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Secret, Profane & Sugarcane - Elvis Costello
Secret, Profane & Sugarcane Image
Metascore
70 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 21 Critics What's this?

User Score
6.3 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 8 Ratings

Your Score
10 out of 10
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  • Summary: T Bone Burnett returns as producer for Elvis Costello's latest album, featuring an acoustic strings band.

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 14 out of 21
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 21
  3. Negative: 1 out of 21
  1. The Boston Phoenix
    88
    Cut in Nashville with ace session players, what might have been a disastrous mess in other hands coheres into one of Costello's most satisfying releases in some time.
  2. No Ripcord
    60
    He is starting to concern me though, since this is the third album in a row that has left me wallowing in mild to severe disappointment.
  3. Pitchfork
    38
    At its worst, this is effectively a contemporary acoustic neo-No-Depression record with Costello's signature vocal tics slapped on top.

See all 21 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 3
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 3
  3. Negative: 2 out of 3
  1. ConorD
    8
    Approaches but never quite reaches perfection. Impeccable musicianship; for about the millionth time though, I wonder about Costello's vocals. This isn't one for fans of The Attractions, but like T-Bone Burnett's previous work, Raising Sand, it may well end up as the year's middle-class dinner party background.… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  2. DrewD
    0
    I am a big Costello fan, but, like most of the distracting singer-songwriter tosh Barnes and Noble plays on repeat to keep people from reading in their stores, there is no reason for this album to exist and I think Costello knows that too. Like Rob Pollard, he seems content to just produce produce produce indiscriminately, refusing to sort the good (or even tolerable) from the crap. Elvis is a pop connoisseur; he knows the good from bad. So why would he release this? It's an album of nothing; I refuse to believe that he actually considers these a quality set of songs. Sure, the backing band does what a backing band should do, and the production is sufficient, and every now and then Costello says something half clever, but it's all decoration hiding the fact that nothing's there. Not a single song is a keeper. Tom Waits, Bob Dylan, hell, even Neil Young and to an extent Randy Newman prove that just because you're old doesn't mean you can't still put out some great (if not quite classic-quality) material. Costello is sadly not a part of that group.… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  3. TDG
    0
    If you're going to make a country-themed album, you do it in Nashville. I get it. But I don't get this work from EC. The song cowritten with Loretta Lynn is interesting, but the Hans Christian Anderson angle combined with the twang = fail. There's not much to really love about the effort, although the band is fine as is EC's singing. But it's all rather carried out rather than enthusiastic. Why bother? Next.… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes

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