Spike

Elvis Costello’s 12th studio album is a stylistic buffet boasting stellar guests—Roger McGuinn, Paul McCartney, Chrissie Hynde—and songs confronting both the personal and the political. The death-row screed of “Let Him Dangle,” the deceptive anti-Thatcher beauty “Tramp the Dirt Down,” and the poppy “Veronica” (about Costello’s Alzheimer’s-stricken grandmother) all show remarkable songwriterly empathy and depth. Elsewhere, New Orleans ensemble The Dirty Dozen Brass Band enlivens the soul-deep “Deep Dark Truthful Mirror,” and traditional Irish instrumentation lifts “Miss MacBeth.” Costello’s plaintive vocal on “Baby Plays Around” is absolutely gorgeous.