From Amazon.co.uk
Beauty was the third album Elvis Costello released between 1994 and '96. It's also his best collections of the '90s. Something of a hodgepodge, it find Elvis one moment recalling the anglicised soul of
Get Happy!, the next making like Grandpa Grunge. Do you prefer Elvis as Roger McGuinn or Marvin Gaye? He tries out a new song-writing partner in Aimee Mann, who co-wrote the lovely waltz tempo opener, "The Other End of the Telescope", but he's also brought back Paul McCartney from his
Spike days to co-compose "Shallow Grave". All of which implies Elvis is all over the board. And so what? As the years pass, it's more apparent than ever that Costello has survived because his love--yes, love!--of music. When you think about it, that's an odd notion. Who'd of thought back when Elvis was spewing bile to a new-wave beat, that love, not guilt and revenge, would keep him going.
--Steven Stolder