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Elvis is back.
No, the other one. Elvis Costello (a.k.a. Declan MacManus), returns to the airwaves with all of the vengeance you'd expect from the Prince Charmless of modern pop. The melodic vehemence now comes with a leavening charge of wit, love, and compassion, admirable qualities fully manifested in his brilliant new album, Spike.
Produced to a sheen by MacManus, Kevin Killen, and T-Bone Burnett, Spike takes us on an aural romp through Costello's mind, where gin-soaked Irish lullabies mingle with New Orleans swing, Fifties bop, and even late-Eighties funk. Moods and textures twist and change, here engagingly breezy, there dark and dissonant.
Consider the first four songs. "...This Town..." begins the set with sparkling glockenspiels, rat-tat-tat drum machine, and Byrds guitar courtesy of Roger McGuinn. "Let Him Dangle" both evokes and decries the madness of murderers and executioners alike, its harsh cadences pierced by Marc Ribot's tormented guitar. The grandly soulful "Deep Dark Truthful Mirror" ("it's gonna tell you things / that I still love you too much to say") leads into the single, "Veronica" (co-written with Paul McCartney). This stirring, heartbreaking little song is also compulsively fast-paced and singable. Tuneful, winsome, and tinged with sadness and defiance, "Veronica" deserves to be a major hit.
Spike is a good introduction to Costello, summoning as it does his chief strengths of melody and wit, carried by that peculiarly powerful, cutting voice. For his long-time fans, Costello demonstrates new depth and range, shifting from the acute introspection and bitterness of his early years to Spike's harried tenderness for the flotsam of losers and villains populating his plangent visions. Costello is an "important" artist, in terms of reputation and influence; I'm grateful that he remains a thoroughly entertaining one.
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