Elvis Costello - The Juliet Letters

Title: The Juliet Letters Artist: Elvis Costello Release Date: 1993 Label: Warner Bros. Duration: 62:08 Album Type(s): performer(s) biography, Special essay (music history, styles, etc.), composition (work) description, lyrics/libretto UPC: 093624518020 Genre: Vocal Music Total Copies: 7 Number of Discs/SwapaCD Credits: 1

1. The Juliet Letters, song cycle for voice & string quartet
   - Deliver Us
2. The Juliet Letters, song cycle for voice & string quartet
   - For Other Eyes
3. The Juliet Letters, song cycle for voice & string quartet
   - Swine
4. The Juliet Letters, song cycle for voice & string quartet
   - Expert Rites
5. The Juliet Letters, song cycle for voice & string quartet
   - Dead Letter
6. The Juliet Letters, song cycle for voice & string quartet
   - I Almost Had a Weakness
7. The Juliet Letters, song cycle for voice & string quartet
   - Why?
8. The Juliet Letters, song cycle for voice & string quartet
   - Who Do You Think You Are?
9. The Juliet Letters, song cycle for voice & string quartet
   - Taking My Life In Your Hands
10. The Juliet Letters, song cycle for voice & string quartet
    - This Offer is Unrepeatable
11. The Juliet Letters, song cycle for voice & string quartet
    - Dear Sweet Filthy World
12. The Juliet Letters, song cycle for voice & string quartet
    - The Letter Home
13. The Juliet Letters, song cycle for voice & string quartet
    - Jacksons, Monk and Rowe
14. The Juliet Letters, song cycle for voice & string quartet
    - This Sad Burlesque
15. The Juliet Letters, song cycle for voice & string quartet
    - Romeo's Seance
16. The Juliet Letters, song cycle for voice & string quartet
    - I Thought I'd Write to Juliet
17. The Juliet Letters, song cycle for voice & string quartet
    - Last Post
18. The Juliet Letters, song cycle for voice & string quartet
    - The First to Leave
19. The Juliet Letters, song cycle for voice & string quartet
    - Damnation's Cellar
20. The Juliet Letters, song cycle for voice & string quartet
    - The Birds Will Still Be Singing

Looking back on it, it's remarkable that Warner didn't sue Elvis Costello for making deliberately noncommercial, non-representative records, the way Geffen did with Neil Young in the '80s. After all, it's not just that he made a record as anti-pop as Mighty Like a Rose, it's that he followed it with a full-fledged classical album, The Juliet Letters -- "a song sequence for string quartet and voice," recorded with the Brodsky Quartet. It's inspired by a Verona professor who responded to letters addressed to Juliet, of Romeo and Juliet fame, too. Given this history, it's little wonder that the record didn't storm the charts, but it is remarkable that Warner, even with their reputation for being an artist's label, decided to release it, since this just doesn't fit anywhere -- not within pop (especially in the grunge-saturated 1993) and not within classical, either. Of course, that's precisely what's interesting about the record, and if interesting didn't signify any rewards with Mighty, it does here. This is a distinctive, unusual affair that, at its best, effectively marries chamber music with Beatlesque art pop. And there are a number of moments that work remarkably well on the record, such as "I Almost Had a Weakness" and "Jacksons, Monk and Rowe." True, these are the songs closest to straight-ahead Costello songs, yet they're still nice, small gems, and even if the rest of the record can be a little arch and awkward, it's not hard to admire what Costello and the Brodskys set out to do. And that's the problem with the record -- it's easy to intellectualize, even appreciate, what it intends to be, but it's never compelling enough to return to. More experiment than effective, then. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide

Name Credits Amelia Stein Photography Brodsky Quartet Producer, Ensemble Elvis Costello Liner Notes, Vocals, Text, Producer Ian Belton Text Jacqueline Thomas Text Kevin Killen Engineer, Producer, Balance Engineer, Recording Michael Lee Thomas Text Pascale Giovetto Assistant Engineer Paul Cassidy Text Scott Hull Mastering Steve Averill Design, Art Direction