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That mellow song stylist, Elvis Costello, has a new album out. It's called Get Happy, which probably doesn't mean much more than irony, given Mr. Costello's dyspeptic disposition. Get Happy isn't likely to change anyone's opinion about Elvis Costello. It's still full of tough, quirky, interesting songs, although Mr. Costello's apparent refusal to include a lyric sheet seems downright perverse: His words are as interesting as any other aspect of his songwriting, yet his voice and the nature of the rock idiom make it extremely difficult to decipher them.
Mr. Costello, to this taste, has a toneless, limited baritone and a style that rarely conveys much beyond hectoring. His expressionlessness is perhaps a limited metaphor for a sensibility overwhelmed by feeling, and it purges the slow songs of sentimentality. But it quickly becomes boring. Some wonderfully clever arrangements by The Attractions, Costello's band, by Nick Lowe, his producer — and by Costello himself — compensate for that boredom.
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