Musician, 1996-07-01
by Dave DiMartino

Elvis Costello
All This Useless Beauty
(Warner Bros.)

   It's easy to get lost within the sheer bulk of Elvis Costello's 
work--particularly since most of it, from 1977's MAIT through 1986's
B&C, has been reissued by Rykodisc, bearing bonus tracks galore and 
directly competing with his new material. Of which, of course, there's 
been lots.

   In that context, ATUB sounds surprisingly good. Since TJL, his 
disappointing 1993 collaboration with the Brodsky 
Quartet--"disappointing" because whatever it attempted to do, it 
didn't--Costello has seemed to be struggling, making albums that have 
"angles," often at the expense of individual songs. 1994's BY: Elvis 
reunites with the Attractions. 1995's KV: Elvis does oldies. ATUB?
Elvis reunites with the Attractions and does oldies, sort of.

    In fact, the new record puts Costello and the Attractions back on 
track, making music that often sounds like it might've come from their 
best work, 1992's IB. Partial credit here surely stems from co-producer 
Geoff Emerick, who likewise shaped Bedroom; unlike Kevin Killen or 
Mitchell Froom, Costello's most recent co-producers, he's a Brit, and 
the sound here reveals as much. Steve Nieve's piano has as much 
reverbed twinkle as it did 15 years ago, and it's a very welcome sound.

   In a sense, this album clears the decks: There are six songs here 
Costello has written for or with others but never recorded himself, 
including the opener "Other End (Of The Telescope)" (co-written with 
Aimee Mann and previously sung by 'Til Tuesday), "You Bowed Down" 
(written for Roger McGuinn's 1991 comeback set Back From Rio), and 
"Shallow Grave" (from the Paul McCartney collaborations), among others. 
Those songs are fine but the newer material is more satisfying and 
sounds less written-for-hire and more written-from-the-heart.

   Once, long ago, Costello sang Dusty Springfield's "I Just Don't 
Know What To Do With Myself." Later, on the liner notes to KV, he raved 
about her classic 1969 album Dusty in Memphis. It's not difficult to 
imagine Dusty singing "Distorted Angel," one of Beauty's better tunes. 
Nor would "It's Time" sound out of place had Sandie Shaw covered it 30 
years ago. This is no small compliment. ATUB sounds like the sort of 
great pop music Elvis Costello was supposed to be making, if, I don't 
know, he'd only been paying attention or something. Now he is--and we 
should be, too.