COSTELLO'S AIM IS AS TRUE AS EVER
PREVIEW

Catriona Killin, dailyrecord.co.uk, Aug 30 2002

THOSE who witnessed Elvis Costello's blinding performance at The Concert for a Landmine Free World are already aware that a Scottish trip by this Elvis promises to be more scintillating than Mr Presley's three hours at Prestwick airport.

All recent Elvis talk has focused on the dead, side-burned one.

So a Barrowland show by the other Elvis should go someway towards reminding people that our entertainers are capable of insightful and articulate pop as well as white- spangled, jump-suited schlock.

Costello's new album, When I Was Cruel, is a return to the wordy, New Wave pop for which he is best known and a big step away from the collaborative projects that have characterised his work for the last decade.

As worthy as the Bacharach, Brodsky Quartet albums are, it is somehow reassuring to see the original angry young man strap his electric guitar on again.

Spooky Girlfriend and the epic Alibi, from the new record, are welcome reminders of the edgy intensity of the man behind classics such as Watching The Detectives and Shipbuilding.

While these tracks contain the odd sample and other contemporary production touches, they are classic Costello: finely crafted, lyrical tales of emotional deceit and sensorial mystery imbued with delicately twisting melodies wrapped up in a package of incisive guitars and deceptively funky rhythms.

It is also a good sign for those who still treasure their battered vinyl copies of Armed Forces and This Year's Model, that former Attraction, Steve Nieve, plays on the new album and in the new band, The Imposters. On their last tour together, in 1999, Costello and Nieve played sets spanning the entirety of Elvis' career.

Oliver's Army, Everyday I Write The Book and Alison nestled comfortably alongside the best of the later material like All This Useless Beauty.

Costello's catalogue is now available on remastered CD, his new album is on the shelves and his band hit Glasgow's Barrowland on Tuesday.

Now is the time to reacquaint yourself with the other Elvis - his aim remains true.