Elvis Costello hurtles out of traps on his latest studio album as though he's going to miss the plane to his wedding. Opener "Farewell OK" launches with clanging chords like The Beatles auditioning for their lives, before Steve Nieve throws in hammered pianos, then for good measure, his organ, determined to provoke "96 Tears" from the boss before it's over. It's enough to make "Pump It Up" sound laidback, and "Pump It Up"'s not laidback.
Costello's close to 70 now, and yet The Boy Named If finds him flexing his muscles like he's still in his twenties. Further putting the rest of us to shame, it's only a year since Hey Clockface — though its pace dipped after its singles — and he's also kept busy overseeing a Spanish version of This Year's Model plus an Armed Forces boxset. Frankly, one wonders where he finds the energy, but it's spilling out from multiple tracks here, with "Penelope Halfpenny" an ebullient reminder of Spike's Macca co-write "Veronica" and "Mistook Me For A Friend" going off like a wayward firework, echoing Blood & Chocolate's "Tokyo Storm Warning" with breathless rants about how "I had a pocket full of Presidents / A suitcase full of elements / The double-cross of spectacles / A mogul for mechanicals."
"The Death Of Magic Thinking" barely pauses for breath either, with Pete Thomas' drums a martial tattoo and "Magnificent Hurt"'s dependent on another pounding beat, not to mention a magnificently spiky guitar solo.
Even on slower tracks Costello means business, with "What If I Can't Give You Anything But Love?" packed with churning guitars and cheating husbands while the title track's deliberately leaden pace delivers repeated slaps to the face. If there's a weakness, it's that, in his haste to portray his cast of vaudeville characters, he gets a little verbose — his lyric sheet amounts to some 4,000 words! — but perhaps this merely suggests he's been reading Edward Lear. Make no mistake, this year's model is yet again, vintage Costello.
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