Review: Elvis Costello - Secret, Profane & Sugarcane
Label: Hear Music
Released: June 9, 2009
Elvis Costello has had quite a long and varied career to say the least, making albums bordering on punk on one hand and working with the likes of Burt Bacharach and Allen Toussaint at others. The genres he's avoided, like metal or hip-hop, are surely more by choice than inability. There's no question that as both a performer and a songwriter, he has few peers in terms of the breadth and quality of his work. That's not to say he's all things to all people, but that, as particularly evidenced on Secret, Profane & Sugarcane, he's Elvis Costello to whatever audience he chooses.
This time around, Costello takes on a particularly rootsy, unabashedly American form, dabbling in folk, country and bluegrass throughout. What he displays here, as he has so often in the past, is that he really doesn't play in each of the genres he engages so much as he adapts those genres to work with his distinct songwriting.
This works particularly well here for two reasons. First, Costello can write some great songs. There have been plenty of points in his career where the songs weren't up to the standard he had set, but they certainly are here. This is the strongest set of songs I've heard from him in some time and many could just as easily have been performed in a style he explored on another of his albums. They just work fundamentally, maintaining that which makes them distinctly his work.
Second, he understands the subtleties of the style in which he's working. These aren't just pop songs with some sting band instrumentation and a twang in his voice. The arrangements are careful to both evoke country music's vivid history and retain Costello's unique qualities. In addition to that, Secret, Profane & Sugarcane demonstrates an understanding that goes deeper than the music itself. It walks country's fine lines between the secular and religious and the happy and the sad.
The album succeeds largely because it isn't a superficial carbon copy, but a continuation of a long tradition. Elvis Costello hasn't inserted old-time country into his repertoire, but rather inserted himself into country's rich history.
Ratings
Satriani: 8/10
Zappa: 7/10
Dylan: 8/10
Aretha: 7/10
Overall: 8/10
If you're curious about my rating categories, read the description.
posted by bob_vinyl at 9:56 AM
4 Comments:
That's one thing that Bowie and Costello have in common: No matter what genre they try, their songs always sound like them.
I haven't decided whether or not I view this as a good thing. Is it the sign of an artist who has a completely unique voice that is so strong it colors all his work, or is it the sign of an artist who keeps doing the same thing over and over, even when trying something new?
That's the impression I got as well listening to this with you on the way to the Anvil movie. I laugh we were listening to Country Costello on the way to a heavy metal film, but then, I preach diversity in music and I really thought this was good stuff. Costello was easily settled into his subject. Then again, he's a quintessential pro.
Not to be boring, but artists like Costello have to try, if they are going to produce crap - the good stuff is more natural for them.
I think an artist with a distinct voice like Costello is a plus - he always sounds like Costello, but his music changes.
Nice review!
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