Elvis Costello: Cruel Smile

By GRAHAM REID

(Herald rating: * * * )

With his extensive reissue programme (all his albums being re-released with bonus tracks) and innumerable side projects, Costello makes life hard for completists. This is an uneven but reasonably rewarding collection of B-sides, live tracks and out-takes of material from his gutsy When I Was Cruel album of earlier last year.

Scattered around are a hushed, harmonica-embellished Almost Blue (followed by a raging, horn-punched 15 Petals, both recorded in Sydney); a live Watching the Detectives which segues into a probably heretical treatment of My Funny Valentine, a brittle Dust, live in Melbourne, followed by an equally abrasive Uncomplicated, and an unembellished Spooky Girlfriend from a radio show. Stick around for the hidden bonus track on this enhanced CD. The gems are the trip-hop influenced, dub-rock of The Imposter v the Floodtide, and two treatments of Charlie Chaplin's standard Smile here in a string-soaked version and a lush, piano take showcasing long-time sideman Steve Nieve.

Label: Island