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It's usually time to be wary when a pop-rock artist takes a radical turn from his demonstrated strengths. Remember Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music, a 1975 collection of grating electronic noise by one of rock's genuine poets?
So the concept of Costello's new album is warning enough to brace yourself: Rock 'n' roll's master of acrimony and wordplay has joined forces as writer-vocalist with the Brodsky Quartet, a veteran, highly regarded British group that is more accustomed to playing music by Shostakovich and Haydn than by anyone whose style comes from the well of Chuck Berry and Bob Dylan.
Yet The Juliet Letters proves to be a wonder work — Costello's freshest and most compelling album in nearly a decade. It's almost as if Costello became such a master of songwriting technique in the '70s and '80s that he became a prisoner of it. Freed from the rules of the songwriting craft and the sometimes smothering expectations around him, Costello once again exhibits the sheer joy of creative discovery and risk-taking.
In this sometimes disturbing, sometimes witty but ultimately warm panorama of human feelings, Costello sings/recites imaginary letters that he and members of the string quartet wrote for the album. Rather than form a narrative story, the letters simply offer glimpses of human character — from letters as stark as a suicide note to as offbeat as a cranky aunt's rejoinder to a nephew's sly effort to gain some of her fortune.
There are glimpses in the letters of love — lost and found — and even the junk mail that often comes so attractively packaged. Sample line from the latter: "Your troubles will vanish / Your tears will dry / Your blessings will just multiply / Guaranteed at a price that is almost unbeatable / This offer is unrepeatable."
In the end, The Juliet Letters is a celebration of life that is as endearing — although never as relentlessly sentimental — as a classic holiday-season movie. Stretching the fiction to its limits, the album ends with a bittersweet but ultimately endearing letter from beyond the grave: "Banish all dismay / Extinguish every sorrow / If I'm lost or I'm forgiven / The birds will still be singing."
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