Elvis Costello & The Attractions
All This Useless Beauty

(Rhino)

All This Useless Beauty is a strong outing from Elvis Costello, and ironically enough, it's a collection of songs that have been written over the years, but never appeared on any of his album. Many were written for other artists, such as You Bowed Down (Roger McGuinn) and Shallow Grave (Paul McCartney). It's fairly easy to spot the time period during which it was written, based on Costello's earlier works. It's fairly consistent and cohesive, despite this, which is quite an accomplishment. The Other End of the Telescope and Starting to Come to Me are just two of the highlights, and, in fact, all of the selections are outstanding.  For the record, All This Useless Beauty is a bit mellower than many of the other albums that Costello recorded with the Attractions, and it seems to play out more like one of his solo albums.