REVIEWS: Secret, Profane and Sugarcane

[johnfoyle]

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=am ... ftxzykldte

All Music Guide



Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Elvis Costello has spent the back half of his career flitting from style to style, recording everything from opera to R&B, but he avoided the country-folk of 1986's King of America until 2009, when he teamed up with America producer (and fellow Coward Brother) T Bone Burnett for Secret, Profane & Sugarcane. By its very definition, country-folk seems straightforward, but the only thing simple about Secret is the speed of its recording. Costello and Burnett assembled an all-star acoustic string band -- featuring Jerry Douglas on Dobro, Dennis Crouch on bass, Stuart Duncan on fiddle and banjo, and Jim Lauderdale on vocal harmonies -- and cut the album in just three days, its swiftness similar to its knocked-out predecessor Momofuku. Secret, Profane & Sugarcane often bears its quick conception fetchingly, feeling loose-limbed and intimate, a record made simply because it's fun to play, a sentiment that can't quite be said of its songs.

Surely, there are times where the humor is as riotous as those old Coward Brothers singles -- Costello and Burnett have a ball on the bawdy travelogue "Sulphur to Sugarcane" and sweetly harmonize with Emmylou Harris on "The Crooked Line" -- but Secret is frequently fussy, particularly on the songs Costello has carried over from his unfinished Hans Christian Andersen opera. The very presence of these songs ("How Deep Is the Red?," "She Was No Good," "She Handed Me a Mirror," "Red Cotton") suggests just how muddled Secret, Profane & Sugarcane is conceptually: it bounces all over the place, threading these stagebound tunes between a collaboration with Loretta Lynn and his take on "Down Among the Wine and Spirits," which he originally wrote for Ms. Loretta, a rollicking leftover from The Delivery Man ("Hidden Shame"), a cover of Bing Crosby's "Changing Partners," the Burnett co-writes, a few new songs, and a reworking of Elvis' old "Complicated Shadows." Despite the occasional stuffiness, there's a lot of good material here and it's all executed well, but it's hard not to shake the feeling that this is a collection of leftovers masquerading as a main course.

[martinfoyle]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-rago ... 07250.html

Mike Ragogna

music biz vet, entertainment writer
Posted: May 25, 2009 03:25 AM


Elvis Costello - Secret, Profane and Sugarcane

You've heard Elvis Costello sing country music before, but not like this. The lad who gave us Almost Blue is quite mature and worldly wise now. On the opening track, when he sings, "Down among the wines and spirits where a man gets what he merits...once it was written in letters 'bout nine feet tall, now he sees how far he's fallen," he sounds like he truly has been sobered by life's hangovers. The song "Down Among The Wine And Spirits," plus a few others featured on Costello's new album, Secret, Profane And Sugarcane, premiered in 2007 on The Bob Dylan Show tour, and fans have been jawin' 'til the cows come home from Harvard about what direction Mr. Prolific's new album would take. Well, it's country, sort of, smart enough for the overly-educated, toe-tappin' enough for the Cracker Barrel crowd, and mesmerizing enough to keep everyone in-between fascinated.

The behind the scenes lowdown is dizzying, but here's the quick recap: Produced by former Costello cohort and legendary roots reviver, T Bone Burnett (yes, de-hyphenated), this mixed topical bag contains an unfinished storyline commissioned by The Royal Danish Opera involving Hans Christian Andersen, Jenny Lind, and P.T. Barnum ("She Handed Me A Mirror," "How Deep Is The Red," "She Was No Good," and "Red Cotton"); a Loretta Lynn co-write ("I Felt The Chill"); two songs co-authored with T-Bone Burnett ("Sulphur To Sugarcane," "The Crooked Line"); "Hidden Shame" (previously recorded by Johnny Cash on his Boom Chicka Boom album); and a Bing Crosby waltz, the Lawrence Coleman/Joseph Darion composition, "Changing Partners." Musicians include Dennis Crouch (double bass), Mike Compton (mandolin), Jerry Douglas (dobro), Stuart Duncan (fiddle), Jeff Taylor (accordion), Jim Lauderdale (harmonies), and Emmylou Harris (harmony on "The Crooked Line"). The project was recorded in Nashville by engineer Mike Piersante at Sound Emporium Studios in just three days, and the only amplified instrument is T Bone's Kay electric guitar. Even the cover carries a pedigree being a pen and ink drawing by famed cartoonist/author, Tony Millionaire.

