Review: Elvis Costello
05:05 PM MST on Tuesday, September 23, 2003
By TERESA GUBBINS / The Dallas Morning News
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.
Teresa Gubbins
Securitas