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"The one thing I was determined not to do on this album was make the patronizing pop single ..." Elvis Costello told Musician magazine this month. "I wasn't gonna have the lighthearted, throwaway rock 'n' roll song."
Sure enough, Spike is Elvis Costello's most ambitious, challenging album, with its complex lyrics and unorthodox instrumental textures. When you're confronted with a tune that employs a tuba for bass and a clanging metal pipe, you know you've strayed far from the land of Poison and Bobby Brown.
Hallelujah. Spike rewards a little effort with a fascinating listening experience.
A diverse slew of musicians help Costello out, from traditional Irish players to New Orlean's Dirty Dozen Brass Band. Ex-Byrd Roger McGuinn lends his 12-string. Elvis Presley's bassist Jerry Scheff pitches in. So do Marc Ribot and Michael Blair, both from Tom Waits' current, unusual band.
Last but not least, Paul McCartney plays bass; he also co-wrote two tunes.
Not surprisingly, one of the McCartney-Costello tunes comes closest to a pop sensibility. "Veronica's" bounce and beautiful melody contrast with its moving tale of an old woman whose mind is going. The other collaboration, "Pads, Paws and Claws," is a sort of upside-down rockabilly number about a feline woman.
Other highlights include "Miss Macbeth," a darkly humorous song about an evil old woman: "Miss Macbeth has a gollywog she chucks under the chin and she whispers to it tenderly / Then sticks it with a pin."
"God's Comic" boasts an audacious, scary chorus in which a drunken priest sings: "Now I'm dead, now I'm dead, now I'm dead, now I'm dead, now I'm dead / And I'm going on to meet my reward..."
"Tramp the Dirt Down" is an anti-Margaret Thatcher song that doesn't mince words. "When England was the whore of the world / Margaret was her madam"
Throughout, Costello's gift for catchy melody shines through. Occasionally, the tunes rock with driving. pop-style rhythms. But even in the most pop-ish song, strange sounds make a ruckus — "Martian dog-bark," "sub-aqua guitar" and "crash-box" are some of the ways Costello describes them in the liner notes.
One more thing — Costello can sing, in a wounded, intense, inevitable style. At times Costello's voice rises to a fearsome, werewolf snarl. On the other hand, he outdoes himself crooning (I think that's the word) "Baby Plays Around," a beautiful, jazz-inflected torch song.
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