ms. Dore’s Tape**
21. (The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes - Pathway Studios
22. Waiting For The End Of The World - Pathway Studios
23. Living In Paradise - My Aim Is True Outtake
24. Call On Me - Pathway Studios
25. Watching The Detectives - Pathway Studios Trio Version**
26. No Action - Pathway Studios Trio Version
27. Poison Moon - Ms. Dore’s Tape**
28. Stranger In The House - Ms. Dore’s Tape**

 

CD4: Becoming The Attractions

1. Alison - What’s On Granada Reports
2. Introduction By Dave Robinson - Live, The Nashville Room
3. Mystery Dance - Live, The Nashville Room
4. Pay It Back - Soundcheck, The Nashville Room
5. Radio Sweetheart - Soundcheck, The Nashville Room
6. Sneaky Feelings - Soundcheck, The Nashville Room
7. Crawling To The U.S.A. - Soundcheck, The Nashville Room
8. Lip Service - Pathway Studios**
9. (The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes- with Introduction Top Of The Pops**
10. Interview No. 1 - Good Afternoon with Mavis Nicholson
11. Watching The Detectives - Good Afternoon Broadcast**
12. Interview No. 2 - Good Afternoon with Mavis Nicholson
13. Hoover Factory - Good Afternoon Rehearsal**
14. I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself - Live Stiffs, University of East Anglia, Norwich, U.K.
15. Whole Wide World - Live Stiffs, University Of Leicester, Leicester, U.K.**
16. KSAN Intro - Old Waldorf, San Francisco, CA
17. Pump It Up - Old Waldorf, San Francisco, CA**
18. Lip Service - Unknown Field Recording**
19. Mystery Dance - Winterland Ballroom, San Francisco, CA**
20. Blame It On Cain - Winterland Ballroom, San Francisco, CA**
21. Less Than Zero (Dallas Version) - Warner Theater, Washington D.C.
22. Waiting For The End Of The World - The Agora Ballroom, Cleveland, OH**
23. Miracle Man - Warner Theater, Washington D.C.
24. Watching The Detectives - Winterland Ballroom, San Francisco, CA**
25. I’m Not Angry - Winterland Ballroom, San Francisco, CA**

 

CD5: Covered In Clover

1. Welcome To The Working Week (Live - Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, CA - November 8, 2007)**
2. Miracle Man (Live - Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, CA - November 8, 2007)**
3. No Dancing (Live - Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, CA - November 8, 2007)**
4. Intro To Blame It On Cain (Live - Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, CA - November 8, 2007)**
5. Blame It On Cain (Live - Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, CA - November 8, 2007)**
6. Alison (Live - Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, CA - November 8, 2007)**
7. Intro To Sneaky Feelings (Live - Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, CA - November 8, 2007)**
8. Sneaky Feelings (Live - Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, CA - November 8, 2007)**
9. Intro To Red Shoes (Live - Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, CA - November 8, 2007)**
10. (The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes (Live - Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, CA - November 8, 2007)**
11. Less Than Zero (Live - Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, CA - November 8, 2007)**
12. Mystery Dance (Live - Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, CA - November 8, 2007)**
13. Pay It Back (Live - Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, CA - November 8, 2007)**
14. I'm Not Angry (Live - Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, CA - November 8, 2007)**
15. Waiting For The End Of The World / Gloria (Live - Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, CA - November 8, 2007)**
16. Watching The Detectives (Live - Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, CA - November 8, 2007)**
17. Mr. Moon (Live - Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, CA - November 8, 2007)**
18. Intro To The Love Trilogy (Live - Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, CA - November 8, 2007)**
19. Love Has No Pride (Live - Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, CA - November 8, 2007)**
20. Love Is Gone (Live - Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, CA - November 8, 2007)**
21. (What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding (Live - Great American Music H

Tour Dates - Elvis Costello & The Imposters with Charlie Sexton

 

Aug 8, 2026 - Old Whaling Church - Edgartown, MA
Sep 10, 2026 - American Music Theatre - Lancaster, PA
Sep 12, 2026 - OLG Stage at Fallsview Casino - Niagara Falls, Canada
Sep 13, 2026 - Agora Theatre - Cleveland, OH
Sep 15, 2026 - Packard Music Hall - Warren, OH
Sep 16, 2026 - Royal Oak Music Theatre - Royal Oak, MI
Sep 18, 2026 – Frauenthal Theater - Muskegon, MI
Sep 20, 2026 - Riot Fest 2026 - Douglass Park - Chicago, IL
Sep 24, 2026 - Botti at Sea III - Victoria, Canada