Review of The Delivery Man
Times Online, 2004-09-19
- Mark Edwards

-September 19, 2004

If you’re one of those people who admires Costello’s genre-hopping projects, but doesn’t actually want to sit through them, then this one’s for you. There’s some sort of continuing narrative flowing through the album — because heaven forfend that Costello would just write a bunch of rock’n’roll songs — but you don’t need to follow the story arc to enjoy what is probably the best thing the man has done since Brutal Youth. The reference points, for longtime fans, are Almost Blue and Get Happy! — Costello’s early-1980s homages to country music and Southern soul. The Delivery Man was recorded in Mississippi, and it shows. The country songs include duets with Lucinda Williams and Emmylou Harris; the soul side features the Imposters (two-thirds of the Attractions) at their finest, Costello at his sharpest. Four stars
Mark Edwards