RIR in year end polls/commentaries

[johnfoyle]

Q magazine has RIR at 92 in it's Top 100 of '06. It isn't in Mojo's Top 50 but Jools Holland picks it as his album of the year ( also mentioning that he has recorded some piano duets with Allen Toussaint) . In The Word , Elvis' favourite writer Graeme Thomson includes RIR in his 'best five albums of the year'.'The best songbook Elvis has taken a swing at for a long,long time,and a collaborator who knows how to help him have fun' is the accompanying comment.

[johnfoyle]

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/ ... _of_2006/1


Rollingstone.com

The 100 Best Songs of the Year

Single of the Year: What else? Cee-Lo and Danger Mouse led the pack with "Crazy," and an army of rockers, rappers and poppers tried to follow

(extract)

83 "Who's Gonna Help Brother Get Further"

Elvis Costello and Allen Toussaint

Toussaint wrote this funky plea for charity and unity in 1970 for Lee Dorsey. The urgency is greater in this explosive rock 'n' soul version, cut in New Orleans four months after Katrina.

[pophead2k]

No love for Elvis and Allen in the Rolling Stone Top 50 albums of the year:

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/ ... _of_2006/1

[johnfoyle]

http://www.oregonlive.com/O/entertainme ... xml&coll=7

OregonLive.com, OR


A pair of ears and a changer in shuffle-play yield an eclectic Top 10

Sunday, December 17, 2006

MARTY HUGHLEY

( extract)

Here I am again, a prisoner of subjectivity.

Or, more accurately, as I've sifted another year's worth of CDs into an entirely unscientific -- though rigorously considered -- Top 10 list, I am subjectivity's proud resident.

December is audio playoff time, with the CD changer set to its otherwise forgotten shuffle-play mode and dozens of discs up for comparative reconsideration. And while I weigh many factors (melody, groove, mood, attitude, craft, ambition, passion, consistency, variety and so on and so forth) I resist allowing what other people might think to be among them.

So, once again, here is my pledge of musical allegiance.

"The River in Reverse," Elvis Costello & Allen Toussaint (Verve Forecast). Though he's a giant of New Orleans music and its vital legacy in rock, R&B, etc., Toussaint's no hog for the limelight. While he'd agreed to make an album with Joe Henry as producer, when Costello suggested a collaboration, the veteran pianist happily ceded most of the vocal chores. But with those three working together, it was inconceivable that this would be less than a terrific record. Working with Costello's band, the Imposters, plus the Crescent City Horns, they refashioned older Toussaint tunes and delivered a handful of sterling co-written songs with a mixture of funky rhythmic ease, gospel-steeped grace and a crystalline sense of pop structure. One of the first projects recorded in post-Katrina New Orleans, it's a moving tribute to the city's culture, even as it stands as an artistic achievement in its own right.

[invisible Pole]

One of Billboard critics has chosen The River In Reverse as the best album of 2006.

1. Elvis Costello and Allen Toussaint, "The River in Reverse" (Verve Forecast). New Orleans R&B genius Toussaint partners with rock-rooted fan Costello for deeply soulful music about love and loss, tinted with Katrina-induced sorrow.

See here : http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/yearend/ ... taff_1.jsp

[invisible Pole]

Not RiR this time.
The Norwegian singer and long-time Costello-fan Sondre Lerche placed My Flame Burns Blue in his top 10 of the year.

See here : http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/yearend/ ... tist_2.jsp

[johnfoyle]

http://www.popmatters.com/pm/columns/ar ... d-glasses/

PopMatters Picks: The Best Music of 2006

Field Studies: 2006, Through Roots-Colored Glasses
[20 December 2006]

by Andrew Gilstrap
PopMatters Associate Music Editor

(extract)

Ah, but it’s the same old complaint every year, isn’t it? You do what you can, you hear what you can, and you wait to see what takes root in your brain as a keeper.

