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For a while, Elvis Costello has had to fight the stigma of being an "intellectual rock star." In recent albums, he's tried to either kowtow to public sentiment, or ignore it completely. Goodbye Cruel World was a cruddy, overproduced album which was, in parts, incomprehensible, and in others, blatantly commercial. King of America was pretentious prattle which was pretty dull.
Blood & Chocolate, on the other hand, finds Costello doing what he does best: writing catchy, clever songs which tell interesting stories. Each song is a self-contained gem which has a beginning, a middle, and an end. This is songwriting at its most sophisticated, and it's a heckuva lot of fun at the same time. It's a little like Costello's 1981 Imperial Bedroom, but it's happier and consequently more fun.
The album begins with a thumping discordant bass line which brings to mind "Helter Skelter," by the Beatles. It is overlapped with a guitar part taken from the old song by the Groggs, "Wild Thing." From this point, the album weaves a complex set of song-stories which consist of ironic rock songs, intricate character studies, and sets of humorous observations.
"Tokyo Storm Warning" it a really catchy rock tune, but its lyrics belie its clever melody. Costello speaks of a locale which lies between the "Disney abattoir" and a "chemical refinery" where members of a Ku Klux Klan meeting are seated at a bar.
"Home is Anywhere You Hang Your Head," is another excellently crafted song which paints a portrait of a very depressed individual — Mr. Misery as Costello dubs him. The song is filled with wonderfully interesting lyrics like, "He's contemplating murder again; he must be in love." It's a line which sounds a trifle too clever, but it has a definite truth.
The crowning touch of Side 1 is an incredible song called, "I Want You." The song is a masterful portrait of a man who can't stand to see the woman he loves with another man. The droning melody combined with Costello's dominating voice capture feelings of desperation and unrequited love. "I want you," he sings, "If you need a second opinion as you seem to do these days... you can look into my eyes and count the ways."
"Blue Chair" seems to be the best bet for a hit on the album. Its focus is unclear, but it seems to be about two men who are discussing the problems of their love lives at a bar. "It's my turn to talk. Your turn to think. Your turn to buy. My turn to drink. Your turn to cry. My turn to sing down in the blue chair." The lyrics paint an accurate picture of men talking out their frustrations. And, the use of the word "turn" seems to add to the fluidity of this pop tune.
Songs like, "Honey Are You Straight Or Are You Blind," "Next Time Around," and "I Hope You're Happy Now," are clever rewrites of 60's British Invasion tunes which take the happy abandon of that period's music and convert it into sarcastic and biting songs. I don't mean to say that Costello's stealing material, but the influence of the Beatles, The Animals, The Kings, and even some Gerry and the Pacemakers songs clearly shows.
"Crimes of Paris," is a Beatlesque song which talks of the artifice of relationships. Speaking of a girl who would seem to be a dream girl, Costello cautions, "You're not the girl next door or the girl in France or the cigarette girl with the sizzle-hot pants... you're an everywhere girl with an every day mask."
A final song worth noting is "Poor Napoleon" which is a warning to a young boy about the problems of engaging in ill-gotten fantasies provided by prostitutes. The lyrics, as always, are carefully layered and textured and fit in with an unobtrusive melody. "She was selling stolen kisses to traveling salesmen and minstrel singers. You put a penny in her slot. She called you her magic fingers."
The thing about Blood & Chocolate which makes it unlike other Costello albums is that the songs all make some sort of sense. They're as clever as they've ever been, but now it seems that he really has something to say. He isn't trying to be a rock star or some recluse poet; he's writing good songs.
The title of the album, Blood & Chocolate, is one I've pondered for a bit. It seems to relate to the album's contrast of anger with sweetness and pain with humor. It's at once funny and incisive and gives the impression that Costello is happy. He seems to be satisfied with his role as singer/songwriter, and has made a truly great album to prove it.
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