Ranking the 5 Best Album-Closers by Elvis Costello

Elvis Costello developed over the years from a guy whose sound was somewhat narrowly defined to someone who hit just about every genre in the book over the course of his career. One thing that didn’t change over the years: his ability to deliver a stellar closing track.

This list was not an easy one to narrow down, considering E.C. is at 33 albums and counting. But the five songs we did choose can stand up against the closers of just about any catalog you can name.

5. “Couldn’t Call It Unexpected No. 4” from Mighty Like a Rose (1991)

Maybe they didn’t still label him the “angry young man” like in the early days, but Mighty Like a Rose certainly found Costello locating a lot of the prickly emotions for which he became known. The single was “The Other Side of Summer,” with lyrics about the ugliness of the season, and there’s also “How to Be Dumb,” a verbal suplex of Attractions’ bassist Bruce Thomas. “Couldn’t Call It Unexpected No. 4,” featuring lurching piano by Larry Knechtel and Benmont Tench’s woozy keyboard concoctions, closes things out by taking a heart-rending look at the devastating impact of death. It’s not as morbid as that description, in part because the beautiful melody refuses to let it be.

4. (“What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding” from Armed Forces (1979)

This is one of two examples on this list where Costello’s American record company (Columbia) chose a track to close out the album that wasn’t even on the UK release. They chose very well. After all, Armed Forces is an album focusing on the clashes between armies and lovers, so why not end the whole thing with a plea for an end to all the fighting. Nick Lowe wrote the song with some sarcasm in his mind about the message. But Costello and the Attractions tore through it with earnest intensity and turned it into the uplifting anthem it was always meant to be.

3. “Riot Act” from Get Happy!! (1980)

A drunken escapade in an Ohio hotel that included Costello uttering a racist epithet was an undeniable low point in his life and career. His apologies were met with skepticism by some in the press, which caused him to last out in this song for not being given a fair shake, even while accepting the blame. (Costello’s subsequent life and career track record suggests he’s about as far from a racist as there can be.) “Riot Act” is quite different from the Motown-Stax influences on the rest of Get Happy!! But it’s nonetheless a major piece of writing and a vocal performance that conveyed the angst of a man who felt like he was Public Enemy No. 1.

2. “God Give Me Strength” from Painted from Memory (1998)

Costello had occasionally referenced Burt Bacharach-style arrangements and melodies throughout his career, so this pairing shouldn’t have seemed as out of left field as some in the press made it out to be at the time. In any case, the recorded evidence on Painted from Memory suggests Costello was rivaled only by Hal David in songwriting partners whose work best suited Bacharach’s approach. “God Give Me Strength,” the first song they worked on together, is the ultimate showstopper, with Costello singing about abandoned love in his highest register while Bacharach cues the flugelhorns to soften the blow.

1. “Radio, Radio” from This Year’s Model (1978)

This Year’s Model was Costello’s second album, but it was his first with the Attractions, whose colorful instrumentation (Steve Nieve’s circus organ, Bruce Thomas’ pogoing bass, Pete Thomas’ indefatigable drums) provided the perfect counterpoint to his maximalist lyrics. Their immediate chemistry shines on “Radio, Radio,” which finds Costello going off about the uniformity and blandness he heard on the airwaves of that time. It has become one of his signature songs, and it eventually took its rightful place at the end of This Year’s Model after initially being included on the U.S. version of the LP.

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Photo by Gie Knaeps/Getty Images