Elvis Costello
Spike

Published in 1989, "Spike" symbolically marks the beginning of a new era in Elvis Costello's career.

An intriguing and stimulating journey that will continue unchanged in several subsequent works, during which the multifaceted English artist will showcase all his musical eclecticism and his overflowing personality by embracing different styles and often surrounding himself with illustrious guests and collaborators. In its author's intentions, "Spike" is meant to be a majestic work of sophisticated pop, brilliant and varied, which, however, tends to suffer from an exaggerated redundancy of musical styles that at times make it seem inconclusive.

When Costello begins to record this album, he has so many ideas in mind that he could create at least five albums. "Spike" thus gathers five different concepts into a single album and probably for this reason comes across as slightly disjointed. What "Spike" genuinely lacks is a slight touch of spontaneity in its arrangements. A bit more humility in the sound, at times emphatic, would have certainly made it a great album given the excellence of the individual tracks that compose it. Spontaneity, in fact, Elvis Costello finds only in the much-discussed and publicized collaboration with Paul McCartney, which gifts "Spike" the successful single "Veronica", a splendid, driving, and refined beat track, and the daring psychedelic experiment of "Pads, Paws And Claws".

Remarkable as well is the opener "This Town", a lively track, a torrent of Rickenbacker with two exceptional guests: former Byrd Roger McGuinn with his twelve-string guitar and McCartney himself on bass. Unique and original is also the sound emanating from the theatrical cadence of "Let Him Dangle", narrating the story of two young people who turn a prank into a tragedy, made effective thanks to the experimental guitar of the very talented Marc Ribot and the piano of Benmont Tench. At this point, the already rich palette of "Spike" further enriches itself with various new nuances that make it brilliant, varied, but also slightly verbose.

Elvis Costello unveils the best part of his musical egocentrism and offers his listeners new oblique paths that touch upon various corners and aspects of his infinite artistic creativity. "Deep Dark Truthful Mirror" is a journey to New Orleans in the company of pianist Allen Toussaint and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, who also appear in the electrifying swing of "Stalin Malone". Particularly bizarre and quirky are the Waits-like "Chewing Gum", the Pepper-esque witch "Miss Macbeth", and the jazzy "God's Comic" with its singular and fantastic heavenly tale. In the other episodes present on the album, Costello retraces already trodden paths, providing moments ranging from pure romanticism to political indictment.

"Satellite" is a sensual ballad with a significant vocal contribution from Chrissie Hynde, "Baby Plays Around" is genuinely sad, while "Last Boat Leaving", with its sentimentality, beautifully concludes the album. Also highly moving are the two magical Celtic lullabies "Any King's Shilling" and the evocative "Tramp The Dirt Down" where, accompanied by Steve Wickham's violin, Costello directly targets former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the explicit lines "When England Was The Whore Of The World, Margaret Was Her Madam".

In its never hidden multifaceted nature, "Spike" proves to be yet another work that showcases Declan Patrick MacManus's enormous talent and musical taste. A pleasantly challenging record that, carried by the pop-beat of the single "Veronica", manages to climb the charts, becoming Elvis Costello's most successful album alongside "Almost Blue".