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The album’s name and cover illustration of a thieving fox seem to indicate that Costello has a bone to pick with greedy wheeler dealers. While that message is certainly evident in the rocking title track, the versatile songsmith covers a lot of ground thematically and musically. “Jimmie Standing in the Rain,” rooted in traditional jazz, portrays a struggling singing cowboy in 1930s England, while the folky “Bullets for the Newborn King,” one of several sweet ballads on the album, deals with the regrets of a political assassin.

While his excursions into lounge, opera and classical were commendable, it’s a relief that Costello is rocking out again with members of the Attractions.  Peppy numbers like “45” and “Tear Off Your Own Head (It’s a Doll Revolution)” have all the reckless charm of his early classics. But it’s quirky songs like the soulful, dub-tinged “Alibi” and the hypnotic title track, which quotes Abba’s “Dancing Queen” and samples ’60s Italian pop that really get under your skin.

Although she covers Tom Waits, the big news is that Krall is emerging as a fine songwriter. Where the glamour puss previously penned only several songs, here she co-writes six with influential husband Elvis Costello. Some, like “Abandoned Masquerade” and “I’ve Changed My Address,” are stark jazz ballads. But others put Krall in either Norah Jones territory (the catchy, pop-flavored “Narrow Daylight”) or the Joni Mitchell camp (the cool, confessional narrative of “Departure Bay”). Clearly, marriage suits her.

Elvis Costello is rock’s renaissance man. Along with writing and recording his own songs — some of the wittiest and most acerbic in the pop catalogue, Costello has produced a number of Britain’s best bands, including the Pogues, the Specials and Squeeze. The husband of Diana Krall has also become something of a pop commentator, penning liner notes for CD reissues and acting as a contributor to Vanity Fair. A future Rock and Roll Hall of Famer himself, Costello has collaborated with some of pop’s biggest heavyweights, including Paul McCartney and Burt Bacharach. His latest partner is Allen Toussaint, the legendary New Orleans artist, best known for writing numerous R&B hits and produ...

The march by Nazis, white supremacists, Ku Klux Klansmen and garden-variety racists in Charlottesville, Virginia last Saturday and the resulting violence that left one counter-protester dead is a deeply disturbing sign of just how much fascists in America have felt empowered by Donald Trump. As Globe and Mail columnist John Ibittson wrote: “[Trump] is the man who launched his campaign for president by accusing Mexican immigrants of ‘bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists.’ This is the man who wanted to ban all Muslims from entering the country. This is the man who wants to build a wall. And this is the man who, on Saturday, refused to condemn white supremacists, blaming inst...