Look Now

The album is on the elegant side, to be sure, but it’s elegance with a distinct pulse, as the Imposters lean into soulful swing and Costello avoids the outright belting that you either loved or didn’t in the ’90s to do the most nuanced cooing and yelping of his career. ... A great cake of an album that doesn’t really sound that much like any of the 30 before it.

As a collection of tunes, Look Now is a triumph for Costello, a showcase for how he can enliven a mastery of form with a dramatist’s eye. But as an album, Look Now is a success because of the Imposters.

Look Now is the work of a man with enough talent to take his muse in any direction he pleases and give us something memorable.

Follow Elvis Costello down the twisting paths of Look Now and you’ll find they lead to sublime musical destinations.

This is very grown-up pop music; awash with the memorable hooks and lyrical dexterity we’d expect from Costello, with layer after layer of fascinating melodic conceits and themes.

Costello’s peerless lyricism often mirrors his tone, and here it’s suitably refined.

This is high-pedigree pop-soul in the style of Costello's 1982 song Tears Before Bedtime. ... Gostello's lyrics are subtle, penetrating and often written from a woman's perspective. [Nov 2018, p.107]

An album of tremendous humour and empathy, less a comeback than a considered continuation of an unprecedented career. [Nov 2018, p.22]

Look Now is another solid entry into an already healthy and vital body of work. It’s not his absolute best, but it still earns a spot in the meatier part of his iconic recording arc.

With its mix of rock and balladry, Look Now strikes a fine balance between the lively and the pensive, nodding to previous eras of Costello’s career.

That dead-end sense haunts the people he sings about on much of Look Now; they’re further down the road of life yet just as troubled because, as always, a satisfied person in an Elvis Costello feels like someone who got off at the wrong bus stop.

It makes for a lustrous, laid-back return that will frustrate those pining for Costello's brutal youth, but it befits his gracious age beautifully. [Oct 2018, p.85]