Elvis Costello and the Brodsky Quartet: The Juliet Letters (WEA/All formats)

SINGING OF a cynic's world-view in 'A Sad Burlesque', Elvis Costello mentions 'The pitying smirk'. Funny, a pitying smirk is exactly what the young and splenetic punk laureate would have mustered for anyone that suggested that one day he would be making not LPs but 'song cycles for string quartet and voice'. Derision will follow hot on the heels of this project, words like 'pretentious' will be bandied about and Costello, no enthusiast for rock critics, will be as sour and grumpy as usual. And all this will be a pity, for The Juliet Letters is the best thing to bear Costello's name in five years.