When Costello sings the backwoods-flavored "Complicated Shadows," he emotes its challenging intervals like John Hiatt, an important singer-songwriter who has committed fully to roots music over his last few albums. Loretta Lynn's lyrical and musical contribution to "I Felt The Chill" gives Costello authenticity when he sings heartbreaking lines such as the first chorus' "I felt the chill before the winter came, suffered the guilt and then accepted the blame, I wanted you before you ever spoke my name." Though the next track, "My All Time Doll," initially seems too much like old school Costello to fit with its Depression-era tempo and chord changes, its biting, bluesy lyrics uniquely are swept along by an accordion and more than a couple closing time fakeout fades. "Hidden Shame" borrows very little from Johnny Cash's version though the Man In Black's presence is felt, and the first of the Hans Christian Andersen tracks comes off like progressive gypsy folk. Costello's somber "I Dreamed Of My Old Lover" is reverse-sexed, and from the woman's perspective, "Would our kids grow stubborn or grow strong, would there limbs bronze insult to the sun," particularly is touching.

"How Deep Is The Red" comes off especially country, despite its Andersen-Lind connection, and Costello's youthful stretch for high notes evokes his Attractions recordings. "She Was No Good" makes a 2009 sense out of its 1850s Lindcentric storyline, and the flirty "Sulphur To Sugar Cane" shuffles its western swing into the beautiful, complicated "Red Cotton" that deals with abolition and souvenirs from Barnum's perspective. "The Crooked Line" is all hillbilly, and the old-timey "Changing Partners" closes the project with optimism, like a lesson learned from all that's come before. "There are undeniable threads and themes of rivers and oceans traveled," informs Costello about the album. "Of bondage and guilt, of shame and retribution, of piety, profanity, lust and love, though only the last of these is absolute. There are always contradictions. The music offers the way out. It offers the way home."

Elvis Costello's disparate material snaps together as easily as a third grader's map of America thanks to T Bone Burnett's sonic guidance that raises the album's state of country consciousness. Or maybe it's bluegrass consciousness. Where the pair's previous outings together included the rare, collaborative '85 single "The People's Limousine" (as The Coward Brothers), and T Bone's co-production of The Costello Show's King Of America and Elvis' Spike, this album is the brightest yet folksiest of their works together or anything Costello's ever touched. Its Americana, bluegrass, and folk elements breed a hybrid to hang a genre on. Because of this, maybe Costello's latest isn't exactly for those salivating for that next American Idol-styled, assembly line country album. But it is intelligent country music that's been looking for its moment to shine from beneath a Wal-Mart (via Korea) cowboy hat. Given the stagnant state of country music, maybe Secret, Profane And Sugarcane is just what Doc Watson ordered.

[the_platypus]

I want to hear this so bad

It's nowhere to be found in Buenos Aires

[Neil.]

Don't worry, it's not out on CD anywhere yet - it's released next week. Meanwhile, you can hear tracks on the official Elvis website - just click the link at the top of the page that says 'Secret, Profane and Sugarcane'.

[littletriggers]

Can anyone tell me why the vinyl is so expensive ? And maybe the most reasonable online price , kind of immaterial now as with more money then sense I have just forked out £24 inc P&P . H.M.V. wanted £32 ! I thought we were trying to keep vinyl alive , CDs mean nothing to me .

[cwr]

What's up with the LP edition anyway? I thought it was supposed to be released a week before the CD, but now Amazon is saying "this item has been discontinued by the manufacturer."

I'm guessing it just means that it will be out next week instead of today, and amazon's in the process of correcting its info...?

As for the price, I think it's just $20 in the US, which isn't too bad-- but that might mean that it's only available as an import in the UK...

[Neil.]

Anyone know if there is any sort of buzz about this? Has anyone heard any airplay on significant radio stations, etc?

[thepopeofpop]

It's going to be "Album of the Week" on Australia's ABC Radio National, which is a good result.

