James’ Shamelessly Nostalgic A-Z Of Albums That He Liked To Listen To When He Was Younger – Part 3: Costello Music

It’s day 3 of the 2021 A-Z challenge and I can see the ‘C’. Because that is the third letter of the alphabet.

So let’s ‘C’ what album of the 00’s is on offer today.

C is for Costello Music

2006 was a bit of strange year in many respects. It was the year that I finally plucked up the courage to ask out the person that is now my wife. It was also the year that I belatedly graduated from university. I had a pretty amazing summer that year. Then September rolled around and I found myself back living in the UK after having spent a significant period of time living in Paris. And having obtained a degree I realised that I still wasn’t really qualified to do anything much. I moved to Manchester to be close to the future Mrs Proclaims, but ended up working in series of underwhelming temp jobs before landing a role that was horrifyingly similar to the role I had been doing before I went to university.

In some respects I went from feeling incredibly optimistic about the future to suffering the harshest of reality checks.

It wasn’t all bad, and Mrs Proclaims and I can still look back on some pretty happy memories from our time in Manchester, but it’s also true to say we were both pretty content to leave in the summer of 2007.

The soundtrack to that year was definitely a highlight though and a regular CD on the playlist was the debut effort of the Fratellis.

Without doubt another first offering that promised more than would be subsequently delivered in future releases, Costello Music nonetheless represents one of more memorable albums of the mid-noughties.

And certainly if you find yourself reflecting on a series of bad decisions that have resulted in you living in an overpriced rat-hole of a shared house in one of the less-salubrious parts of a city where you don’t know anyone, while working in a job that is insultingly pointless, then this album is certainly rousing enough to help you, at least temporarily, to shake off the ennui. I speak from experience.

And no track represents the high-energy joie de vivre of Costello Music better than Chelsea Dagger