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Elvis Costello has been called a musical genius by many critics in his 12-year career.
He has an answer for them. "There are no geniuses in this business. If there were, they wouldn't be in this business."
An interviewer quickly discovers that Costello has an opinion about everything. But that doesn't come as a surprise. Costello’s albums display his acute observations of the human condition. Spike, his 12th and first on Warner Brothers Records, is no exception.
The record tackles such topics as God, Margaret Thatcher, coal-train robberies and capital punishment, as well as problems with personal relationships. If that weren't enough, it contains two songs written with another famous Liverpudlian, Paul McCartney.
"McCartney called and asked if I’d be interested in writing a few songs," Costello says. "It was lyric pingpong. You go back and forth with each other. We’ll just have to wait and see if it works."
One of the songs they co-wrote is "Veronica," the album’s first single. McCartney also plays bass on the track "...This Town...".
Another song, "Baby Plays Around," was co-written by Costello and his wife, Cait O'Riordan, formerly of the Pogues, an Irish band.
"Cait wrote it while I went out to buy the paper," Costello says, emphasizing how small his contribution was "It was all there on tape. All I did was some musical editing."
He continues: "This album took a bit more planning. I knew the players on the other records and they were familiar with the sound. In this case, we put the musicians together" Supporting playes include Roger McGuinn, once of the Byrds, former Beatle McCartney, Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders, guitarist Marc Ribot and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band from New Orleans.
"We had to get the right collection and make the right mistakes to produce this album," Costello says.
Spike has been well-received by the critics, even better than most of Costello’s previous efforts, which also have been favourably reviewed in general. Costello is a critical success but has not been a commercial superstar. He doesn’t seem unhappy about the situation, but did leave Columbia Records for Warner Brothers.
"I don’t want to go around bashing my former label," the singer says. "The people at CBS who didn’t help me know who they are and the people who did help know who they are. The Warner people know the business and want to sell the record
"I'm successful and enjoy what I do. That and selling records are two different things, really, " he laughs.
Spike is a typical Costello mix of musical idioms. He has always been able to scramble different musical forms together, driven by the imagery of his lyrics. He finds some idioms – such as jazz – have been used too much by careless hands, saturating the public’s appetite for them.
His lyrics have created a public image of anger and suppressed violence. Costello feels that’s the public’s problem, not his. Costello also has strong reactions to critical reviews.
"They don’t always grasp everything," he says, leaning forward in his seat. "They’re saturated with free music to the point where they can only listen to eight bars of it. The people actually putting their money down to buy the record have a different relationship with it. What bothers me about critics is their telling me I can make a better record. Well, if they think so, let them go out and make it.
"An artist takes what he has and uses it with the material at hand."
Costello also wrote the highly praised lyrics of "The Comedians," which the late Roy Orbison sang on his last LP, Mystery Girl.
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