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It might seem wantonly perverse of Elvis Costello to cover 15 songs that none but the most dedicated musical trainspotter will ever have heard. But in the wake of so many hit-butchering covers albums by, inter alia, Annie Lennox and Duran Duran, this is probably no bad thing. At least no one can grumble that he's ruined their favourite song. A lot of it sounds pretty humdrum to my ears — Thirties blues, country, rockabilly, R & B, all rendered a bit samey by Costello's monochrome vocals. He's better with Sixties Motown-type material. "Remove This Doubt," an old Supremes number, and "Running Out of Fools," once done by Aretha Franklin, are handled with a melodiousness and passion I've found lacking in most of Costello's own dirgey compositions. On the whole, though, this is an album for those whose idea of fun is to spend their Saturdays riffling through racks of dog-eared LP sleeves.
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