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In the Beatles' 1964 film A Hard Day's Night, a reporter asks Ringo Starr if he is a mod or a rocker. Without skipping a beat, the Fab Four's drummer shoots back, "a mocker."
When singer-songwriter Elvis Costello began his career in 1977, he was the consummate mocker. Songs such as "Watching the Detectives" and "Radio, Radio" brimmed with ironic twists and acid-tongued insults that helped define Mr. Costello's public image as England's angriest young man. Now, with his 14th U.S. album, his anger has been tempered and his simile-laden lyrics are sentimental as often as they are savage. Part of the charm — and the challenge — of listening to his work is its tendency to defy the expectations of his fans and his record label.
The cover of his new LP, Spike, features Mr. Costello's head — in black and white grease-paint — mounted as if it were a trophy, with a gold plate that reads "The Beloved Entertainer." So beloved that Columbia Records, his label of 10 years, did not renew his contract. So beloved that he seems' forever doomed to remain perched on the edge of stardom. In fact, the former Declan MacManus says his next tour will be solo because he can't afford to hire a band.
But longtime fans of Mr. Costello are accustomed to his perverse musical diversity and sense of humor. The "beloved entertainer's" new LP is right on target, featuring everything from power pop to New Orleans-style jazzed-up ballads. The songs reflect a more mature yet still caustic songwriter — a direct descendant of the man who wore Buddy Holly specs and struck a bow-legged stance on the cover of his first album as he prepared to surf the crest of the British New Wave.
"...Our Town..." kicks off Spike with jingle-jangle Rickenbacker guitars played by two living legends: The Byrds' Roger McGuinn (on 12-string) and Paul McCartney (on bass). In this ode to eccentricity, the oft-misunderstood Mr. Costello may be referring to himself when he sings, "You're nobody 'til everybody in this town knows you're poison."
No Costello album is complete without a political poison-pen letter, and Spike contains its share of pointed prose. The best of the lot is "Tramp the Dirt Down," which recalls venomous songs such as "Peace in Our Time," "Pills and Soap" and "Shipbuilding." With fangs bared, Mr. Costello rails against what he considers to be the hypocrisy of Britain's Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. It's a quiet, dirgelike folk song that sounds as bitter as any by Ireland's Pogues — with Irish whistle and Uileann pipes that recall the gentle sounds of the Chieftains. It's a combination that works well with his uncompromising lyrics, such as "When England was the whore of the world, Margaret was her madam." Strident and overstated, perhaps, but for Mr. Costello, the hard line is the only line.
Spike shifts into Fab gear with "Veronica," one of the LP's two songs penned during a McCartney-initiated songwriting collaboration between the two Liverpool natives. It's difficult to quantify Mr. McCartney's contribution to "Veronica," but it's a rollicking, upbeat song inspired by the mental deterioration of Mr. Costello's late grandmother. With the rushed sound of 1982's "Beyond Belief," Mr. Costello proves once again that he can jam-pack more words into a three-minute song than anyone in the business. Complete with layers of keyboards and patented Phil Spector glockenspiel, "Veronica" is the first single and video from the LP.
The familiar musicians providing the sound on Spike also include Tom Waits's sidemen Marc Ribot and Michael Blair, Heartbreaker Benmont Tench, the Pretenders' Chrissie Hynde and New Orleans's legendary Dirty Dozen Brass Band. The Dirty Dozen are used with great effectiveness, particularly on the melancholy "Deep Dark Truthful Mirror." Haunted by the legendary Allen Toussaint's lyrical piano, the song captures the sound of a Crescent City funeral parade as Mr. Costello ponders the dark side of the human psyche.
Atlanta fans who caught Mr. Costello's November 1987 appearance at the Fox Theatre will recognize "Any King's Shilling" and "God's Comic." The former is a folky family tale of Mr. Costello's grandfather's experience during the 1916 Irish uprising. "God's Comic" is an ironic vision of the Almighty decrying the human condition. Another album highlight is "Chewing Gum," about a modern-day mail-order bride and her rude introduction to the New World and her new husband.
Spike is closer in style to the inward-looking King of America LP than the no-holds-barred Blood & Chocolate — Mr. Costello's farewell to his longtime backup band, the Attractions. Whether crooning a country-and-western ballad or shouting a bilious broadside against the Empire, Mr. Costello is insistent in his desire to sing in nearly any musical style he chooses.
During a recent tour, Mr. Costello brought along his "Spinning Songbook" — a musical "wheel of fortune" that featured about 20 of his song titles — from the 1977 ballad "Alison" to 1986's hard-rocking "Blue Chair." Audience members were recruited to spin the wheel to determine the next selection of the evening.
Listening to Spike is like spinning Mr. Costello's musical wheel — it contains rockers, mockers and modern folk songs, sung with equal doses of melancholy and menace, as well as a sense of humor.
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