Finishing up my week of favorite artists who didn’t make the cut on my list of decade-best albums is Mr. Elvis Costello.
Costello released two albums in the past five years: Wise Up Ghost, his 2013 collaboration with The Roots; and 2010’s National Ransom. If one of those records were to make my list, it would have been the latter.
That’s not meant as a dig at his work with The Roots. Wise Up Ghost is a blast, effectively melding the two artists very different styles and giving Costello a chance to revisit some old lyrics and melodies in a new context. But not every track on this experimental album works, and at times it feels more like a lark than a new musical statement.
National Ransom, on the other hand, is rich and meaty, offering up 16 ambitious new songs, each exhibiting Costello’s trademark verbosity and melodic gift. The album was a companion to the previous year’s stylistically similar Secret, Profane and Sugarcane, but it’s the better record.
What it isn’t, though, is something I’ve listened to a whole lot since its release.
You can slice and dice the quality of an album a hundred different ways, but ultimately isn’t the most important metric how many times you actually listen? If I return to an album again and again, to the point that I know every minute detail by heart, that’s a great album.
And that’s what kept National Ransom off of my list in favor of the parade of country women who’ve been discussed in the comment sections this week.
But for the dead shot of an amber glass
The blue light of a votive
The rain obscured the window
As the pain was dulled by the grains
Absolved in spoons and flames
In fear in time dissolving
It’s not for the faint of pulse
Or anybody false
Those amateurs who only shed their skin
So where are those traitors now, we once called patriots?
Just like those saints who seem to revel in their sins
O my eyes were filled with tears that were stinging
After our assassin’s work was done
But hands and bells are only there for the wringing
As we were bringing bullets for the new-born king
The trumpet sounds lamenting
Trampling down the blooms of the deceased
The double agent girl and the fallen priest were heading for the border
Somewhere at the high command there stayed the palest hand
That saw the order countermand
Erased a tape recorder and then they hung him from a window cord
Swallow down that voodoo vial to still your breath a while
Before we spill this tale that has been spun
And so I shall now confide all that I once denied
Oh I’m so sorry for the things I’ve done
O my eyes were filled with tears that were stinging
After our assassin’s work was done
But hands and bells are only there for the wringing
As we were bringing bullet for the new-born king
Meet Me In Montauk 
I’m with you on this one. This is a very good album that, for whatever reason, I haven’t felt all that compelled to return to. Listening to today’s song though makes me feel that I really should.
Last week I was asking another attorney in my office whether he would be going to see Elvis’ solo concert coming up in March. His response was “only if he plays nothing he did after 1986.” I felt that was a very harsh statement given that Elvis has put out some wonderful stuff since 1986, yet, truth be told, as good as the more recent work has been, I confess that I would be quite content if he limited his concert set to pre 1986 songs.
The good news is that, from I’ve read, Elvis does reach back to a number of songs from his earlier work on this tour, so I look forward to hearing those done solo and presumably acoustic.
I agree, that’s a little harsh. Still, looking at his discography, he released 11 albums before ’86 and 15 after, and my top five Elvis Costello albums all come from the earlier group.
If I expand that list to a top ten, I might be looking at just 1-2 titles from the later years.
I’d amend your colleague’s assessment by a few years, push it to 1989 so I can get Spike into the earlier group.
But as you said, much of the work he has produced during the past 25 years has been wonderful, if not at the level of his best albums.
It’s funny, but when he said that, I responded by saying that Spike was a great album, and he agreed and amended to say no songs before 1989.😄