EC to release Secret, Profane and Sugarcane

[sweetest punch]

http://www.nj.com/entertainment/music/i ... untry.html

Q. I'm sure you've answered this a million times before, but how did you develop an interest in country music? What was your first exposure to it?

A. Well, it's part of American popular music, so some of it filters through, even growing up in England - but, I have to say, more on the novelty end, or the really sentimental end of things. And then, like a lot of people, the interest of groups that I was already following sort of moving into country music, as a ... I don't know, reaching for something a bit more soulful that belonged to them. You know, groups like the Byrds, the Burritos, even the Band had references to all sorts of music that predated the most immediate sounds of popular music. It helped to open it up, and make you realize that everything comes from somewhere.

And then you hear one or two of these (country) artists a bit more in the context of the broader sense of their work, rather than the one track that would poke through in the Hit Parade in England, and you start to appreciate what a song like (Cash's) 'I Still Miss Someone' is about, and what it feels like. Then it becomes a question of actually finding the music - physically finding it - because it wasn't that easy to get. I didn't have an unlimited amount of money. And in some cases, it took until I came to America for the first time, 30 years ago, for it to really open up, because then I could go and hunt down records. I love to do that anyway, in every kind of music that I like. And it all becomes a lot richer. You get an impression of somebody from some song that's been covered by an artist you like, or maybe you manage to hear one track on a compilation, and then you can find, "Hey, they wrote 20 songs that good." It's quite a revelation.

Q. I guess the "Almost Blue" album came on the heels of your first coming to America and being able to discover all those records.

A. At that point in my life, I didn't feel that the way I felt was best expressed in my own idiom, in my own words. I just wanted a simpler way of expressing things I wasn't necessarily good - and I'm still not that good - at using very few words to say something. It doesn't come naturally to me. I wish I could write like Lucinda Williams. I wish I could write like Hank Williams, but I can't. I write like me. And that hasn't changed. I've found more than one way to write a song, both lyrically and musically, and I have written some very straightahead songs. But people don't expect them from me, and they don't particularly respond to them as readily as something that has more of a puzzle to it. And that's good. It's good that people will engage with them and also, sometimes, they need to engage a bit more to really find what's going on. Not everything gives up its secrets in the first hearing

And I think that's true of some of the songs here. You have to be prepared to live with them a little bit, and jumping to conclusions about 'em on the evidence of who's playing in the band is kind of silly. People are saying it's obviously a bluegrass record. "Well, show me where it is." The musicians certainly come from that world. But they are much more multi-dimensional artists, in their own right, than simply to say they play one kind of music. There would be nothing wrong with it if they did just play that one kind of music. They do it really well. I just set out with the intention of recordings songs that I had, and doing them as well as I could in a short order of time, so we didn't overthink it. I don't think it matters a damn whether they were written the day before I recorded them, or written 20 years before. One of the songs is from 50 years ago, but it's a beautiful, and I felt I wanted to sing it, and I feel the same way about all the songs of my own that are revisited here. In some cases, they're going closer to the original intentions of the composition, than any other version I've done of the song.

You want to have that trick of being ... you can instantly engage them, but at the same time, if they're too flimsy, then there's nothing to hear after the third play. I'm hoping that we've got the balance right here, between things that catch your ear and draw you in, and then some songs like "Red Cotton," which are a bit more complex, and perhaps, you can live with them a little bit. The implications of the songs, and the emotions in the song, are there to reward a listener who stays with it a little bit more. The same at a concert: not every song can be a finale. Otherwise you'd be leaving the stage every five seconds! You've got to set a mood, and stick with it, and develop it, and then break the tension, and then loosen it up. With a group of musicians like this, the show will be, really, something completely different for me, because we won't have drums. We will find the energy of the show in different ways and, as you hear in some of these recordings, there will be a strong mood to many of the ballads. But you can't limit it to songs from this record. There will have to be other songs as well.

Q. So will look be doings songs from, say, the "King of America" album?

A. Well, some of those, I think, would lend themselves very beautifully to this instrumentation. I have a list. I don't want to give the game away, because I don't want to promise I'm gonna do a tune and find, in rehearsal, that we don't find the agreement on it that I imagined. I've got quite a bold list of songs, including some unrecorded songs. I don't see why you shouldn't look backwards and forwards at the same time. I'm looking right from the very beginnings of my writing, to right up to date. This record was recorded a year ago. I've written at least two albums of material since then. I might record at least two more albums this year. When I say two more albums, I mean two more folios of recordings. Whether or not there's any more records to come out in the way we know records, I don't know. It's changing so rapidly. I just think of them as albums: that's that's a group of songs that belong together. I don't mean actual records with a name, or a record sleeve. I just think of a file that I keep. I don't even know that it's a file. It's a book, or a little stack of papers with these songs on it. So, there's a lot of material to draw from.

