For nearly 10 years, it became force of habit when compiling my year-end list of best albums to pencil in Elvis Costello and his latest record. But the prolific one did not make an album in 1987 or 1988. Now he returns with Spike.
It was worth the wait. Spike is his most musically ambitious effort and his most satisfying record since Trust in 1981. The songs are as knotty and downbeat in content as we've come to expect from Costello, and the music finally measures up to the challenges posed by the lyrics.
The songs fit into such familiar Costello styles as adult British pop, jazzy torch songs and Irish folk music, but they sound fresh, thanks to such musical collaborators as the jazzy Dirty Dozen Brass Band, pop hero Paul McCartney, ex-Byrds guitarist Roger McGuinn, rock pianist Benmont Tench of Tom Petty's Heartbreakers, New Orleans R&B legend Allen Toussaint, Irish folk singer Christy Moore, members of Tom Waits' beat-jazz band, and rockers Chrissie Hynde and T Bone Burnett, who co-produced Spike with Costello.
The contrasts in the styles, moods and dynamics of the 14 songs (15 on the cassette and compact disc) make for demanding and sometimes difficult listening. Costello evokes the Southern soul music of the Band on one number, the spaced-out funk of James Brown on another, later the gentle elegance of Irish folk music and wild 1930s big-band music. The musical variety here demands the most versatile vocal performances ever from Costello.
The acclaimed British singer-songwriter offers his first instrumental, the swinging "Stalin Malone," and in case you want to sing along, he includes lyrics in the liner notes. He does more storytelling than usual, basing songs on historical happenings (the eerie anti-capital-punishment "Let Him Dangle") and contemporary events (the swirling rocker "Coal Train Robberies," the bonus track). He once again blasts Margaret Thatcher's government ("Tramp the Dirt Down") and evaluates love and romance in odd ways ("Chewing Gum" snaps at mail-order marriage and "Satellite" explores peep-show mentality).
Most commanding are the moody, reflective pieces: the dramatically soulful, Van Morrison-evoking "Deep Dark Truthful Mirror"; the music-hall-styled societal observation "God's Comic," and the understated finale "Last Boat Leaving."
Despite the pop-styled contributions of McCartney on the beguiling single "Veronica" and the snarly "This Town," Costello is not likely to improve his commercial standing with Spike. It's safe, however, to predict that, come year's end, I will pencil in Spike on my best of 1989 list.
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