That said, here are the discs in a vaguely-defined rootsier vein that did it for the Field Studies crew this year (granted, there’s only one of us, but if nothing else, that makes sure there aren’t any fights over what to play):


4. Elvis Costello and Allen Toussaint, The River in Reverse (Verve Forecast) The spectre of Hurricane Katrina continues to scar the American consciousness, and a lot of music from the area is starting to reflect not only anger, but also weariness, mourning, and even some hope. For The River in Reverse, Costello teamed up with one of New Orleans’ living legends, Allen Toussaint. The album’s a mixture of vintage Toussaint compositions and new Costello works, and really feels like a natural blend of Costello’s angular wordiness and Toussaint’s jazz-informed grace. Fully half of the album deals directly with Katrina’s aftermath, resurrecting Costello’s angry young man persona (albeit in age-tempered form) for what can only be considered protest songs. Toussaint’s ability to keep things nimble and smooth is exemplified by “Ascension Dayâ€

[johnfoyle]

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=544628

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel , WI

Top 10 of 2006
These CDs continue to rock our world
By DAVE TIANEN
dtianen@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Dec. 21, 2006

(extract)

8. "The River in Reverse" by Elvis Costello and Allen Toussaint (Universal). Like Neil Young, Costello has followed a few stylistic waysides in his day. To these ears, none has been as satisfying as this collaboration with Toussaint, the great New Orleans pianist and songwriter. Costello has always been a stellar lyricist, and he shines on this one. I love his description of the Crescent City as a "place where infidels and showgirls meet."

[johnfoyle]

Anyone here understand Croatian?

http://www.jutarnji.hr/clanak/art-2006, ... i,55609.jl


KOBNA EKSKURZIJA: Nepokretnoj uÄ

[johnfoyle]

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainmen ... 6073c.html


New York Daily News

December 24, 2006

Getting a yearful

The most listenable CDs came with a bang, not a whimper

( extract)

9. Elvis Costello and Allen Toussaint, "The River in Reverse"

An inspired union between the British chameleon and the New Orleans legend. Costello and Toussaint collaborated on new songs and old to create a CD that doesn't just comment on the city's fate but transcends the subject entirely. Spurred by Toussaint's genius, Costello cooked up his funkiest songs ever.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.startribune.com/457/story/891582.html

Minneapolis Star Tribune


Yeah Yeah Yeah! The best concerts

From Bruce and Babs to Cee-lo and Karen O, many stars shined on local stages this year.

By Jon Bream and Chris Riemenschneider, Star Tribune

December 24, 2006

(extract)


6. Elvis Costello and Allen Toussaint (O'Shaughnessy, June 28). The seemingly disparate pairing of two Rock and Roll Hall of Famers made for an inspired and inspiring evening of cross-generational music.

[alexv]

Ron's list of favorite albums includes RIR. Here's what he says on his website:

Here are some of my favorites albums this year:
Bob Dylan - Modern Times
Kate Bush - Aerial
Elton John - The Captain & The Kid
The Flaming Lips - At War With The Mystics
Ray Davies - Other People's Lives The Raconteurs - Broken Boy Soldiers
Johnny Cash - American V - A Hundred Highways
Allen Toussaint & Elvis Costello - The River In Reverse
Tom Waits - Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards
Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings the Flo

[Otis Westinghouse]

Ron Sexsmith, that is! He grew up a big Elton fan, apparently.

Not seen Time Being in one single list (nor for that matter Lloyd Cole's Antidepressant), other than mine, of course. It's probaby the LP of the year I would grab in a fire, etc, but then that's probably true of hos work as a whole.

[alexv]

Digressing from EC, Otis, the ron/kerr duet album is the one i've been listening to the most lately. Lovely stuff. I'm seeing him on 1/11 in the City. Can't wait.

[Otis Westinghouse]

Haven't played it much. Feels very lightweight next to Time Being. They were playing Listen back in July, but not, it seems, at recent gigs. Lovely song. You're sure to love it, should be a cracking night out.

