Writer Amy Hempel defines editing as "cutting out all the boring  parts" - if so, this album is a masterpiece of editing.  Actually, the  songs that are left are pretty good too.  Costello has never surpassed the  energy in "I Stand Accused" or "King Horse."  And  there's a nice organ-filled Stax/Volt feel to it all.  Kind of knocked off  and sloppy, in a very disciplined way (does that make sense?) it also  doesn't sound like anything you've ever heard.  If this album came at the  death of punk music, it sure heralded a magnificent age that never quite  appeared.