I have always been a fan of Elvis Costello and always a bit perplexed on how he is not a bigger rock star in the United States. Sure everyone know who he is, but really his status in the United States is nothing like in England. Weird.

All that being said, I am only a casual fan of Elvis Costello. While I think that this book will appeal to big Costello fans and completist it was a bit much for me as a casual fan. It was interesting, but exhaustingly complete for me.

An interesting approach that Griffiths took with this book is he did not take the boring chronological presentation that so many of these books have but took a thematic approach to it. Chapter titles like "Past", "Words" and "Criticism" break apart pieces of Costello's career and puts like pieces together. A novel approach that I wish more would take.

My rating for this book? Casual fans may like it. Big Elvis fans will love it.