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This is not a good Elvis album. It has too few songs, gets really incomprehensible and dull, and don't rock the roll like the boy know how. It does have wise lyrics, great whiskey-soaked emotive howling, and the Attractions' superior musicianship. This is not enough for anyone who remembers the sheer vigour and inventive melodicism that once hauled the early listener out of his/ her Adidas.
Blood & Chocolate denies the promise implied by Nick Lowe's return to the producer's chair. Declan has said that he's done the 1978 thing to death, that the artist's sound has to grow, and of course he's right. But it sounds like he's repressing his tendency or gift for rococo ear-twisters just to make the point that he can grind out dreary sub-folk like "Uncomplicated," "Tokyo Storm Warning," "Battered Old Bird."
Neither El nor his record are write-offs, though. "Poor Napoleon" is warm and almost funny. The big song, the masterfully-produced "I Want You" uses its vast length to dramatic advantage (especially in the close, Declan's voice an intimate sigh). The sound is clear, the crooning intense. But it used to be that these good parts were not sought; they leapt upon you, chased you around the room. The obvious "pop" track, "Blue Chair" glistens with melody in its setting, but can't rank with previous Costello should've-been-hits like "Pretty Words" or "Man Out of Time" or "Living In Paradise," to name but three in his vast catalogue.
Quit reading this. Go buy his first eight albums.
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