[nord]

What's up with the LP edition anyway? I thought it was supposed to be released a week before the CD, but now Amazon is saying "this item has been discontinued by the manufacturer."

I'm guessing it just means that it will be out next week instead of today, and amazon's in the process of correcting its info...?

As for the price, I think it's just $20 in the US, which isn't too bad-- but that might mean that it's only available as an import in the UK...

I got this email today:

Hello from Amazon.com.

We're still trying to obtain the following item[s] you ordered on May 09 2009 (Order# 102-1673700-2366636).

Elvis Costello "Secret, Profane & Sugar Cane"
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0025KN4DS

Still want it? We'll keep on trying. To keep your order for this item open, please click the link below. Otherwise, we'll cancel your order on June 26 2009, if we haven't located it by then.

[Ypsilanti]

Has anyone heard any airplay on significant radio stations, etc?

Neil.:
Absolutely! WXRP in NYC has been playing the Hell out of Complicated Shadows for weeks (although for the 1st couple of weeks they kept saying it was from ATUB, even though it was the new SP&S version). Now they have a whole special concert promo & the Jocks are talking it up constantly. It's kind of amazing, really. Very good vibe.

[Neil.]

That's great! I haven't heard anything on British radio - but then, I hardly ever listen. I hope it's a smash in America - the T-Bone Burnett connection may give it that extra push. Fingers crossed.

[wordnat]

"Red Cotton" is fucking epic.

[johnfoyle]

http://www.pbpulse.com/music/music-news ... bluegrass/

The Palm Beach Post


Savor Elvis Costello’s CD of sophisticated bluegrass

By Larry Aydlette

May 28, 2009


The spin: Working again with producer T-Bone Burnett and a team of top bluegrass musicians, Costello has crafted a low-key acoustic disc that should be country, but isn’t classifiable at all. It’s a merging of Burnett’s rootsy sensibility with Costello’s pop-rock operatics.

The album was recorded in three days in Nashville, and is a grab bag of Costello’s wide-ranging interests: songs from an opera about Hans Christian Andersen, a breakup ballad co-written with Loretta Lynn, a swaggering Dixieland collaboration with Burnett, a gently rockin’ remake of Complicated Shadows, even an old Bing Crosby tune. The playing is warm and understated, with marvelous harmonies from Jim Lauderdale and Emmylou Harris.

Again, you could call it country. But all the songs boast Costello’s recognizable architecture — the dense, bruised-romantic wordplay, the rushing, rising choruses, the emotional delivery. It’s an album that seems slight at first, but repeated listens plunge you deeper and deeper into its musically complex shadows.

[Emotional Toothpaste]

I've gone to the website where it is still streaming and given the whole album a listen-through a few times. Gotty a say, this one is a gem. Come June 2nd, I will go buy the CD, wherever its selling -- I guess that might be Starbucks. I was browsing for books a few days ago at a Borders and then wandered over to their music department, and it struck me what iTunes has done to retail sales of CD's -- there is nothing left! I miss the old days. I want my packaging back.

[johnfoyle]

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-enter ... 92397.html

The Independent (London)

Friday, 29 May 2009


Album: Elvis Costello, Secret, Profane & Sugarcane (Hear Music)

(Rated 2/ 5 )

Reviewed by Andy Gill



Elvis Costello albums seem to arrive with increasing frequency these days, their diversity appearing more like compensation for their patchiness.

If you didn't like him singing with a string quartet, maybe you'd care for him in a jazz suite? No? How about collaborations with Burt Bacharach? Allen Toussaint? Anne Sophie von Otter? Or, as here, hooking up with T-Bone Burnette for some of those rootsy string-band settings that proved popular for Plant & Krauss? Though far from the most daunting prospect in his sprawling catalogue, this proves no better in practice, partly because Costello's voice has a mean-spirited tone devoid of the siren lure of Plant & Krauss's harmonies, and it's a rag-bag of material that simply doesn't hang together. There's a bluegrass cover of "Complicated Shadows", from 1996's All This Useless Beauty; a fast string-band shuffle of "Hidden Shame", written for Johnny Cash; several tedious, self-pitying romantic country pastiches, one ("I Felt The Chill") co-written with Loretta Lynn; and four tracks written for an abortive opera project about Hans Christian Andersen's love affair with singer Jenny Lind. But it's a shoddy set of barrel-scrapings overall, lacking both focus and impetus.

