Of course, we all know this is Elvis Costello playing contract-dodging, but the music has absolutely nothing to do with such things. I hate to be an old Elvis bore, but this is yet another scintillating piece of vinyl that drips with irony and bursts with intelligence and emotion. Elvis croaks and groans out more concise lines like "...the disco machine lives in Munich, and we are all friends, and I slip on my Italian dancing shoes as the evening descends," to a backing of country guitar way back in the mix and lovely touches of the sort of brass you get on the bandstand at Victoria Park. The underlying sentiment of "Peace In Our Time," it seems, is that it's all pretty volatile, which is fair enough. Elvis's genius is that he can wrap it up into such an emotional package without a hint of sloganeering.
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