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How would rock fans react if Merle Haggard recorded an album of Elvis Costello songs? With disdain and suspicion, surely. Yet here is England's Elvis C., playing the carpetbagger in Nashville, asking to be taken seriously as a country artist — for one LP. Actually, there's more behind this venture than sheer gall. Costello's affection for the music is well-known: he's written a few respectable country tunes and even recorded one of them with the sublime George Jones. A higher endorsement you could not get. Anyway, the misery, guilt, and vindictiveness that have been a staple of traditional country have also figured prominently in Costello's often-stunning output over the last few years.
Despite those promising credentials, Almost Blue turns out to be an almost totally ill-conceived venture. Costello's versions of other people's tunes, leavened by no originals, functions as a catalogue of different ways to botch a song. In short, the white-heat intensity that serves his own material so well is inappropriate for the excellent compositions he's chosen. Elvis' timing is repeatedly off. Don Gibson's "Sweet Dreams" calls for a performance that suggests dejection and frailty, but Costello lays it on thick, singing each line as if it's his last. Where Tammy Wynette's lullabye-like "Too Far Gone" strives for wistful passivity, Elvis manhandles the lyrics like he's roping a steer; it's a relief when the piano and strings take over. Costello's relentless earnestness fails to exploit the humorous side of some of the other down and out classics. He fairly bellows his way through Hank Williams' "Why Don't You Love Me (Like You Used to Do)" and can't loosen up enough to capture the boozed-out ambience of "Sittin' and Thinkin'." Lighten up, boy!
At least the support staff does a passable job of keeping the proceedings moving. Costello's pianist Steve Nieve fashions nimble adornments and John McFee adds just the right amount of steel guitar. Although the Nashville Edition's backing vocals sometimes force Elvis to stay on course, the two forces just as frequently clash. The big mystery of Almost Blue is why producer Billy Sherrill, who's done so well by George and Tammy, didn't offer more guidance.
One track works brilliantly. On "A Good Year for the Roses," Costello abandons his sharp-tongued persona and gives himself up to the song, garish production and all. Accompanied by billowing strings and a bloated backing chorus, he achieves a gripping blend of sadness and anger that for once justifies his good intentions. Otherwise, you may wish to ponder what Merle Haggard's reaction would be to Elvis' hasty rendition of The Hag's immortal "Tonight the Bottle Let Me Down." It would probably be unprintable.
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