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Elvis Costello
Almost Blue
Goodbye Cruel World

Kojak Variety (Rhino)

BY STEVE PICK
stevevin@mo.net

When Rhino Records decided to reissue Elvis Costello's
catalogue in groups of three non-chronological
releases, it was inevitable that the process would end
here. Two years after launching with some of
Costello's best and hardest-rocking albums, Rhino is
left with three of his least essential or popular
oddities. These include the only two albums ever made
by one of pop's greatest songwriters without even a
single original composition, as well as the album
Costello once rightly called the worst he'd ever made.

Almost Blue is the album here with the greatest
commercial success. In 1981 New Wave fans were stunned
when Elvis Costello went to Nashville to do an LP of
honky-tonk music. Imagine what country fans must have
thought when they compared these
tentative-if-well-meaning versions to the classic
originals. For those of us on the rock side who
followed Costello's tribute to his heroes, Almost Blue
crossed the line we hadn't imagined had been drawn,
revealing the harsh bigotry of our ignorance. It
probably isn't stretching a point to claim that
alt-country wouldn't have happened without this record
opening the minds of a lot of alternative-rock fans.

Costello hadn't yet learned to inhabit this kind of
music, so listening today, we hear reverence, some
mildly interesting arrangements and a lot of songs
we've heard done better. The bonus disc includes some
terrific live material from a variety of settings.

Goodbye Cruel World came out in 1984, and more than
anything else Costello has ever recorded, it sounds
trapped in its time. The fresh pop sheen of the
production overwhelms the songs, with dated keyboard
sounds and incessant saxophone interjections getting
in the way of modern enjoyment. There are good to
great songs here, but ironically, only the two most
heavily produced cuts -- "The Only Flame in Town" and
an obscure cover song, "I Wanna Be Loved" -- still
sound fresh. Interestingly, the bonus disc has two
alternate versions of "The Only Flame" that are even
better, revealing the subdued, haunting chills at the
core of this song.

Costello always improves songs live, and the six newly
unearthed live cuts on the bonus disc show up the lack
of emotional honesty on the record itself. Given that
this album was recorded at the time of the final
ending to his first marriage, it's possible he was
afraid of revealing too much truth in the recording
studio. If so, it was the only failure of nerve he's
ever shown us.

I'd forgotten what a gem Kojak Variety is. The album
was recorded in 1991, in five days, with a brilliant
lineup of musicians. The group took a week's vacation
in Barbados and ran through a bunch of amazing,
frequently completely obscure cover songs from a
variety of genres. Costello has always displayed
impeccable understanding of other people's songs.
There's a palpable sense of fun on this record too, as
the players have no thoughts of trying to make this
one a commercial success.

The bonus disc includes a lot of rarities rounded up
from the mid-'90s, with the core being a set of ten
songs, most previously unissued, Costello recorded in
the style of George Jones with the intention of
convincing the country master to cover material by the
likes of Tom Waits, Paul Simon and Bruce Springsteen.
It could be the best album George Jones never made,
though Costello's vocals are a far cry from his
influence here. Of the three new reissues, Kojak
Variety easily offers the most consistent pleasures.