Spike is the 12th studio album by English singer-songwriter Elvis Costello, released in 1989 by Warner Bros. Records. It was his first album for the label and first release since My Aim Is True with no appearance by the Attractions. It peaked at No. 5 on the UK Albums Chart and also reached the Billboard 200 at No. 32, thanks to the single and his most notable American hit, "Veronica", which reached No. 19 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 1 on the US Modern Rock chart. In The Village Voices annual Pazz & Jop critics poll for the year's best albums, Spike finished at No. 7.
Content
In 1987, Costello began writing with Paul McCartney for the latter's Flowers in the Dirt album. They composed a dozen songs together, which showed up on multiple albums by McCartney and Costello. Two of those songs appear on this album, "Pads, Paws and Claws" and the hit single "Veronica".
As his first album for a new label, in his own words Costello had the budget of "a small independent movie", and having in mind the blueprint for five albums, decided to make all of them. The song reached No. 79 on the iTunes chart following Thatcher's death in April 2013. In addition, he played this song at Glastonbury 2013 having previously performed it there on the Pyramid Stage in 1987.
Lyrics are given in the booklet for the eighth track, "Stalin Malone", but the album recording is an instrumental and does not include vocals. A version with a recitation of the lyrics as poetry appears on the 2001 bonus disc.
Artwork
The album cover was designed by Jeri and John Heiden. Costello described the image to the BBC in 1989: "I had this image of the beloved entertainer in captivity, as we see him now hung up on the wall. That's kind of what the record companies do now; they go out and shoot their artists and hang them up like a trophy in the boardroom."
Release history
The album was released initially on compact disc in 1989. As part of the Rhino Records reissue campaign for Costello's back catalogue from Demon/Columbia and Warners, it was re-released in 2001 with 17 additional tracks on a bonus disc. The bonus disc included three tracks with Nick Lowe on bass and Attractions drummer Pete Thomas for use as b-sides, recorded at Wessex Sound Studios after the Spike mixing sessions.
|26
|-
!scope="row"|Dutch Mega Albums Chart
|19
|-
!scope="row"|Japanese Albums Chart
|61
|-
!scope="row"|New Zealand Albums Chart
|34
|-
!scope="row"|Swedish Albums Chart
|13
|-
!scope="row"|UK Albums Chart
|5
|-
!scope="row"|US Billboard 200
|32
|}
Year-end charts
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"
! scope="col"| Chart (1989)
! scope="col"| Position
|-
!scope="row"|US Billboard 200
|82
|}
Singles
{| class="wikitable"
!Year
!Single
!Chart
!Peak<br/>position
|-
|rowspan=4|1989
|rowspan=4|"Veronica"
|Billboard Hot 100
|align="center"|19
|-
|Billboard Alternative Songs
|align="center"|1
|-
|UK Singles Chart
|align="center"|31
|-
|Australian Singles Chart
|align="center"|27
|}
Certifications
}