was as simple as that." Nevertheless, Costello felt that he lost control of the studio and was difficult on the Attractions as a result, saying, "it's the only time I've given myself over to the production sound, rather than working in collaboration with the producer." The artist wanted the outtakes "Heathen Town" and "Flirting Kind" on the finished album, but kept "Love Went Mad" at Langer's insistence; he stated in the album's 1995 reissue liner notes that he devised a scheme to replace "Love Went Mad" with "Heathen Town" after the initial vinyl pressing. The album was mixed outside of London at Genetic Studios in Streatley, Berkshire. Music and lyrics A more rock-oriented effort than Imperial Bedroom, author Graeme Thomson described Punch the Clock as an attempt "to be a slicker, more calculated take on the pop-soul sound". Characterised by critics as new wave, pop rock, soul, and R&B, author Mick St. Michael opined that the LP showed the widest variety of musical styles since Trust. Critics drew comparisons to both Armed Forces and 1980's Get Happy!! In NME, Graham Lock identified musical references from more widely-known acts such as the Beatles to more obscure acts such as Lewis Furey. In The New York Times, Stephen Holden wrote that Punch embraces genres from 1960s soul, late Beatles psychedelia and cool jazz, "compacting and juxtaposing these allusions with a dazzling sleight of hand". AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine found Langer and Winstanley's production gives the album a "slick, glossy surface". According to author James E. Perone, the songs are filled with catchy choruses and "easy, safe wordplay". He also believed the lack of uniquely British references made Punch the Clock more accessible to American audiences compared to Costello's prior works. Lock wrote that the lyrics contain bouts of black humour are and presented with "calmness and compassion" that makes them more "chilling"; biographer Brian Hinton felt they amounted to "a terrifying world picture". He wrote: Biographer David Gouldstone found Punch the Clock to be Costello's "most sustained and powerful political statement since Armed Forces", saying that political tracks such as "Shipbuilding", "The Invisible Man", "King of Thieves" and "Pills and Soap", and others such as "Charm School" all offer a brief glimpse at "the workings of the world at large". Hinton also felt that some songs present commentaries on Thatcherism and Reaganomics, wherein humanity is "reduced to an economic transaction". Side one