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Last year, Elvis Costello released forty songs on two single albums — twenty each on Get Happy!! and Taking Liberties. The songs on the former were good, but their brevity made them seem like appetizers, tasty but not satisfying; and after twenty, who could remember what each tasted like? The latter was a compilation of collector's items (B-sides of singles, imports, etc.); as a result, it suffered from a lack of continuity and a dearth of quality material as well as an overabundance of songs. This year's model, Trust, has none of these flaws. It offers fourteen brand-new Costello tunes, superb backing by The Attractions, and impeccable production by Nick Lowe.
Trust does not have the intense energy of Get Happy!! with the exception of "Luxembourg" and "Lover's Walk." This record has a more laid-back feel and greater listenability. The ballads, such as "Watch Your Step" and "New Lace Sleeves," are the strength of the album, not its weakness. Costello's voice sounds smoother on the ballads; this enables the listener to more easily decipher his witty lyrics. Some lines jump out and beg for attention — "good manners and bad breath get you nowhere" from "New Lace Sleeves" is a good example — but usually concentration is needed if one wants to figure out what he's singing about. However, that's half the fun.
Side one rocks harder, but side two is Elvis at his mellow best. Anyone who particularly liked "Alison" (from My Aim Is True) will fall in love with it. In one of my favorites, the countryish "Different Finger," Costello adds an ironic touch by using his most sincere tone of voice to sing these lines: "I don't want to hear your whole life story / Or about my strange resemblance to some old flame / All I want is one night of glory / I don't even know your second name." Another highlight of this side (and the album, for that matter) is "From a Whisper to a Scream," which features Chris Difford of Squeeze (another British band) duetting with Elvis. Add the poignant "Shot With His Own Gun," "Big Sister's Clothes," and the wife-beating tale of "White Knuckles," plus the excellent sequencing of songs, and I'd have to rate this side the better of the two.
There are no throwaway cuts on Trust. Although not every song could be a hit single, they all work well within the context of the album. The expression "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts" certainly applies to this record. It is never an easy task to write an album's worth of songs that are neither so similar as to he monotonous nor too diversified as to seem disjointed. With Trust, Costello has succeeded in delivering fourteen songs that have variety and continuity, and the performance and production are equally laudable.
The only negative aspects of this album are a lack of a lyric sheet (some words are impossible to comprehend no matter how hard one tries) and a lack of danceable tunes (you can't pogo to it).
Trust is Costello's best record since Armed Forces, and I feel it is even better. Every Elvis Costello fan will want it, and for anyone who has never heard any of his albums, this will be a good place to start. So take the liberty of getting Trust, and get happy!!
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