Download this: 'Red Cotton', 'The Crooked Line'


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/cult ... eview.html

The Telegraph ( London)

Andrew Perry

29 May 2009

From classical to Burt Bacharach, Costello has his fingers in so many pies these days, that this dalliance in fiddly, old-time country music almost feels like a return to base camp.

Recorded in Nashville with T Bone Burnett and a superb string band, it’s more rootsy than 1981’s Almost Blue, and includes some excellent narrative songs about, of all people, Hans Christian Andersen, plus versions of Johnny Cash’s Hidden Shame and Bing Crosby’s Changing Partners.

Telegraph rating: * * *

http://blogcritics.org/music/article/mu ... t-profane/


Blogcritics

Glen Boyd

May 28, 2009


For those who haven't noticed, stripped-down, acoustically based music has made quite a comeback of late -- specifically that of the Appalachian variety. And from John Mellencamp's Life Death Love And Freedom to Robert Plant and Alison Krauss' Grammy-sweeping smash Raising Sand, producer T-Bone Burnett has been right there at the center of most of it.

So it's little surprise then that Elvis Costello recruited Burnett to produce his most recent attempt at what amounts to a stripped-down country record.

It's not Costello's first try at this either, nor is it his first time working with Burnett, who also produced his albums King Of America (which had many of the same elements found here) and Spike (which didn't). Costello's very first stab at making this type of album actually goes all the way back to 1981's Almost Blue, an album of covers by people like George Jones, which is mostly best left forgotten.

On Secret, Profane & Sugarcane, Costello fares much better, although casual EC fans should be forewarned. This isn't My Aim Is True, Armed Forces, or Imperial Bedroom. The truth is, this is probably a lot closer to being a cross between King Of America and (fortunately, to a lesser extent) Almost Blue. And yes, there is a bit of what I would call "filler" here.

Fortunately, however, what's good here ("My All Time Doll," "Sulphur To Sugarcane") is so good that it's more than enough to erase the taste of the occasional (well okay, maybe not so occasional) artistic indulgence.

Mostly, Secret, Profane & Sugarcane is a bit of an acquired taste -- and will be even for some of those fans who've long since become accustomed to Costello's penchant for vanity projects. The only non-acoustic instrument even heard here is the occasional electric guitar flourish from Burnett -- and those flourishes are mostly very tasty, I might add.

But for those willing to stick it out, Secret, Profane & Sugarcane is for the most part a record which proves ultimately satisfying. Recorded over a three day period in -- where else? -- Nashville, the album was inspired in part by The Secret Songs, Costello's still to be completed work for the Royal Danish Opera about the life of Hans Christian Andersen.

Some of those songs show up here, although in arrangements far closer to the Tennessee backwoods than to any European opera house. There are also songwriting collaborations with Loretta Lynn ("I Felt The Chill Before The Winter Came") and with Emmylou Harris (who sings backup on "The Crooked Line").

However, once you get past the rather obvious bluegrass and country influences, this is still ultimately an Elvis Costello record -- which means that it comes down to the songs. And there are some really great ones here.

On "My All Time Doll," Costello proves he's lost none of his gift for sharp wordplay in lines like "you're my all time doll/you're all I adore/I'd swear to it now/but I already swore." Costello bites off lyrics like these with near the same playful spite as anything he's recorded with the Attractions, while the countrified backing manages to make it sound as funky as, well, as funky as mandolins and such get, I guess.

"Hidden Shame" takes on a near hoedown feel with its dobros and fiddles, as Costello turns in another killer lyric in the chorus about a "hidden shame, shame, shame" where he can't break away from "the torture and misery, must it be by secret for eternity."

Lyrically speaking anyway, Elvis is still king throughout Secret, Profane & Sugarcane.

"Sulphur To Sugarcane" is the real standout here, though. Against a beat that is really more like a hillbilly shuffle set to a countrified backdrop of -- yep, you guessed it -- fiddles and dobros, Costello rattles off a hilarious series of lines about ravaging women in various U.S. cities. Sample lyrics include "the women in Poughkeepsie take their clothes off when they're tipsy," "Up in Syracuse, I was falsely accused, but I'm not here to hurt you, I'm here to steal your virtue," and my personal favorite, "In Worcester, Massachusetts, they just love my sauce."

