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Elvis Costello shows rock and classical sides
Nick Marino / Cox News Service
Elvis Costello
The Delivery Man
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Elvis, baby, you almost made another classic.
You went to Mississippi, birthplace of the other Elvis, and you made an album of vintage-sounding rock and soul, and you weren't afraid to spit acid. You went snarl for snarl with the excellent Lucinda Williams. You sang lines like "I wish that I didn't hate you." And you stuttered "p-p-p-p-peppermint gum" with disgust. I love it when you act disgusted.
I don't love it, however, when you duet three times with Emmylou Harris.
And I wish you hadn't phrased "The Delivery Man" and "The Name of This Thing Is Not Love" so similarly. Just pick one, OK?
Even your imperfections are interesting. But when you flirt this closely with perfection, it leaves me wishing you'd fully delivered.
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Grade: B
Il Sogno
Elvis Costello, London Symphony Orchestra
Pierre Ruhe
Conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas
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Paul McCartney, Billy Joel, now Elvis Costello. When aging pop stars try their hand at this thing called "classical music," why do they reject the sounds and attitudes that made them popular and write in a gooey, retro style?
Unlike his predecessors, Costello seems to have actually composed and orchestrated Il Sogno on his own. In this ballet score for Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Costello rambles between the sounds of lush Hollywood soundtracks, a sax-centered jazz combo and neoclassical Stravinsky.
It's entirely pleasant to listen to and just as disposable. It sounds as if he's playacting the part of a classical composer, polishing his status as a creative chameleon rather than saying anything in particular. Weirdly, the whole score has a pre-1950s feel, as if Costello believes that a "classical" score needs to dwell in a period before the rock 'n' roll era.
Pity an artist of Costello's abilities should be so burdened by the traditions of orchestral music that he can't speak in his own voice.
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Grade: C
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Clipping.
Page scan.
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