Q. A couple of years ago, in interviews, it sounded like you had kind of lost faith in the recording industry altogether.

A. Yeah, but I think I started to think too hard about the industry, and less about the music. Since I stopped caring a damn about the business, I've got a lot of freedom. Look at how bad things are: it's a miracle any business is still going. I've always thought that there was more in playing concerts. I haven't made any money from records in 30 years. I don't know that I ever made any money from releasing records. I made money, probably, to a degree, from publishing record releases, because when they give you those advances that everybody makes such a song and dance about, when you sign a record contract, what nobody ever says out loud is they're just loaning you the money to make the records. It's not free money. The record companies set themselves up pretty well, to loan you the money to make the records. "Momofuku" took nine days. This took three days. I don't think it should take any longer than that. The Beatles' first record took a day. What in the world are people doing spending six months making a record? That's a nonsense. How long does it take to play a song?

Q. Yet you couldn't make "Sgt. Pepper" in a day, obviously.

A. No, because you're trying to invent something that hasn't happened before. I didn't make several of my albums in a day. The two most elaborate productions ... it's not necessarily that every track had a million instruments on it, but there was a process of investigation and discovery ... something like "Imperial Bedroom" and something like "Spike," where we went to different locations to play with specific musicians, that seems now like ... I said somewhere in some article I wrote about recording that it seemed a little bit like making "Lawrence of Arabia." It's impossible to imagine being given the money to make a big-budget thing like that, these days. But I'm glad I did it once. I enjoyed the experience, and something very different came out of that.

I don't hold the idea that the only way to go is primitive: it must be carelessly played on the first take. You can do it on the first take if you do it well. Or you might need to spend a little time, as you say, something like a "Sgt. Pepper," or experimental records like that, that nevertheless became vivid pop music. They sometimes take a little while, until you get the picture you want. Because you are sort of trying things, until you arrive at the way to make it happen.

These songs, of course, didn't require that kind of approach. The songs were pretty clearly defined, as compositions, and the musicians were of a high order. Even when I gave them slightly more complex harmony, as in the songs that had their origins in this (Hans Christian) Anderson piece, they flowed with them. "She Handed Me a Mirror" is just a heartbreak ballad, just as "I Felt the Chill Before the Winter Came." I don't think it's any harder to understand, musically, and certainly, emotionally, it isn't any harder to connect with, because it's about something that happens to a lot of people: the feeling of being unsuitable for love. One of the things that interested me about writing some of these songs in character form, was that you could just look at things a different way. It doesn't mean that I couldn't have arrived at that subject on another day, another way, but that's the way I did arrive at it, so I'm happy with that. I'm happy to write it in a character form, because it makes you think of that subject in a slightly different way, and the kind of choices of language become different, because you're trying to evoke a specific time and place. That song "Red Cotton" is a little more serious than some of the other songs on the record, but it has around it ... the immediately preceding song is "Sulphur To Sugarcane," which is the polar opposite. It's a bawdy kind of character. I think if you look at it like that, then it becomes easier to follow. I don't feel everything should be resolved with a big bow tied on it. You have use your imagination as to why these songs sit side by side, and that's always what you propose in a concert. Some people are with you all the way, and other people are just saying, "Hey, I like the fiddle." It doesn't matter, really, why they like it. And if they don't like it, well, there's nothing you can do about it. They can go to a death metal concert or something.

Q. Do you think you'll finish the Hans Christian Anderson opera some day? Where does that stand?

A. You know, what's interesting about doing these songs with these guys is it's made me rethink ... when people say it's an opera, they have in their mind a mental picture of it being ... like it should sound like Puccini. It never did sound like that. I mean, the songs are what the songs are. "How Deep Is the Red" was sung by a soprano originally, and there were a couple of other really fine tunes that I have from this piece that I would like to present, some day, to a broader audience. I got as far as writing ten scenes, so instead of it being an opera, with everything connected, musically, it ended up being more like an oratorio, with just the individual numbers that were, in themselves, self-contained scenes. But of course, as proven here, taking away some of the introductory ... the music at either end of the song, I did write some of the transitioning music, of course. I didn't record that in the context of this record, because it would have tied it too rigidly to the narrative. The ideas in the songs are, I think, comprehensible if you're prepared to listen a little bit. I didn't want to make it so simplistic that it's like a primary school lesson. You're trying to make something intriguing, that people have different points of view about. And that's always the way when you take on, particularly, a very serious and emotive subject. Out of respect for the subject, you don't try to propose that you have all the answers. Because I don't.