[johnfoyle]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06362/749405-42.stm

Pittsburgh Post Gazette,

A second opinion on pop
BEST OF 2006

Thursday, December 28, 2006
By Ed Masley

( extract)

1. ELVIS COSTELLO & ALLEN TOUSSAINT, 'THE RIVER IN REVERSE' (Verve)
Any number of Elvis Costello's most inspired bouts of genre-dabbling have taken their cues from the land of an earlier Elvis, from the punked-up '60s soul revival of "Get Happy" to this heartfelt album-length collaboration with Allen Toussaint, whose city of ruins is saluted here with impassioned political broadsides and "Tears, Tears and More Tears.

[johnfoyle]

http://www.timesunion.com/ASPStories/St ... nkFrom=RSS


Albany Times Union


A noteworthy year

Plenty of performances, new CDs were music to our ears in 2006

Greg Haymes


December 28, 2006

No time (or space) to waste, so let's get right into my Best of the Year review:

Best local concerts

(extract)

* Elvis Costello and Marian McPartland (Tanglewood, Mass., Sept. 2): Tireless genre-hopper Costello scored big in his guise as a torch singer of languid jazz standards accompanied only by the Queen of Piano Jazz.


Some OffBeat music notes on 2006:

Best unannounced surprise guest: When Elvis Costello was announced as the guest for Marian McPartland's live taping of "Piano Jazz" at Tanglewood's Jazz Festival in September, I half expected New Orleans' music Master Allen Toussaint to show up for a couple of songs, as the Costello-Toussaint collaboration, "The River in Reverse," was one of the year's best discs. But no, instead he brought along his wife, jazz singer Diana Krall, who joined McPartland for a couple of sublime tunes at the close of the show.

[johnfoyle]

http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/en ... 333026.htm

Kentucky.com, KY

29 Jan. '06

Year's best: CDs

Critic's pick of notable 2006 CDs includes American classics Dylan and Waits, a New Orleans tribute and an orchestra from Mali

By Walter Tunis
CONTRIBUTING MUSIC CRITIC

(EXTRACT)



6. Elvis Costello and Allen Toussaint, The River in Reverse.
Of the many tributes and laments sung in the wake of Katrina, this collaboration by the master British songsmith and one of New Orleans' sharpest composers and arrangers resonates strongest. Much of River is made up of Toussaint classics whose swampy, soul-smitten sound lets Costello have a field day. But in the album's elegiac title tune and the Professor Longhair- inspired Ascension Day, you sense hope for a still-ravaged city.

[johnfoyle]

http://starbulletin.com/2006/12/29/feat ... ory01.html

Honolulu Star-Bulletin, HI

Stellar sounds of 2006

Hawaii's concert scene has also been amazing this year, with the likes of U2 and Pearl Jam performing

By Gary C.W. Chun
gchun@starbulletin.com

( extract)

It was a good year in music. Yeah, I say that every year but, no, really, 2006 was perhaps the strongest in some time, both on record and on stage. On the local concert stage, appearances by Tool and Elvis Costello, plus Jack Johnson's Kokua Festival at the Waikiki Shell, were all top-notch events. And, of course, the power of the Pearl Jam and U2 tour-ending gigs still resonates.

» Speaking of the Gulf Coast disaster, Elvis Costello did a solo acoustic version of "The River in Reverse" in concert here with the Honolulu Symphony Pops. You can hear the album's title song in full on an inspirational collaboration with legendary New Orleans songwriter-pianist Allen Toussaint. The two giants bring to the table the best of their large repertoires, and even wrote several together for this album. It's a successful and well-timed meeting of the minds.



http://www.democratandchronicle.com/app ... 032/LIVING

Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, NY -
Year in review: Albums

Jeff Spevak
JSPEVAK@DemocratandChronicle.com

(extract)

(December 29, 2006) — Thirty-five years ago, Neil Young wrote "Ohio," a response to the Ohio National Guard's shooting of 13 students at Kent State University, killing four of them. That song led the way in alerting the nation that the war in Vietnam had polarized the country to the point that the American government was now turning guns on its own citizens.

Today's similarly troubled times have led to an inspired year in pop music. Several icons — including Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan and the pairing of Elvis Costello and Allen Toussaint — released their most-thoughtful work in years. They've all made my list of Top 10 albums of 2006. The Springsteen and Costello/Toussaint releases were giants rising to the challenge. Dylan — the fellow you'd most expect to be on board — speaks of love.

