or better or worse, we here at Stylus, in all of our autocratic consumer-crit greed, are slaves to timeliness. A record over six months old is often discarded, deemed too old for publication, a relic in the internet age. That's why each week at Stylus, one writer takes a look at an album with the benefit of time. Whether it has been unjustly ignored, unfairly lauded, or misunderstood in some fundamental way, we aim with On Second Thought to provide a fresh look at albums that need it.

After the dreadful, hopeless Goodbye Cruel World, many people expected Elvis Costello’s next effort to be a pained, ultra-personal affair. But King of America is precisely the opposite. Here, Costello sounds genuinely joyful. There is not an album in his catalog in which EC sounds as jubilant as he does on this record.

Like with all his other releases, the first song, this time “Brilliant Mistake”, perfectly sets the tone and eases (or, in some cases, shocks) the listener into Costello’s stylistic choice for that release. On this one, we are introduced to the straight-forward, gentle Costello. Almost like “Simple Twist of Fate”, the song switches from third-person character study to first-person narrative in the last third.

“Loveable” could be maudlin and sappy (“They say they’re gonna bury you/because you’re so loveable” ), but coming from Costello, it’s a nice change-of-pace. Elvis and Cait O’Riordan (his then-fiance and the song’s co-writer) manage to communicate their happiness with their relationship, as well as Elvis own communication of his dissatisfaction in the past.

Costello missteps with his boring version of “Please Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood”, which was, perhaps, a pointed message to journalists and fans who got caught up in the drama of the Elvis Costello image that he was so desperately trying to shed. The album’s other cover, “Eisenhower Blues”, is also a disappointment.

“Our Little Angel”, “Glitter Gulch”, “Indoor Fireworks” and “Little Palaces” are all pleasant songs but not very memorable. With each song on the album soaked in a different kind of Americana, the record feels like a kinder, more laid-back Trust.

“I’ll Wear It Proudly” is a bit too self-righteous and silly (“If they had a King of Fools then I could wear the crown/And you can all die laughing/’Cos I’ll wear it proudly”). The song trades in the insight and awareness of his earlier tirades for a self-absorbed, whiny lash at his detractors.

The accordian-based “American Without Tears” is the albums final highlight. The song is a perfect example of Costello’s more compassionate musical and lyrical style. Unfortunately, the rest of the second side falls into the nice-but-uninteresting camp.

While it was an important step in Costello’s career, like Punch The Clock, King of America is a fun album that is packed with filler. As a Costello fan, it’s nice to hear him enjoying himself and fully fleshing-out his taste for early-American music, but for the uninitiated, it’s not an album to seek out.