Elvis Costello
Kojak Variety - Warner Brothers - 1995
Tracks: 1. Strange / 2. Hidden Charms / 3. Remove This Doubt / 4. I Threw It All Away / 5. Leave My Kitten Alone / 6. Everybody's Crying Mercy / 7. I've Been Wrong Before / 8. Bama Lama Bama Loom / 9. Must You Throw Dirt In My Face / 10. Pouring Water On A Drowning Man / 11. The Very Thought Of You / 12. Payday / 13. Please Stay / 14. Running Out Of Fools / 15. Days
Comments:
Costello's 1995 album Kojak Variety is a collection of songs Costello wished he'd written himself. I hate to say this, but I feel he lacks inspiration on many of these songs; especially on most of the slow ballads.
Of course there are good tracks here, but they're few. My clear favourites are "Pouring Water on a Drowning Man" and the obscure Bacharach song "Please Stay". Both songs are performed like the were his own songs. "Strange", "I Threw it All Away" and "Must You Throw Dirt in My Face" are good too.
The rest of the songs are either uninteresting, uninspired or downright bad; Ray Davies' "Days" is the worst of all. Costello succeeds in turning one of Ray Davies' best songs into the worst track!
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