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.

At the end of every year, The Onion publishes a list of the least essential records of the year. Kojak Variety would have fit nicely on the 1995 edition of the list. On Almost Blue Elvis attempted twelve country covers, while here he presents a set of fifteen interpretations in a variety of genres.

It is disconcerting to hear Elvis sing the first two songs on the record, “Strange” and “Hidden Charms”, which, in their original forms, were sung by scratchy-voiced black men, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins and Willie Dixon respectively. “Strange” is one of the strongest on the record. Many of the album’s vocal performances lack emotion, Costello fares best with the fun, raucous songs and of these, “Strange” is the best. “Hidden Charms”, however, represents one of the worst aspects of the record. Many of the songs just sound too slick. While the idea of the record is Elvis-as-crooner, and many of the songs are supposed to sound slick, the sound just doesn’t take on “Hidden Charms.” Part of the, uh, charm of the original and Howlin’ Wolf version is the gritty vocal. Another song that suffers due to Elvis’s unemotional vocal performance is Bob Dylan’s “I Threw It All Away.” The song just doesn’t cut it as light blues-pop.

Mose Allison’s “Everybody’s Cryin’ Mercy” is one of the few sad songs wherein Elvis captures the true emotion. The version, of course, doesn’t stand up to Allison’s or, even, James Brown’s. This is the album’s biggest problem. There is not one song that comes even close to the quality of the originals, and while, at least, Costello arranges the songs in a new way, he doesn’t make it interesting enough to keep you listening. Listening to his “Running Out Of Fools”, which is one of his better interpretations, just makes me want to pull out the Aretha Franklin or the Neko Case versions.

The second half of the album ventures into clean contained blues-rock, which doesn’t stay very interesting. His “Pouring Water On A Drowning Man” is one-tenth as emotional as the James Carr original. Little Richard’s “Bama Lama Bama Loo” just sounds silly coming from Elvis.

A cover of the Kinks’ Village Green-era single “Days” provides a satisfactory closing. The arrangement is more inventive than any of the others on the album, and the song is one of the few in Costello’s range.

What can be said for the record is that it genuinely showcases Elvis love of music. He makes it clear that he adores each of these songs. But like Almost Blue his interpretations are ill advised. If nothing else, the album is a nice artifact for the rabid Costello fan. It offers insight into his influences and will open the listener to the superior versions of the songs.