Boy Named If, The

POWER POP

After working his way through country, classical, pop collaborations, and just about everything else, Elvis Costello is back where he began with a baker’s dozen of new songs: mostly up-tempo, energetic, sometimes angry or sarcastic, always catchy. Lyrics are often quite obscure, helpfully printed on booklet insert. Elvis is in fine voice here and provides his own guitar accompaniment (plus piano on track 6). The Imposters supply drums, bass, and keyboards. A Vox Continental (portable electronic organ) gives things a fun, vintage quality. I liked all the tracks and **’d a few favorites.
FCC clean

1 ** Fast. Angrily telling her off after she’s left. Driving foot-tapping pace. (2:54)
2 Mid-slow with a heavy beat. A secret alter-ego serves as conscience or scapegoat. (4:25)
3 ** Mid-fast. Ambiguous story about two girls & a boy. Sounds very much like the early albums. (Pronounce the name HAYpenny) (2:57)
4 Mid-tempo. A bouncy tune with an implied incest story. (3:46)
5 Mid-slow. A married man having an affair has mixed feelings about it. (4:04)
6 Slow. Sad & pretty, sung high in Elvis’s head voice like “Alison” (4:46)
7 ** Mid-fast. Sequence of scenes in bad relationships. This rocks harder than most. (4:13)
8 *** Slow. Complicated story of a waitress who wants fame & a man who might (or might not) offer a path. Nicole Atkins guests on backup vocals. Excellent. (4:47)
9 Mid-fast. This love is painful. Harsh guitar & organ create an anxious feeling. (3:13)
10 Slow. Seems like a very strange and scary dream. (4:54)
11 * Fast. Punchy & rhythmic with compelling musicianship, but obscure meaning. (3:32)
12 Slow. Sounds like an old Tin Pan Alley pop song but contains strange images. (4:53)
13 Very slow. Another ballad. One continuous crescendo. Seems to be about loss. (3:39)