This came out in 2003 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
It’s often been said that misery and heartache are the best inspiration for songwriters. Well, love and bliss don’t seem to do to badly either — at least, not when the composer in question is Elvis Costello and the object of his affection is his new paramour, Canadian jazz singer-pianist Diana Krall.
North, Costello’s 20th studio album, is ostensibly a song cycle about the end of an old romance and the birth of a new one — but in truth it feels like athinly veiled love letter to his Victoria-born sweetie. Picking up where his Burt Bacharach collaboration Painted From Memory left off, Costello once again foresakes his trademark hyperliterate pop-rock in favour of elegant orchestrations, small-combo jazz, sophisticated songcraft and earnest torch ballads about how lovely it is to be in love. With its grownup emotions, candlelit ambience, smoky vocals and yearning simplicity, it has a decidenly more limited appeal than his more accessible discs. But there’s no denying that this is the most honest, open and joyful we’ve heard Costello in years. Here’s hoping we never have to hear a breakup album.
