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With the original model, we got anger, egomania. A brooding and calculating preoccupation with death and deception. A ridiculous prodigy who rebelled against the tyranny of the audience and the media. A lyrical wizard who teased with cryptic, cynical insight.
That Costello has vanished, at least for the time being.
This year's model is still a romantic, but now he's yearning for love, instead of passion. The dozen songs on Almost Blue, all cover versions of classic country and western tunes, take slow, sad aim at the heart. The songs tell stories: a lover regretfully watches a marriage dissipate ("Good Year for the Roses"), a man finds himself unable to let go of his lover ("Sweet Dreams"), a lost soul tries to lose himself in liquor ("Tonight the Bottle Let Me Down," "Sittin' and Thinkin' ").
The words are simple, the sensations universal, the music (mostly) slow. Sentimentality mixes with raunchy, bluesy rock, hits somewhere between sap and boogie-woogie. Take "Success": an acoustic ragtime piano intro, a pedal steel guitar gushes up, drums and bass gut-bucket in. "You haven't time to love me anymore / Since fame and fortune knocked upon our door ... Success has made a failure of our home." Shreds of cowboy-style guitar stroll in, the piano lopes double time way up high. Violins flare up in a number of songs, melodramatic and sentimental.
The arrangements are dominated instrumentally by John McFee (pedal steel guitar) and Steve Naive, the Attractions' keyboard player. Naive's virtuosity flashes from maniacal blues to near-classical melodrama to touchingly emotional melodies. The weakest songs on the LP, "Why Don't You Love Me Like You Used to Do?" and "Hi-Ho Silver," are studded with guitar fills instead of keyboards, and seem to suffer from it.
Sentimental and warm, this Costello has changed his tactics. He wants your heart. He wants your tears.
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