After three albums -- This Year's Model, Armed Forces, and Get Happy -- with
Elvis Costello,
the Attractions got to make their own album with Mad About The Boy. Not surprisingly, with its organ textures (courtesy of
Steve Nieve) and martial drumming (by
Pete Thomas), the album recreates the sound the band had achieved on the
Costello albums, while the lyrics share the same arch attitude, if not the facility, of
Costello's. Basically, this is a curiosity for
Costello fans. It was issued with a free seven-inch EP containing four
Steve Nieve keyboard instrumentals "from the film Outline Of A Hairdo." The album was never released in the U.S. [The Demon CD reissue contains the entire original LP and the entire Diary of a Haircut EP.] ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
