Secret, Profane & Sugarcane
| Secret, Profane & Sugarcane | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| File:SecretProfane.jpg | ||||
| Studio album by Elvis Costello | ||||
| Released | 9 June 2009 | |||
| Genre | Americana, country folk, country rock | |||
| Label | Hear Music, Universal | |||
| Producer | T-Bone Burnett | |||
| Elvis Costello chronology | ||||
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Secret, Profane & Sugarcane is the 2009 studio album by Elvis Costello. It was recorded in Nashville with American songwriter and producer T Bone Burnett, and released on 9 June 2009 on the Hear Music label.[1] The album features bluegrass, Americana and country music along with Costello's familiar garrulous lyrics.[2]
Secret, Profane & Sugarcane entered the UK album charts at number 71,[3] where it spent one week before dropping out of the top 100. It was far more successful in the US, when it charted at number 13 on the Billboard 200.
The artwork was designed by comic strip artist Tony Millionaire.[4]
Contents
Background
In the albums before Secret, Profane & Sugarcane, Costello had experimented with various styles of music including jazz, classical and others.[5] For this album, Costello returned to an acoustic band set-up for the first time since 1986's King of America album.[6] Recorded in Nashville, Tennessee in three days, Costello's 29th studio album[7] was released on Starbucks' Hear Music label to generally good critical acclaim.
Critical response
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |    [8] |
| Entertainment Weekly – | (B+)[9] |
| Rolling Stone | [10] |
| Spin | [11] |
| The Daily Telegraph | [12] |
| The Guardian | [13] |
| The Phoenix | [14] |
| Pitchfork Media | (3.8/10)[15] |
Critics looked upon Secret, Profane & Sugarcane in a generally very favourable way with some exceptions. Reviewing for Rolling Stone, Jody Rosen said that Costello was "in one of his comfort zones" and had made a "tight, uncluttered" album.[2] Bud Scoppa, reviewing the album for Uncut, gave it a four-star rating, saying it was a "rootsy beauty" and "...his most engaging album in a very long time". In a more dismissive review, Pitchfork Media gave the album a 3.8 out of 10, and called the album "yet another entry in Costello's string of gestural albums" .[16]
Track listing
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Down Among The Wines And Spirits" | Elvis Costello | 3:11 |
| 2. | "Complicated Shadows" | Elvis Costello | 2:53 |
| 3. | "I Felt The Chill Before The Winter Came" | Elvis Costello, Loretta Lynn | 3:59 |
| 4. | "My All Time Doll" | Elvis Costello | 4:09 |
| 5. | "Hidden Shame" | Elvis Costello | 4:14 |
| 6. | "She Handed Me A Mirror" | Elvis Costello | 4:04 |
| 7. | "I Dreamed Of My Old Lover" | Elvis Costello | 2:35 |
| 8. | "How Deep Is The Red?" | Elvis Costello | 3:47 |
| 9. | "She Was No Good" | Elvis Costello | 3:47 |
| 10. | "Sulphur To Sugarcane" | Elvis Costello, T Bone Burnett | 5:59 |
| 11. | "Red Cotton" | Elvis Costello | 5:43 |
| 12. | "The Crooked Line" | Elvis Costello, T Bone Burnett | 3:49 |
| 13. | "Changing Partners" | Larry Coleman, Joe Darion | 2:39 |
| Bonus tracks | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
| 14. | "Femme Fatale" (LP, Japan CD and iTunes) | Lou Reed | 3:49 |
| 15. | "What Lewis Did Last" (LP, Japan CD, Amazon US CD pre-order, Amazon US MP3 single and iTunes Europe pre-order) | Elvis Costello, Traditional | 4:49 |
| 16. | "Dirty Rotten Shame" (iTunes US/Canada pre-order) | Elvis Costello | 3:48 |
Personnel
The following people contributed to Secret, Profane & Sugarcane:.[17]
- Elvis Costello – acoustic guitar, vocals
- T-Bone Burnett – electric guitar, production
- Jeff Taylor – accordion
- Mike Compton – mandolin
- Dennis Crouch – double bass
- Jerry Douglas – dobro
- Stuart Duncan – banjo, fiddle
- Emmylou Harris – harmony vocals
- Jim Lauderdale – harmony vocals
Chart performance
| Chart | Highest Position |
|---|---|
| UK album chart | 71[3] |
| Billboard Top 200 | 13[18] |
| Belgian Album Chart | 39[19] |
| Sweden Album Chart | 45[19] |
| Spanish Album Chart | 90[19] |
References
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- ↑ Allmusic review
- ↑ Entertainment Weekly – review. Entertainment Weekly. (27 May 2009).
- ↑ Rolling Stone review. Rolling Stone.
- ↑ Zimmerman, Shannon. (30 May 2009) Spin review. Spin.
- ↑ Perry, Andrew. (29 May 2009) The Daily Telegraph review. The Daily Telegraph.
- ↑ Guardian review. The Guardian (17 May 2009).
- ↑ The Phoenix review. The Phoenix. (8 June 2009).
- ↑ Pitchfork Media review. Pitchfork Media. (3 June 2009).
- ↑ Elvis Costello: Secret, Profane and Sugarcane | Album Reviews. Pitchfork (3 June 2009).
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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