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Undoubtedly the major talent in British pop at the moment, Elvis Costello haunts two extremes: bitterness of sentiment and joyfulness of expression.
Having seen him earlier on his present tour, I can confirm that at his last date at Hammersmith Palais on Monday night these two apparent opposites came together more forcefully than ever in a performance of devil-may-care aggression.
Costello is touring with the soul-style line-up which accompanied him on the Punch The Clock LP, which adds to the muscular piano, bass and drums of the Attractions, the four TKO horns and two black girl singers called Afrodiziak.
On this occasion Costello was only joined by the full ensemble well into the set, which he opened with some of his most chilling songs, "Pills and Soap," "End of the World " and "Kid About It," the lyrics rounded out with more than usual scorn.
There then followed the brassy soul numbers.
But rather than faithfully imitating the black soul style, Costello uses soul as a further vehicle for his natural gloom and spleen — as in the Motown pastiche "Possession."
The ballad "Alison" brought the most emotional performance out of him, and though he ranged to politics with "Stand Down Margaret" and "Shipbuilding," the evening ended on a joyful charged note with "Everyday I Write The Book" and "Pump It Up."
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