some positive reviews. In a five-star review for Record Mirror, Eleanor Levy described it as "a bitter-sweet album", one that is "laced perfectly with Costello's inevitable humour", and is the artist at "his most biting, musically and lyrically". Allan Jones was also positive in Melody Maker, finding it Costello's "most approachable" album since Trust, praising the performances of the Attractions over previous records, and concluding: "It isn't just a great album, it's a great Elvis Costello album." Hot Press Declan Lynch highlighted the writing and playing as "accurate, scathing, melancholic and touching", ultimately calling the record further proof of the artist being "an immaculate songwriter, with a conscience". Comparing Goodbye Cruel World to Punch the Clock, Sounds magazine's Jay Williams described the former as more subdued but "retains all the hallmarks, all the catchlines, the bittersweet asides and the emotional intricacies which have come to characterise his work". In The New York Times, Holden dubbed it "an ambitious extension of the touching-all-bases eclecticism that Mr. Costello delineated in his previous two albums". Critic Robert Christgau of The Village Voice deemed Goodbye Cruel World "another solid if unspectacular effort" from the artist. In The Village Voices annual Pazz & Jop critics poll for the year's best albums, Goodbye Cruel World placed at number 70, Costello's worst placement up to that point. Legacy Although he hated the record on its initial release, Costello's view on Goodbye Cruel World has lightened in subsequent decades. Describing it as "the worst record of the best songs that I've written", he felt the lyrics were stronger than Punch the Clock, but believed its production led to the songs' lack of success; in the 2004 liner notes, he deemed Nieve's Yamaha DX7 synthesiser as having dated the record's sound more. He also regretted bringing back Langer and Winstanley as producers. The former even recalled, upon receiving a final copy: "I remember listening to it and saying, 'Oh fuck, it's no good.' It's a crap album." Although their future with the artist had been unclear, particularly following Costello's dismissal of them during the sessions for King of America (1986), Costello brought the Attractions back for Blood & Chocolate (1986). Bruce Thomas later said that Goodbye Cruel World "would have been a rotten album to end on." Retrospective reviews Later reviewers consider Goodbye Cruel World one of Costello's weakest releases. Commentators agree that its decent material was marred by