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The River In Reverse
Elvis Costello and Allen Toussaint
Ted Shaw
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One of the many projects inspired by last year's hurricane Katrina, this is a collaboration between pop philosopher Elvis Costello and New Orleans R&B original Allen Toussaint. It was 25 years ago that Costello first tried crossing his post-punk sensibilities with an American musical style — Almost Blue in 1981 was a so-so album
of C&W covers. This time, Costello has successfully bridged the gap with a collection largely written by his counterpart, Toussaint. Even that paper-thin voice has surprising heft in the R&B rave-ups "Tears, Tears and More Tears" and "On Your Way Down." Toussaint himself takes just one lead vocal on "Who's Gonna Help Brother Get Further?," one of the project's highlights. The rest of the way Toussaint takes lead roles on piano and as a guiding force. The title song, a relentless jazzy blues penned by Costello, is lyrically one of his strongest in years, and that's high praise indeed.
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