Wise Up Ghost is a fearless, invigorating gut-punch of a record, one that never settles and surprises from start to finish.
The combination of one of England’s great lyricists and production from arguably America’s most forward-thinking band resulting in a crisp, funky, even dangerous sounding album as political and as relevant as anything this year.
The surprise comes from how easily Costello’s somewhat reedy voice melds into the soupy mix of Dilla-inspired soundscapes and disco string-stabs cooked up by the Roots.
It’s rare that a record comes along that so boldly states its own greatness, and it’s rarer still that such an album actually lives up to that promise. Wise Up Ghost does.
Thanks to The Roots, Costello has new access--and Wise Up Ghost should bring new listeners to mess with.
While they largely reside in separate spaces, Questlove and Costello are perfect counterparts in their musical zaniness. Still, instead of an album that requires a sit down they’ve struck the careful balance of both immediately gratifying and study worthy.
Wise Up Ghost And Other Songs is undoubtedly a smart and richly-detailed album, but it’s not offputtingly cerebral. This is an album that’s aimed equally at the head and the feet.
This is an exquisitely detailed, imaginative record that pays back dividends according to how much knowledge, either of Costello or the Roots or their idols, a listener brings to the album.
In all, Wise Up Ghost achieves something much greater than the sum of its parts.
It’s hard to recall a record in recent memory that pays such rich rewards off of so much heightened suspicion and curiosity.
More than half of Wise Up Ghost is faultless: more exciting and hooky than much recent work from either camp.
Neither band is adapting their playing to the other, yet somehow you can’t imagine the Roots tackling these songs with any other vocalist, nor Costello with any other band.
This collaboration with veteran genre-hopper Elvis Costello follows his appearance on the show, and its only disappointment is the absence of Roots rapper Black Thought to joust with him.
This isn't the sound of old masters getting loose, in other words, as much as lifelong A-students coasting a bit.
The merit of Wise Up Ghost lies more in the very coming together of these artists, and not the product, despite a handful of sweet tracks that bring out the funk.
At this point in his career, an album-length experiment like Wise Up Ghost seems to satisfy Costello artistically, thanks to his chameleon tendencies, but there isn’t much to add to the best of either catalog.
Overall Album Experience: ▬
Tracks
▲ = #12, #15
▬ = #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11, #13, #14
▼ = -
Score: 56
___________________________
▲ - 1
▬ - 0,5
▼ - 0
____________________________
1 | Walk Us Uptown 3:22 | 50 |
2 | Sugar Won’t Work 3:31 | 40 |
3 | Refuse to Be Saved 4:26 | 40 |
4 | Wake Me Up 5:53 | 30 |
5 | Tripwire 4:28 | 30 |
6 | Stick Out Your Tongue 5:27 | 30 |
7 | Come the Meantimes 3:52 | 40 |
8 | (She Might Be a) Grenade 4:35 | 30 |
9 | Cinco Minutos Con Vos 5:01 | 40 |
10 | Viceroy's Row 5:01 | 40 |
11 | Wise Up host 6:26 | 40 |
12 | If I Could BELIEVE 3:58 | 30 |
#9 | / | American Songwriter |
#31 | / | MOJO |
#71 | / | Under the Radar |
#98 | / | eMusic |