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When this was released in 1982, I thought it was the most disappointing of his 6 albums (not counting the mostly failed country experiment from the previous year). Naturally, it went on to win the Pazz & Jop Poll, over such notables as Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska, Prince's 1999, Richard and Linda Thompson's Shoot Out the Lights and Roxy Music's Avalon.
After more than three decades, I can hear a lot in the album that escaped me back then. If the entire album maintained the drive and focus of the first side, I might even argue that it deserved to be a contender for the best album of 1982. But it doesn't; on Side 2 Elvis gets a little fussy, although several of the songs point to the direction he was clearly heading — more Cole Porter than angry young punk.
It's hard to escape the conclusion that it was overrated at the time, but it's still a very good album and songs like "Beyond Belief," "The Long Honeymoon" and "Shabby Doll" would fit in just fine on a career-spanning anthology.
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