Elvis Costello’s new album, National Ransom, is more similar to his last album, 2009’s Secret, Profane and Sugarcane than any two consecutive albums, or probably any two albums, in his long career. When writing about Sugarcane last year, I noted that Elvis seemed to be moving away from his long held pattern of veering between extremes (a rock record then a classical record, a pop record then an acoustic record, and so on) and doing several albums in a row leaning more and more towards a rustic roots rock sound. Ransom and Sugarcane even have similar covers, both drawn by Tony Millionaire.

National Ransom being overwhelmingly reminiscent of its immediate predecessor isn’t as much of a downer as I thought it might be, however, since the album is longer than Sugarcane (16 songs in over an hour) and yet feels somehow more focused, with more concrete lyrical imagery and memorable songs and evocative titles (my favorite being “That’s Not The Part Of Him You’re Leaving”). The occasional rock songs, like “The Spell That You Cast,” which has a great electric guitar tone reminiscent of Brutal Youth, feel like a very organic and welcome change of pace, where sometimes Costello’s more deliberate later ‘return to rock’ can sound a little forced. The jaunty pop jazz of “A Voice In The Dark” is a little too goofy, though, almost a parody of the kind of indulgent genre pastiche people have come to expect from Elvis Costello at this stage in his career. But National Ransom, which boasts kind of an all-star cast of backing musicians from several different types of Costello albums (the usual Attractions-turned-Imposters, T Bone Burnett, Marc Ribot, among others) seems happily comfortable in its generous length and variety, a little less overwhelming than, say, Spike.

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