Review: Elvis Costello - Blood & Chocolate

By my reckoning 1986's Blood & Chocolate was Elvis Costello's last hoorah before trailing off into a career more Burt Bacharach than Patsy Kline. Backed by The Attractions and produced by Nick Lowe, Blood & Chocolate retains the anger of This Year's Model but throws in some of the raw pep of Get Happy! and some soul from Punch The Clock - along with the usual tunes that could be performed by either Burt Bacharach or Patsy Kline in their own style. The new element in the mix is some wiggy psychedelic guitar lines. All in all it's a great album.

My favorite tracks are of course the fast ones ("Tokyo Storm Warning", "Honey Are You Straight Or Are You Blind", "Seven Day Weekend" and "Blue Chair", the faster version!) The slower "Blue Chair" and "Battered Old Bird" also work for me. I'm a sucker for the farfisa organ and a strong bass line, and The Attractions never let me down.

This is the third paragraph where I sum it up and try to be witty.................How'd I do?