My Amazon Reviews: The Avett Brothers "I and Love and You"

I and Love and This 
5 Out of 5 Stars


I was fortunate enough to see The Avett Brothers at The 50th Newport Folk Festival, and they were the new find of the year for me there. I picked up Emotionalismand was eager to hear the songs that the brothers previewed from an album they kept mentioning from the stage to be released in the fall. This is everything I was hoping for after seeing them live. It captures the brothers' dynamic as Scott and Seth Avett, along with bassist Bob Crawford and their melding of bluegrass and rock (which leans way towards the non-rock side of things).

In fact, this album almost single-handedly rescues the moribund "Americana" genre from too many bearded bands that have forgotten that empty spaces often say more than over-layering the tracks. Songs like the title track and "Ten Thousand Words" are naked with emotions, yet the band knows that "Kick Drum Heart" or "Slight Figure of Speech" are just as OK with a pop hook then without. They've discovered (and I would bet producer Rick Rubin - who signed them to his American label personally - influenced this) that you can make epic music without being grandiose or saccharin.

When the Avetts get to the album's final song, "Incomplete and Insecure", they sing "I haven't finished a thing since I started my life, I don't feel much like starting now." "I and Love and You" utterly blasts that as a lie, because this album, which captures all the best elements of older groups like The Bandor Rubin's mining of Johnny Cash's forgotten talents, The Avett Brothers are now showing that they have what it takes to make it in the majors, and do so on their own terms.

My Amazon Reviews: Elvis Costello "Secret Profane and Sugarcane"

The Return of The Coward Brothers,

4 Out of 5 Stars

Elvis Costello and T Bone Burnette have a special chemistry. When they make music together, it often comes in on the high end of EC albums, and their work on King of America ranks as one of Costello's finest. Their first collaboration (billed as The Coward Brothers) was the critically acclaimed single, "The People's Limosene." Their last collaboration ("The Scarlet Tide" for the movie Cold Mountain), netted them an Oscar. Now they're back for the rootsy and spare song cycle, "Secret, Profane and Sugarcane ."

As a folk-rock album, it falls somewhere between "King of America" and the Nashville "Almost BlueAlmost Blue". It's also a better album than The Delivery Man, in that it's a more consistent album in sound and theme. This almost sounds like a hootenanny, with basic instruments and swell live sounding harmonies. Featuring Jerry Douglas on Dobro, Dennis Crouch on bass, Stuart Duncan on fiddle and banjo, and Jim Lauderdale on vocal harmonies, these songs were reportedly recorded in a mere three days. It keeps the album from sounding labored over and helps keep Costello from overloading the overdubs. (The previous Momofuku was also cut in a rapid fashion and has held up pretty darn good.)

It's also a chance for Costello to indulge. He originally wrote the album opener "Down Among the Wine and Spirits" for Loretta Lynne, she repays the favor by co-writing "I Felt The Chill." He visits his inner crooner by covering Bing Crosby's "Changing Partners." And it sounds like "Sulphur To Sugarcane" was fun to record. While I am always willing to listen to whatever indulgence Costello decides to allow himself, his folk world walks are an acquired taste. But take it from me, "Secret, Profane and Sugar Cane" is a satisfying album from a pair of men who always seem to know where their combined sweet spot is located.