Elvis Costello followed up the disappointing North just a year later, with 2004’s The Delivery Man. And where North felt stilted and mannered, the new album was bursting with energy.

Another of Costello’s half-baked concept albums, The Delivery Man purports to be the story of the title character and his relationships with three different women. Those women are played on the album by Lucinda Williams and Emmylou Harris, each of whom duets on at least one track. The narrative is really quite flimsy, though, as if Costello abandoned the idea midway through recording.

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