Editing Elvis Costello (section)

==== "Watching the Detectives" and commercial breakthrough ====
Costello used the time with Goulding and Bodnar to arrange and rehearse "[[Watching the Detectives (song)|Watching the Detectives]]". He recorded the song with them at Pathway a few days later.{{Sfn|Costello|2015|p=232}} Costello had written the song a few weeks earlier, partly inspired by [[the Clash]]'s newly released [[The Clash (album)|debut album]].{{Sfn|Costello|2015|p=234}} Some of the musical ideas, which Nieve fleshed out when he overdubbed his piano and organ parts a few weeks later, were inspired by film scores [[Bernard Herrmann]] had done for [[Alfred Hitchcock]].{{Sfn|Costello|2015|p=236}} Costello later called the recording of "Watching the Detectives" his first experience of "making records as opposed to recording some songs in a room".{{Sfn|Costello|2015|p=234}} The song would be released as a non-album single in the UK and as a track on the US version of ''My Aim Is True''.{{Sfn|St. Michael|1986|p=30}}

''My Aim Is True'' received extensive, favourable coverage in the UK music press through a combination of effective [[publicity stunt]]s, such as Costello [[Street performance|busking]] in front of the London hotel hosting the [[CBS Records International|CBS Records]] business convention, and genuine enthusiasm for his music among music journalists.{{Sfn|Thomson|2004|pp=89, 94–96}} The album reached number 14 on the [[UK Albums Chart]] within a few weeks of its release.<ref name="officialcharts.com">{{Cite web|url=http://www.officialcharts.com/artist/16558/elvis-costello/|title=Elvis Costello, Albums, My Aim Is True [show Chart Facts]|website=Official Charts|access-date=4 August 2018}}</ref> "Watching the Detectives", released in mid-October, reaching number 15 in the [[UK Singles Chart]], becoming Costello's first single to chart in any country.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.officialcharts.com/artist/16558/elvis-costello/|title=Elvis Costello, Singles, Watchin' the Detectives [show Chart Facts]|website=Official Charts|access-date=4 August 2018}}</ref><ref name="Costello-2001" /> This was the first of an unbroken streak of eight Costello singles to reach the UK top 30.<ref name="Costello-1993a">{{Cite AV media notes |title=This Years Model liner notes|title-link=This Year's Model|year=1993 |first=Elvis |last=Costello |type=inset |publisher=[[Rykodisc]]}}</ref> When Costello began touring the US in mid-November, he received prominent coverage in the US press, even though he played venues holding fewer than a thousand people.{{Sfn|Thomson|2004|p=|pp=106–107}} By this time, Costello had signed to [[Columbia Records]], who released ''My Aim Is True'' in the US in early November.<ref name="riaa.com">{{Cite web|url=https://www.riaa.com/gold-platinum/?tab_active=default-award&se=Elvis+Costello#search_section|title=RIAA Gold and Platinum [database search on Elvis Costello, show details]|website=[[Recording Industry Association of America]]|access-date=14 June 2018}}</ref> The album gradually climbed to number 32 on the US [[Billboard 200|''Billboard'' Top LPs & Tape]] chart and was named among the best albums of the year by US music critics.<ref name="ECBillboard200">{{Cite magazine |date=19 August 2023 |title=Elvis Costello [show Billboard 200] |url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/elvis-costello/chart-history/ |magazine=Billboard}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/pnj/pjres77.php |title=The 1977 Pazz & Jop Critics Poll |work=[[The Village Voice]] |date=23 January 1978 |access-date=4 August 2018 |last=Christgau |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Christgau}}</ref> In mid-December, Costello and the Attractions appeared on ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'', where they angered the show's producer by unexpectedly playing the then-unrecorded song "[[Radio Radio]]" during the live broadcast.<ref name="Houghton Mifflin Harcourt">{{cite book|title=Saturday Night Live: The First Twenty Years|publisher=[[Houghton Mifflin Harcourt]]|year=1994|pages=124–127|isbn=0-395-70895-8}}</ref>{{Sfn|Thomson|2004|pp=108-109}}

By late 1977, Costello had moved from Stiff Records to [[Radar Records]], a new label founded by an associate of Jake Riviera.{{Sfn|Balls|2014|p=117}}{{Sfn|Thomson|2004|p=109}} Riviera had split from Dave Robinson and was now Costello's sole manager.{{Sfn|Balls|2014|pp=119–120}} For the next year and a half, Costello's records were released on Radar in Britain.{{Sfn|Thomson|2004|pp=151–152}}