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Spike, Costello's sprawling new hour-long work, is his first album for Warner Bros. after a long association with Columbia. Luckily, in Costello's case quality and quantity aren't mutually exclusive (Get Happy! one of his best LPs, had 20 songs on it).
OK, everybody start taking notes. We have lots of material to cover. First off, there are the songs co-written with Paul McCartney. "Veronica," the current single, could be Costello's cheeriest pop song ever, while "Pads, Paws and Claws" is a clanky rocker with offbeat tempo changes and weird sound effects.
McCartney also plays bass on "...This Town...," a jauntily acidic Costello put-down number filled with bubbling organ, some 12-string guitar jangles from former Byrd Roger McGuinn, and even a few glockenspiel licks thrown in for good measure.
Elsewhere, Costello toys around with Irish folk strains, tosses in a brassy instrumental, and even tries out his Tom Waits impression on "Miss Macbeth," which sounds like an outtake from Waits' Frank's Wild Years album.
Unfortunately, the record bogs down with a few too many ponderous ballads on the second side. They all have individual merit, but at four and five minutes each, they cumulatively get a little draggy.
The best ballad, "Baby Plays Around," is also the simplest. Featuring just Costello's voice accompanied by an acoustic guitar, it's a familiar tale of infidelity presented with a directness that adds to its pathos.
The Dirty Dozen Brass Band spices up several cuts with some hot horn arrangements, and other musical guests include Chrissie Hynde, Cait O'Riordan, T Bone Burnett (who co-produced with Costello and Kevin Killen) and assorted members of Tom Petty's Heartbreakers.
Spike falls short of being a masterpiece, but it's a generous, varied album that should have wide appeal. And, before I forget, it does have one cassette-and-CD-only cut, the worthwhile rocker "Coal-Train Robberies."
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