CD Odyssey Disc 114: Elvis Costello

The CD Odyssey does not stop. It can't be reasoned with, and it can't be bargained with. It doesn't know pity or remorse and it absolutely will not stop - ever - until all the discs have been listened to.

Disc 114 is...The Juliet Letters
Artist: Elvis Costello and the Brodsky Quartet

Year of Release: 1993

How I Came To Know It: This is Sheila's disc, and here's a spoiler alert - if you need to hear good things about it, ask her (she quite likes it). At the very least you should stop reading.

How It Stacks Up: We have only one other studio album by Elvis Costello, 2002's "When I Was Cruel" - that one is better. We also have a best of from his glory years in the late seventies and early eighties. As you know, it isn't fair to compare a studio album with a compilation (but here's a hint - it's also better).

Rating: 1 star

I think to be average is easy in life. Consider the third "Blade" movie, for example. To be really bad takes a little ambition - like the third "Matrix" movie. With this in mind, Elvis Costello's work on "The Juliet Letters" is definitely ambitious.

This is a record which is a crossover of Costello's pop stylings, and the Brodsky Quartet playing classical string instruments.

On my first listen, I thought it was a bad and excessively obtuse re-imagining of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" through letters - and that I just wasn't getting it. Thoroughly confused, I resorted to the liner notes (including lyrics).

It turns out it is actually a bad and excessively obtuse re-imagining of a strange story involving a Veronese professor writing letters to some kook who thinks he's corresponding with Juliet Capulet. Now that is actually a good idea - ambitious even! (uh...oh...).

Unfortunately, the lyrics to these songs are a strange and disjointed exploration of the different types of letters people write, very few of which relate to anything cohesive about professor or kook.

The Quartet are the bright spot on the record, and they play with great skill. Unfortunately, each time I am trying to get into their virtuosity, Costello breaks in, singing some hard-to-follow lyrics with that affected-voice of his (except more affected). The story isn't worth following, and so I constantly want him to shut up and listen to the strings.

I did manage to find a couple passable songs - primarily "Jacksons, Monk and Rowe", which at least had a melody to follow. It is (loosely) about a law firm, but I preferred to imagine it was about three kinds of cheap wine. I liked my version better.

I recently have been enjoying Costello's television show (name escapes me) where he interviews musical acts in a theatre environment, and they play a few songs for the audience (with Costello joining in from time to time).

This show highlights the good and bad of Elvis Costello. On the plus side, he is a courageous artist, who - while having his fair share of misses - is always willing to swing for the fences. Our best of album exemplifies some home run songs, which I'll talk about when I review it.

On the minus side, he can come off as a pretentious artist, more interested in seeming clever than in being clever. It always bugs me, because the guy has talent, and I hate it when he loses his own narrative in his zeal to have us look behind the curtain all the time.

So if you like Elvis Costello, go get some of his other albums, by all means. If you like the Brodsky Quartet - grab some of that. But think of them as pickle juice and milk; it might sound creative, but putting them together just makes the whole drink sour.

Best tracks: Jacksons, Monk and Rowe (It is worth noting here that the album has twenty songs).