I guess I more or less missed the Punk/New Wave movement. Oh, I remember it…..Rolling Stone couldn’t get enough of The Clash, The Pretenders, The Police, The Cars, Blondie, Cheap Trick, and similar bands. But I recall being fairly dismissive of the whole punk bunch, in general. The music just wasn’t very meaningful to me personally and, in many cases, I thought it astounding that some of these very average, and often below average, singers and players were getting rich & famous. One of the early darlings of the movement was Elvis Costello – a prolific songwriter type who came across as being very UnElvis, at least in appearance. Looks notwithstanding, the new Elvis was quickly elevated to star status as he cranked out album after album in the late 70s and early 80s. Once firmly established as a genius wordsmith, he began to experiment beyond the new-wavish pop scene. He’s offered up country, classical, theatrical, jazz, torch music, you name it. And he’s worked with everyone from McCartney to Cash to Bacharach. Now 24 albums later, North is yet another departure. It’s a somewhat quiet, guitar-free collection of musings about love lost and found. Just a little piano, a little background music and a lot of emotions spilling out all over the place.

There’s no single standout song on the album. The first half of North is, ostensibly, a settling of his feelings about leaving his wife (The Pogues’ Cait O’Riorden) of many years. The latter half the album is all about the exhilaration of finding a suitable replacement. And for Elvis, the new love interest is the beautiful songbird Diana Krall. And wherever Diana is in body or mind is where Elvis wants to be. North is Canada, her home and, in some ways, his latest musical destination. Remarkably, the mood and feeling of North is consistent whether he’s waxing happy or sad. It’s a puzzling collection for sure.

There’s one fact that cannot be overstated on North or any other Elvis Costello album: the guy is a terrible singer. He’s smart and witty and immensely talented. But you’d have to be lovestruck and tone-deaf to think that he can carry a tune. While electric rock and roll is a most forgiving genre for the melody-challenged, the kind of slow, moody, contemplative numbers found on North bring his weakness to the forefront. And while his legions of longtime fans will not care, I can’t seem to quite get over it. I do, however, celebrate something Elvis said to USAToday recently regarding the world’s greatest rock band…”Michael Jackson can sell records until the end of time, but he’ll never matter to people as much as The Beatles did”. A big amen to that, EC! It makes no difference if I think his singing stinks. He’s a punk who’s made it big. If you dig the UnElvis, head North.   GD