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This album may not work, but Costello is trying to do something that no rock star has ever achieved; to evolve into an adult market without going soft, or losing direction or ending up in the middle of the road. On this new album he has (temporarily at least) dropped his band, The Attractions, in favour of a team of expert session musicians with roots in the ethnic side of American music.
King of America is a quiet, melancholy record with a backing that subtly weaves together country, bluegrass, folk and blues. It fails for the same reason that his Nashville album Almost Blue ultimately failed — Costello's vocal limitations. You don't actually have to be able to sing to be a great rock artist, but Costello is playing a different game here, working on the same ground as the natural geniuses of American music. And for all his intelligence, his passion and, no doubt, his vast record collection, Costello is only fit to shine the shoes of George Jones or Merle Haggard or Bobby Bland. No doubt he is perfectly aware of this, and, as our most consistent and talented singer-songwriter, will still find his path to becoming the Frank Sinatra of the 1990s.
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