in the country to coincide with the event. Critical reception Trust initially received mixed-to-positive reviews from music critics in the UK. Reviewers highlighted the artist's change in tone from his earlier records and a growing maturity in the lyrics. Melody Maker Allan Jones summarised: "Costello's vision is as fierce as ever, but the malice has gone; he can still rage but he no longer scolds." Jones, who drew positive comparisons to Armed Forces, wrote that the album arrives "like a flurry of punches, pinning back your ears as it pins you to the ropes", but felt the material overall remained "too acerbic for comfortable popular consumption". In NME, Ian Penman commented that with Trust, Costello now possessed a "highly compassionate, personally political voice" but, like Jones, felt that the lyrics were too inaccessible for casual listeners. Sandy Robertson gave Trust a more negative assessment in Sounds magazine, finding a lack of focus permeated throughout the LP's first side. Although he praised Nieve's piano on "Strict Time" and "Shot With His Own Gun", Robertson ultimately felt Trust was Costello's weakest work up to that point, concluding: "Trust has much of what made Costello famous and little of what endeared him to me in the first place." Geoffrey Deane was also negative in The Face, finding it a poor retread of the artist's earlier works. On the other hand, Mike Gardner gave the album a glowing review in Record Mirror, giving praise to Lowe's production and the performances of the Attractions, labelling Bruce and Pete Thomas one of Britain's finest rhythm sections, combined with "dexterous textures" from Nieve. He concluded: "The Costello formula should be getting boring by now but while he still invests energy and care into his work and then sidesteps the pitfalls with agility and intelligence then he's going to put off the execution a few times more." In contrast, Trust received massive acclaim in the US, with Newsweek Jim Miller calling it an extraordinary record. American critics particularly emphasised the diverse musical styles, a growing maturity in the lyrics and continued to praise Costello as one of the best musicians in modern music. Some believed it was Costello's best work up to that point. A reviewer for Billboard summarised: "His lyrics show the maturity and power of an artist who is really in control [and] gone is the anger for anger's sake mentality which permeated his other releases."