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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.
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Costello sounds downright frisky at times on this acoustic set, Secret, Profane & Sugarcane, which musically calls to mind 1986's sublime, countryish "King of America."
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It's Elvis (or Mr Diana Krall as he's also known) in fine, lovelorn country form.
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Most crucially, Costello manages--apart from the previously cited cringe-worthy lapses--to play along with Burnett’s in-soft/out-LOUD approach, making this his most engaging album in a very long time.
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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.
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Unlike Costello's other excursions, Secret waters down his pretensions without losing his welcome pop sophistication.
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His prototypically clever and articulate lyrical work infuses the album with a native intelligence that transcends the inherent limitations of any given genre.
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Burnett's settings are much more stripped-down than his work on Robert Plant & Alison Krauss' "Raising Sand" but no less precise: 'My All Time Doll,' one of the strongest cuts, Jeff Taylor's accordion shades the desperation in Costello's lyric with just the right amount of sarcasm.
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MojoCostello has again hauled material from diverse regions of his writing life into a strangely cohesive cornucopia. [Jul 2009, p.96]
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The music brings out the terser side of one of pop's most prolix lyricists, with some spectacular results.
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Under The RadarWith Secret, Profane & Sugarcane, Costello once again hits his mark and makes yet another case for his position among the greatest songwriters of his generation. [Summer 2009, p.65]
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With considerable contributions from producer T-Bone Burnett and star string players out of Nashville (where the collection was recorded) including fiddler Stuart Duncan, dobra ace Jerry Douglas, mandolinist Mike Compton and upright bassist Dennis Crouch, Costello instills much of this outing with a fitting old-timey feel.
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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.
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Pairing with producer T-Bone Burnett (who helmed 1986's rootsy antecedent "King of America") and a distinguished pickup band of country heavyweights, he gives his typically fussed-over tunes a tent-revival authority.
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Despite T-Bone Burnett’s warm production, some excellent playing by the best bluegrass players around, and a few keeper cuts, Secret, Profane & Sugarcane falls all too easily into the middle ranks of Elvis Costello’s vast discography.
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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.
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Q MagazineAs confusing or thought-provoking as ever, depending on how far you want to walk down Costello's mazy career path. [Jul 2009, p.118]
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Oh, charm abounds; what the album lacks is direction.
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Like Momofuku, the new record was knocked out quickly, drawing heavily on material left over from other Costello projects, but while the looseness worked for the driving rock ’n’ roll songs on Momofuku, the freeform ballads and back-to-basics roots workouts of Secret mostly fade into Burnett’s tasteful woodwork.
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Self-assurance draws out opening salivation 'Down Among the Wine and Spirits' seemingly longer than its three minutes, and 'Complicated Shadows' follows suit, but anything longer--and almost everything is--stagnates.
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At its worst, this is effectively a contemporary acoustic neo-No-Depression record with Costello's signature vocal tics slapped on top.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 6 out of 8
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Mixed: 0 out of 8
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Negative: 2 out of 8
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TDGJun 16, 2009
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DrewDJun 7, 2009
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ConorDJun 7, 2009