Austin American-Statesman, January 19, 1993

Bibliography   72 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 UK & Ireland weeklies UK & Ireland magazines UK & Ireland newspapers US newspapers US rock magazines US music magazines US magazines US alternative weeklies European magazines European newspapers Canada  •  Mexico  •  Asia Australia  •  New Zealand South America  •  Africa Blogs  •  Fanzines  •  Books Online publications Austin American-Statesman   1978 January 25 1978 January 27 1978 May 24 1978 May 25 1979 February 24 1979 February 26 1981 January 24 1982 January 6 1982 July 31 1983 September 8 1984 September 7 1987 November 12 1988 February 11 1993 January 19 1994 May 21 1996 August 23 1999 October 9 2006 April 9  2009 September 3 2015 October 18 2022 August 23  Texas publications  Newspapers Austin American-Statesman Corpus Christi Times Bastrop County Times Dallas Morning News El Paso Times Fort Hood Sentinel Fort Worth Star-Telegram Galveston Daily News Houston Chronicle Houston Post Lubbock Avalanche-Journal Odessa American Paris News San Antonio Express-News Seguin Gazette Tyler Morning Telegraph Victoria Advocate Wichita Falls Record News University publications Abilene Christian Optimist Baylor University Lariat Houston Daily Cougar North Texas Daily Rice University Thresher SMU Daily Campus Southwest. Univ. Megaphone St. Mary's University Rattler Texas Tech University Daily Texas Christ. Univ. Daily Skiff Trinity University Trinitonian Univ. Houston Daily Cougar Univ. of Houston Houstonian UT Daily Texan UT El Paso Prospector Magazines and alt. weeklies Austin Chronicle Austin Sun Austin Vanguard Buddy Dallas Observer Houston Press It's Only Rock 'N' Roll San Antonio Current US publications by state  AL  •  AK  •  AR  •  AZ  •  CA CO  •  CT  •  DC  •  DE  •  FL GA  •  HI  •   IA   •   ID   •   IL   IN   •  KS  •  KY  •  LA   •  MA MD  •  ME  •   MI  •  MN  •  MO MS  •  MT  •  NC  •  ND  •  NE NH  •  NJ  •  NM  •  NV  •  NY OH  •  OK  •  OR  •  PA  •  RI SC  •  SD  •  TN  •  TX  •  UT  VA  •  VT  •  WA  •  WI  •  WY — Elvis Costello's new album refreshing change Don McLeese Elvis Costello and the Brodsky Quartet The Juliet Letters His last album of more-or-less conventional pop songs found Elvis Costello spinning his wheels, making this radical departure seem all the more refreshing. Here, England's most ambitious and accomplished post-punk songwriter engages in a complete collaboration with the Brodsky Quartet, the country's acclaimed chamber string group. Contrary to their perceived strengths, the Brodskys contribute significantly to the songcraft, Costello helps with the arrangements, and the results achieve coherence as a song suite rather than some pop-classical hybrid. As the title alludes, this is an epistolary project, with each song taking the form of a letter — suicide note, unsolicited offer, brooding revelations written but never sent, correspondences that attempt to sustain a relationship over the cracks of time. The various personas bring a playfulness and a sense of adventure to Costello's vocals, while singing over violins and cello (the album's only instrumentation) rather than electric bass and guitar allows a subtlety and intimacy that mark the material as well. Occasionally, the enterprise seems overly precious, literary and oblique (an annotated libretto helps provide context) — and its 20 selections stretch the collaborative inspiration too thin — but highlights such as "Taking My Life In Your Hands," "Dear Sweet Filthy World" and "This Sad Burlesque" rank with the bittersweet best of Costello's Imperial Bedroom. The album recalls an era of polite society and refined desperation, one in which writing letters was a soul-baring exercise, and chamber music was a mark of domestic civility. Amid the comparative clang and clatter of modernity, the album sounds like nothing else you're likely to hear. << >> Austin American-Statesman, January 19, 1993 Don McLeese reviews The Juliet Letters. Images Clipping. Page scan.

External links

• Statesman.com
• Wikipedia: Austin American-Statesman