A year after The Juliet Letters, Costello’s most adventurous album to date, he reunited with The Attractions and put out what critics hailed as a return to old-school form.

Brutal Youth is indeed Costello’s first straight-up rock-and-roll album since Blood and Chocolate eight years earlier, though it does feature some of the baroque tricks he picked up through Spike and Mighty Like a Rose. And for my money, though it hits a few speed bumps along the way, it’s one of the highlights of his career.

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