Momofuku, Pt. 5 of 5

Redemption. Side four begins with two great songs written with (but not featuring) some great country singers: "Song with Rose" and "Pardon Me, Madam, My Name is Eve," written with Rosanne Cash and Loretta Lynn, respectively. A lot of Costello's best songs from the last decade have been written with women or from the perspective of female characters, and these are no exceptions. This runs contrary to the charges of sexism that pervaded his early career, and album closer "Go Away" seems to have rocketed straight from the "This Year's Model" era. It's the simplest and most direct song on the album in terms of both arrangement and lyrics, a stripped-down rocker that gets to the heart of Costello's ambivalent attitude toward women that has inspired so many of his best songs. It begins with some vintage Costello metaphors; the woman he's singing to his is "little spy movie," "gunslinger swagger" and "hand painted villain." He cuts to the chase in the chorus: "Go away, go away / Why don't you go away / Why don't you come back, baby / Why don't you go away" A great ending.

Overall, a very good and solid album that only suffers from its sagging in the third quarter. I doubt I'll ever value it higher than "The Delivery Man," which has grown in my estimation to be one of his best albums, or even "North", which I think is the best kept secret of his discography, but its definitely his best straightforward pop album since at least 1994's underrated "Brutal Youth" or even 1986's "King of America." Because I love lists, here is a sketch of my general Elvis Costello album hierarchy:

Imperial Bedroom
Could not rate over each other: My Aim is True, This Year's Model, Armed Forces, Get Happy!!
Blood and Chocolate
The Delivery Man
Trust
**Momofuku**
Brutal Youth
North
Almost Blue
When I Was Cruel
Punch the Clock

Albums deliberately not included: Live at the El Mocambo, Painted from Memory (totally awesome), The Sweetest Punch, the album he did with that opera singer chick, Il Sogno, My Flame Burns Blue, The River in Reverse (totally awesome)

Albums I'm not familiar with: Goodbye Cruel World (supposed to be terrible), Spike, Mighty Like a Rose (supposed to be weird and shitty), The Juliet Letters (classical), G.B.H. (TV), Kojak Variety, Jake's Progress (TV), Terror & Magnificence (classical)

Well, I have other records to listen to, and I should probably eat.