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For this long time fan, Costello's aim has been more haphazard than true since he ditched The Attractions. There are exemptions in Brutal Youth (featuring The Attractions) and an underrated When I Was Cruel. But since Spike have felt him as inconsistent, overwrought, self-conscious as he's been intermittently brilliant. Sometimes, all you need is a right hook and a punch line you can feel. As for his collaborations, from Bacharach to Otter to Toussaint---they've all been eye rollers in my book.
That said, it sounds like Costello has finally wised up. Ghost is his most straightforward, least contrived in decades. One would think a pairing with the Roots and their brand of eclectic Hip Hop and Funk would be an awkward one. But if anything, they live up to their moniker by keeping things grounded. The Roots provide an eerie, hypnotic Funk to the proceedings. At times reminiscent of early Beck. Which really doesn't do them justice as they're hardly imitators. Its more sinister cocktail music and laid back Funk than Hip Hop. Despite, his usual brand of vitriol, Costello sounds much more at home and playful here than in the other musical hats he's doffed and juggled. Everybody hates a tourist but as Get Happy proved, R & B and Soul suit Costello far more than any forays south of the Mason Dixon line.
Vocally, this is his most restrained in years. But that restraint doesn't come at the expense of edge. I always felt Costello's lower register was eerily effective on classics like I Want You, Beyond Belief and Almost Blue. Mercifully he's left the cringe inducing Broadway belting at the door. And even if he lacks his usual caustic hectoring, don't expect the crooning claustrophobia of North. This is a far more moody, dark and varied affair.
Seasoned devotees will pick up snippets of Pills & Soap along with strains of Hurry Down Doomsday on Stick Out Your Tongue. Here's Costello and The Roots organically "sampling" from his back catalog. And it works. There are also a lot of Musical "in" jokes. You can tell ?uestlove is a genuine fan. The opening of Tripwire is from Spike's Satellite. There's a mix of Radio Silence and High Fidelity in the bonus track, Can You Hear Me. (She Might Be A) Grenade is a reworking of Delivery Man bonus track, She's Pulling Out The Pin. Lyrically, things typically veer between the outraged and the arcane. But in terms of the delivery and backing the collage approach on Ghost is refreshingly unpretentious.
While I found a lot to like off National Ransom, it lacked cohesion. Here, all the eclectic elements including the Deluxe bonus tracks come together to make this Costello's strongest cuff on the ear since the turn of the century.
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Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 3, 2014