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CLEARWATER — Elvis Costello has recently devoted much of his time to a genre his fans might refer to as non-rock.
The aging former angry young man of New Wave, over the past decade, has collaborated with songwriter Burt Bacharach on pretty, orchestral-enhanced pop; he's hooked up with classical singer Anne Sofie von Otter; recorded with the avant-classical Brodsky String Quartet; and even recorded With the Mingus Big Band.
On tour, he's gone the way of stripped-down performance, playing shows accompanied only by longtime keyboardist Steve Nieve.
Then came this year's When I Was Cruel, largely hailed as a return to the restless, aggressive guitar-drivens sound of yore.
The disc has racked up glowing reviews, reigned supreme in college radio and made inroads on the rock charts.
Fans, and critics, as a result have talked about Costello's latest phase as a "comeback."
The 47-year-old singer, songwriter and guitarist, not surprisingly, has balked at that description of his latest career moves.
"It is objectionable," he told the Associated Press. "But it's more to be pitied than to be hated."
His latest CD, the just-released Cruel Smile album, is an odds-and-sods collection of rearranged versions of songs from the When I Was Cruel album, in-concert tracks and previously unreleased tunes.
For the tour, Costello reportedly focuses on the new material, and the early, hard-rocking tunes, along with songs from 1987's Blood and Chocolate album.
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