Momofuku<\/i>, a reference to the inventor of instant noodles, was recorded in nine days earlier this year. Essentially, it is a crash course in Costello. The \/singer\/songwriter\/guitarist has dedicated entire albums to country (Almost Blue<\/i>) and soul\/R&B (Get Happy!!<\/i>) and delivered rock in its most vitriolic form (\u201cRadio, Radio\u201d). He\u2019s not getting any younger, and he is a collaborator. You get all of that in Momofuku<\/i>. <\/p>\n
Costello fires at contemporary culture in \u201cNo Hiding Place\u201d to begin the album. I particularly enjoy his distaste for those who shoot off their mouths but expect something better in return: \u201cNext time someone wants to hurt you \/ Or set alight your effigy \/ Don\u2019t call on me to help you out \/ Don\u2019t come crying to me for sympathy.\u201d Costello\u2019s an older guy, but he\u2019s up to date on whom to hang. \u201cNo Hiding Place\u201d also has nice country bits peeking out of the track\u2019s driving rock foundation, with Rilo Kiley singer Jenny Lewis doing great backing vocals. <\/p>\n
Next up is \u201cAmerican Gangster Time,\u201d in which Costello\u2019s vocal is the definition of sneering. Steve Nieve\u2019s organ playing perfectly accentuates Costello\u2019s mocking words — just like it did throughout This Year\u2019s Model<\/i> in 1978. Indeed, the track is a classic Costello foursome; the only person missing is bassist Bruce Thomas, who played with Costello for many years as one of the Attractions. But Dave Faragher, an Imposter since 2001, is an adequate replacement. <\/p>\n
The next three tracks are a step away from the ferocious first pair but are certainly listenable. \u201cTurpentine\u201d is noisy (like 2002\u2019s When I Was Cruel<\/i>) and very rhythmic (courtesy of Imposter drummer Pete Thomas and his daughter, Tennessee). The song improves with repeated listening, but it should have been shorter than five-and-a-half minutes. \u201cHarry Worth\u201d is incredibly reminiscent of \u201cThe Long Honeymoon\u201d from 1982\u2019s Imperial Bedroom<\/i> — the kind of songs I cautiously label storytelling jazz because I\u2019m not sure what the hell they are. And then there\u2019s \u201cDrum & Bone,\u201d notable for its endless wordplay and Costello\u2019s acoustic strumming. <\/p>\n
But \u201cFlutter & Wow\u201d is the real attention-getter. Along with \u201cNo Hiding Place\u201d and \u201cAmerican Gangster Time,\u201d it qualifies as a highlight of the album\u2019s first half. And it is possibly the most soulful song of Costello\u2019s career: \u201cI can\u2019t believe that this is happening \/ You make the motor in me flutter and wow.\u201d His vocal performance is impeccable. In fact, the emotion is almost too salient, and I can\u2019t say that for many songs outside of the Roy Orbison variety. <\/p>\n
\u201cFlutter & Wow\u201d towers over the next few tracks, which amount to fuzzbox rock (\u201cStella Hurt\u201d), an obvious British Invasion ploy (\u201cMr. Feathers\u201d), and fatherly musings (\u201cMy Three Sons\u201d). I don\u2019t really see a point to \u201cMr. Feathers\u201d when you can go to The Kinks, but \u201cStella Hurt\u201d and \u201cMy Three Sons\u201d are decent songs following an emotional monster. <\/p>\n
Which is precisely why I\u2019m thankful for \u201cSong With Rose,\u201d a dark love song co-written by Roseanne Cash. Cash doesn\u2019t show up to sing on this country track, but Lewis\u2019s voice twists up nicely with Costello\u2019s. The tension between the sexes continues with \u201cPardon Me, Madam, My Name Is Eve,\u201d co-written by Loretta Lynn. The song suggests infidelity between Adam and Eve, and considering the story is told from Eve\u2019s standpoint, it\u2019s interesting that Costello is the lead vocal with no female backing vocals.<\/p>\n
The maturity, which is somewhat synonymous with whining, is put to rest with the final track, \u201cGo Away,\u201d a fun R&B throwback to Get Happy!!<\/i>\u00a0 I could almost see Costello and Lewis and the Imposters taking speed — OK, so that\u2019s libelous — in the studio and ripping through this one. Very smart of them not to end this album on a downer.<\/p>\n
The strength of Momofuku <\/i>is its accessibility. Costello fans will dig the history, and newcomers should receive a good idea of who Costello is. Not all of the tracks are great, but nothing comes close to past stinkers like \u201c\u2026 And In Every Home\u201d (Imperial Bedroom)<\/i> and \u201cSunday\u2019s Best\u201d (Armed Forces<\/i>). \u00a0<\/p>\n
(On a grim note, download \u201c\u2026 And In Every Home\u201d and \u201cSunday\u2019s Best\u201d and try to enjoy them. I would like an e-mail from anyone who can.) <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":29673,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[8309],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-41272","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-elvis-costello-the-imposters","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/73"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41272"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41272\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41272"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=41272"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=41272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}