Elvis Costello - Look Now
Critic Score
Based on 19 reviews
2018 Ratings: #284 / 890
User Score
Based on 57 ratings
Liked by 3 people
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CRITIC REVIEWS

100
Mojo

Look Now bounces with unforced, uncluttered and cleverly fleshed vivacity, every song a cherishable gem.

80
Pitchfork

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.

80
Q Magazine

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

80
The Independent

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

80
Uncut
An album of tremendous humour and empathy, less a comeback than a considered continuation of an unprecedented career.
80
American Songwriter

Costello ... never lets any genre predominate, sometimes shifting the overarching mood several times within a single song to follow the emotional content of the narratives.

80
AllMusic

If you're in the mood for a set of world-class songs dealing with grown-up themes and performed with nuance and a master's touch, you could hardly do better.

75
Consequence of Sound

His ability to shape-shift in and out of genres wide and far still gives his new material a bit of intrigue. Look Now is another solid entry into an already healthy and vital body of work.

70
Slant Magazine

On Look Now, Costello possesses the wisdom and perspective to acknowledge the passage of time by only cherry-picking those pieces of his past that still suit him.

70
Rolling Stone

Costello’s his first new album in five years finds him squaring his restless artistic impulses with his storied past.

70
Classic Rock
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.
60
The Observer

At its best, Look Now – Costello’s 31st album – comes freighted with vivid feeling as well as sophisticated instrumentation and arrangements.

Doofy
73

Absolutely destroys this year's other crooner-ific reinvention - Arctic Monkeys’ Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino'.

Similarly 'Young Americans'/'Station to Station' period Bowie is a HUGE influence, only here Costello brings enough of his own talents to make certain these songs never skirt anywhere close to mere pastiche.

Z.Younk
73

A welcome return with plenty of artistic highs. I really like the sound of Burnt Sugar Is So Bitter, Unwanted Number, Why Won't Heaven Help Me? and others.

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Track List

  1. Under Lime
  2. Don't Look Now
  3. Burnt Sugar Is So Bitter
  4. Stripping Paper
  5. Unwanted Number
  6. I Let the Sun Go Down
  7. Mr. & Mrs. Hush
  8. Photographs Can Lie
  9. Dishonor the Stars
  10. Suspect My Tears
  11. Why Won't Heaven Help Me?
  12. He's Given Me Things
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Added on: July 30, 2018