RECOMMENDED RECORD: Elvis Costello and the Imposters: The Boy Named If

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RECOMMENDED RECORD: Elvis Costello and the Imposters: The Boy Named If

From time to time Elsewhere will single out a recent release we recommend on vinyl, like this one which comes with the lyrics and a gatefold sleeve.

Check out Elsewhere's other Recommended Record picks . . .

In the late Seventies a David Bowie compilation appeared under the name Chameleon. However chameleons change to blend in, Bowie changed to stand out.

Few artists can sustain constant Bowie-like reinvention but among the select few would be John Cale (formerly of the Velvet Underground), Marianne Faithfull, the Radiohead gang, Nick Cave, Kate Bush, Lady Gaga . . .

And Elvis Costello who emerged in that phlegmatic post-punk/New Wave period but subsequently explored country music, soul, jazz, Beat-era pop, ballads, bluegrass and New Orleans soul-funk. He's also written for string quartets, a ballet and films.

Like Paul McCartney, with whom he briefly wrote and who also defaults to pop-rock after his classical and experimental digressions, Costello frequently returns to compelling, literate rock.

From his funky, hip hop-influenced and self-referential album Wise Up Ghost in 2013 with the Roots, through the exceptional Look Now ('18) and 20's superb Hey Clockface with Middle Eastern sounds, spoken word, muted ballads and trip-hop beats alongside brittle rock, Costello has been enjoying a third or fourth wind in his creative sails.

At 67, you'd think he had nothing more to prove, but this 32nd studio album bristles with the energy of someone a third his age: Here's the rowdy confrontation of Farewell OK, a throwback to his early years on Penelope Halfpenny, quivering New Wave tautness on Magnificent Hurt and Mistook Me For a Friend, the poignant if sentimental Paint the Red Rose Blue and the venomous What If I Can't Give You Anything But Love?

This is another volume of rock-oriented riches from Costello who recently told The Telegraph if he fell under a bus just three of his songs would be played: She, Good Year for the Roses and Oliver's Army.

The first two he didn't write (Charles Aznavour and George Jones respectively) and the last he now refuses to play for its racial slur. He hopes radio will drop it too.

It probably won't. As he said back in '78 on Radio Radio, “radio is in the hands of such a lot of fools”.

None of these new songs will make playlists.

No matter.

The Boy Named If is another late-career high from Elvis Costello, an outstanding chameleon.

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You can hear this album at Spotify here.

There is a swathe of Elvis Costello at Elsewhere including interviews, reviews and overviews. Start here.

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