There are those who take chances and those who seem to invent them. Elvis Costello, the King of "New Wave," certainly proves that there are those who can fit auspiciously into any format and style. This time it's, well, ah, country.
This album should be heard by everybody who has ever had the privilege of crying into a beer. Almost Blue is as good a country album as it is a therapeutic ploy. The angry, busy body antithesis of Buddy Holly turns rhythm and blues and country standards into faithful renditions that would probably make Porter Wagner contemptuous. I don't think this album was created just for a crossover hit.
Costello probably doesn't subscribe to the philosophies in these songs, but he does recognize them as a way of life. The "earth" and modern problems of the working class in "Tonight the Bottle Let Me Down" and "Success" model trends that just aren't found in rock and roll, and the reason is obvious — rock traditionally is unsympathetic to country, although both have overlaps.
Still the gutsy Costello can be found in the rockabilly "Honey Hush." But it has been the case that Costello's music is just regenerated styles of music, what has been most notable is the subject matter of the songs. Here Costello substitutes his own ambitions and themes for the blues (again, it seems to be a therapeutic move apart from the stagnated rock scene).
So new avenues have been broken and Mr. Costello is unafraid and adventuresome. I predict that Costello will team with Willie Nelson in a benefit for muscular dystrophy.
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