I think the only people who would say, "Well, it doesn't sound like opera," are people that never heard opera. Because what does opera sound like? Does it sound like Puccini or Stravinsky, or Benjamin Britten? They're so different. Does it sound like Mozart? Of course it doesn't sound like any of those. It always had a lot of folk music in it, given that Anderson wasn't born to high society. He was born in abject poverty. The fact that I connected him through this infatuation he had with Jenny Lind, to Lind's journey to America, and therefore to P.T. Barnum, meant that the music of America also found its way in. It wasn't like I changed the music that much, to do it. All that happened was the instrumentation changed. The original performance of the piece was only piano, vibraphone, banjo, bass clarinet and cello. It wasn't a huge band. It wasn't an orchestra. So it was like a little chamber group, really playing it, and it was somewhat exploratory as well. I didn't have it all scored at that point. We played semi-imrpovised accompaniment, and I sang, and I played guitar and mandolin as well - and banjo, actually, as much as I play the banjo. I just play simple banjo. So some of the colors that are in this recording were actually in the first performance of some of the instrumental choices. But all that's happened here is they've been played with more elements, and a lot more determination. They were just like a sketch of how it could be. So I haven't really traveled all that far.

So I am finishing it, in the sense that the songs are emerging into the public. I wouldn't be surprised if more of the songs from this piece are part of my repertoire, in time, but whether that menas with this band, or another band, or on my own, I don't know. I'm playing all sorts of shows this year: everything from orchestra to solo, with the two bands, this group the Sugarcanes and the Imposters, both on the road this year.

Q. Will you be doing more of the "Spectacle" TV show?

A. They tell me that I will be.

Q. From the shows you did, are there any moments that really stand out for you?

A. There's all sorts of things that I reflect on. I haven't watched them that much, because I was out of the country when they were broadcast in America. I was on holiday where they didn't have that channel, then I was in Canada, when it wasn't available, and when they started showing it in Canada, I was here. So I've actually only seen a couple of the episodes broadcast, so I haven't had much time to look at it in retrospect.

The last one was actually taped in September, so it is some time ago now. But one I did catch one night was James Burton playing some classic guitar solo on "Baby, Let's Play House." I was thrilled to hear that kind of guitar playing on television; you don't see that much. From a personal point of view, I sang with Smokey Robinson, and he sort of said to me, "You take the lead." I couldn't believe that was happening. That seemed completely backwards. Of course he's sung that song many times, so he could be generous with it, and we had a lot of fun doing those duets. A lot of the collaborative things in the show, I think they ... the Charlie Haden-Pat Metheny duet was really beautiful, as well. Every show threw up something that I thought, "Well, I'm glad that exists."

I think some of the artists seemed to find a way of talking about music that really moved them, or matches them in some ways, which they perhaps didn't always get to do. So I was quite glad that their response seemed to be that: one of a little more ease in talking about things, perhaps because they recognize that I do essentially the same job as them. However different our actual work sounds, we're trying to write things, or we're on the stage performing things, so we're speaking from a common experience. Whereas when we're being, in some cases, interrogated ... perhaps there's an analysis going on that isn't informed by the practice of making music, in one way or another, either performing or writing it. And that's no disrespect to you, or anybody else who writes about music. A lot of people write very sincerely about music. But it obviously is a different perspective, and the results bear that out. Someone like a Lou Reed, who is not always at ease in interviews, he ended up celebrating, mostly, other people: Jimmy Scott and Doc Pomus and people who I know are very close to his heart. I think it's because people sometimes want to approach him only through the image created by the very first work he did, and they do that with me as well. They're sort of surprised when you have a different outlook, and when you don't remain fixed in time. It would be a duller world, wouldn't it, if you never saw beyond the way you felt and acted when you were 22? I don't understand why you would do that.

Q. I went to that Smokey Robinson taping, and I remember you played that video for him, of you and the Attractions doing pseudo-Motown dance moves on "I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down."

