- Field Day |
- Buildings Alive |
- Visions |
- CLGBT |
- Green Community |
- Fun & Free S#!T |
- Crossword |
- CL Space |
Monday, June 8, 2009
Review: Elvis Costello's Secret, Profane & Sugarcane (with video)
Posted by Eric Snider on Mon, Jun 8, 2009 at 6:09 PM
For the last dozen or so years, Elvis Costello has switched genres like he was trying on shirts at the outlet mall: orchestral works, New Orleans R&B with Allen Toussaint, stately ballads with Swedish messo-soprano Anne-Sofie von Otter, a writing collaboration with Burt Bacharach and a jazz summit with Bill Frisell. He even managed to squeeze in a bit of rock 'n' roll.
While his musical bed-hopping sounds like fun, it has served to render his artistic vision a bit fuzzy. The "what will Costello come up with next?" question started to grow tiresome a few outings ago.
Which brings us to Secret, Profane & Sugarcane — his first for Starbucks' Hear Music imprint — wherein he calls on producer T Bone Burnett and gets the full-on T Bone treatment. Yup, acoustic guitar, Dobro, mandolin, fiddle, upright bass, banjo, accordion, mountain music arrangements, the tunes configured into contemporary takes old-timey Americana (matched by the CD packaging).
You may recall that Burnett was at the helm for Robert Plant and Allison Krauss' Raising Sand, a serendipitous convergence of talent that went Grammy wild.
Secret, Profane & Sugarcane wholly misses out on that sort of wonder, and comes off as all the more disingenuous as a result. While Costello has penned (and co-penned) some worthy songs here — and repurposed at least one, "Complicated Shadows" — the best of them would sound more convincing in a less stylized format.
Additionally, his voice is too strident and brassy for the relative delicacy of the musical backdrops. While he has mercifully toned down the vibrato that he fixated on for a spell, his singing still has an intrinsic sneer that stands at odds this sort of pleasant-afternoon porch music.
[image-2]
"Down Among the Wine and Spirits"
Comments (6)
Showing 1-6 of 6
like
dislike
AAReally good article, thank you for sharing, I will always look at the future.I like it very much.
The columbia jackets will keep you dry and warm from mountaintop to the trail bottom. providing columbia coats for mens with high quality.
DllErrorsFix is an dll errors fix tool.DllErrorsFix can repair and fix dll errors easy, safe and fast. DllErrorsFix will not collect or use any information about the visitors to the Web Site and your visit to the Web Site is anonymous.
EXE Error,EXE Error Fix, EXE Errors with EXErrorsFix. We offer professional exe error fix tool. Download exe error fix tool at EXE-Errors.com.Generally, you can process online update if there is any newer version available. After download the latest version, please close EXErrorsFix and run the EXErrorsFix_setup.exe to upgrade.
Author Archives
-
Concert review: Richard Thompson at Tampa Theatre 1
The British musician offered up an evening full of jaw-dropping guitartistry at his Feb. 3 show.
-
The family that plays together ... Tedeschi Trucks Band hits Ruth Eckerd Hall on Thursday 1
After a decade of marriage, Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi finally share the same band.
- More »
