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Brutal Youth
Elvis Costello
John Bordsen
There are few stylistic surprises on the latest from this aging (late '70s), angry young man. Good. He's jettisoned his odd, chamber-music notions from his pseudo-classical The Juliet Letters outing and has returned to what he does best: quick-step pop tunes stuffed with words and dripping irony. He packs 15 in: most all are cleverly bleak, in his inimitable fashion. Most representative/classic? "This Is Hell," a lullaby soundalike that pegs Hades as a place of perpetual nonchange and nonsurprise, where: "Nothing gets better, nothing gets worse." (He follows with "Heaven is hell in reverse"; is he pointing up the alternative — or saying there is none?) Most tuneful: The melodious "London's Brilliant Parade" sounds positively 1964 invasion; "Rocking Horse Road," on the other hand, has echoes of prime Hendrix filigree.
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