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Elvis Costello's last-Tuesday release, When I Was Cruel proves the 46-year-old British rocker still has it.
Much like recent efforts by Bob Dylan or Emmylou Harris, Costello is an old dog showing off new tricks; making use of samples, studio techniques and effects, all of which result in a very new-sounding record.
This album is a sharp digression from his recent soft and syrupy records, most notably, his famous collaboration with Burt Bacharach on the 1998 release Painted From Memory.
"I've been singing so many ballads recently that I was in the mood again for some rowdy rhythm," Costello wrote in the liner notes for the advance-copy CD.
From the first moments of "45," the albums' first track, it is clear that Costello has returned to his trademark aggressive style of song writing.
Costello notes,that he wrote the album with a Silvertone guitar, a 15-watt amp and a kids beatbox. Though the raw edge comes through, his band — consisting of former Attractions Steve Nieve and Pete Thomas is as smooth as glass, playing everything from punk to hip hop, with detours of shuffle and swing in between.
Elvis Costello, born Declan Patrick MacManus in 1954 in London, recorded his 1977 debut album, My Aim Is True, in a mere 24 hours in vacation and "sick" time from his desk job at a lipstick factory.
The record earned Rolling Stone's "Album of the Year," and the subsequent top-20 single "Watching the Detectives" sent Costello on his way as a musical force to be reckoned with.
If Costello has a weakness, it is that he relies too heavily on the lyric, sometimes content with a single pop hook to carry a song.
Not true of When I Was Cruel, in which each song is completely different from the one before it, and most are unlike anything you've heard by Costello.
The scratchy acoustic guitar of the unique "15 Petals," is contrasted by wild horn arrangements, tinkling keys and powerful arabesque vocals.
"Spooky Girlfriend," begins reminiscent of Portishead; "Episode of Blonde" has the spoken, carnival feel of a Tom Waits tune; "Dissolve" is a discordant gem replete with swirling bass and off-kilter harmonica.
When I Was Cruel stands up next to Costello's best work.
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