Eye Weekly, June 1, 2006: Difference between revisions
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ELVIS COSTELLO & ALLEN TOUSSAINT | ELVIS COSTELLO & ALLEN TOUSSAINT | ||
Mr. Smartypants and his band meet Mr. New Orleans and his horn section, produced by today's finest architect of vintage R&B, Joe Henry. Yet like so much of Costello's discography of the last 20 years, this sounds better on paper, another in a series of recent genre exercises that seem to be more about Costello proving something to himself. Despite Henry's sympathetic production and Toussaint's ace instrumentation, much of this plods along while Costello's vocals reach for soul salvation but get bogged down in the gravitas of it all. Four songs that conclude the first half of the album -- one by Costello, two by Toussaint, one a collaboration -- boast a rollicking southern swagger and bluesy backbone, especially when Toussaint takes his sole vocal turn on "Who's Gonna Help Brother Get Further?" Yet one great EP sequenced in the middle of an album doesn't make Costello's 25th studio release much reason to celebrate. MICHAEL BARCLAY | ** | ||
The River in Reverse | |||
Verve/Universal | |||
Mr. Smartypants and his band meet Mr. New Orleans and his horn section, produced by today's finest architect of vintage R&B, Joe Henry. Yet like so much of Costello's discography of the last 20 years, this sounds better on paper, another in a series of recent genre exercises that seem to be more about Costello proving something to himself. Despite Henry's sympathetic production and Toussaint's ace instrumentation, much of this plods along while Costello's vocals reach for soul salvation but get bogged down in the gravitas of it all. Four songs that conclude the first half of the album -- one by Costello, two by Toussaint, one a collaboration -- boast a rollicking southern swagger and bluesy backbone, especially when Toussaint takes his sole vocal turn on "Who's Gonna Help Brother Get Further?" Yet one great EP sequenced in the middle of an album doesn't make Costello's 25th studio release much reason to celebrate. | |||
MICHAEL BARCLAY | |||
[[Category:Bibliography]] | |||
[[Category:Bibliography 2006]] | |||
[[Category:Album reviews]] | |||
[[Category:The River In Reverse reviews]] | |||
Latest revision as of 03:43, 23 December 2013
ELVIS COSTELLO & ALLEN TOUSSAINT
The River in Reverse
Verve/Universal
Mr. Smartypants and his band meet Mr. New Orleans and his horn section, produced by today's finest architect of vintage R&B, Joe Henry. Yet like so much of Costello's discography of the last 20 years, this sounds better on paper, another in a series of recent genre exercises that seem to be more about Costello proving something to himself. Despite Henry's sympathetic production and Toussaint's ace instrumentation, much of this plods along while Costello's vocals reach for soul salvation but get bogged down in the gravitas of it all. Four songs that conclude the first half of the album -- one by Costello, two by Toussaint, one a collaboration -- boast a rollicking southern swagger and bluesy backbone, especially when Toussaint takes his sole vocal turn on "Who's Gonna Help Brother Get Further?" Yet one great EP sequenced in the middle of an album doesn't make Costello's 25th studio release much reason to celebrate.
MICHAEL BARCLAY
