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Elvis Costello's Mighty Like a Rose is a thorny, knotty, harsh, convoluted disc. It's no Spike, Costello's triumphant gem of a comeback salvo two years back, and it is no easily-digested effort. The melodies don't flow that smoothly nor stick that immediately, and the arrangements often puzzle rather than entice. The sharp-edged lyrics and downbeat dramas will entice, curdle, fester and simmer — as they can be counted upon to do. Facades falling apart, kisses executed on an abyss, human drama on the same precipice. Mighty Like a Rose, however, seems to suffer from a certain over-ambitiousness. It's a busy and smart album, but not that infectious, save the single "The Other Side of Summer." (Good times masked as something else.) ...Rose is a dense album full of fear and doubt, less strong on melody than you'd hope.
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