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Elvis Costello's gift — unless it's a curse — is that he makes it seem so easy. He practically gulps for breath between those long, entrancing juxtapositions of images married to equally sinuous hill-and-dale melodies. At his worst, Costello settles for facile craftsmanship. Now the good news: King Of America marks a return to top form after a couple of mediocre (for him) albums.
The Costello muse is still working overtime: King Of America brims with material (fifteen songs, almost an hour long), and the material o'ertops itself with o'ertopping. Not surprisingly, the weakest things here are the two non-originals: a hoarse rendering of the Animals' "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood," and J.B. Lenoir's "Eisenhower Blues" (pronounced "blooz").
But it's Costello the songwriter who intrigues. He's still the master of drawn-out, playfully double-entendre metaphor; on "Indoor Fireworks," however, Costello's feeling vocal also conveys a touching sentiment behind the verbal pyrotechnics. Musically, King Of America further plumbs Costello's love-hate relationship with this country. Two songs contain identical "Mystery Train"/ Elvis-in-Vegas intros; on one, "Glitter Gulch," Costello holds them nasal vowels jes' like a Muswell hillbilly. "Our Little Angel" has a country beat and slide guitar; the three-quarter-time "American Without Tears" has a Cajun lilt and accordion to match. "Little Palaces" weds a 60s folk-protest arrangement to the subject of British suburban wastelands. And Costello still carries the torch for jazzy ballads like "Poisoned Rose," a dejected lover's tale with the record's most impassioned singing.
Romance, typically rancid, motivates the majority of songs. In varying degrees of baroque opacity, Costello limns entanglements not just of love, but mere living. An apocalyptic "Suit Of Lights" reveals classic Costello bile. The languid, quiet "Sleep Of The Just" ends the album with an ambivalently poignant theme.
Perhaps the kick of working with different musicians inspired Costello to new interpretive heights. The familiar Attractions appear on only one cut. Elsewhere the back-up is sensitive but resolutely back-up (unlike the Attractions). There's no question who's in charge, and Costello has every right to place his voice front and center. He plays with his words compulsively, like children play with their food, while the preponderance of medium tempos underscores King Of America's deliberate effort at meaningfulness. These art-songs re-establish Elvis as a premier jongleur charting the heart of darkness.
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