Elvis Costello's fulfillment must come from making people feel uncomfortable.
As a songwriter, Costello is at his best when he contrasts uplifting melodies with an unsettling lyrical darkness. Of course, that darkness sometimes permeates the lyrics and melody.
A perfect example of the former example begins Mighty Like a Rose, Costello's 13th album and his first in two years.
At first, the melody of "The Other Side of Summer" lulls you into thinking that this is Costello's happy song about the joys of summer. The first verse talks about malice and magic in each season, then the chorus rhymes the phrase "the foaming breakers of poisonous surf" with "the burning forests in the hills of Astroturf."
Costello's last album, Spike, contained some very good songs, but Mighty Like a Rose is a much more focused and cohesive package. Still showing rampant signs of anger and bitterness, Costello does offer his own strange message of hope in the bleakness of "All Grown Up."
Two standouts are "So Like Candy" and "Playboy To a Man." Having first heard them without noticing the songwriting credits, it was a jolt to realize that both were products of his collaborations with Paul McCartney.
Cait O'Riordan, Costello's wife, contributed "Broken," which has the drone of a traditional folk song from the British Isles.
The only song that doesn't work for me is "Hurry Down Doomsday (The Bugs Are Taking Over)." Co-written with drummer Jim Keltner, it's mainly a barrage of noise and pre-recorded guitar lines played backward.
The backing band is great, of course, with work by guitarist James Burton, bassists Jerry Scheff and T-Bone Wolk and keyboardist Larry Knechtel. The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, which appeared on Spike, provides a brief instrumental interlude and joins Costello again for "Sweet Pear."
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