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When Elvis Costello sets out to record an actual new album with original songs and no strings attached, his Warner Bros. output really isn't as dismal as it may appear on the surface. Of his three WB albums that fit this criteria, two (Spike and Brutal Youth) are pretty good and the other (Mighty Like A Rose) is a near-miss. It's when Costello dabbles with classical pretensions (The Juliet Letters) or cover tunes (last year's Kojak Variety, which had been sitting on Warners' shelves for five years) that he falters.
His new album (co-credited to the Attractions for the first time since 1986's Blood & Chocolate) splits its time between the two sides of Elvis. Half of the album's 12 songs are new tunes while the other half are takes of songs he has written for or with others over the past decade; so Beauty, following in Costello's WB tradition, works part of the time. It's a more somber record than 1994's Brutal Youth, the last time Costello and the Attractions worked together. Geoff Emerick's production isn't as claustrophobic as his work on Imperial Bedroom, but his muffled subtleties also lack the punch that many of these songs require. It's only when Costello and band arm themselves with a good song and play with a secured determination (like on "The Other End Of The Telescope," which was co-written by Aimee Mann and recorded by 'Til Tuesday, or "Shallow Grave," which was written with Paul McCartney but never released) that Beauty overcomes its hurdles. With wit in check and any quirky ideals restrained, Beauty often reads like a musical resume, which it sorta is (check out the title tune and "I Want To Vanish," both written for and recorded by June Tabor). Influences from Tin Pan Alley and folk to Brill Building and classic rock 'n' roll permeate the album, at times leaving the Attractions lost at what to do while their leader rambles on within wordy set-pieces. When they do ally, however, Beauty finds the delicate line between the mature songwriter and the angry middle-aged man and rides it cautiously.
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