Review of When I Was Cruel
North County Review, 2002-05-23

 

ROCK
B

"When I Was Cruel" Elvis Costello Island

Elvis Costello and his record label want you to know that "When I Was Cruel" is his first "loud" record since 1996's "All This Useless Beauty." Since then he's collaborated with a mezzo-soprano, Anne Sofie von Otter, and helped make a pop relic, Burt Bacharach, cool. But now he's delivered a "rowdy rhythm record." Oh goodie, but this has a detectable whiff of calculation emanating from it. So it's a marketing angle, but it's good to have Costello back and still angry, even if he's aging and singing about it, yikes ("45").

"When I Was Cruel" finds Costello and contributors ---- namely two Attractions, drummer Pete Thomas and keys man Steve Nieve ---- tearing through raucous rockers ("45," "Tear Off Your Own Head," "Daddy Can I Turn This?") and veering from rock's comfortable 4/4 time and guitar-centric attitude for stripped-down rhythm workouts such as "Spooky Girlfriend," "When I Was Cruel No. 2" and "15 Petals."

The tracks "Tart" and "Alibi" turn Costello's slow-burning vocals into an emotionally searing weapon in the same vein as "I Want You," from 1986's "Blood Chocolate."

Costello hits more than he misses. "When I Was Cruel" begins strong with "45," "Spooky Girlfriend" and "Tear Off Your Own Head," but the momentum lapses with the next two tracks. "When I Was Cruel No. 2" may be an apt tune for James Bond to tango to, but it's too fussy. "Soul for Hire" is crammed with sounds, including vibraphone and Melodica, but little of it grabs hold. Costello also commits one of his most common excesses, overloading his verses with too many words.

Still, his devilish wordplay is intact but don't pretend you can decipher it all. Still you got to love the last verse in "15 Petals": "One wine-bar vamp with the polythene face / Ein Panzer Kommander with no hair in place / The crooked battalions drilled holes in the square."

He's drawn to a mutually toying relationship on "Spooky Girlfriend": "I want to paint with you glitter and with dirt / Picture you with innocence and hurt / She says, 'Are you looking up my shirt?' / When you say 'no,' she says, 'Why Not?' " On "Alibi," he encapsulates the way people rationalize their sins and contradictions with the line "I love you just as much as I hate your guts."

At 63 minutes, "When I Was Cruel" could benefit from some editing. Classic platters such as "My Aim Is True" and "This Year's Model" made their point in nearly half the time. But despite his missteps, Costello demonstrates on "When I Was Cruel" that he can step back into his "rowdy rock" persona without piggybacking onto the past.