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Elvis Costello has not only never stayed in one musical mode for very long, but often has released albums that have seemed like reactions against their predecessors.
The ornate pop arrangements of 1979's Armed Forces, for instance, defied the stripped-down punk ethos of 1978's This Year's Model, and the evasive wordplay of 1982's Imperial Bedroom represented an opposite artistic direction from the directness of Costello's 1981 country album, Almost Blue.
So it is no surprise that Costello has followed the biggest stretch of his musical career — last year's The Juliet Letters, a collaboration with a string quartet — with an album that brings him together with his familiar backing band, The Attractions, for the first time since 1986. Brutal Youth, Elvis Costello (Warner Bros.). It also shouldn't come as a surprise that this album comes as a breath of fresh air after the sometimes brilliant, but also frustratingly overwrought The Juliet Letters, and similarly uneven efforts such as 1991's Mighty Like A Rose and 1988's Spike.
Lyrically, Costello continues to indulge his taste for dizzying wordiness. But the music is taut and catchy enough that fans won't have any trouble listening to the songs enough times so that the words start to make sense. Drummer Pete Thomas and alternating bassists Bruce Thomas and Nick Lowe form a no-nonsense rhythm section, and Steve Nieve proves that he is still one of the pop world's most versatile keyboardists, playing an ironically sweet acoustic piano riff on "This Is Hell," recalling the grandiosity of Phil Spector's wall-of-sound arrangements on "Pony St.," adding eerie organ overtones to "My Science Fiction Twin," and supplying similarly distinctive touches on most of the other 12 tracks.
Musically, the biggest change from Costello's previous albums with the Attractions is Costello's more assertive presence on electric guitar. He even takes a solo on "13 Steps Lead Down" that is so flamboyant it wouldn't sound out of place coming from an arena-rock band.
Costello's songs continue to explore the darker recesses of human behavior, from the chilling rape drama of "Kinder Murder" to the alcoholic rage of "13 Steps Lead Down." There is some more upbeat stuff, too, including the sentimental "London's Brilliant Parade," but Costello's world view remains a bleak one.
Making buoyant music out of bleak sentiments is old hat for Costello & the Attractions, though, and the ease with which they do this on this album bodes well for their summertime reunion tour, which comes to New York's Central Park Summerstage on Wednesday, June 8.
"13 Steps Lead Down," incidentally, is available in CD single form with an added bonus of "A Drunken Man's Praise Of Sobriety," a William Butler Yeats poem that Costello puts to Kurt Weill-style music, and sings with scabrous ferocity.
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