|
Elvis Costello once said in an interview that he just makes music he likes and it's up to the record company to figure out how to sell it.
He has done exactly that with his latest offering, Kojak Variety.
Costello recorded 15 tunes written by some of pop music's finest songwriters. Kojak Variety, for the most part, is a rather low-key affair. It gives Costello ample opportunity to explore his penchant for singing ballads. His voice sounds the most sincere on the slower numbers.
Costello does add bite, though, to the Little Willie John/Titus Turner song "Leave My Kitten Alone." And Mose Allison's "Everybody's Crying Mercy" is every bit as heartbreaking as the title implies.
Costello overhauls Ray Davies' song "Days" into an almost psychedelic dirge, while also giving an interesting treatment to Bob Dylan's "I Threw It All Away." It's also interesting to hear how the melodies in these tunes affected Costello's own songwriting.
The keyboard riff in Costello's version of Randy Newman's "I've Been Wrong Before" apparently influenced Costello's "Accidents Will Happen." And Costello's version of Ray Noble's "The Very Thought of You" boasts the same cool, crooner vibe that spawned Elvis's haunting "Almost Blue."
Reportedly recorded in just two weeks, Kojak Variety has a loose feel that keeps things from getting too overworked. And with Marc Ribot's off-the-wall guitar stylings, you get the feeling no one in the recording studio knew quite where they were going next.
This disc displays the same eclectic mix of musical styles that flourish in Costello's own songwriting. Although it's a fine album, Kojak Variety most likely will appeal only to serious Elvis Costello fans.
| 
