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It sounds like the whole idea behind this concept album is a flawed one, but Elvis Costello's Kojak Variety is saved by the very attribute that has doomed some of his other recordings — the vast eclecticism of the musician's tastes.
Elvis Costello's Kojak Variety is a collection in which Mr. Costello does covers of some of his favorite recordings, spanning some 30 years from the 1930s to the 1970s.
It sounds like a bad idea. One of the greatest strengths of Mr. Costello's best recordings has always been his wry, often sarcastic songwriting.
The concept probably wouldn't have worked if the musician simply had chosen other artists' hits and re-recorded them. But for the most part, the material included here contains few hits.
Instead, Elvis Costello's Kojak Variety is a superb collection of obscure songs that have no right to be obscure.
There are a few missteps, the most notable being Mr. Costello's attempt to perform the well-known Little Richard hit "Bama Lama Bama Loo."
But largely because of the performer's immensely eclectic tastes, there are few music fans, regardless of how well-versed they are in popular music, who won't find musical gems with which they have been unfamiliar.
Mr. Costello does a superb version of Mose Allison's "Everybody's Crying Mercy" along with wonderful covers of "Running Out of Fools" and Bill Anderson's country tune, "Must You Throw Dirt in My Face."
But one of the recording's stand-outs is also one of its best-known tunes, the beautiful Bob Dylan song "I Threw It All Away."
The result is a collection of tunes that you don't need a Kojak to deduce are well worth buying.
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