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After a short, one album sabbatical, the Attractions are back on Elvis’ latest collection of musings about love, pain and politics entitled Blood and Chocolate.
Costello, as elusively eclectic as ever, plays three characters on his second LP of the year. He poses as writers Costello and McManus (his real name), and in a brand new pseudonym, he also plays a vocalist and guitarist Napoleon Dynamite.
Blood and Chocolate harkens back to “the old days” of The Attractions, before King of America, Goodbye Cruel World, or even Punch the Clock.
Returning to the flat, under done, almost annoying production style that Nick Lowe has made Costello famous for, the album does not experiment with the different genres or instrumentation that have appeared on the past three LPs.
The focus here is pure orthodoxed Elvissim – biting lyrics, slightly sarcastic melodies, and a warehouse of double-take imagery to be jet-setter and post-punk alike.
Throughout the album, the music itself is rough, eerie and simplistic, and almost treated with unimportance. Its main purpose seems to be setting an appropriate backdrop for some of Costello’s best lyrical investigations into the human condition.
Side one begins on a bizarros note with “Uncomplicated.” Except for Elvis’ sharply blue voice, this tune could have come off one of the early Velvet Underground, with some muffled drums, garbled guitars and lack of apologies.
The band kicks into high gear with “Tokyo Storm Warning.” The lyrics run from one snapshot of political hatred and hypocrisy to another.
Side two kicks in with a short and sweet rocker about losing a lover to another woman. The title tells it all – “Honey are you Sweet or are You Blind?”
Other highlights off this side include an emotion packed tune called “Battered Old Bird”.
Another hot spot is “Poor Napoleon” with a quiet production sound and a barely there guitar bass riff.
Blood and Chocolate is an excellent LP. It does what it does very well, albeit for a small audience. In a way, its commercial accessibility might add to its success in the college market, so if you’re an Elvis fan don’t miss it.
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