With The Name Above The Title, John Wesley Harding paid even greater tribute to Elvis Costello than his studio debut Here Comes the Groom. It isn’t so much the vocal similarities as the stylistic touches. The horn-fired “The World (And All Its Problems),” the claustrophobic rumble of “Fifty Fifty Split,” the sweet balladry of “The Movie Of Your Life,” and the rhythmic punctuation of “I Can Tell (When You’re Telling Me Lies)” all borrow in subtle ways from the metrics and deliveries that Costello had mastered in the previous decade. That said, these are strong compositions no matter who has written and performed them and if Harding doesn’t quite establish his own distinctive style here, he still shows a mastery of the basic songwriting concepts. A cover of Tommy James’ “Crystal Blue Persuasion” is one of Harding’s oddest moves and remains the biggest curiosity in his catalog. “The People’s Drug,” with its witty social observation, is more in line with Harding’s strengths and along with “The Person You Are” and “Long Dead Gone” among his strongest tunes to date.