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Since I have not seen the man live — where he is, reportedly, a dynamically arresting musical presence — I am still struggling to find the magic.
I thought his first album, My Aim Is True, rather boring, despite the obvious intelligence and wit of many of the songs. If you're a back-to-basics rocker like Costello, boring is a cardinal sin. On that score alone, This Year's Model is a vast improvement.
He's got a band now, the Attractions. And though not flashy, they provide some incredibly powerful punch to the music.
Costello's angry young man against the music establishment stance is apparently more than mere hype. A nice touch, if he can keep it up. If, of course, he starts selling lots of records, chances are he will get caught up in the star-making machinery whether he wants to or not.
Right now, though, he's fun to watch. He has started kicking out the jams, and the evidence is there on songs like "No Action," "This Year's Girl" and the wonderful "Radio, Radio."
The last is a marvelous piece of rip-it-up rock and roll that tells you all you need to know about radio's short-circuiting of real rock creativity: "The radio's in the hands / Of such a lot of fools / Trying to anesthetize / The way you feel..."
This is one Elvis who will never sing "Blue Hawaii," you best believe.
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