PUNCH THE CLOCK

ORIGINAL ALBUM (45:32)
  1. Let Them All Talk (3:06)
  2. Everyday I Write The Book (3:52)
  3. The Greatest Thing (3:02)
  4. The Element Within Her (2:51)
  5. Love Went Mad (3:11)
  6. Shipbuilding (4:50)
  7. TKO (Boxing Day) (3:28)
  8. Charm School (3:52)
  9. The Invisible Man (3:04)
  10. Mouth Almighty (3:02)
  11. King Of Thieves (3:44)
  12. Pills And Soap (3:42)
  13. The World And His Wife (3:24)
BONUS DISC (77:45)
  1. Everyday I Write The Book (alternate version) (2:20)
  2. Baby Pictures (1:28)
  3. Heathen Town (3:05)
  4. The Flirting Kind (2:57)
  5. Walking On Thin Ice (3:44)
  6. Big Sister's Clothes / Stand Down Margaret (BBC session) (5:14)
  7. Danger Zone (BBC session) (2:15)
  8. Seconds Of Pleasure (3:42)
  9. The Town Where Time Stood Still (3:30)
  10. The World And His Wife (solo version) (2:41)
  11. Shatterproof (2:14)
  12. Heathen Town (demo) (2:16)
  13. The Flirting Kind (demo) (2:50)
  14. Let Them All Talk (demo) (2:12)
  15. King Of Thieves (demo) (3:17)
  16. The Invisible Man (demo) (2:10)
  17. The Element Within Her (demo) (2:13)
  18. Love Went Mad (demo) (3:00)
  19. The Greatest Thing (demo) (2:23)
  20. Mouth Almighty (demo) (3:00)
  21. Charm School (demo) (2:14)
  22. Possession (live) (2:29)
  23. Secondary Modern (live) (3:02)
  24. The Bells (live) (4:14)
  25. Watch Your Step (live) (3:22)
  26. Back Stabbers / King Horse (live) (4:47)
The 20 unreleased tracks on Punch The Clock constitute the largest amount of unreleased material on any bonus disc. New are three outtakes from the album sessions, two tracks from a BBC session, ten home demos, and five tracks from the Punch The Clock tour.

With the disc filled to capacity with mostly high-quality material, it is hard to complain about what's missing. However, completists will want to hold onto the Rykodisc release, as the new edition lacks its live renditions of "The World And His Wife" and "Everyday I Write The Book," which have been replaced by similar studio versions of the same songs. It is also noteworthy that the bonus disc lacks "Party Party," the A-side of a Costello single which has never appeared on any Costello album. Another key non-album track from the Punch The Clock era, "Tomorrow's (Just Another Day)" appears instead on the Goodbye Cruel World bonus disc.

Punch The Clock was recorded at AIR Studios, London, in early 1983.

WHAT'S NEW
EVERYDAY I WRITE THE BOOK (ALTERNATE VERSION)
"Everyday I Write The Book" was written with a "Mersey Beat"-style arrangement in mind, and Rykodisc's Punch The Clock included a live performance which reflected that original concept. Rhino's bonus disc drops that live track in favor of this studio recording with the same basic arrangement. Although recorded during the Punch The Clock sessions, it bears little resemblance to the sound of the finished album.

BABY PICTURES
"Baby Pictures" was performed in concert on only two occasions in December 1982 (despite Elvis' recollection in the liner notes, it was never played on his solo tours, which began in 1984) and was never released in any form prior to this collection. Unfortunately, by the time this version was recorded during the Punch The Clock sessions, what was originally a slow piano-based ballad had been transformed into a clunky uptempo number. The absence of the song's original opening verse results in a very brief running time.

BIG SISTER'S CLOTHES / STAND DOWN MARGARET (BBC SESSION)
DANGER ZONE (BBC SESSION)
Like most BBC recordings, these had appeared on numerous bootlegs prior to this first official release. They were recorded June 9, 1983 at the BBC's Maida Vale Studio 4.

THE WORLD AND HIS WIFE (SOLO VERSION)
Like "Everyday I Write The Book," this studio recording replaces the similar live version from Ryko's Punch The Clock. Although this was recorded during the Punch The Clock sessions, it seems unlikely that it was intended as anything more than a demo.

HEATHEN TOWN (DEMO)
THE FLIRTING KIND (DEMO)
LET THEM ALL TALK (DEMO)
KING OF THIEVES (DEMO)
THE INVISIBLE MAN (DEMO)
THE ELEMENT WITHIN HER (DEMO)
LOVE WENT MAD (DEMO)
THE GREATEST THING (DEMO)
MOUTH ALMIGHTY (DEMO)
CHARM SCHOOL (DEMO)
This lengthy sequence of home demos for eight of the Punch The Clock songs and both key B-sides from the period provides an opportunity to hear these songs prior to being reworked by producers Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley. Most if not all of these were recorded over a short period after Langer had encouraged Elvis to write more uptempo material for the album. The demo for "The Flirting Kind," the most likely candidate to have not been among the batch of uptempo material, had been given an intriguing mention in Elvis' liner notes for the Ryko edition, but its first public airing was on the Rhino.

