There’s a popular idiom in American society that tends to come up in conversations about music: “I listen to everything, well, except for country music”. As a lover of rock n roll, the only times I tread into country territory is if I’m spinning some Allman Brothers, Johnny Cash or Ryan Adams, and none of these artists can be described as purely “country”. No, I don’t listen to Tim McGraw or Taylor Swift. That type of music just doesn’t strike me as particularly poignant, but maybe that’s just because I’m from California and come from a Middle Eastern background.
Regardless, when I heard that Elvis Costello’s new album— Secret, Profane & Sugarcane was a project which the English singer embarked upon in Alabama with nothing but an acoustic guitar, I was intrigued. Elvis Costello is one of my favourite recording artists of all time, and I consider the man nothing less than a genius. I own all of his albums from his debut My Aim is True (1977) until 1986’s Blood and Chocolate, plus a couple of compilation albums and his recent collaboration with Allen Toussaint, The River in Reverse. Anyhow, less about my record collection and more about his latest effort.
If I’m going to be completely honest, it’s actually quite terrible. Even though I don’t know too much about country music, I know enough to discern that right now, we don’t need a prolific British songwriter contributing to the genre. The album is completely forced, as if Costello is trying to prove a point, that he can do anything in any genre and it’ll be a work of genius. The problem is, he kind of accomplishes the opposite, and what we are left with is fifty minutes of unbearable mess.
It was actually kind of painful to listen to, and when I tried to give it a second go, I just couldn’t get past the fourth song, “My All Time Doll”, which incidentally, is the least atrocious of the bunch. I don’t know what inspired Mr. Costello to make music in Alabama with Jim Lauderdale, but the only good thing about the whole fiasco is that he probably got it out of his system. We can only hope.
1.5/5
you can stream some of it on his WEBSITE, but I wouldn’t recommend it…you might get a better listening experience out of hearing the crow on his album art sing...
6 comments:
Ouch! Well, can't say that I don't agree with you, unfortunately. The guy is a genius, but him venturing into this country business.. Bad idea.
I think it's less Costello contributing to the genre as much as him professing his love of it. Maybe if you were more familiar with the giants of classic and outlaw country, you'd be more inclined to give an informed decision.
EC has done a bang up job on the country sound in the past. Both Almost Blue and King Of America are killer country-tinged records. Check them out.
The fact of the matter is that he's just suffering from trying too hard to be different, and it's winding up being not so great. His best records in recent years have been straight up rock records (When I Was Cruel, Momofuku).
Given how prolific he is, though, you can't really complain when he's self indulgent. Momofuku came out less than a year ago. If that indicates one good record and one dud a year, that seems tolerable.
PS: Definitely agree that the record is a dud. Not sure that it's unlistenable, but it's definitely uninspired.
to hippiesaredead, I own both of those records and like them both. Almost Blue is primarily covers, and I like it more than King, but that one is pretty solid, mostly because of Costello's confidence. I dunno what it is exactly but he just seems really self aware on that record. good stuff
I haven't heard those two "recent rock records" but I will definitely check em out.
and to Murphey, I dunno, it just doesn't seem right. do you like the record? or if you haven't heard the whole thing, do you like the songs which are streaming on his site? I'm not overly familiar with country music, but it's not that I'm completely uninformed about it.
I'll have to make my own mind up about this one since I'm a huge Costello fan too (and not averse to country - though not the shiny mass-produced modern stuff). That said, I don't think EC has made a truly great album since Mighty Like A Rose.
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