The magazine ultimately deemed it "truly a work of a growing major artist". Tom Sowa of The Spokesman-Review considered Trust the best-sounding LP he's ever made and compared it positively to the artist's first three albums. In The New York Times, Robert Palmer stressed the importance of the Attractions as a backing band, writing that they have not only expanded their ranges, but sound "fuller and richer" than on Get Happy!!. He also found Costello's singing his best up to that point, particularly on "Watch Your Step", "New Lace Sleeves", "Lovers Walk" and "Different Finger". Palmer further saluted the artist for creating a body of work that remained consistently high quality. In a more subdued review, Richard Riegel of Creem considered Trust inferior to Get Happy!!, yet more accessible. On the other hand, a reviewer for Cash Box deemed it a return to form over Get Happy!!, finding it "brimming with memorable rock 'n' soul choruses" and concluding: "New wave or old, Costello remains at music's forefront." Robert Hilburn also noted more accessible music on Trust in the Los Angeles Times. Meanwhile, Trouser Press Wayne King considered multiple tracks "instant classics", including "Strict Time" and "New Lace Sleeves", and further named "Clubland" and "Shot With His Own Gun" as "killer" tracks amongst an album that features some of the artist's best singing to date. Although mostly positive, Ken Tucker found Trust contained some of the artist's "very best" and "very worst" work in Rolling Stone, stating that its "smooth sound and clever accompaniments don't yield a forthright LP". Nevertheless, he praised the intricate and detailed wordplay, the production (except for "Big Sister's Clothes") and, on the material, wrote that Costello's "words and music make exhilarating connections with pop past and pop future". In The Village Voice, Robert Christgau drew positive comparisons to This Year's Model, arguing that "this is rock and roll as eloquent, hard-hitting pop, and Elvis has turned into such a soul man that I no longer wish he'd change his name to George and go country." Trust was ranked the seventh best album of 1981 by NME and topped the year-end list by Trouser Press. In The Village Voices annual Pazz & Jop critics' poll of the year's best albums, Trust finished third, behind X's Wild Gift and the Clash's Sandinista!. Aftermath and legacy After its release, Costello was initially displeased with the record. In an interview