Secret, Profane & Sugarcane

Secret, Profane & Sugarcane
Studio album by Elvis Costello
Released	June 9, 2009
Genre	Americana Country folk Country rock
Label	Hear Music/Universal Records
Producer	T-Bone Burnett
Elvis Costello chronology
Momofuku (2008) Secret, Profane & Sugarcane (2009) Live at Hollywood High (2010)

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 June 9 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 1 Background 2 Critical response 3 Tracklisting 4 Personnel 5 Chart performance 6 References 7 External links

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 favorable 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.^[16] 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" .^[17]

Tracklisting

All tracks written and composed by Elvis Costello, except where noted.^[18]

1. "Down Among the Wines and Spirits" – 3:11
2. "Complicated Shadows" – 2:53
3. "I Felt the Chill" (Costello, Loretta Lynn) – 3:59
4. "My All Time Doll" – 4:09
5. "Hidden Shame" – 4:14
6. "She Handed Me a Mirror" –4:04
7. "I Dreamed of My Old Lover" – 2:35
8. "How Deep Is the Red" – 3:47
9. "She Was No Good" – 3:47
10. "Sulphur to Sugarcane (T Bone Burnett, Costello) – 5:59
11. "Red Cotton" – 5:43
12. "The Crooked Line" (Burnett, Costello) – 3:49
13. "Changing Partners" (Lawrence Coleman, Joseph Darion) – 2:40
14. "Femme Fatale" (Lou Reed - Vinyl Bonus Track) - 3:53
15. "What Lewis Did Last" (Vinyl Bonus Track) -4:54

Personnel

The following people contributed to Secret, Profane & Sugarcane:.^[19]

• 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[20]
Billboard Top 200	13[21]
Belgian Album Chart	39[22]
Sweden Album Chart	45[23]
Spanish Album Chart	90[24]

References

External links

• Official Elvis Costello website

Elvis Costello The Imposters: Steve Nieve Pete Thomas Davey Faragher The Attractions: Steve Nieve Bruce Thomas Pete Thomas Studio albums My Aim Is True This Year's Model Armed Forces Get Happy!! Trust Almost Blue Imperial Bedroom Punch the Clock Goodbye Cruel World King of America Blood & Chocolate Spike Mighty Like a Rose Brutal Youth Kojak Variety All This Useless Beauty When I Was Cruel North The Delivery Man Momofuku Secret, Profane & Sugarcane National Ransom Live albums Live at the El Mocambo Deep Dead Blue with Bill Frisell Costello & Nieve My Flame Burns Blue with Metropole Orkest Live at Hollywood High Collaborations The Juliet Letters with The Brodsky Quartet Painted from Memory with Burt Bacharach For the Stars with Anne Sofie von Otter The River in Reverse with Allen Toussaint Singles "Less Than Zero" "Alison" "Red Shoes" "Watching the Detectives" "(I Don't Want to Go to) Chelsea" "Pump It Up" "Radio Radio" "Oliver's Army" "Accidents Will Happen" "I Can't Stand Up for Falling Down" "High Fidelity" "New Amsterdam" "Clubland" "From a Whisper to a Scream" "Watch Your Step" "A Good Year for the Roses" "Sweet Dreams" "I'm Your Toy" "You Little Fool" "Man Out of Time" "From Head to Toe" "Party Party" "Pills and Soap" (as The Imposter) "Everyday I Write the Book" "Let Them All Talk" "Peace in Our Time" (as The Imposter) "I Wanna Be Loved" / "Turning the Town Red" "The Only Flame in Town" "Green Shirt" "The People's Limousine" (as The Coward Brothers) "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" "Seven-Day Weekend" with Jimmy Cliff "Lovable" "Tokyo Storm Warning" "I Want You" "Blue Chair" "A Town Called Big Nothing" (as The MacManus Gang) "Veronica" "Baby Plays Around" "...This Town..." "The Other Side of Summer" "So Like Candy" "Jacksons, Monk & Rowe" with The Brodsky Quartet "Sulky Girl" "13 Steps Lead Down" "You Tripped at Every Step" "London's Brilliant Parade" "It's Time" "Little Atoms" "The Other End of the Telescope" "Distorted Angel" "All This Useless Beauty" "You Bowed Down" "Toledo" with Burt Bacharach "She" "Tear Off Your Own Head (It's a Doll Revolution)" "45" "Still" "Monkey to Man" "She's Pulling Out the Pin" "Brilliant Mistake" "Who Are These People?" with Burt Bacharach "Bedlam" "Complicated Shadows" "My All Time Doll" Classical works Il Sogno performed by London Symphony Orchestra Scores G.B.H. with Richard Harvey Jake's Progress with Richard Harvey Collaborations Terror + Magnificence by John Harle The Sweetest Punch by Bill Frisell Piano Jazz with Marian McPartland Compilations Taking Liberties Ten Bloody Marys & Ten How's Your Fathers The Best of Elvis Costello and The Attractions Out of Our Idiot Girls Girls Girls 2½ Years The Very Best of Elvis Costello and The Attractions 1977-86 Extreme Honey The Very Best of Elvis Costello Cruel Smile Singles, Volume 1 Singles, Volume 2 Singles, Volume 3 Rock and Roll Music The Best of Elvis Costello: The First Ten Years Related articles Discography Stiff Records / Nick Lowe Cait O'Riordan T-Bone Burnett Diana Krall