|
"I don't know whether it's anything to do with the Irish background. I like it here, yeah. For one thing it's not England, I'm sure people that read Cut will appreciate the distinction. One of the reasons we're here now is because of where Cut's based — the further away Scotland can get from England, the better it is for everybody.
"I just suppose it's the size of the town. The mass of London is pretty soulless and Dublin's a bit more like Liverpool, where I spent two years before going down to London. And the fact that it's a major capital and it's got a lot of music going on in it — it's just great to be here."
Elvis Costello is explaining why the last couple of years has seen him spending more and more time in the congenial atmosphere of the Republic of Ireland's elegant capital city. Its vibrant musical community, served by state-of-the-art recording facilities, has played its part in attracting him away from the backslapping and hype of the London music scene. As more and more musicians are discovering, with an international attitude and a fax machine, you can base yourself anywhere you like.
Spike, Costello's new album, has certainly got that international spirit. Recorded in London, Dublin, New Orleans and Los Angeles, it brings musicians working in disparate fields together on vinyl to perform a set of songs that once again mark a new and inspiring departure for Costello.
Spike is very much a synthesis of reference points for the man with an encyclopedic knowledge of, and a passion for, music marginalised by the radio and record business machine. If King Of America was a country-influenced album, and Get Happy his Stax/Motown reworking, Spike in places draws from an Irish folk sound that, while providing inspiration, doesn't dominate at the expense of classic Costello pop music.
While the album can't be pinned down as a Gaelic experience, being in Ireland seems to have helped shape it. In a culture with a
| 
