The Roots' four years as house band on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon has helped unleash their limitless potential. This collaboration with veteran genre-hopper Elvis Costello follows his appearance on the show, and its only disappointment is the absence of Roots rapper Black Thought to joust with him. "Refuse To Be Saved" is as funky as Dr John, and the title track mines a '60s black-power vein. Then "Stick Out Your Tongue" revisits Costello's 30-year-old evisceration of tabloid jingoism, "Pills And Soap," and finds not much has changed.
Best track: "Refuse To Be Saved"
|