Seeking to reverse flagging album sales, Costello recruited the production team of Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley, who were fresh off a run of charting hits for the band Madness. The pairing proves a strange and largely dissonant one, with Langer and Winstanley’s claustrophobic horns and countless overdubs only serving to up the ante on the Attractions’ already frenetic flailing. This leads to some moments of genuine excitement – album opener “Let Them All Talk” is a gloriously demented thrill ride/headache – and Costello’s material overall is mostly good to excellent. Nevertheless, over the course of thirteen tracks, the overwhelming sonics become fatiguing. One of the albums’ few deep breaths is the lovely “Shipbuilding,” a powerful anti-war ballad featuring a gorgeous solo from the legendary trumpeter/crooner Chet Baker, shortly before his death.