A recent CD release reviewed

ELVIS COSTELLO
King of America (Deluxe Edition) Demon
****

This was first released in 1986, first reissued in 1995 (with a five-track extension), and now unleashed yet again with an additional CD of 21 tracks (nine of them previously unreleased). It's a safe bet to say that this is one of Elvis Costello's rare fully realised records. Where others before and since have had passages of brilliance amid occasional detritus, King of America is regularly priceless (the covers of Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood and Eisenhower Blues notwithstanding). Stylistically speaking (again, covers aside), it remains a record that Costello has equalled only with Painted from Memory and North; it's US roots music, essentially, Americana before the term was coined. From Brilliant Mistake, Our Little Angel, Indoor Fireworks, Little Palaces and I'll Wear It Proudly to Suit of Lights and Sleep of the Just, this is where Mr Grumpy nailed it good and proper. Essential.

Tony Clayton-Lea