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By his own admission, "London's Brilliant Parade" is Costello at his most sentimental. It's a wistful, pretty slip of a tune that takes a misty-eyed look at the capital, albeit occasionally offering a gentle sideswipe (I particularly like the line about "the accidental bazaar they used to call Oxford Street"). You can almost hear him taking his glasses off to brush away a tear.
Yes, it's uncharacteristically wet and soppy and... I love it. He reaches absolute peak form less frequently these days — maybe two or three times on Brutal Youth — but Costello still makes most of the competition look tongue-tied and witless, and this is a beautifully crafted portrait of a mood and a city.
One word of warning, however: various selected gems from EC's earlier years complete the EP. Hear them and you may well find yourself suddenly overcome with an irresistible urge to spend rather a lot of money on the Costello back catalogue.
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