Elvis Costello - National Ransom

Elvis Costello describes one of his new songs "A Slow Drag With Josephine" as "rock and roll, as it sounded in 1921", an attitude that permeates throughout the sixteen sweet new songs on his November 2 album National Ransom (Hear Music). Working with producer T-Bone Burnett again as he did on last year's Secret, Profane and Sugarcane and recording in Nashville with his and Burnett's ace team of sidemen (including Marc Ribot, Steve Naive and Buddy Miller), Costello heats up and boils down a tantalizing gumbo of influences and musical periods, Americana bumping up against 30's Tin Pan Alley ballads, classic Costello Farfisa-charged rock -- as on the frisky title track -- to countrified jazz swing, even touches of gospel, bluegrass and crooning, bittersweet torch songs.

When asked if National Ransom’s songs and their characters were set in specific times and places, Costello replies, "Yes but I'd be happy if you imagine them any time you want." Having reinvented and reshaped his sound over his 30+ year career, the man simply doesn't know just one particular style nor does he want to. The lyrics are still as sharp as shards of glass, his protagonists as colorfully drawn as ever even as tempos lag and his voice, now a husky, whiny warble of angst and anger, alternately swoops and soars, scaling the songs' melodies with the trademarked strain and occasional crack and croak. Things are left untidied and organic, Burnett wisely letting Costello's unique features -- and consistently, amazingly good songwriting -- move and shake on their own well-worn feet. Watch the video EPK after the jump.

Elvis Costello - National Ransom (Full Album Sampler)

Photo Credit: James O'Mara