The Imposter - "Pills And Soap" (Imp Records)

The Imposter – “Pills and Soap” (IMP Records)
Price: £1
This is far from my favorite Elvis Costello single, but is perfect for a blog about cheap records because of how completely overlooked it has been. “Pills And Soap” was the first single Mr. Costello released under his alter ego “The Imposter”(the second contains the criminally underrated cut “Withered and Died”), and in 1983, it was hardly early in his career. The single came out around the same time as “Punch The Clock” but is more overtly political than anything on the album. The anti-Thatcher tone in this song is beautiful and worth the purchase price alone. Honestly the music is closer to Bacharach-era Costello than it is to “This Year’s Model” (my favorite album); but with lines like “You think your country needs you but you know it never will” and “Don’t dilly dally boys rally round the flag,” maybe the sparse instrumentation was a reflection of the conditions of the time.

As this picture suggests, I actually bought this in a pound bin, not a dollar bin, but same idea. And isn’t it more fitting that I buy it on Notting Hill Gate?
-RD