POSSESSION (LIVE, AUSTIN, SEP. 7, 1983)
SECONDARY MODERN (LIVE, AUSTIN, SEP. 7, 1983)
THE BELLS (LIVE, AUSTIN, SEP. 7, 1983)
WATCH YOUR STEP (LIVE, AUSTIN, SEP. 7, 1983)
BACK STABBERS / KING HORSE (LIVE, AUSTIN, SEP. 7, 1983)
All but one of these five live tracks make prominent use of the TKO Horns. The exception is the cover of The Originals' "The Bells," which is notable for being otherwise unrecorded by Elvis. All but "The Bells" had long been available on the bootleg The Gangster Is Back.

WHAT'S OLD (BUT NOT ON THE RYKO CD)

SECONDS OF PLEASURE
 This version of "Seconds Of Pleasure" was recorded January 20, 1982 at Am-Pro Studios by Costello & Nieve. It was first released on the Ryko Imperial Bedroom but has been moved to Punch The Clock in Rhino's reissue program.

RYKO REPEATS
HEATHEN TOWN
THE FLIRTING KIND
 "Heathen Town" and "The Flirting Kind" were recorded during the Punch The Clock sessions but left off the album, apparently due to conflicting with the overall sound of the album rather than any deficiencies with the songs themselves. "Heathen Town" was issued on the B-side of "Everyday I Write The Book," while "The Flirting Kind" was the B-side of "Let Them All Talk." Both were included on Out Of Our Idiot.

WALKING ON THIN ICE
Elvis' contribution to Every Man Has A Woman, a collection of Yoko Ono songs by various artists, was recorded with producer Allen Toussaint at Sea Saint Studios in New Orleans in September 1983 during the Punch The Clock tour. It was later included on Out Of Our Idiot. Rhino's version begins with a count-in not on previous releases.

THE TOWN WHERE TIME STOOD STILL
 "The Town Where Time Stood Still" was played one time in concert August 29. 1981, but it was otherwise unheard until this somewhat lo-fi 1982 recording from Eden Studios was released on Ryko's Punch The Clock. Elvis plays all the instruments aside from Pete Thomas' drum loop. An earlier full-band performance has since become available on Rhino's Imperial Bedroom.

SHATTERPROOF
 Released for the first time on the Ryko CD, this has a different sound from the other home demos on the bonus disc and was probably recorded separately. "Shatterproof" was eventually released by Billy Bremner in 1984, but it is unclear whether the song was already intended for him at the time the demo was recorded.

WHAT'S MISSING (RELEASED RECORDINGS)
PARTY PARTY
    [A-side of single]
Elvis has made no secret of his embarrassment over his December 1982 single. This lightweight but entertaining title song from a forgotten movie was excluded from both the Ryko and Rhino reissues of Punch The Clock, where it could have fit nicely since the song's horn section effectively introduced the Punch The Clock sound. However, "Party Party" was included on the Singles, Volume 2 box set in October 2003. (The track had actually made a low-key CD debut when the Party Party soundtrack album was released in that format in 1995.)

THE WORLD AND HIS WIFE (LIVE, LONDON, DEC. 24, 1982)
    [Punch The Clock Ryko CD & 1995 Demon CD]
 EVERYDAY I WRITE THE BOOK (LIVE, LONDON, DEC. 24, 1982)
     [Punch The Clock Ryko CD & 1995 Demon CD]
These live tracks were excluded from the Rhino bonus disc in favor of similar studio recordings. Elvis' Rhino liner notes describe them as "lo-fi," but to these ears the more significant problem is that they run about 3% too slow.

PILLS AND SOAP (EXTENDED VERSION)
    [B-side of "Pills And Soap"]
Elvis' earliest foray into the world of extended remixes seems like more of a joke than a serious attempt at a remix. The song is extended by 26 seconds by doing little more than repeating a 26-second segment of the song. (It also includes a brief vocal part which does not appear anywhere in the original version.) The "extended version" made its only CD appearance to date on Singles, Volume 2.

EVERYDAY I WRITE THE BOOK (EXTENDED MIX)
    ["Everyday I Write The Book" UK 12-inch single]
EVERYDAY I WRITE THE BOOK (SPECIAL VERSION)
    ["Everyday I Write The Book" US 12-inch single]
EVERYDAY I WRITE THE BOOK (INSTRUMENTAL)
    ["Everyday I Write The Book" US 12-inch single]
LET THEM ALL TALK (EXTENDED REMIX)
    ["Let Them All Talk" 12-inch single]
These remixes seem to be intended more seriously, even if the results are sometimes laughable. All can be found on Singles, Volume 3.

WHAT'S MISSING (UNRELEASED & UNRECORDED)

EVERYDAY I WRITE THE BOOK (REGGAE VERSION)
The initial track listing for the bonus disc included this intriguing and previously unknown outtake from the Punch The Clock sessions, but it was eventually dropped from the lineup.

WATCHING THE DETECTIVES (LIVE, AUSTIN, SEP. 7, 1983)
I CAN'T STAND UP FOR FALLING DOWN (LIVE, AUSTIN, SEP. 7, 1983)
Also dropped after being slated for the bonus disc, these performances are less mysterious, having long been available on the bootleg The Gangster Is Back. (There are, of course, several additional songs available from this concert. The Elvis Costello Home Page has the complete setlist.)

BABY PICTURES (BALLAD VERSION)
Chances are that the bonus disc's version of "Baby Pictures" is the only studio recording of the song, but since the song was performed at the same concert which produced the previously available live versions of "The World And His Wife" and "Everyday I Write The Book," it seems very likely that a reasonably good live recording of the original arrangement is available. It seems possible that a demo could exist as well.


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