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Costello's latest release is much like a tag sale — it contains some junk, a few treasures sprinkled about and several items which do not attract special attention either way.
Costello is such a prolific songwriter (more than 75 songs released in just over three years) that he would make Bruce Springsteen blush. Taking Liberties is not really a new release; it is the excess material that has not found its way onto any of Costello's first four American LPs.
Consequently, it has virtually no cohesion. Hearing the quick segue from the surrealistic new wave "Night Rally" to the country twang of "Stranger in the House" is like listening to the Frank Sinatra and Sid Vicious versions of "My Way" back to back.
Waste products scattered among the LP's 20 cuts include "Clean Money," a rerun of "Love for Tender," the original "Girl Talk" (even Linda Ronstadt does it better) and a couple of inferior remakes of songs on Get Happy!
There are diamonds in the rough: "(I don't Want to go to) Chelsea," is possibly Costello's best song, and it is a mystery why it was never included on the American version of This Year's Model. Other highlights: the countryish "Radio Sweetheart" and the rhythm and blues "Getting Mighty Crowded," a Van McCoy original.
The album confirms Costello's immense and varied talents as a writer. But those who want to discover that for the first time should buy any of his first four albums, Taking Liberties is for collectors only.
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