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A case study in contradictions, Elvis Costello's Brutal Youth represents both a welcome return and an unexpected disappointment from one of rock's most acerbic and alternately engaging and indulgent singer-songwriters.
The return comes courtesy of the Attractions, the peerless trio that backed Costello for all of his albums from 1978's This Year's Model through 1986's Blood & Chocolate. (Costello's first album, 1977's My Aim Is True, featured the now-defunct Marin County band Clover, minus the group's singer, one Huey Lewis.)
No group that Costello has worked with since, and there have been more than a few, has backed him with as much empathy, passion and no-nonsense punch as the Attractions, who go mysteriously unbilled on this album's cover and spine. Regardless, longtime fans will welcome the return of keyboardist Steve Nieve, bassist Bruce Thomas (who is replaced on some tracks by original Costello producer Nick Lowe), and drummer Pete Thomas (no relation), the latter of whom played in ex-Kingston Trio member John Stewart's mid-'70s band alongside San Diego's Joey Harris, now of the Beat Farmers.
Ironically, the disappointment comes from precisely the same source, since Costello's reteaming with the Attractions is ultimately a step back, not forward. Consequently, while one can admire the single-minded, hand-in-well-worn-leather-glove purpose and conviction that the Attractions bring to Brutal Youth, the sense of deja vu that results is as much a curse as a blessing.
Granted, Costello's two most recent albums (last year's horribly misguided chamber work The Juliet Letters and the preceding, more pop-oriented Mighty Like a Rose) were both flawed works. But at least they found the bespectacled tunesmith stretching out and exploring new styles and approaches, in contrast with the tried-and-true modus operandi employed here.
Now nearing 40, Costello has largely abandoned the bile-filled, angry-young-man persona that helped propel him to stardom in the late '70s. It is replaced here with what might be described as a bile-filled, angry-middle-aged-misanthrope persona that finds him older and wiser, but no less biting or acid-tongued, if more sympathetic toward women than in the past.
The main difference, then, is that where Costello once sang at length of his personal angst and misery, he now turns his attention to the misery of others. And while he's more clever and cryptic than ever, lyrically speaking, he's also more enigmatic and, at times, obtuse.
That's an evolution of sorts, to be sure. But on this generous, 15-song album, Costello too easily reverts to a proven Attractions' approach that sounds great and rocks with palpable fury but lacks the vision that has long been one of his most attractive features.
Thus, the lively "13 Steps Lead Down," the album's first single, sounds and feels instantly familiar, like the return of an old friend. And compared with the rash of impersonators who sprang up in his wake — especially John Wesley Harding, who went so far as to hire the Attractions for an album and tour — it's a delight to hear the real thing ranting and raving again.
Witness "This Is Hell," which features the choice Costello-ism: "'My Favorite Things' is playing again and again, but it's by Julie Andrews and not by John Coltrane." And witness the doppelganger-championing "My Science Fiction Twin": "He has my eyes, my face, my voice, but he's only happy when I'm miserable."
Brutal Youth yields at least two near-classics, the wonderfully ironic "Just About Glad" (sample lyric: "And though the passion still flutters and flickers, it never got into our knickers / If I'm the greatest lover that you never had, I'm just about glad") and the stark but lovely "Favourite Hour." But too many of the other songs have a workmanlike quality that evokes the title and content of the 1983 Costello/Attractions' album, Punch the Clock.
Given the skill of the musicians involved, the clock-punching is of the Swiss precision quality, which is a plus. Still, it's hard to believe that this reunion will be more than a short-lived lark, and for Costello fans, that's good, not bad.
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