There are some events that are entirely predictable, such as hot Irish summers, gracious German defeats, an accommodating Elvis Costello. So Tony Clayton-Lea can't have been too surprised when the British-born but Irish-domiciled singer/writer told the Irish rock scribe to find his own way through the fascinating maze of his life.
Never one to cosy up to the press, Costello nonetheless has become somewhat less curmudgeonly with his public utterances in recent years, but the idea of helping to lift the lid on his private life must have felt like a variation on turkeys voting for Christmas.
Anyway, many would argue that loss of the word "authorised" from the dust jacket is no loss at all. Authorised biographers tend to have one hand - if not both - tied behind their backs as few public figures, understandably, are willing to co-operate in trawling through their past.
Happily, Clayton-Lea does not allow the rebuff to taint his view of his subject. So although he is reduced to essentially "cut and paste" sources for his raw material, he manages to steer a steady course through Costello's life, giving adequate attention to all the key moments. The fact that the author is a fan means that he clearly sympathises with his subject, but Clayton-Lea is not above the sharp observation when needed.
The book is structured around the singer's remarkably varied and consistent output throughout his career. After a short resume of Costello's early life, Clayton-Lea settles down to plotting his way through his subject's work. In a way, he is caught between two stools and the book becomes part biog, part critique of Costello.
The biographical elements are sufficient, but the critique would have benefited from the development of an overall theme. Perhaps the author did not want to get drawn into overblown psychobabble concepts, but Costello's work has such range and diversity that a greater analytical overview would not have gone amiss, if only to start a decent argument. Clayton-Lea's virtues as a good, balanced journalist dominate, while a decent polemicist might have struck a more spicy note.
Costello has been a key figure in music for 20 years, since his debut with the remarkable My Aim Is True, which added a whole new layer of sophistication and style to the then burgeoning punk scene. Costello wasn't a punk, but he did surf on the new wave of energy that was then washing over the tired and pampered musical elite. He shared a sense of anger and frustration, but his highly tuned word games were one step (if not more) beyond the wildest ambitions of his peers.
However, though initially he was a commercial success, Costello's career slipped into mid-gear and has never recovered its impetus. Critics have always fawned on him, however. This is justifiable, as Costello has always been his own sternest critic, constantly seeking out new forms of expression, whether through the channels of the then unfashionable country music (his Almost Blue period) or his experiments with ska (The Specials), classical music (the Brodskey Quartet) or Irish music.
While Clayton-Lea touches on all these areas in what is a comprehensive and sympathetic portrait, he could have, for instance, dwelt more on the Irish connection. Costello and his partner, former Pogue Cait O'Riordan, have lived here for some years, so there is a geographical justification here besides his important Irish background.
But perhaps that might have been too provincial. Elvis Costello has never allowed his music to be constrained by easy categorisations and such a book would have done him scant justice. As it is, Elvis Costello, A Biography is an honest and informative mid-term report on a man who still has many more intriguing chapters to contribute.
Joe Breen is an Irish Times staff journalist
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