Elvis Costello and Allen Toussaint. The River in Reverse. Behind these beautiful sounds lie damming words. "How long does a promise last? How long can a lie be told?" The lost culture of New Orleans and American citizens treated like Third-World citizens are tragedies that Bush — whose promise to rebuild the city did not last — would rather you forget.

[johnfoyle]

http://kut.org/items/show/6815

HOSTS' TOP TEN ALBUM LISTS FOR 2006

(extract)

Jay Trachtenberg

Here are Jay Trachtenberg’s top ten releases for 2006. Jay is the host of Music with Jay Trachtenberg (Monday – Thursday 12:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.)

T-Bone Burnett – _True False Identity
Ornette Coleman – Sound Grammer
Elvis Costello / Allen Toussaint – The River In Reverse
Ray Davies – Other People’s Lives
Bill Frisell – Bill Frisell, Ron Carter, Paul Motian
James Hunter – People Gonna Talk
Roy Nathanson – Sotto Voce
Corinne Bailey Rae – Corinne Bailey Rae
Refugee All Stars – Living Like A Refugee
Carrie Rodriguez – Seven Angels On A Bicycle

[johnfoyle]

http://www.mailtribune.com/archive/2007 ... review.htm

Mail Tribune, OR

January 5, 2007

Looking back

A review of some of the local arts and entertainment highlights of 2006
By Bill Varble and Richard Moeschl
Mail Tribune

(extract)

Two of the most noteworthy shows in the Britt Festivals' season were themselves separated by only a day. Young British singer Jamie Cullum delivered a fresh mix of jazzy pop the night of June 22 that had to be the sleeper hit of the summer. Two nights later, protean rocker Elvis Costello was joined by pianist Allen Toussaint in a show that had New Orleans stamped all over it. As interesting as Costello has always been, it was the fluid ease of Toussaint's voice and piano that carried the night and sticks in the mind.

[Neil.]

Speaking of end of year polls, did Elvis give his usual list of fave albums of the past year? He usually pops up somewhere revealing his picks of the year.

[johnfoyle]

http://offbeat.com/artman/publish/article_2065.shtml

OffBeat Magazine, LA
February 2007

And the Winners Are …

By offBeat Staff

You have spoken.



New Orleans music fans from around the world voted for the artists they thought had the best year at WWLTV.com, and they named Troy Andrews Performer of the Year and Elvis Costello and Allen Toussaint’s The River in Reverse Album of the Year. Both are exciting choices we wholeheartedly endorse. Andrews may have just turned 21, but he has matured as an artist into someone whose music has roots in jazz, funk and soul, and in performance, the mix seems completely contemporary.



Costello and Toussaint revisited Toussaint’s multi-volume songbook for some of his less-performed gems, paired them with new collaborations and found ways for all the songs to speak to the human reality of life during and after Katrina. In the musical context provided by a mix of Costello and Toussaint’s bands, older songs sounded current and the new songs sound like they could have been around for years. The album successfully dealt with Katrina, but it’s hard to imagine that it will seem dated with the passing years.



All the winners were honored at a private party at the Howlin’ Wolf Thursday, January 25 and were announced to the public at the Best of the Beat at the House of Blues Saturday, January 27. Our congratulations to all the award recipients.


( extract)

Best R&B/Funk Album
Elvis Costello & Allen Toussaint: The River in Reverse (Verve/Forecast)


Album of the Year
Elvis Costello & Allen Toussaint: The River in Reverse (Verve/Forecast)



Best Piano /Keyboards
Allen Toussaint

[johnfoyle]

http://www.harpmagazine.com/articles/de ... le_id=5118

Harp, Jan/Feb 2007

The 50 Best CDs of 2006
(extract)
33. Elvis Costello and Allen Toussaint
The River in Reverse
Verve Forecast

Costello’s partnered with several gods before and has ofttimes dominated the proceedings. What makes this post-Katrina collaboration golden is Toussaint’s ability to keep him humble and focused. With that balance in check, the pair accentuates each other’s best tendencies.

Jeff Tamarkin