Elvis Costello: God's Comic
[purchase]
In the early days of my involvement with this blog, Elvis Costello was ubiquitous, but we haven't heard from him a little while now. Following a string of seven almost flawless albums, Costello started to look more like a mere mortal in the mid-80's. Nineteen-eighty-nine's Spike was a bit of a hodge-podge and I agree with many critics that it doesn't hold together very well as an album. But, what the critics miss is that Spike has so many amazing singles on it. Yes, they sound like they were written in different times and in different styles, but as singles many of these songs are among the best Costello ever wrote. In that spirit, I consider Spike to be Costello's last great album of his coming of age period.
That's my stand and I'm sticking to it. God's Comic is one of those songs that makes this album worth owning.