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| Springfield State Journal-Reg.
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Costello returns to focus that marked early works
Matthew Dietrich
Elvis Costello / Brutal Youth
 
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What a difference a band makes.
With Elvis Costello's reunion with the Attractions comes a return to the spare urgency and focus that marked his early works. Gone is the far-reaching eclecticism and experimentation that alienated many longtime Costello fans on albums like Spike, Mighty Like a Rose and The Juliet Letters.
Still, Costello makes Brutal Youth a forum for musical diversity that is better compared to 1986's Blood & Chocolate than to his first two albums. His knack for delivering tantalizing mixtures of venom and sugar springs with switchblade precision from songs like "Kinder Murder," the whimsical "This Is Hell" and the blistering "20% Amnesia."
The directness that marked Costello's late '70s work returns in "My Science Fiction Twin, which churns like a sequel to "Pump It Up."
Clean production by Mitchell Froom allows the unique touches of each Attraction to shine through, most notably the tasteful keyboard colorings of Steve Nieve.
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