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If Elvis ("I'm Not Angry") Costello, the only important new wave delegate to play Calgary so far, had made music like this at the Jubilee last November, Springsteen wouldn't have a supporter left in town.
This is by far the most commercial album Costello has recorded to date; the closest he is likely to get to the centre of the pop mainstream without joining the Bee Gees. It may cause a few of his hard-core fans to start looking for a new rock 'n' roll hero, but that's hardly likely to affect his inevitable march forward.
The music is a tapestry of multi-tracked instrumental work (courtesy of producer Nick Lowe) considerably more sophisticated than anything on My Aim Is True or This Year's Model. The tunes are melodic (hummable) with diverse chord progressions and Beatleish harmonies suggesting Costello is more interested now in making music than in making statements.
The lyrics are no longer filled with undercurrents of revenge and guilt; but they are still dark and enigmatic enough to dispel any suggestions Costello might have succumbed to the formulaic love-and-cocaine bug that infects most of the pop music coming out of Hollywood.
He is unlikely to corrupt American youth with this album (as he told Newsweek he wanted to do on his last tour over here.) However, he could win more followers than any self-respecting rebel should be allowed to have.
Costello's songs owe little to the rest of the pop music being made today. But, in a very fundamental sense, they matter more because they pave the way for the kind of music that will probably be popular in the 1980s. And that's my first and last prediction for this week.
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