Album Review: Elvis Costello

Secret, Profane & Sugarcane
Where do you start with a new album from a brilliant artist like Elvis Costello? I guess the best place is by defining the genre he has chosen to explore--and that itself brings up a discussion. One of the things I have always loved about Costello is what I call his "musical curiosity." He started out as punk/new wave with My Aim Is True and This Year's Model but quickly moved on to pop/rock with Blood & Chocolate and Imperial Bedroom. He had stops in '50s music with Get Happy! and Kojak Variety, along with classical (The Juliet Letters with the Brodsky Quartet), classic lounge pop (Painted From Memory with Burt Bacharach), jazz (The River in Reverse with Allen Toussaint) and adult contemporary (North). He has long been fascinated with country music and even put out what he billed as a country album in the early '80s (Almost Blue) and a what amounted to a celebration of American music style in the late '80s (King of America).

So what does EC have for us this time? A much more successful attempt at country music, this time produced by the man who led his very successful Americana-tinged album, T-Bone Burnett. Secret, Profane & Sugarcane is about as country as you can get musically. EC's voice is not the perfect country instrument, but it is more than adequate most of the time. The album features such luminaries as Dennis Crouch on bass, Stuart Duncan on fiddle, Jerry Douglas on dobro, and Mike Compton on mandolin. Two of the songs, "Complicated Shadows" and "Hidden Shame," are older songs that Costello wrote for Johnny Cash to sing (he did record "Hidden Shame" in 1986), "I Felt the Chill Before the Winter Came" was co-written with Loretta Lynn, "The Crooked Line" features Emmylou Harris on harmony vocals, and "Changing Partners" is a classic song made famous by Patti Page and, later, Bing Crosby. To put it simply, Elvis Costello has his country credentials well in order for this album. But how's the music?

This album features some of the most upbeat, fun arrangements that Costello has ever put to record, even when the subject matter cannot be considered happy. "Complicated Shadows" has a faster beat than his original recording (mid-'90s on All This Useless Beauty) and benefits from it. "Sulphur to Sugarcane" is a "girl in every town" boasting song that is a huge amount of fun and the centerpiece of the album. The slower songs are mostly appealing, too, generally not sinking into a dirge-like tempo. "Down Among the Wines & Spirits" is a great country song about someone drowning their sorrows after losing love. "My All Time Doll" talks of a love that is being lost and how it is tearing up the narrator.

The overall feel of this album is more of "Americana" like King of America rather than pure country like Almost Blue. I think that owes more to Elvis Costello's voice than anything else though--he just doesn't sound country, but that is not really his fault. The result is an album that mixed elements of country, bluegrass, mountain music, and folk. I do not remember a time when I have ever felt as uplifted by an EC album. This is good music and a brave choice for the Brit to make.