The Delivery Man
- Elvis Costello
- Band Name: Elvis Costello
- Record Label: Lost Highway
- Release Date: Sep 21, 2004
- Critic Score
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100Songs terrific, band sensational, and -- big plus -- Costello's voice late-developing way beyond that pinched whine into an instrument of substance and character. [Oct 2004, p.97]
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91Costello's most exciting album in ages.
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90This is a classic Costello record... arguably his most cohesive, magnetic collection of songs since Blood & Chocolate and the highlight of his middle-age years.
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The album delivers, all right, if not all the time. [24 Sep 2004, p.105]
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80It's Costello at his most emotionally direct. [Oct 2004, p.118]
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It never feels as urgent as his prime work, but it's at once his most accomplished and visceral record as a veteran rocker.
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Even the ballads... bristle with force. [28 Oct 2004, p.99]
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80He sets tales of sexual double dealing and domestic violence to a sound somewhere between the two albums he made in 1986: the Americana of King Of America meeting the over-amplified rawness of Blood and Chocolate.
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80Welcome, worthy and wonderful.
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Fortunately, the good songs outnumber the bad; unfortunately, the veteran Costello has made the rookie mistaking of frontloading the disc.
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Staggered between full-on rockers like "Needle Time," "There’s A Story In Your Voice", and "Bedlam," the softer material sounds excessively genteel.
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70The Delivery Man is a solid, albeit slightly over-learned and patronizing, collection of bluesy rock.
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It’s been ages since he’s sounded this self-assured, or this much at home.
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68Often, Costello just sounds prissy and uptight in these more relaxed environs.
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It convincingly exhibits the breadth of affection Costello has for homegrown American musical forms, but lacks a tight-enough center to stand among his sturdier, more disciplined works.
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60A strong and lusty country-punk album placing him in Tom Waits or Neil Young territory. [Nov 2004, p.104]
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60There's still heart and soul in that funny old voice. [Nov 2004, p.118]
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The Delivery Man only sparks to life when it slows down.
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40A collection of rehashed moments from his brilliant though patchy career, a sowed together patchwork of pastiche.
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Ultimately, in no uncertain terms, this Elvis sounds like an impersonator.
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[It] doesn’t help in pinpointing the moment Costello veered into self-parody, but it does catalogue nearly everything that’s become impossible to take about him.
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User score distribution:
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Positive: 6 out of 7
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Mixed: 1 out of 7
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Negative: 0 out of 7
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ShawnJ9There are a couple of tunes that put me to sleep, but I can't stop listening to the others.
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ClaraC8
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JoeyM9