Elvis Costello & The Imposters — The Delivery Man

Following the piano-based North, The Delivery Man finds Costello playing the kind of classic songs that he does best, only with a rawness that he hasn’t explored in years. The bulk of the record is an exquisitely rowdy and heartbreaking Southern gothic song cycle following a quartet of characters, with a few like-minded songs thrown in to fill out the album.

It would be dangerous to say that an artist as complex Costello is at the top of his career, but The Delivery Man contains some truly remarkable songs and Costello’s voice (as well as that of Lucinda Williams and Emmylou Harris, the later of which appears on three songs) is as beautiful as ever. While Costello isn’t necessarily getting better with age, this album is a prime example of the fact that he continues to grow more and more interesting.

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