Elvis Costello

This four-song European EP is absolutely essential for Elvis Costello fans, not for the title cut (which is nonetheless the best and most Attractions-like song from the Attractions reunion album Brutal Youth) but for the three other tracks. In 1993, Costello and wife Cait O'Riordan wrote ten songs in a weekend for pop singer Wendy James to record as her solo debut. James' album is much better than its reviews suggest (although the production is entirely too slick), but the homemade demos recorded in that weekend are even better. Costello has yet to release all ten of them, but this EP collects three of the best. The lyrics are fairly scathing (however, contrary to popular belief, they don't seem to be attacking James personally) on all three songs, particularly the deceptively sweet "Basement Kiss," about probably the same slumming heiress the Stones excoriated in "Play With Fire." "Puppet Girl" and "We Despise You" are probably the two best songs of the ten, with This Year's Model-style punk-pop melodies and some of Costello's most withering lyrics in years. Only the rudimentary instrumentation and Costello's raw voice (he claims to have had a cold at the time) keep these tracks from being among the finest he recorded in the '90s. ~ Stewart Mason, All Music Guide