Count them as they fall

The songs that Elvis Costello and the Attractions recorded in 1977 and 1978 feel as alive and dangerous now as when they were first let loose on a startled public. “No Action,” “This Year’s Girl,” “The Beat,” “Pump It Up,” “(I Don’t Want To Go To) Chelsea,” “Night Rally,” “Radio Radio,” “Tiny Steps” are at turns angry, submissive, challenging, and impotent—all in a day’s work. They incisively dramatize the wounded persona, so cuttingly articulate and prone to lashing out, that Costello perfected...