There is nothing else like Get Happy!! in the history of rock and roll, 20 near-perfect melodic confections packed together in a dizzying stream of wordplay and melody, none lasting longer than three minutes and 36 seconds. Ostensibly an attempt at capturing the joyous reverie of Motown and Stax/Atlantic records, Get Happy!! ends up sounding nothing whatsoever like that, instead manifesting a manic, coked-up, and vaguely psychotic sound all its own – even outstanding covers of the soul classics “I Can’t Stand Up For Falling Down” and “I Stand Accused” get steamrolled into the Attractions’ antic whirlwind. All of this could have made for a deeply unpleasant listen, but remarkably, the opposite is the case – Costello has arrived at this party with a stunning group of songs, stuffing them so full of startling progressions and laugh-out-loud punch lines that the effect of the album is levitating and addictive. Highlights like “The Imposter” (containing the chilling mind fuck of an admission “When I said that I was lying/ I might have been lying”) and the “Temptation” make it evident that there is no need for Costello to extend these songs past three minutes – no pop songwriter has provided so efficient and complete an experience since the Beatles circa Hard Days Night. Even the ballads, including the lovely and vaguely psychedelic “New Amsterdam” and the brilliant, heart-on-sleeve confessional “Motel Matches,” roll by feverishly. Nobody else other than the Attractions circa 1980 could have made this record, and nobody should ever try. Get Happy!! is the sort of bizarre genius that cannot be replicated.