Kojak Variety
1995, Warner Bros Records, Blue Wave Studios (Barbados)

1. "Strange" (Screamin' Jay Hawkins) – 2:39
2. "Hidden Charms" (Willie Dixon) – 3:29
3. "Remove This Doubt" (Lamont Dozier, Brian Holland, Edward Holland, Jr.) – 3:52
4. "I Threw It All Away" (Bob Dylan) – 3:23
5. "Leave My Kitten Alone" (Little Willie John, Titus Turner, Jay McDougal) – 3:10
6. "Everybody's Crying Mercy" (Mose Allison) – 4:05
7. "I've Been Wrong Before" (Randy Newman) – 3:01
8. "Bama Lama Bama Loo" (Richard Penniman) – 2:45
9. "Must You Throw Dirt in My Face?" (Bill Anderson) – 3:49
10. "Pouring Water on a Drowning Man" (Drew Baker, Dani McCormick) – 3:39
11. "The Very Thought of You" (Ray Noble) – 3:42
12. "Payday" (Jesse Winchester) – 2:57
13. "Please Stay" (Burt Bacharach, Hal David) – 4:49
14. "Running Out of Fools" (Richard Ahlert, Kay Rogers) – 3:04
15. "Days" (Ray Davies) – 4:54

Despite its release in 1995, Kojak Variety was actually recorded in 1989, just after Spike had been recorded and toured. At this time Costello was drawing up plans to record the followup, Mighty Like a Rose, which he wanted to be comprised of more live ensemble performances than Spike was. Consequently, he'd been hoping that he could get the Attractions into the studio again (but, as with Spike and King Of America, such plans went kaput because of a combination of financial squabbles and/or ill temper between the lot of them). Seeing as this time around a reunion with the Attractions was seeming more likely (if only for the moment), Costello organised a holiday in Barbados for himself and the Confederates, to say goodbye to the band who'd faithfully worked for him since 1985. Musicians being musicians though, this two-week holiday would see Costello and the Confederates go from jamming to banging out renditions of their old favourite blues, r'n'b, country, folk and rock standards, and from there to frantically looking for a nearby studio in which to record them.

So what we have here is another covers album then and one which, given the circumstances in which it was recorded, probably wasn't actually meant to be released. His earlier covers album, Almost Blue, was a statement of artistic intent; a prolific singer/songwriter letting the music industry and the media know that there was more to him than the angry young man he'd been labeled ad nauseum since he first burst onto the scene with My Aim Is True. It also led to the recording of one of the very best albums of all time. Kojak Variety doesn't really fit in that sense with the rest of Costello's discography. There are some nice enough cover versions, and they're all performed very well indeed, but this is a musician's record (i.e one which was recorded for the love, and is more fun to play along to than to listen to) and not one for the casual listener. To sum it all up, it basically sounds like someone recording a band down at the pub as they just hammer out some pretty obscure oldies.

It's a laid-back, casual covers album then, and was only put on the back-burner by Costello and Warner Bros because an album of original material was just around the corner. In the six years before its belated release, Kojak Variety was widely bootlegged as a lost album, though in truth it's far from a classic. It's good to just have a listen to on a quiet Sunday and pick out the songs you recognise, maybe even find out which albums the less familiar ones are on, but that's about it really. Not bad, but Costello's made much more interesting albums than this. This is strictly completists-only stuff.

5/10