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Bono should listen to Spike. U2's lead singer/writer might pick up a thing or two about American music from "the beloved entertainer," Elvis Costello's latest guise. While U2's most recent offering, Rattle and Hum, seems to self-consciously embrace icons of American music, Costello's Spike (Warner Brothers) reaches farther and more convincingly across the ocean for inspiration, without neglecting the home front. The result is dense and consistently engaging.
Look at the bold musical moves. The Dirty Dozen Brass Band bend New Orleans jazz to Costello's will on a handful of tracks. One of that city's master pianists, Allen Toussaint, heightens one. Costello reaches back through Tom Waits to another American original, Captain Beefheart, with the former's guitar player and percussionist, Marc Ribot and Michael Blair. Then there's Roger McGuinn's 12-string cameo and eclectic West Coast bassist Buell Neidlinger.
Not content with this ambitious grab, Costello calls on The Chieftains for some timeless Celtic backdrops. And don't forget the three collaborations with Paul McCartney.
Had Costello just thrown these musicians and such a wide range of sound at us — old style jazz and folk, glistening pop, funk — we might be able to write Spike off as a diverting eccentric. But then we'd be discounting the songs and Costello's brilliance.
There's over an hour's worth of music on "Spike," and almost no slow spots. Costello has written as sharply in the past, but never with such breadth. The first single, "Veronica," wraps a serious subject, senility, in a pop gloss that's smooth enough to hit and hold on the charts. Pop fans should, however, be forewarned: there's really nothing else as immediately accessible here.
The seamier sides of British and American culture are repeated targets for Costello's jaundiced eye and poison pen. He takes on big subjects — capital punishment, political commitment, even God — with varying degrees of humor and insight. He slices into Margaret Thatcher, American entrepreneurialism and rock 'n' roll benefit shows.
And just when these heady concerns threaten to overload the album, Costello introduces the very odd couple of "Chewing Gum," (complete with brief falsetto nod to Prince), the "feline tormentor" of "Pads, Paws and Claws" and the beastly "Miss Macbeth" to show that his twisted side hasn't disappeared. All of this emerges through occasionally obtuse words and music. And it wouldn't be Costello without typically agile wordplay, rich imagery and stark provocations.
Sometimes, Costello is tough to listen to. He says disturbing things in a voice that, however improved over the years, remains to some an acquired taste.
Musically and lyrically, you'd be hard-pressed to name a record that reaches as far as Spike, up to and including The Beatles' White Album. Yet for all his ambitions, Costello triumphs. Maybe it's that occasionally strained voice or the clear eye for all forms of deceit. Maybe it's the sheer quality of the songs and playing. Maybe it's all four.
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