July 13 2006
Album Review: Elvis Costello and Allen Toussaint – The River in Reverse
posted by Steven Shaw at 12:43 pm
Elvis Costello and Allen Toussaint – The River In Reverse (Verve)
This latest collaborative effort from Costello is with Allen Toussaint, the legendary New Orleans songwriter/producer who worked with Lee Dorsey, Aaron Neville and The Meters (who would evolve into the Neville Brothers) amongst others. It’s a truly compelling listen, for the most part captured live in the studio.
Elvis Costello puts so much music out these days that his many and varied releases can be either awe-inspiring or a complete letdown. Take his collaboration with Burt Bacharach – Costello’s quivering vibrato was a little too much for me on that release, although judging from press reports Burt was totally blown away by him.
Produced by Joe Henry, The River In Reverse is a collection of soul songs, many of them penned by Toussaint in the 1960s. If you’re familiar with the New Orleans-based artists of the time, you might already know songs like Art (and Aaron) Neville’s “All These Things”, or Lee Dorsey’s “Freedom for the Stallion”, “On Your Way Down” and “Tears Tears and more Tears”. Seven songs from Toussaint’s catalogue are here, along with five songs co-written with Costello and one, the title track, is a song that Costello originally performed at a Hurricane Katrina disaster benefit concert.
Costello’s compositions are easy to pick amongst this bunch – he has a jazz-like compulsion to fit many syllables in, making his phrasing unmistakable. Toussaint sings the lead vocal on just one track, “Who’s Gonna Help Brother Get Further”, another of his tracks previously recorded with Lee Dorsey.
According to the Verve label website, Toussaint led the ensemble from the piano, with Imposters keyboard player Steve Nieve on Hammond B3. The majority of the tracks were cut with the entire group in the room and Costello singing live. The arrangements make use of Toussaint’s rolling boogie piano and marching band drumrolls, and swells to the point of celebration when the horns come in from the cold.
The overall result is laidback and refined, with a hint of danger. It’s a fairly bare sounding album, fitting into a similar revivalist vein to Solomon Burke’s 2002 album Don’t Give Up On Me (also produced by Joe Henry). It’s also a tribute to the highly distinctive musical legacy passed down by Toussaint and other New Orleans musicians like Fats Domino, Dr. John and Professor Longhair.
Verdict: This one’s on high rotate.