A. That was pretty funny. There were a couple of things like that,like on the Tony Bennett one, I played the tape of Tony Bennett and I with Count Basie in 1983, when I looked like some kind of animal caught in the headlights. I don't even know what I was doing there, trying to sing "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)." I couldn't have swung if you put a rope around my neck at that time. I just had no concept, except that I was thrilled to be there, and to be 10 feet away from Count Basie, while he was playing a solo. Even though he was in poor health by then, it was pretty thrilling. But you've got to look at it with the benefit of time passing, and look at it with humor.

Those couple of clips ... that isn't something that another interviewer could really do. They couldn't show a clip of themselves making a total ass of themselves. So I have that over the average interviewer. I even have that over Charlie Rose.

And, funny enough, I mentioned Count Basie ... the Count Basie Theatre! That's a great place. I've never actually played there, but I went to see Lucinda Williams there once, and it was a great show. I like that place very much.

Q. They actually renovated it last year, and it's a much nicer theater now.

A. Well, it was a pretty good theater before. I like the theater, and it's a great place to open up our tour. And it's absolutely the right kind of place for our very first show with this lineup. I've played with different combinations of these musicians at festivals, but this will be the first time the entire band is heard, so it will be something else.

[cwr]

Great interview!

The most exciting part:

This record was recorded a year ago. I've written at least two albums of material since then. I might record at least two more albums this year.

Interesting that so many people are having the reaction to SP&SC that "It's no Momofuku." Because I'm having the exact mirror image of my Momofuku experience from last year-- very excited at first, and then still liking it but quickly realizing that I'm in like but not in LOVE with it as a record. Very quickly, I began to prefer some tracks over others, and it became more about listening to the half of the album that I really liked than about experiencing it as a whole record.

With SP&SC, a week ago I was thinking "this is nice, but I only really like about half the record; the other half's just okay." And what's happening is that I'm finding that this record is much more of a grower than I had anticipated. "Down Among The Wines And Spirits" made almost no impression on my when I'd heard live versions-- it just sounded like a slow, kind of dull song. Now I can't stop singing along...

Same with the Secret Songs-- at first I thought "why'd he included all these weird Barnum things?" But my resistance to them has almost completely broken down now. I still love the half that I loved instantly, but I'm very surprised to find that the songs that I was somewhat cool to at first are capturing my interest much more after repeated listens.

[sweetest punch]

The new issue of Rolling Stone has an interview with Elvis:
http://www.rollingstone.com/issue1080/

http://blogs.nashvillescene.com/nashvil ... _his_m.php

Elvis Costello Speaks of his Music City Affinity in Rolling Stone

The current issue of Rolling Stone magazine features an article titled "Elvis Costello's Music Marathon," in which the golden-voiced delivery man speaks of his affinity for Nashville, mentioning a nine-day drinking binge with Greg Allman at an unnamed Music City "rock 'n' roll hotel" during the recording of his first country endeavor--1981's Almost Blue. I was shocked to hear--considering his prolific career--that two years ago he doubted his will to continue recording. Thankfully, he was reinvigorated by his 2007 stint opening for Bob Dylan, which sparked an interest in making an unplugged album that has resulted in the newly released bluegrass album Secret, Profane and Sugarcane. The record features performances by Jerry Douglas, Mike Compton and Jim Lauderdale, and was recorded with T Bone Burnett in Nashville over the course of three eight-hour sessions last year.

The article goes on to mention that he's recently been recording with Rosanne Cash and Kris Kristopherson as well as trying to entice Lucinda Williams into joining him for a (country) duets album.

The article is not currently up on the RS site but since I love you like the children I've yet to have, I've done you the service of uploading it onto our server. Take a look ( http://media.nashvillescene.com/3472872.0.png ). Elvis Costello and the Sugarcanes appear at the Ryman Mon. June 16. Costello also appears by his lonesome at Bonnaroo next week. Can you say vibrato?

[MOJO]

Good interview. I just bought the CD from StarSUCKS yesterday. I had no coffee, tea, or pastry, just bought the CD. I haven't had a chance to port it over to a mobile device yet. Though, I look forward to listening to it this weekend of my 100K bike ride.

[charliestumpy]

I do not believe that tracks which in USA or UK some of us are unable to buy (because vinyl to play on e.g. LP12 or Pro-Ject can't be bought) are on SoulSeek - they (it is said) sound alright to some, and should have been on non-Martian CD. (Region 47).

[Hawksmoor]

Interesting stuff. As always, it's the little hints about next steps and future recordings that catch the eye. This is intriguing:

'I might record at least two more albums this year. When I say two more albums, I mean two more folios of recordings. Whether or not there's any more records to come out in the way we know records, I don't know....I just think of them as albums: that's a group of songs that belong together. I don't mean actual records with a name, or a record sleeve. I just think of a file that I keep.'