When Elvis takes this show out on the road this summer, I can see that one being not only a crowd-pleaser, but depending upon the city and the venue, a sure-fire campfire sing-along song. This is just great stuff -- unless of course, you happen to be one of the unfortunate women in those cities.

I guess the closest thing I could compare this to is Springsteen's Seeger Sessions record. Once you get over the initial shock of the odd arrangements -- not to mention all those damn fiddles and what-not -- this is a very decent Elvis Costello album that occasionally -- if not quite as often as I'd like -- approaches greatness.

Secret, Profane & Sugarcane arrives in stores this Tuesday, June 2.

[thepopeofpop]

I miss the old days. I want my packaging back.

The packaging is really good. Very nice booklet on high quality paper - not the usual paper used in CD booklets, but really good paper like in a hardcover book.

Great album. Some of EC's best vocals in a long while.

[johnfoyle]

http://www.azcentral.com/thingstodo/mus ... elvis.html

The Arizona Republic
Elvis Costello: 'Secret, Profane and Sugarcane'

by Ed Masley

May. 29, 2009

A year after tearing it up with the reckless abandon of his most explosive work, Elvis Costello revisits the roots he first explored at length on "Almost Blue," a collection of country standards released at the height of his reign as the thinking-person's New Wave star.

But it's actually closer in spirit to "King of America," an acoustic-guitar-driven, roots-rocking gem released in 1986. He even recorded in Nashville with T-Bone Burnett, his producer on "King of America," and sent out for Emmylou Harris to bring some extra country to "The Crooked Line," one of two songs he wrote with Burnett.

Like many highlights here, "The Crooked Line" is straight-up bluegrass, with Costello at his most romantic ("If you were my life's companion as it seems you may turn out to be") while an accordion and fiddle share the instrumental spotlight. On "Sulphur to Sugarcane," the other song he co-wrote with Burnett, Costello puts the blues in bluegrass, playing the wandering cad with a wink and a smile.

How many country artists would have thought to write a line as devilishly inspired as "Now, if you catch my eye and you find that it runs down your leg," much less "The women in Poughkeepsie take their clothes off when they're tipsy"?

Not every song is as playful as that.

"I Felt the Chill Before the Winter Came," a co-write with the great Loretta Lynn, is devastating country gold, from the opening line, "Well, there's a difference in the way that you kiss me." And Costello knows enough to undersell the pathos in his vocal where a lesser singer would have poured it on too strong.

Another highlight, "Hidden Shame," has been gathering dust for years. It was written with Johnny Cash in mind and you can definitely hear that in the slapping double bass, although it's doubtful Cash's version would have been this rollicking.

The album starts off with a drinking-man's lament, the aching "Down Among the Wines and Spirits," where "a man gets what he merits." It may be Costello's most powerful vocal here, but then, he's always made the most of lines as poignant as "Walking around with a pain that never ceases, he starts to speak and then he falls to pieces."

While most tracks pick up where that leadoff song leaves off in terms of tone and tempo, he changes it up on occasion to keep all those ballads from blending together. He's resurrected "Complicated Shadows" with a swampy blues-punk swagger, and "My All Time Doll," a tortured blues in the twisted tradition of "I Want You," finds him addressing the object of his unrequited love in a series of creepy confessions. "I flick off the switch and stare in the dark," he seethes, "and wait for you to appear" before admitting, "I'm out of control." It's the sort of song that's sure to be a highlight of the live show years from now, and it's amazing that a man in his position is still adding staples to the live set after all these years of classic albums.


http://www.newsweek.com/id/200008

He’s a Little Bit Country
By Seth Colter Walls
NEWSWEEK

Published May 29, 2009
From the magazine issue dated Jun 8, 2009


You don't have to listen to the music of Elvis Costello (born Declan Patrick McManus in London) to know he's obsessed with Americana. First, there's that stage name. Next, you have the clues from the songs he's written (or covered): "Eisenhower Blues," "American Without Tears," and "American Gangster Time." In his spare hours, Costello is also a cheerleader for country music history. This decade, he petitioned the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to admit early trailblazer Wanda Jackson. Country—and red-white-and-bluegrass—also appear to have inspired his latest album,Secret, Profane and Sugarcane, which boasts bar after bar of mandolin, fiddle riffing and Louvin Brothers–like vocal harmony. Though it would be a mistake to label the 13-song set a narrow genre exercise. The shadow Nashville casts over Costello is a slightly more complicated affair.

