Elvis Costello — Secret, Profane & Sugarcane

Secret, Profane & Sugarcane

Hear/Universal

Steve McLean (CHARTattack)

06/12/2009 11:56am

Elvis Costello has dabbled in a wide range of genres over the years, and on this latest effort he focuses on acoustic roots and bluegrass.

It's not nearly as successful as his foray into country music on 1981's Almost Blue, but I'll definitely take it over his classical work with The Brodsky Quartet on 1993's The Juliet Letters.

Costello's former Coward Brothers partner, T-Bone Burnett, produced this album, performed on it and co-wrote "Sulphur To Sugarcane" and "The Crooked Mile" with the man born Declan Patrick MacManus. The latter is a Cajun-based tune with accordion and lovely harmonies from Emmylou Harris.

Three of the four numbers ("She Was No Good," "How Deep Is The Red" and "Red Cotton") from The Secret Songs — a work about 19th century Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen that Costello was commissioned to create by The Royal Danish Opera in 2005 — join the two aforementioned tracks as highlights.

Costello reprises 1996's "Complicated Shadows" here, but the original remains the favoured version. "Hidden Shame" is the most up-tempo track, and more songs like it would have been welcomed, since too much of the album lacks vitality despite the skills of the musicians supporting Costello and the man's almost universally acknowledged lyrical acumen.

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