So if he sticks to both of these ideas: (a) that he'll 'record...two more albums this year' but (b) that they might not be records 'in the way we know records' - what are the options for how they'll be 'released'? On the internet? EC has an oft-stated aversion to the way internet downloading of individual tracks destroys the concept of the 'album', and the above seems to suggest that the concept of the album (as in a collection of songs that 'belong together') is still close to his heart.

I suppose there might be some way of releasing songs via the internet in some format that forces the purchaser to get the whole package in one go? But, other than a physical release like a record or a CD, how can EC make these 'albums' available as albums? Publish a list on his website saying 'these ten songs fit together - dig out some live recordings and make your own album'? Sheet music? Both are intriguing possibilities in terms of thinking about music releases in new ways, but...I don't know.

[Miclewis]

Maybe he'll release an album as one, continuous track, like Paul Westerberg did with "49:00".

But, now that I have a decent turntable, I wouldn't mind if he just released on vinyl and download - no CD.

Or, if he does release a CD, have it high resolution (24-bit) - SACD or "Code".

[sweetest punch]

I wonder if these new songs could be for the opera for Solomon Burke (based upon the song The judgement). One songtitel (A condemned Man) might hint in these direction.

See also: http://www.elviscostellofans.com/phpBB3 ... nt#p122789
(During the intro to "The Judgement" at a concert in Germany on Tuesday, Solomon Burke reveals:
"This is one of my favorite songs, that we've been working on now for
almost two years to turn into an opera, and with the help of the young
man who wrote this song, I think we're going to do it next year. It's
going to be a fantastic live opera, out of London, England with Jools
Holland, Eric Clapton, and Elvis Costello and myself.)

[John]

The album has entered the UK chart at no. 71 this evening. This is actually Elvis' highest UK chart position since North's no 44.

Sales seem to be be still strong in the US, where it has remained in Amazon's top 7 all week. How prominent is the cd in the Starbucks stores? Is the CD played in the shops? I wonder how significant the deal with Starbucks has been in generating an increased audience for the new CD. Seems like quite a clever idea.

[blureu]

Can someone post the details on the 3 (or is it 4) bonus tracks?

[And No Coffee Table]

Can someone post the details on the 3 (or is it 4) bonus tracks?

There are three: "Femme Fatale," "What Lewis Did Last," and "Dirty Rotten Shame."

The vinyl and the Japanese CD include both "Femme Fatale" and "What Lewis Did Last."

"Femme Fatale" is available as a standalone download from iTunes in most countries that offer the album through iTunes.

In the US, "What Lewis Did Last" is available as a standalone download from Amazon.com. This download was also included as a bonus for those who pre-ordered the CD from Amazon.

In Europe, "What Lewis Did Last" was a bonus download for those who pre-ordered the album through iTunes. It can no longer be purchased from iTunes.

"Dirty Rotten Shame" can be found on the b-side of the "Complicated Shadows" vinyl single. It was also included as a bonus download for those who pre-ordered the album through iTunes in the US and Canada. It can no longer be purchased from iTunes. It is not available on any CD.

[blureu]

Thanks for the info!

[MOJO]

Does anyone see this as a period piece? The theme seems to be shame and slavery. Every song touches upon one, both, or the other.

After listening to it a few times, I plan to dig up and read All Souls' Rising again. Heavy.

Favorite song order (so far) - Red Cotton, She Was No Good, Hidden Shame, I Felt the Chill.

[sheeptotheslaughter]

[quote="John"]The album has entered the UK chart at no. 71 this evening. This is actually Elvis' highest UK chart position since North's no 44.
Diana Krall number 11 .

Maybe if it gets a bit of publicity with a high new entry in the States it might go up next week.

[Emotional Toothpaste]

I like all of the tracks really well, especially Crooke Line, Sulphur to Sugarcane, Changing Partners, All Time Doll, and I Felt the Chill.

How Deep is the Red is the only one that hurts my ears to listen to.

Definitely not as good as KOA, but its a nice companion piece to Delivery Man, and River in Reverse. The final piece of the Mississippi Delta Trilogy perhaps?

[bronxapostle]

i dreamed of my old lover last night is my fave....maybe because i have loved it ever since 1999 on the duo w/ steve tour. AWESOME SONG!!!

[Neil.]

