I took my better nature out, drowned it in the babbling stream, took the blossom of my youth and blew it all to smithereens

I should really be excited as Declan followed his natural instincts today and offered up the first Elvis Costello album of my listening journey. Unfortunately, All This Useless Beauty is not really up there on my list on favorite EC albums. It feels like all his righteous anger has been replaced with a world-weary exhaustion. I like angry! I do, however, like the album a lot more nowadays than I did when it was released on May 14, 1996. Maybe I, too, am a little less angry and a little more exhausted. Here's the breakdown:

Woo-hoo, Angry!
Little Atoms
It's Time
You Bowed Down
Shallow Grave

Eh, whatever.
Complicated Shadows
Distorted Angel
Starting To Come To Me

Why are you so tired Elvis?
All This useless Beauty
The Other End Of The Telescope
Why Can't A Man Stand Alone?
Poor Fractured Atlas
I Want To Vanish