Elvis Costello: Mighty Like A Rose

RECENTLY OBSERVED sporting a trainee Father Christmas beard and chewing the fat with Jerry Garcia, Elvis Costello seemed to have completed his self-reinvention as a mellow pseudo-American New Traditionalist. This, his thirteenth album in all and first since 1989's Spike, once again unleashes the barking mad but inspired Costello of Trust, Imperial Bedroom and Blood & Chocolate, where the chainsaw slashes through the dictionary and the tunes pile on pastiche and parody. Farewell, Beloved Entertainer; welcome back, Mr Bitter And Twisted.