From: leo@ph.tn.tudelft.nl (Leo Breebaart)
Newsgroups: rec.music.reviews
Subject: Kronto Review: Elvis Costello - Mighty Like A Rose
Date: Sat, 11 Apr 92 12:46:03 GMT
Reply-To: leo@ph.tn.tudelft.nl
Followup-To: rec.music.misc
Organization: Delft University of Technology


Elvis Costello - Mighty Like A Rose (1991)
Warner Bros. 7599 26575 2
54:29 min, 14 tracks
Produced by: Mitchell Froom, Kevin Killen and D. P. A. MacManus

When this CD was released last year there were so many reviews on 
the net that I decided to wait a while. Getting used to Costello 
albums first before saying something about them is usually a good 
idea anyway, and I did not really have anything new to add to the 
discussions.

This time, though, my opinion of the album practically hasn't 
changed since I put it on for the first time: this is simply one of 
Elvis Costello's best albums. It is versatile, creative, expertly 
produced, arranged and sung, and it is a perfect showcase for the 
many facets of Costello's music, all blended together into a 
coherent whole. In this aspect alone it is already different from 
his last album "Spike" which was also quite varied, but which made a 
very disjointed impression: a definite lack of direction.

On "Mighty Like A Rose" everything works. The angry, snarling 
Costello is here, but the crooning balladeer gets equal time. The 
piano Costello from "Trust", the orchestral Costello from "Imperial 
Bedroom",  the poppy Costello from "Punch The Clock" -- they are all 
present. In fact, I consider this album to be what "Imperial 
Bedroom" *should* have been. But that album suffered from a less-
than-perfect production, less-than-inspired songwriting and an 
overdose of pretenses. No such handicaps here.

The songwriting is almost uniformly excellent. There are some very 
typical Costello songs ('Harpies Bizarre', 'Playboy To A Man', 
'Sweet Pear'), but also some truly novel stuff, such as the 
Dylanesque "Hurry Down Doomsday", a percussion and noise driven 
scream-song that takes some getting used to; or "After The Fall", a 
ballad with a Spanish guitar sound. Most of the other songs are 
pretty much what we've come to expect of Costello by now, but that 
seems to me inevitable for a twelfth album. And with songwriting 
this good there simply is nothing to complain about.

The lyrics are also quite typical. "The Other Side Of Summer" is one 
of the most hardhitting 'protest' songs I have heard in quite a 
while, and in my opinion one of his best lyrics ever. "How To Be 
Dumb" is an unbelievably vitriolic swipe at ex-Attractions 
bassplayer Bruce Thomas, although it also appears, somehow, to be 
about skinheads. Don't ask. In the other songs the usual assortment 
of weirdly twisted personae and relationships gets described with 
great wit and eloquence.

As on "Spike", Paul McCartney co-wrote two songs on the album. 'So 
Like Candy' is a very obvious McCartney ballad -- you can just 
*hear* him sing it, even though he doesn't. 'Playboy To A Man' is an 
energetic over-the-top rocker, and a much better song.

My own super-favourite song of the album is 'Invasion Hitparade'. I 
have not the faintest idea what it is about, but Elvis' father plays 
a mesmerizing trumpet on this haunting, melodic, complex song. Other 
musical top spots are 'The Other Side Of Summer' and 'Hurry Down 
Doomsday'. I also have a lingering fondness for the lightweight 
poppy 'Georgie And Her Rival'.

The ballads are the only disappointments on the album for me. 'After 
The Fall' is a truly awful song, and 'Sweet Pear' does nothing for 
me. 'All Grown Up', while a nicely orchestrated Burt Bacharach-type 
song, also leaves me cold, as does 'So Like Candy'. The almost a 
capella 'Broken' maintains a nice tension throughout, and saves the 
day for the slow songs.

Concluding, I can really recommend this album, both for long time 
Costello fans as well as for the uninitiated who want to get their 
hands on an excellent example of what the master is capable of. 
"Mighty Like A Rose" was one of my favourite albums of 1991, and 
will probably be one of my most-played CD's in 1992 as well. And 
1993. And...

-- 
Leo Breebaart  (leo @ ph.tn.tudelft.nl)
Xref: sparky rec.music.reviews:204 rec.music.misc:14286