Raleigh News & Observer, June 12, 2009: Difference between revisions
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<center><h3> It's all in his mix </h3></center> | <center><h3> It's all in his mix </h3></center> | ||
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<center> David Menconi </center> | <center> David Menconi </center> | ||
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'''In Cary, Elvis Costello will make disparate ideas work in harmony. Again. | |||
{{Bibliography text}} | {{Bibliography text}} | ||
Elvis Costello recorded his new album in Nashville with producer T-Bone Burnett, mastermind behind the ''O Brother, Where Art Thou?'' soundtrack. Two of the album's songs were originally written for Johnny Cash, and Costello co-wrote another with Loretta Lynn. | Elvis Costello recorded his new album in Nashville with producer T-Bone Burnett, mastermind behind the ''O Brother, Where Art Thou?'' soundtrack. Two of the album's songs were originally written for Johnny Cash, and Costello co-wrote another with Loretta Lynn. | ||
At the same time, a clutch of other songs on '' | At the same time, a clutch of other songs on ''Secret, Profane & Sugarcane'' (Hear Music) were commissioned by the Royal Danish Opera about 19th century children's author Hans Christian Andersen and his obsession with Swedish opera singer Jenny Lind. Throw in the album's closing track, a cover of a 1950s-vintage Bing Crosby song, and you have two quite different and even clashing sets of expectations. | ||
Who but Costello could make all that hang together? Probably no one, even if Costello himself doesn't seem particularly impressed with his own accomplishment. Yet making strange, seemingly impossible combinations feel just right is pretty much standard procedure for Costello. From playing with opera stars to New Orleans pianists, punk bands to Burt Bacharach, he's traveled all over the map the past 30 years. | Who but Costello could make all that hang together? Probably no one, even if Costello himself doesn't seem particularly impressed with his own accomplishment. Yet making strange, seemingly impossible combinations feel just right is pretty much standard procedure for Costello. From playing with opera stars to New Orleans pianists, punk bands to Burt Bacharach, he's traveled all over the map the past 30 years. | ||
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Well, if you have in your head an idea what opera music sounds like, maybe. But it hasn't changed so much. It's just folk music. Andersen came out of abject poverty, and Jenny Lind came from a modest background. My version was about Andersen being in love with this woman who goes to America to make her fame and fortune with P.T. Barnum in the 1850s, and you can imagine the actual musical landscape of that time suggesting something that is not exclusive to what one might think of as "opera" — a woman with a viking helmet and a big dress. | Well, if you have in your head an idea what opera music sounds like, maybe. But it hasn't changed so much. It's just folk music. Andersen came out of abject poverty, and Jenny Lind came from a modest background. My version was about Andersen being in love with this woman who goes to America to make her fame and fortune with P.T. Barnum in the 1850s, and you can imagine the actual musical landscape of that time suggesting something that is not exclusive to what one might think of as "opera" — a woman with a viking helmet and a big dress. | ||
So I had the opportunity to do this acoustic album with T-Bone. And as it developed, I found a lot of connections. " | So I had the opportunity to do this acoustic album with T-Bone. And as it developed, I found a lot of connections. "Hidden Shame" and the song I co-wrote with Loretta Lynn ["I Felt The Chill Before The Winter Came"] had a sense of foreboding that didn't seem so distant from "She Handed Me A Mirror," one of the songs about Andersen. "Red Cotton" is a serious, considered argument for the abolition of slavery, and it made sense in this context. | ||
''What was it like doing your recent ''30 Rock'' cameo, as part of the all-star band performing the quasi-anthem "Kidney Now"? | ''What was it like doing your recent ''30 Rock'' cameo, as part of the all-star band performing the quasi-anthem "Kidney Now"? | ||
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''Regarding your statement that this album's songs are about "guilt and recrimination," is that similar to your long-ago quote about how all your songs were about "guilt and revenge"? | ''Regarding your statement that this album's songs are about "guilt and recrimination," is that similar to your long-ago quote about how all your songs were about "guilt and revenge"? | ||
Well, the songs on this record are about a slightly different kind of guilt. Those early songs were about guilt over desires, but "Red Cotton" involves a different kind of guilt. Likewise, there's not as much revenge as recriminations. There's lust and longing, like " | Well, the songs on this record are about a slightly different kind of guilt. Those early songs were about guilt over desires, but "Red Cotton" involves a different kind of guilt. Likewise, there's not as much revenge as recriminations. There's lust and longing, like "My All Time Doll," and guilt for dreams — "I Dreamed Of My Old Lover." But it's suppressed rather than expressed desire. I know these feelings to be true, but that does not make them my diary. And being my diary does not automatically make a song better. You know, I know about being "Down Among The Wines And Spirits," even if I don't drink alcohol. | ||
''Since this album was recorded a while ago, are you thinking about the next record at all? | ''Since this album was recorded a while ago, are you thinking about the next record at all? | ||
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'''The News & Observer, June 12, 2009 | '''The News & Observer, June 12, 2009 | ||
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[[David Menconi]] interviews Elvis Costello ahead of his concert with [[The Sugarcanes]], Sunday, [[Concert 2009-06-14 Cary|June 14, 2009]], Koka Booth Amphitheatre, Cary, | [[David Menconi]] interviews Elvis Costello ahead of his concert with [[The Sugarcanes]], Sunday, [[Concert 2009-06-14 Cary|June 14, 2009]], Koka Booth Amphitheatre, Cary, North Carolina. | ||
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<br><small>Clipping.</small> | |||
<small>Page scan.</small><br> | |||
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==External links== | ==External links== | ||
*[http://www.newsobserver.com/2009/06/12/89156/its-all-in-his-mix.html The News & Observer] | *[http://www.newsobserver.com NewsObserver.com] | ||
*[http://blogs.newsobserver.com/beat/change-partners-elvis-costello-andclay-aiken The News & Observer blogs] | <!-- *[http://www.newsobserver.com/2009/06/12/89156/its-all-in-his-mix.html The News & Observer] --> | ||
<!-- *[http://blogs.newsobserver.com/beat/change-partners-elvis-costello-andclay-aiken The News & Observer blogs] --> | |||
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_News_%26_Observer Wikipedia: The News & Observer] | *[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_News_%26_Observer Wikipedia: The News & Observer] | ||
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