Wow, Emotional - I love How Deep Is The Red - love the mood, the lyrics, whole mantra thing. Love the old-fashioned phrasing: Is this not a pretty tale? Is this not a riddle? A bow shoots arrows through the air - a bow drags notes from a fiddle...' Just love the way it builds, then quietens down again a the end.

[Ypsilanti]

i dreamed of my old lover last night is my fave....maybe because i have loved it ever since 1999 on the duo w/ steve tour. AWESOME SONG!!!

Yes! Very awesome. I think "I keep my lipstick twisted tight" might be my favorite image in any EC song ever. It evokes so much-- all of Geraldine's secret dreams and failed hopes and hidden anger--and yet it's such an incredibly precise phrase--it's like 5 pages of information crammed into 6 words. And by the way, when he writes and sings from the point of view of a woman, it is, first of all, super-ballsy because few men dare attempt this. But he does it all the time and he's really good at it. He deserves a special "hats off" for this.

Wow, Emotional - I love How Deep Is The Red - love the mood, the lyrics, whole mantra thing. Love the old-fashioned phrasing: Is this not a pretty tale? Is this not a riddle? A bow shoots arrows through the air - a bow drags notes from a fiddle...' Just love the way it builds, then quietens down again a the end.

Yes--love this song & the old-fashioned phrasing . "Red is the thorn that protects the rose, a deeper red than the petal". So great!

That kind of old-timey, 19th Century language that runs through much of the record is wonderful..."tippling tinctures", "like a whip on a hide", "just as her lips bestowed", "the debt of our sins to settle", etc. Elvis handles this really nicely--with a light touch, avoiding the obvious. In less-skilled hands, it would sound so idiotic, like some silly SNL sketch.

Wow! I think I just had a epiphany about this record...You are a person growing up in the American South, having been born around 1950. These are the songs you know--some you've learned from the radio. Others are songs your mother used to sing in the kitchen. In the case of "How Deep is the Red", maybe you learned that song in church. Still others are the songs you learned from your grandparents and great-grandparents. I feel like this might be how the songs are all connected. Anyway, that's my crackpot theory. What do you think?

[bronxapostle]

yes indeed ypsi...are you sure you have been away from EC for long??? sure sounds like you are well studied on the connection of tunes from geraldine thru to SP&S. what about "he'd put my face back in the crowd"....how's THAT for a line? can't wait to see it all live tonight/tomorrow. cheers, ba

[Ypsilanti]

Thanks, BA, for your kind words!
More and more this record is blowing my f**king mind! I think it might be the best ever. With every listen I am freshly stunned by something I didn't fully appreciate the last time.

I am very excited about tomorrow night!!

[johnfoyle]

http://floweringtoilet.blogspot.com/200 ... rcane.html

Tuesday, June 09, 2009

Elvis Costello - Secret, Profane & Sugarcane CD vs LP

Posted by Pete Bilderback

( illustrations at link)

Here's another comparison of compression levels from a recent CD and LP release, this time the new Elvis Costello album, Secret, Profane & Sugarcane. When I compared tracks on Mr. Declan Patrick MacManus' last album Momofuku, I noted that the CD appeared to be considerably more compressed than the LP. That is not the case with the new album. True, the CD looks to be slightly louder, but that is probably just due to a stray peak or two on the LP. Overall, these look (and sound I might I add) quite similar. If anything, the CD probably has a bit more dynamic range due to the lower noise floor, which is as it should be.

This is good news, because neither the LP or the CD suffer from over-compression, something that would have really done serious damage to the largely acoustic music on the album. So score one for the good guys in the ongoing loudness wars.

[John]

The album has today entered the Billboard chart at no. 13. Only Armed Forces (10) and Get Happy! (11) have achieved a higher position.

28,000 copies sold, only 396,000 short of this week's no. 1!

http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/dav ... 1948.story

[jmm]

WOW I guess that's the power of being a TV star

[Neil.]

Where did you find that info? I can't find it on the Billboard website. Hope it's true, though! Good on him - I think it's because Sulphur To Sugarcane has a very immediate impact, and lots of humour, and that's what he's been flogging it with on telly. Difficult to gauge what Joe Public will think of the rest of the album! But, good on him, I say! Fab.

[johnfoyle]

http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/dav ... 1948.story

June 10, 2009

(extract)

In other "highest charting" news, Elvis Costello's "Secret, Profane & Sugarcane" sweetens up the Billboard 200 with its debut at No. 13, starting with 28,000. The set gives Costello his highest rank on the Billboard 200 since 1980's "Get Happy!!" peaked at No. 11.