- Record Label: Verve Forecast
- Release Date: Jun 6, 2006
- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
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What makes the album rather extraordinary is that it's as much celebration as it is protest.
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MojoThis is a great record for and about New Orleans and one of the best the two men have ever made. [Jun 2006, p.96]
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Costello can still oversing and overwrite... But even when he threatens to turn baroque, as in ''Broken Promise Land,'' Toussaint rescues him.
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It's Toussaint's soulful songs and naturally funky grooves that make this unlikely pairing work almost in spite of Costello's overbearing presence.
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This album is best heard through audio equipment tweaked to suppress the excesses of Elvis Costello's strained bleat.
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UncutCostello... sing[s] with the enthusiasm and fun of a true fan. [Jul 2006, p.110]
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Q MagazineThe River In Reverse's soulful arrangements and warm textures are no surprise. [Jul 2006, p.113]
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What could have been a curiosity is instead a hallmark in the catalog of each artist.
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Though ballad-heavy, The River in Reverse rocks.
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Los Angeles TimesNot surprisingly, the album hits hardest in those numbers that take on the broad sweep of a cry for social and political justice. [4 Jun 2006]
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An urgent, soulful collection.
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With such strong material and talented performers, it's a pity that River frequently sounds too fussed-over.
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It's the master's steady, rollicking piano that elevates the music -- and keeps the ever-elusive Costello honest.
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Costello's vocal range is challenged like never before, but his phrasing is always on the money, and Joe Henry's production makes it all sound so natural.
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A frequently inspired album.
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Most of these tracks merely feel professional or workmanlike, sincere recordings that sadly lack inspiration.
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Mr. Toussaint's florid yet precise New Orleans piano, the way he can make a horn section laugh or sigh, and the stubborn idealism and canny humor of his songs temper Mr. Costello's convoluted earnestness.
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The River In Reverse is a dark, passionate work that channels its rage toward redemptive joy.
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New Musical Express (NME)A good album, in a well-produced way, but it's not as good or as important as it thinks it is. [24 Jun 2006, p.43]
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It's good to see this album released, but whether the meeting between Costello and Toussaint has produced anything of greater note that their individual achievements, I'm not convinced.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 7 out of 7
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Mixed: 0 out of 7
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Negative: 0 out of 7
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JedZepAug 31, 2006
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MattKJul 5, 2006
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ImanLJun 16, 2006