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North Review: London Times (1 Star)

The London Times doesn't want to go North

ELVIS COSTELLO - North (Deutsche Grammophon) (1/5 stars)

WITH typically breathtaking audacity, Elvis Costello has recast himself in the role of a jazz supper-club singer on North. Rather than do a Robbie and cover Rat Pack standards, he has written his own collection of ersatz piano ballads and orchestral torch songs. They are a pretentious, ponderous homage to a bygone era, rendered in deadly earnest. It rings sadly hollow. - David Sinclair
(Submitted by John Foyle)