The Boy Named If

2022 studio album by Elvis Costello and The Imposters

The Boy Named If is the 32nd studio album by English singer-songwriter Elvis Costello and The Imposters. The album was released on 14 January 2022 by EMI Records and Capitol Records.[2][3]

The Boy Named If received critical acclaim and was nominated for Best Rock Album at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards.[4]

Content

The album`s first single, "Magnificent Hurt" was released on October 27, 2021. Stereogum`s Tom Breihan described the track as a "a straight-up rocker" and compared it to his late 70s work.[5]

Critical reception

The Boy Named If received positive reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from critics, the album received an average score of 83, which indicates "universal acclaim", based on 14 reviews.[6] Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote that The Boy Named If was Costello`s "purest doses of rock and roll since maybe Blood & Chocolate (1986)".[1]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Elvis Costello

Personnel

Musicians

• Elvis Costello – vocals, guitar (all tracks); piano (6)
• Davey Faragher – additional vocals, bass (all tracks); upright bass (12)
• Pete Thomas – drums, percussion
• Steve Nieve – keyboards, piano
• Sebastian Krys – background vocals (3, 4)
• Nicole Atkins – vocals (8)

Technical

• Elvis Costello – production
• Sebastian Krys – production, mixing, engineering
• Brian Lucey – mastering
• Daniel Galindo – engineering
• Ron Taylor – engineering
• Dex Green – recording (8)

Charts

Chart performance for The Boy Named If