At the table of style, Costello has long been a gourmand hungry for almost any form he encounters. He frustrated some of his original New Wave–era fans in the '80s and '90s by contemplating his diverse fascinations—R&B, Beatlesque art pop, country covers and string-quartet writing—one entire album at a time. But on Sugarcane (as well as on his previous record, Momofuku), Costello is displaying a newfound talent for making his many influences work together in compelling ways.

In their melodic structure, Costello's latest Americana tunes bear little resemblance to the countrified tones of his 1986 release King of America (both albums were produced by T Bone Burnett). The new song "She Handed Me a Mirror" was originally drafted as part of an orchestral commission Costello received from Copenhagen, which explains why it modulates between several more key signatures than your average Nashville number—and why it calls to mind Elvis's collaboration with Burt Bacharach. This isn't pure country, but it's not advertised as that, either. Costello has reverence for many American genres, yet pledges allegiance to none. Best, then, to forget the labels. In the end, this is sharp music, from a polymath at the top of his game. Something of a music critic himself, Costello told NEWSWEEK that President Obama should name Stevie Wonder the country's "musical laureate," given the singer's influence on artists across genres. But as long as we're handing out titles, how about making Costello an honorary American? A record like Sugarcane, sweet with the lyricism of many styles, could serve as the loyalty oath.

[Ypsilanti]

But on Sugarcane (as well as on his previous record, Momofuku), Costello is displaying a new found talent for making his many influences work together in compelling ways.

Nicely stated!

[johnfoyle]

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/ ... 371831.ece

From The Times ( London)

May 30, 2009

Pete Paphides

Twenty-five years separate Elvis Costello’s latest effort from his first collaboration with T-Bone Burnett. As with much of their early work together, the instrumentation is strictly back-porch. Welcome as those violins are, Costello’s tendency to sound like a man writing for an audience of imagined peers creates a distance that these songs aren’t always charming enough to obliterate — in particular, the P. T. Barnum-inspired Red Cotton and a stately post mortem to a marriage called I Felt the Chill.

[johnfoyle]

The finished,' proper' copy is so much better than the MP3 based version I've been living with for the last few months. Sonic subtleties abound, all kinds of touches of bass that I just don't remember hearing before. I listened in full as the sun bounced of the leaves outside the window , with bird sound and people in nearby gardens doing things . This album is going to always remind me of summer. WIWC is synonymous , for the same reason, with the winter winds that howled through drafty windows as I first heard it. Kind of appropriate, really!

That line in 'On the blank back side of that poisonous moon' in My All Time Doll - is that reference to Poison Moon , the early demo from MAIT? I'll have to listen again.

[johnfoyle]

http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainm ... dings.html


Dan DeLuca
Philadelphia Inquirer
May. 31, 2009

Elvis Costello's third collaboration with T-Bone Burnett splits the difference between his first two: It's better than 1989's all-over-the-place Spike, but not as good as 1986's sharply focused King of America. It's a set of ballads with subtle acoustic country and bluegrass backing, not quite so atmospheric as Burnett's most recent noteworthy production, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss' Raising Sand.

The cable talk-show host is never at a loss for words or new songs, but here he also reinterprets tunes previously targeted for other projects. The standout, and one welcome up-tempo cut, "Hidden Shame," for instance, originally was written for Johnny Cash and also was released as a demo version on Costello's 2001 album All This Useless Beauty.

