The music of Elvis Costello can cure the sick.
Well, not exactly. But his show at the Wiltern Theater last Tuesday night made this reviewer temporarily forget one of the worst colds of her life for a scant hour and fifteen minutes.
Costello is deep in an image transition right now, as evidenced by his adoption of a now-notorious beard and wire-rimmed sunglasses to replace his old hornrims. Gone too is his image as the world's oldest angry young man, the last upholder of "real" (anything without a drum machine) rock 'n' roll.
Instead, Costello emphasized his roots at the Wiltern show, playing songs by Little Richard and bluesman Mose Allison as well as the blues and country and western-influenced songs he himself has written.
Put in this perspective, the customary bitter lamentations of lost love that appear in Costello's new and old songs seem less the work of a permanently depressed man and more like a man nobly upholding the traditional suffering of blues and C & W music.
Songs from Costello's latest album, Mighty Like a Rose, played a prominent part in the show, from the deceptively bouncy "The Other Side of Summer" and "Georgie and Her Rival" to the slower-paced "All Grown Up" and "So Like Candy."
Still, the best thing about a Costello show is the man's vast repertoire of songs, both his own and other people's — you can be assured that, unless you sneak a peek at the playlist, some of the songs chosen will be unfamiliar or at least half-forgotten.
In this category were songs like "Suit of Lights," from King of America, or the more recent "Deep
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