Not even names stay static for Elvis Costello.

The former Declan McManus decided to adopt the even more bombastic Napoleon Dynamite moniker on 1986’s Blood and Chocolate.

Costello runs the gamut on the disc with power pop (“I Hope You’re Happy Now”) and ballads to to disgruntled, elderly gentlemen (“Battered Old Bird”).

But Costello’s expirementation is also quite admirable. The pounding bass of “Uncomplicated” is contrasted with the space cadet lyrics of the manic “Tokyo Storm Warning,” which includes the lyric “Japenese-God Jesus robots telling teenage fortunes/For all we know and all we care they might as well be Martians.”

But for all of Costello’s arrangement aspirations, he need look no further than his own “I Want You.” Bittersweet, haunting and playful all at the same time, the song stands as Costello’s most epic song, while still retaining his trademark wit and sound.

~Matthew T. Olson,”Matthew T. Olson”

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