“My conscience is clear!”
IT is mid-afternoon and Elvis Costello is in full cry. A fast talker – and a fast thinker – he is currently winding up a typically digressive anecdote about his performance, the previous night, at the Royal Variety Show. “You know I was born in the same fucking hospital as the Royal Family?” He says. “Yeah, St Mary’s. But I was baptised in Birkenhead and our family’s from Liverpool, so I belong to both places. I don’t really belong to London. I left a long time ago. I never felt at home here. I lived out in the suburbs. I relate to Hounslow and Richmond and Twickenham and Liverpool and Birkenhead. You find places that you fall in love with when you travel. Nowadays, we all travel virtually. But I’ve been travelling for 40 years, making friends and having adventures.”
We’re in Costello’s hotel room in West London. Today he is dressed in a dark suit and tie which, combined with his glasses and greying beard, gives him a distinguished if slightly bohemian appearance – more affable Humanities professor than rock’n’roll veteran. His voice still carries a soft, Liverpool brogue, with a slight mid-Atlantic lilt occasionally making its presence felt. Costello’s latest adventure is – a characteristically diverse album anchored by the kind of pell-mell rock’n’roll songs Costello has long specialised in. Made in cahoots with trusted lieutenants Pete Thomas and Steve Nieve and producer Sebastian Krys, its release marks an intriguing congruence in Costello’s career. During the pandemic he oversaw four releases: a new studio album, , an EP of French adaptations and remixes from called and two archive projects – a deluxe boxset of 1979’s and , a reimagining of , using the Attractions’ original 1978 backing tracks with current Latin American and Spanish artists adapting the lyrics into Spanish. Conspicuously, and brought into focus Thomas and Nieve’s ongoing roles in animating Costello’s expansive songbook, as either Attractions or Imposters, along with bassist Davey Farragher. Costello speaks highly of the three musicians, particularly how they rose to the challenges presented by the last few years. “I’m proud of the way we went about doing this record,” he confirms. “You have a choice between hunkering down
