News on new album When I Was Cruel
Jam, 2001-12-13
- John Sakamoto

 

By JOHN SAKAMOTO
-- Executive Producer, JAM! Showbiz

Elvis Costello's first solo album in more than five years, "When I Was Cruel", is scheduled to be in stores on April 16, according to a spokesperson for Universal Island Def Jam.

 The 15-track album will be Costello's 17th proper studio release (not counting compilations or collaborations) and the first under his own name since 1996's "All This Useless Beauty".

 One insider who has heard the album described it as more of a straightahead "pop" release than Costello's most recent work. "Just listening to it, it really sounds like The Attractions are on the album."

 "When I Was Cruel" will indeed feature two of the three Attractions: keyboardist and Costello's longtime touring partner Steve Nieve, and drummer Pete Thomas. Missing will be bassist Bruce Thomas, with whom Costello has had a long, fractious relationship. He will be replaced by Dave Faragher.

 "I guess I'd just say this record is rowdier, and there's more rhythm in it than the last couple of records I made," Costello told USA Today recently, adding that he almost titled the album "I'm In The Mood Again" or, jokingly, "I'm In A Mood Again".

 Asked when he was last cruel, Costello quipped, "When was I not?"

 The prime candidates for the album's first single are the lead-off track "45", which Costello played on tour back in the fall of 1999, and "Alibi".

 Other songs on the new album -- including "Dust" and "Spooky Girlfriend" -- have been featured in more recent Costello performances.

 Despite the half-decade gap between solo albums, Costello has hardly been idle. Since "All This Useless Beauty", he has collaborated with legendary songwriter Burt Bacharach (1998's "Painted From Memory") and classical singer Anne Sofie von Otter (2001's "For The Stars").

 He has also been the subject of three best-ofs, overseen another round of catalogue reissues, and contributed to a slew of movie soundtracks, including "Notting Hill", "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me", and "The Family Man".

 Here is the complete track listing for "When I Was Cruel":

 1. 45
 2. Spooky Girlfriend
 3. Doll *
 4. Cruel 2
 5. Soul For Hire
 6. 15 Petals
 7. Tart
 8. Dust 2
 9. Dissolve
 10. Alibi
 11. Dust
 12. Daddy
 13. Blue Window
 14. Blonde
 15. Radio Silence

 * This could well be "Tear Off Your Own Head (It's The Doll Revolution)", a track Costello reportedly wrote for a proposed TV series about supermodel secret agents.

 For more information about some of the songs on "When I Was Cruel", check out the first-rate Bright Blue Tunes website (http://www.astheygo.com/newsongs.htm) and the remarkably in-depth fansite www.elviscostello.info. (More on: Elvis Costello).