Emmylou Harris sings harmony on the quite lovely fiddle-fired "The Crooked Line," cowritten by Burnett, and "I Felt the Chill" is a choked and touching lament cowritten with Loretta Lynn that's a comeback, of sorts, to Lynn's "When the Tingle Becomes A Chill." Too many mid-tempo tunes lined up back-to-back, but otherwise a solid addition to the Costello oeuvre.


http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-enter ... 93323.html

Independent On Sunday ( London)
Nick Coleman

Sunday, 31 May 2009

Recorded in Nashville with T-Bone Burnett producing and Jerry Douglas on dobro? SP&S isn't Almost Blue 2 but it is country, bluegrass, the soup of white American folk music thickened up with jam-packed Elvis metre. You might argue that much of what we hear borders on the academic in its pursuit of the idiomatic, but it is also true that it is all done with passion. You'll have to find out for yourself how this all connects with Hans Christian Andersen. A dense, sometimes studiedly beautiful effort.

[johnfoyle]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... ertainment

San Francisco Chronicle

David Wiegand

Sunday, May 31, 2009

Put Elvis Costello together with Jim Lauderdale on vocal harmony, add Emmylou Harris on "The Crooked Line" and put T Bone Burnett in the control room and you get not only an instant classic, but also the kind of perfection that earns "Secret, Profane & Sugarcane" a spot right next to "Almost Blue" on the overstocked shelf of Costello's greatest CDs. In many ways, this is a CD born on the stages of the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival, where Costello, Lauderdale and Harris are annual regulars. The album's 13 cuts, each one jaw-droppingly better than the last, include two songs written for Johnny Cash, "Complicated Shadows" and "Hidden Shame"; the haunting country waltz "She Handed Me a Mirror" and "I Felt the Chill," co-written with Loretta Lynn; and the finger-snappin' ambler "Sulphur to Sugarcane," written by Costello and Burnett. The backup band includes Jerry Douglas on dobro, Stuart Duncan on fiddle and banjo, Mike Compton on mandolin, Dennis Crouch on bass and Jeff Taylor on accordion. You can't invite better company than that to your party.

[Otis Westinghouse]

Positive review in today's Observer paper:

He's the master of reinvention, but here Elvis Costello is back on familiar ground. Entrenched in bluegrass territory with long-time collaborator T Bone Burnett, who co-writes and produces, this collection of songs, including two originally written for Johnny Cash, was recorded over three days in Nashville. Costello's at times strained honk is warmed by the close harmonies of Jim Lauderdale and set against exquisite mandolin, soaring fiddle, double bass and accordion. Playing it so unusually safe is no bad thing for Costello; his songwriting remains impeccably tight and this peach of an album reveals a host of immediately enjoyable songs.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/ma ... ane-review

[invisible Pole]

Friday May 29,2009
By Robert Spellman

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/104 ... l-follies-

COSTELLO returns to his beloved Nashville for this set produced by T-Bone Burnett his old collaborator on King Of America and Spike.

The songs are strewn with fiddles and banjos and their waltzing rootsy feel perfectly complements Elvis who’s in fine voice on 10 new compositions, one of which, the lovely I Felt The Chill, was co-written with country star Loretta Lynn.

VERDICT 3/5

[invisible Pole]

SARAH RODMAN
June 1, 2009

http://www.boston.com/ae/music/cd_revie ... sugarcane/

Elvis Costello has flirted with country music in the 28 years since his classic covers homage "Almost Blue," but "Secret" marks a full-blown return to Nashville with splendid results. Unlike "Blue," Costello hit Music City with a mix of strong originals - some new, some repurposed - save the vintage barn-dance take on the Patti Page/Bing Crosby oldie "Changing Partners." He and a dream team of collaborators, including producer T Bone Burnett and harmony vocalist Jim Lauderdale, then whipped the project together in a week. Burnett presents the mostly acoustic music in his usual spare and upfront fashion, while Costello croons and the A-list instrumentalist likes of fiddler Stuart Duncan and dobroist Jerry Douglas do their thing to classic tales of adultery, heartbreak, and inebriation. The best of these include the aching cheater drama "I Felt the Chill" and the lilting, Cajun-spiced "The Crooked Line," which features Emmylou Harris adding her flinty vocal shades. Costello is a longtime fan of classic country music, and occasionally that devotion manifests itself as unnecessary vocal or stylistic affects. But a little extra corn and twang are forgiven when songs about feeling low can lift you high, or at least keep you company on the floor.
Essential : I Felt The Chill