CostelloNews.com: North Review: Dallas Morning News

The Dallas Morning News
Elvis Costello - Grade D - North - By TERESA GUBBINS
(Fake Login = elvis@costello.com password = costello)

Elvis Costello is practically 50, and boy does it ever show on North , a collection of listless piano ballads sufficiently dreary to induce narcolepsy. Ditching guitar in favor of piano, Mr. Costello moans like a dog, with an occasional segment of horns or strings to "jazz" things up. Minimal arrangements seem intended to make songs such as "You Left Me in the Dark" feel spare and atmospheric; but instead, they're just excruciatingly boring. His arrangement is lousy: He hits the exact same notes as the piano and it comes off as simplistic and deadly dull. And baby, there ain't no tunes here. The tracks, they meander aimlessly. Oh, how painful it all is.

Still, this direction doesn't come as a complete surprise. Forget not that he's engaged to singer-pianist Diana Krall, and also that he recorded "My Funny Valentine" way back in 1979. He's been an old fart at heart forever.

Editors Note: Dear Ms. Gubbins - Don't worry, there's a new Sting CD this week you can enjoy. Also, Mr. Costello wants to know if perhaps when he's next in the Dallas area would you perhaps be willing to 'tutor' him on some of the finer points of music, melody, arrangement, composition, and dog moaning? He's eager to improve and certainly someone of your obvious talents could be of assistance. Please let us know.

Comments

Is it a putdown to like Sting? Why denegrate another artist just because you disagree with
someone's review. I like Elvis very much...and
for many years...but i don't have to like every-
thing he does...and on this album i think i
will pass.

Posted by: javaronn | September 25, 2003 12:23 AM

Look out - there goes Gordon....

Posted by: Post Master | September 25, 2003 2:38 PM

You can dislike anything, and certainly passing on North is reasonable. I probably won't listen to it very much myself. Although seeing it live was great.

However, describing it as 'listless piano ballads' and 'simplistic' and 'no tunes' and 'meander aimlessly' is more than inaccurate, it is lazy and essentially stupid. Elvis is well established as a quintesential craftsman and musical scholar, and what has been so impressive about his broad range of musical adventures has been the fact that none have been anywhere near the embarrasing fiasco's they might have been. They've all be widely (though not universally) praised by highly respected critics in each genre - that doesn't mean they're good or bad but it is a good indication they're not junk. So while someone can dislike or be disinterested in this music, tossing it off with the remarks this hack used deserves serious condemnation at the least.

Posted by: Post Master | September 25, 2003 2:51 PM

I reckon she must have been hitting the old lemon juice or something...never a great idea before trying to trying your hand at some clever invective. And anyway the album's the business, I love it, KD

Posted by: KD | September 25, 2003 8:52 PM

Elvis doesnt need fawning fans like the editor of this site. He is not infallible. It's very possible that the new albums stinks. The jury is still out with me, but I think they will come back with a guilty verdict. All good artists have their failures. What, North can't be added to the list of brilliant mistakes?

Posted by: Jim | September 29, 2003 2:18 PM

It certainly could if it was, but as it happens it can't cos it isn't...
Fawning? Really! Now fan = fawn? Or does this only apply when someone disagrees with a negative verdict on this particular album? Come on Jim!

Posted by: KD | September 29, 2003 8:13 PM

It could if it was, but it can't cos it isn't...and fawning? Really! Now fan = fawn? Or does this only apply to liking this particular album? Come on, Jim!

Posted by: KD | September 29, 2003 8:17 PM

Elvis fans and other listeners are free to dislike North, just as Elvis is free to make such an album. And if Elvis can spew vitriol, as he has done many times in songs, interviews and from the stage (slagging Madonna, Andrew Lloyd Weber, Alan Jackson, and other easy targets), then a newspaper critic has the same right to slag Elvis. I guess we could go on and on... by saying the editor of this site therefore can attack the critic, and I can attack the editor, and you can take issue with my comment, and I with yours, etc. So I guess the point is--is it a good album or not? I think it's not very good. I have nothing against the genre, by the way. Some of my favorite Elvis songs are "Favourite Hour," "Couldn't Call It Unexpected," "The Letter Home," "In the Darkest Place," and I could go on and on praising other ballads that have some kinship with the songs on North. But I find the lyrics here to be forced. Each song has a good part and each song also has a fatal flaw, to my ears.

Posted by: Jim | September 30, 2003 12:10 PM

Each to their own, indeed. Obviously you're entitled to your view and to express it as you wish. This was really the point I was making...it was the "fawning" epithet that got to me in relation to you comment.
But it was primarily the bizarre level of vitriol contained in the rant above that struck me as far from fair and balanced criticism. Now I've started, I may as well express my own opinion on North more fully: I find it's emotional openness brave, particularly from such an artist as EC. (I think) with the simplicity of only the very talented it makes a natural progression from "When I Was Cruel". As someone who is not in the first flush of her youth and who is sad to see many contemporaries get very set in their ways, I applaud anyone open enough to push new frontiers in their self-expression. Sorry if it didn't do it for you, it certainly did for me!

Posted by: Anonymous | September 30, 2003 1:27 PM