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Cantankerous rock stars are always strongest when their music best reflects their characters. So it is with Elvis Costello, the spiteful, verbose punk misfit who's spent most of the last 15 years trying to do anything but rock. Through all his dalliances with opera singers, string quartets and Burt Bacharach, Costello has musically obscured most of his bile with the trappings of high art. But as When I Was Cruel proves, he's much better at squeezing his considerable rants into the skinny format of rock 'n' roll.
It's no classic, but there are reassuringly unhealthy signs of life. The lacerating and quite brilliant title track hooks up to a clanking rhythm loop and some discrete sampling, without ever sounding like a tragic stab at fashion. "It was so much easier when I was cruel," he observes saltily. Easier to like, for sure.
Rating: 6
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