Rocky Mountain News, June 20, 2006: Difference between revisions
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<center><h3> Song for New Orleans </h3></center> | |||
<center> Toussaint, Costello team up to give voice to anger and hope </center> | |||
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<center> Mark Brown </center> | |||
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Perhaps the most compelling part of ''The River in Reverse'', the brilliant collaboration between Elvis Costello and legendary New Orleans producer-songwriter Allen Toussaint, is the immediacy that crackles through the music. | |||
Perhaps the most compelling part of The River in Reverse, the brilliant collaboration between Elvis Costello and legendary New Orleans producer-songwriter Allen Toussaint, is the immediacy that crackles through the music. | |||
A mix of Toussaint classics and new compositions, the album was written and recorded as Hurricane Katrina was still wreaking devastation on the Gulf Coast, and it was wrapped up with sessions in New Orleans days after the city reopened to outsiders. | A mix of Toussaint classics and new compositions, the album was written and recorded as Hurricane Katrina was still wreaking devastation on the Gulf Coast, and it was wrapped up with sessions in New Orleans days after the city reopened to outsiders. | ||
The pair bring those songs, as well as Costello's band and back catalog, to Saturday night's headlining slot at the Jazz Aspen Snowmass festival. | The pair bring those songs, as well as Costello's band and back catalog, to Saturday night's headlining slot at the [[Concert 2006-06-24 Aspen|Jazz Aspen Snowmass]] festival. | ||
"I'm going to bring my iron lung with me, my altitude suit. I've managed Boulder, so I don't think it's that much higher, is it?" Costello asks of Aspen as he and Toussaint do an interview during a break in rehearsals last week. | "I'm going to bring my iron lung with me, my altitude suit. I've managed Boulder, so I don't think it's that much higher, is it?" Costello asks of Aspen as he and Toussaint do an interview during a break in rehearsals last week. | ||
Costello performed at Seattle's Bumbershoot festival in early September 2005 as Katrina images filled every TV screen in the nation. He sang Toussaint's Freedom for the Stallion. | Costello performed at Seattle's Bumbershoot festival in early September 2005 as Katrina images filled every TV screen in the nation. He sang Toussaint's "Freedom for the Stallion." | ||
"It's pretty impossible to go onstage when you know everyone's watching something and there's a communal feeling about it and not reflect it in some way. I couldn't think of any song of my own that had any better meaning," particularly since he and Toussaint had both played the New Orleans Jazzfest just months earlier, he says. | "It's pretty impossible to go onstage when you know everyone's watching something and there's a communal feeling about it and not reflect it in some way. I couldn't think of any song of my own that had any better meaning," particularly since he and Toussaint had both played the New Orleans Jazzfest just months earlier, he says. | ||
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"During the process of writing, word came from the city that you could actually go there on other than federal or Katrina-related business. So we were able to do the second week of recording in New Orleans," Costello says. | "During the process of writing, word came from the city that you could actually go there on other than federal or Katrina-related business. So we were able to do the second week of recording in New Orleans," Costello says. | ||
While initially planning to just cover Toussaint classics that seemed fitting, such as Who's Gonna Help Brother Get Further? and Tears, Tears and More Tears, "it became apparent that we were going to create some new pieces," Costello says. | While initially planning to just cover Toussaint classics that seemed fitting, such as "Who's Gonna Help Brother Get Further?" and "Tears, Tears and More Tears," "it became apparent that we were going to create some new pieces," Costello says. | ||
Those songs make up the sometimes-angry heart of the album, along with Costello's title track. Broken Promise Land particularly melds the two artist's styles, with Toussaint's elegant piano lines counterpunched by stinging Costello guitar. | Those songs make up the sometimes-angry heart of the album, along with Costello's title track. "Broken Promise Land" particularly melds the two artist's styles, with Toussaint's elegant piano lines counterpunched by stinging Costello guitar. | ||
"Broken Promise Land instrumentally ended up being Allen's piano and my guitar, that tremolo thing that I've used as a signature sound, I suppose, inasmuch as I have anything like that in my fairly limited palate of guitar-playing ideas," Costello says. | "Broken Promise Land instrumentally ended up being Allen's piano and my guitar, that tremolo thing that I've used as a signature sound, I suppose, inasmuch as I have anything like that in my fairly limited palate of guitar-playing ideas," Costello says. | ||
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"Elvis has such a heart for the music it translates in every facet, be it lyrical content, melodic lines, chord structures. It just goes to show how dearly the music is in Elvis' heart," Toussaint says of the collaboration. | "Elvis has such a heart for the music it translates in every facet, be it lyrical content, melodic lines, chord structures. It just goes to show how dearly the music is in Elvis' heart," Toussaint says of the collaboration. | ||
"I remember being a bit too deferential the first time we sat down at the piano," Costello says. "We couldn't seem to get really flowing with ideas. Tentative is not the right word | "I remember being a bit too deferential the first time we sat down at the piano," Costello says. "We couldn't seem to get really flowing with ideas. Tentative is not the right word — just too respectful of one another's point of view." | ||
Costello liked Toussaint's version of the late Professor Longhair's Tipitina transposed to a minor key. The two turned it into Ascension Day, a song that starts dark but ends with hope. | Costello liked Toussaint's version of the late Professor Longhair's Tipitina transposed to a minor key. The two turned it into Ascension Day, a song that starts dark but ends with hope. | ||
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Joy is apparent in other songs. International Echo is a raucous tribute to music in general. | Joy is apparent in other songs. International Echo is a raucous tribute to music in general. | ||
"(That song) was the one that I got a kick out of," says Costello. "The music was all there | "(That song) was the one that I got a kick out of," says Costello. "The music was all there — Allen came in and played this piece down and it was just telling me a story. I went home that night and wrote the whole lyric. | ||
"And it had to be about music, and I've never written a song about music before. It had to be about what music does for you, how it turns you upside down. It is a comedic song." | "And it had to be about music, and I've never written a song about music before. It had to be about what music does for you, how it turns you upside down. It is a comedic song." | ||
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"We're not running for office. We're trying to be humans and feel something and hopefully offer something in a song, whether it gives consolation, whether it gives voice to some anger or disquiet someone has or a purely personal view." | "We're not running for office. We're trying to be humans and feel something and hopefully offer something in a song, whether it gives consolation, whether it gives voice to some anger or disquiet someone has or a purely personal view." | ||
The title track of The River in Reverse focuses not just on Katrina but on the nation as a whole, Costello says. | The title track of ''The River in Reverse'' focuses not just on Katrina but on the nation as a whole, Costello says. | ||
"I believe we are surrendering liberty to this climate of fear that is being cynically promoted by people in power. That song is not exclusively about New Orleans. It's emblematic of the way we're treating one another." | "I believe we are surrendering liberty to this climate of fear that is being cynically promoted by people in power. That song is not exclusively about New Orleans. It's emblematic of the way we're treating one another." | ||
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'''Rocky Mountain News, June 20, 2006 | |||
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[[Mark Brown]] interviews Elvis Costello. | |||
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==External links== | |||
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocky_Mountain_News Wikipedia: Rocky Mountain News ] | |||
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Revision as of 17:03, 23 September 2013
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