Review of When I Was Cruel
Mojo, 2002-05-01
- Phil Sutcliffe

 

Man of many parts says "And this is me" again, with inspiring results

Costello's decade of collaborations - McCartney, Brodsky Quartet, Bacharach, Anne Sofie von Otter - produced good diverse stuff, but clearly his solo self was building up a head of steam. When I Was Cruel is bursting with bile and romance, tricky lyrics and tantalising tunes, and finds him practically trampolining with the thrill of messing about with sounds. He uses loads of quiet - often just voice and a drum loop setting up the song - then piles in with big axeman guitars and dirty brass riffs. And still, at bottom, the oomph comes from his writing's fertile intensity, as exemplified by Alibi - seven-minute freak hit, anyone? Relentlessly circling, the insinuating vocal accuses, "Alibi, alibi" at every hackneyed excuse for every weakness until it twists back to the sweet refrain, "I love you just as much as I hate your guts." Costellar. Phil Sutcliffe