St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 17, 1991

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Mixed but vital bag from Elvis Costello


Steve Pick

When Elvis Costello's debut album, My Aim Is True, appeared in 1977, he was adopted by the music industry as the acceptable face of New Wave and seemed poised to become very successful.

But Costello was never willing to just be a part of a movement. His goal, which he has long since achieved, was nothing less than to be the finest songwriter of his generation.

Although his third album, Armed Forces, skirted the edges of the Billboard Top 10 chart in 1979, Costello never had another brush with great commercial success. From our vantage point in St. Louis, where radio stations have consistently ignored him and where he's played only four concerts in his whole career and none since 1984, it's hard to notice that he has become one of the most solid cult artists in pop music.

Everybody who likes Costello runs right out and buys each of his new albums as soon as it hits the stores. The rest of the public has to be enticed by a minor hit single, such as "Everyday I Write the Book," "The Only Flame In Town" or "Veronica."


I admit it. I'm a Costello fanatic. I started listening to his records very nearly at the beginning of his career, and I've never lost my admiration for his music. My analytical abilities don't turn off when I listen to him — if anything, they shift into high gear — but I am more willing to forgive those rare moments when he isn't at the peak of his powers. I revel in his musical eclecticism, even when, as on parts of Spike, it leads to some forgettable songs. Many of his fans tend to prefer earlier, more easily digestible albums, such as the angry young rock 'n' roll of This Year's Model or the soul tribute Get Happy.

Costello has a new album, Mighty Like a Rose, and, like Spike, it's not an easy record to pin down. Once again, he's all over the musical map, looking for new and creative ways to present his songs.

The first thing to notice about this album is the density of most of its cuts. Co-producer Mitchell Froom, when he or his piano companions aren't imitating Steve Nieve, Costello's former Attractions partner, hauls out all manner of long-forgotten, strange-sounding keyboards, including mellotron and chamberlain. Wild man guitarist Marc Ribot drops in completely unexpected, and quite mysterious, noises. Vocal arrangements, always a strong suit, are more complicated than ever before. Horns are present in several songs, a string section in another. It sounds as though Costello, Froom, and co-producer Keven Killen tried out every idea any of them had, no matter how wild it seemed.

Mighty Like A Rose is not as full of great melodies as King of America, nor as aggressively rocking as Blood and Chocolate. But Costello has put together a more consistently tuneful album than Spike.

If Warner Brothers is banking on a hit single a la "Veronica" from that last record, Costello offers them only two real possibilities. "The Other Side of Summer" just might catch on. It's certainly the bounciest track here, with a deliciously thick, sugar-coated mix of sleigh bells, castanets, tack piano, guitars, basses and six different cheesy keyboards. Of course, if video watchers pay attention to lyrics — and, mind you, those of "Veronica" were grim enough to suggest people don't — this song is doomed. "The Other Side of Summer" turns out to be about the end of the world, not exactly the sort of theme that rises to the top of the charts.

Maybe "So Like Candy," one of two previously unreleased songs from Costello's fruitful collaboration with Paul McCartney three years ago, will do the trick. The story, an exceptionally simple one for Costello, is video-friendly, with its images of loss reflected in photographs of the departed lover. Still, not since "Alison" from his first album has Costello been able to get a ballad accepted by radio or video programmers. His anguished cries on the chorus, while making for a chilling aesthetic effect, just may be enough to keep him out of the public eye again.

The faithful will find plenty to enjoy, though. My favorite cut may be "Playboy to a Man," also written with McCartney. This one rocks at a furious clip, as Costello imitates the vocal style of Larry Blackmon of Cameo, thus displaying yet another facet of his remarkable vocal abilities. "Sweet Pear," a beautiful R&B-inflected ballad, gives him a chance to use a highly effective falsetto swoop on each verse, and it catches me off guard every time I hear it.

"All Grown Up" has one of Costello's most focused lyrics, about the immaturity of blaming problems on other people (something he does frequently in other songs), and a gorgeous, flowing melody complemented by a lush string arrangement.

With "Invasion Hit Parade," Costello manages to be among the first pop musicians to comment on the Persian Gulf War; his sardonic sense of humor pits media coverage of the war against the human cost of it.

"Hurry Down Doomsday (The Bugs Are Taking Over)" is one of the weirdest cuts Costello has ever recorded, with lots of treated percussion and gonzo guitar sounds, but it fits well with the theme of self-inflicted apocalypse.

Mighty Like A Rose is, like Spike, a mixed bag, but Costello's song ideas are more consistently well-conceived, and the arrangements more outrageous and successful.

Costello is one of the few artists left who's willing to take wild dances in the studio, matching his wits against those of the very creative musicians with whom he works. This is why, even when he isn't making one of his classics (and I don't think this ranks with his two or three best albums), he's making important, vital music.

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St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 17, 1991


Steve Pick reviews Mighty Like A Rose.

Images

1991-05-17 St. Louis Post-Dispatch page 4F clipping 01.jpg
Clipping.

Page scan.
1991-05-17 St. Louis Post-Dispatch page 4F.jpg

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