(April 30, 1995) Dateline NYC.  This Sunday's Newsday offered the following pleasant surprise:

"Leave it the Elvis Costello to find something special in the 
increasingly futile refuge of the all-covers album.  While Annie Lennoxs 
"Medusa" smacks of condescending distaste for the original forms of her 
well-known selections , and Duran Duran's "Thank you" only worsens the 
band's lack of currency, "Kojak Variety" follows the resourceful Costello 
on a stirring road trip through his record collection to a garden of 
arcane delights.

Revisiting genres he ahs previously explored--country, R&B, soul, 
standards, vintage rock and roll, Brit-pop--Costello fits his voice into 
a discerning set of quality tunes unearthed from the nooks and corners of 
his broad, deep taste.  although generally low on most recognition meters 
(Billboard's book of Top 40 hits acknowledges only two: Burt Bacharach 
and Hal David's "Please Stay," done by the Drifters, and Ray Noble's "the 
very Thought of You," as recorded by Ricky Nelson), at least some of the 
14 selections might ring bells.

Even the most casual Bob Dylan fan should know "I Threw It All Away" 
(from "Nashville Skyline"); serious Beatles aficionados probably have 
heard some version of Little Willie John's "Leave My Kitten Alone"; 
neither Little Richard's "Bama Lama Bama Loo" nor the Kinks' "Days" will 
surprise anyone reasonably familiar with their work.

Costello gives each of his downhearted selections (one segue abuts Bill 
Anderson's "Must YOu Throw Dirt in My Face" and the James 
Carr-popularized "Pouring Water on a Drowning Man") a spirited, sensitive 
reading over simple guitar-bass-drums-keyboards arrangements (some with 
zany guitar solos) that sound like the hasty, happy result of raw 
inspiration.  This reverent, substantial curio puts the unmistakable 
costello imprimatur on songs that he might well have written, while 
raising curiosity about the lesser-known orignials.