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With Spike, the 1989 album hailed as his return to form, Elvis Costello masterfully embraced the vastness of contemporary pop. He built a bridge between New Orleans marches and glib Irving Berlin society tunes and then drove over it to sightsee at a number of stops, including James Brown's back yard. Yet Costello wasn't a tourist: At every turn, he coordinated these diverse elements into simple, melodically arresting messages.
Since Spike, it seems that Costello has allowed his worst auteur instincts to run free, plunging him into the stuffy realm of parlor music.
On Mighty Like a Rose, he offers "The Other Side of Summer," a surfer's approximation of a hit single rather than the real thing. There are cookie-cutter song types (the dreamy formula ballad "So Like Candy") instead of snappy new constructions such as Spike's "Veronica." And there are rigid, elaborately scored ceremonial songs (the bloated "Couldn't Call It Unexpected") in place of rockers.
Nonetheless, Mighty Like a Rose, scheduled to hit stores Tuesday, contains enough almost great moments to reward repeat listening. "Hurry Down Doomsday (The Bugs Are Taking Over)" has all the urgency its title suggests. "Georgie and Her Rival," which moves along at a brisk clip, contains a surprisingly simple but effective hook that is flattered by Mitchell Froom's expansive production. "How to Be Dumb" borrows the chord progression from R.E.M.'s "Stand" to give Costello the platform for a cynical, sharp-tongued commencement address.
And the sinewy, minor-key "Invasion Hit Parade," the album's freshest moment, finds Costello successfully exploring Prince's dark, dissonant psychedelia. With trumpet and piano lurking behind the melody like ghosts of some baroque era, "Invasion" begins as spare confessional and swells into a massive epic-movie theme. These orchestral touches overpower some of Rose's songs, but here their haunting hues reinforce and expand on the song's emotions. The result is atmospheric meta-pop not dependent on conventional verse-chorus structures — and proof that even Costello's most grandiose ideas can come to fruition successfully.
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