Elvis Costello Re-Teams With The Imposters For The Clever Pop Of Unwanted Number and Under Lime
Friday, 27 July 2018
Written by Huw Baines
Elvis Costello has put out a lot of records.
Thirty or so, in fact, comprising power-pop classics, ballet scores, bleeding-heart country and sweeping collaborations with Burt Bacharach.
Unwanted Number and Under Lime, the first songs to emerge from his new record ‘Look Now’, find a sweet spot between the poles.
The LP is his first with the Imposters since 2008’s ‘Momofuku’ (and following recent surgery to remove a “small but very aggressive cancerous malignancy”) and these tracks are appropriately driven by jaunty keys from long-time collaborator Steve Nieve and sharp, unfussy melodies.
Costello’s voice remains ageless and he vamps it up Warren Zevon-style alongside punchy backing vocals on Unwanted Number, dialling things back just a little on Under Lime only for towering horn and vocal arrangements to grab the spotlight.
‘Look Now’, which is out on October 12, also features co-writes with Bacharach and Carole King, while it was produced by Costello and Sebastian Krys. Stream the new stuff below, but whatever you do don’t call them instant grats.
“I have to be straight with you; that sounds like a personal service that you might be offered in a dubious massage parlour,” Costello grumbles in a press release.
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