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There was a time when Elvis Costello's words, music and dammit — spectacles — were examined with the kind of subtext-hungry enthusiasm that the Manics can now claim as their own. The fact that this is no longer the case surely has more to do with time and fashion than any decline in Costello's powers.
All This Useless Beauty easily ranks up there with his best work in all the important areas: fine tunes, carefully crafted lyrics and a really nasty sense of humour.
Once again joined by the peerless Attractions, this latest outpouring comes close to matching 1986's country-tinged classic King of America album. As always, the joys lie in Costello's ability to clothe his work in a coat of utterly convincing — if snarlingly bitter — sincerity.
Take "Complicated Shadows." Originally written for Johnny Cash, the song mainlines into a world of John Ford cowboys with a conviction that suggests the author really is some saddlesore ex-rodeo jock rather than a bespectacled post-punk.
It is a weary yet compelling tone that Costello maintains throughout the album whether considering warped relationships ("The Other End of the Telescope"), misguided trysts ("It's Time") or the endlessly confusing field of Planet Woman ("Starting to Come to Me").
While there are occasional moments of lightness — particularly the raucous "Shallow Grave" on which Elvis once again demonstrates why his guitar-playing nickname is Little Hands of Concrete — the lasting impression is that Costello is still not someone you'd want to tangle with down a dark epigram.
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