San Diego Union-Tribune, June 1, 2009

From The Elvis Costello Wiki
Jump to navigationJump to search
... Bibliography ...
727677787980818283
848586878889909192
939495969798990001
020304050607080910
111213141516171819
202122232425 26 27 28


San Diego Union-Tribune

California publications

Newspapers

University publications

Magazines and alt. weeklies


US publications by state
  • ALAKARAZCA
  • COCTDCDEFL
  • GAHI   IA      ID      IL
  • IN   KSKYLA   MA
  • MDME   MIMNMO
  • MSMTNC  ND  NE
  • NHNJNMNVNY
  • OHOKORPARI
  • SCSDTNTXUT
  • VAVTWAWIWY

-

Secret, Profane & Sugarcane

Elvis Costello

Solvej Schou / Associated Press

Elvis Costello's newest album, Secret, Profane & Sugarcane, jumps on the Americana bus, with mandolin, accordion and fiddle the instruments of choice.

Recorded in Nashville in three days and produced by T Bone Burnett, who helmed Costello's country-tinged album King of America in 1986, and also 1989's Spike, Secret ambles and warbles with rootsy aplomb.

It's a 180-degree turn from last year's Momofuku, Costello's rock-based outing with band the Imposters.

This time, songs such as "I Felt the Chill," co-written by country queen Loretta Lynn, wind through acoustic territory, with harmony wafting throughout. Costello wrote or co-wrote all but one track on the album.

"There's a difference in the way that you kiss me / There's a sadness in your eyes that you can't hide," he sings in his wavering vibrato on "Chill," about a fallen relationship.

Though steeped in Americana twang, four songs on the album were originally commissioned in 2005 by the Royal Danish Opera for a piece about author Hans Christian Andersen. The tunes focus on Andersen's love for Swedish songbird Jenny Lind, and "She Was No Good" recalls Lind's tour across the U.S. in 1850, organized by P.T. Barnum.

It's a dense, detailed tune — full of references to daggers drawn and pistols pulled, with bursts of howling — and shows just how talented a storyteller Costello continues to be, regardless of genre.

Check this track out: "The Crooked Line," co-written by Burnett, is pure sweet country, a lovely old-time melding of Costello's soaring voice and harmony by the sublime Emmylou Harris.

-
<< >>

San Diego Union-Tribune, June 1, 2009


Solvej Schou reviews Secret, Profane & Sugarcane.

(A variation of this piece ran in the Youngstown Vindicator.)

Images

Secret Profane & Sugarcane album cover.jpg

-



Back to top

External links