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Goodbye Elvis Costello.
Hello Declan Patrick Aloysius MacManus.
With King of America, the British-born Costello returns to his birth-given name (MacManus is credited as songwriter and co-producer) and lays bares old conceits, disintegrating relationships and a career that often had talent at odds with persona.
The album is a sort of mea culpa as Costello sings in his opening number "Brilliant Mistake": "He was a fine idea at the time / Now he's a brilliant mistake."
It's also a tasty mixture (and one crammed with tunes, 16 of them in a 57-minute album). It's vibrantly American, with lean and clean songs that have styles ranging from rockabilly to jazz, from soul ballads to country laments to straight-ahead rock.
Costello has employed talents that are as far-reaching and American: R & B musician Earl Palmer, jazz bassist Ray Brown, and members of Elvis Presley's TCB band. T-Bone Burnett was the co-producer. Costello's former group, the Attractions, plays on only one song.
With 16 tunes on the album, there's plenty to pick from (and a few to be disappointed in). Among the choice cuts are "Our Little Angel" (it recalls the loveliness of his "Alison"), "Brilliant Mistake," "I'll Wear It Proudly," "Sleep of the Just" and a wonderful cover of the Animals' old hit, "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood."
Sometimes the stripping of his old image is too self-consciously ironic, with self-analysis that is overly arch and lyrics that have too many "in" jokes. Longtime fans intimate with his career ups and downs might see all of this as terribly brave. Others might feel it's often whiny and precious. That's pretty much been the story of Costello's career.
But still, there are few songwriters around with Costello's melodic and lyrical richness, few singers with his achingly beautiful voice and few performers with his nerve to start all over again.
The king is dead. Long live the king.
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