home - bibliography - biography - clips - concert reviews - discography - faq - gigography - guestbook
info services - links - lyrics/chords - pictures - recent - shop - trading - upcoming - what's new

contact
Bibliography: Articles
 

 

Review of North
Irish Times, 2003-09-18
- Tony Clayton-Lea

 

The Irish Times, Sept.18 2003
(review section, p10)

The CD cover shows Elvis Costello walking along a rain-soaked cobblestone street, rain coat flapping at his knees, looking decidedly morose and surly. The CD title double-jobs as a pun, then (it`s grim up North, etc.), but the music is far from sullen; indeed, if anything, it`s Costello`s most joyous record in a long time. The musical template is down-beat, the terrain very much song-orientated, the instrumentation veering from eloquent, elegaic jazz
tones to pop-inflected string arranged tunes. If you think more along the lines of Costello`s collaborative work with Burt Bacharach and The Brodsky Quartet than anything else he`s done ( although long-term fans might recognise slight thematic similarities with Shot With His Own Gun, from 1981`s Trust), then you`ll have some idea of the sterling work on display here. Initially concerned with late-night musings on the resigned nature of love lost ( You Left Me In The Dark), North soon becomes more indelibly ingrained with love found (Still, Let Me Tell You About Her), resulting in an assuredly focused and warm-hearted record.

Tony Clayton-Lea

 
         
 

home - bibliography - biography - clips - concert reviews - discography - faq - gigography - guestbook
info services - links - lyrics/chords - pictures - recent - shop - trading - upcoming - what's new