Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach
Painted From Memory
1998, Mercury Records, Ocean Way (Hollywood) & Right Track Studios (New York)


I reckon a bit of back-story is necessary here before I start yammering on about the actual album. In short, 1997 was a year of sweeping changes for Elvis Costello. For a start, during the promotional tour for All This Useless Beauty Costello found himself at loggerheads with Attractions bassist Bruce Thomas again. After the band grudgingly saw the tour to its conclusion then, the Attractions were split up again, and this time it would prove to be for good. As well as ditching the Attractions for the last time and getting thoroughly sick of the limitations of the rock band format, Warner Bros were also getting a bit tired of not seeing too much of a commercial return from Costello's albums, so it was agreed between both parties that the next release would be his last on their label. That release turned out to be Extreme Honey; a rather hastily-compiled best of album featuring just the one new song (a pretty rubbish one called the Bridge I Burned), scheduled for release in the Autumn of that year. In a nutshell, the guy was at a loose end; questioning the quality of his own writing and yearning for a new way to express himself musically.

Which is where Burt Bacharach comes in. In 1996, Costello opted for Bacharach's help with God Give Me Strength (a song he'd tried and ultimately failed to record with the Attractions during the All This Useless Beauty sessions), intended as it was for the soundtrack of the Allison Anders film Grace Of My Heart. Immensely pleased with the result, the pair extended this collaboration to a full-length album. At Costello's request a core session band was formed, which included drummer Jim Keltner and Steve Nieve back behind the keyboards. The result is, naturally, twelve Costello/Bacharach co-writes, often being Costello's words to Bacharach's music (although he'd chip in with a few musical ideas here and there) in what must have been the refreshing experience of not having to lead proceedings in the studio for a change. These results are, at the very least, interesting, as we're given an album which is easygoing yet brimming with emotion, with Costello's singing as on form as it got as he rises to the challenge of working his voice around Bacharach's typically complex and intricate melodies and orchestrations. It's no classic by any means but, enough of my rambling, let's break it down into each song...

1. In the Darkest Place
There's probably no finer indication of Costello's capacity and often-overlooked skill as a singer than on a lot of this album, and this track is a clear sign of that, as the man stretches his vocal range to breaking point over some glorious instrumentations led by Bacharach's loungehall-esque piano. It just sort of breezes by softly, getting by on Costello's terrific singing and Bacharach's wonderful melodic arrangements. 10/10

2. Toledo
The following track has a similar kind of quality, and although the vocals are reined in a whole lot more, the arrangements and melody behind them are again beautiful. Plus there's a kind of dreamy, romantic edge brought to the table on the back of lyrics such as the first verse here;

'All through the night you telephoned
I saw the light blinking red
Beside the cradle
But you don't know how far I've gone
Now I must live with the lie
That I made
But if I call, I know I won't have to say it
You'll hear my voice - something is bound to betray it'

Lyrically, it's an intriguing little story about a man who's run away from his prior life, and is neither too wordy to bend the melody concerned or too brief to turn it into nonsense. Anyway, another great song. 9/10

3. I Still Have That Other Girl
Nominated for a 'best male vocal' Grammy, this song is indeed home to a very ambitious vocal performance over Bacharach's piano followed by soaring string arrangements at each chorus to compliment the vocal. It's a nice, pretty song and very well-performed indeed, but overall not as intriguing as the two which preceded it. 7/10


4. This House Is Empty Now
Another truly beautiful song this, boasting a gorgeous melody and some terrific singing which do so well to reflect the melancholy in the lyrics;

'These rooms play tricks upon you
Remember when they were always filled with laughter
But now theyre quite deserted
They seem to just echo voices raised in anger
Maybe you will see my face
Reflected there on the pane
In the window up above for long
In broken home
Yet this house is empty now
Theres nothing I can do
To make you want to stay
So tell me how am I supposed to live without you'

Unfortunately it's also host to a polished guitar solo which damn near ruins an otherwise truly brilliant song. In fact, dotted around this album are similarly cringey moments which could only really have been included at the whim of Bacharach. Believe me when I say the live version in the video below makes for a huge improvement. 7/10


5. Tears At the Birthday Party
This is much more like it though. In the bright, bubbly melody and the chirpy piano chords which punctuate it, we're given a much more jolly and uplifting number than the four songs which came before it. Catchy, very memorable, superbly sung, blissfully written - another one of Costello's finest. 10/10


6. Such Unlikely Lovers
Despite a catchy horn arrangement to kick things off and underpin parts of the rest of the song, not mention yet more great singing, things start to take a turn for the less interesting here. Another more upbeat moment, but it's really nowhere near as good as the brilliant Tears At the Birthday Party. 6/10

7. My Thief
From less interesting to just plain mediocre, this syrupy, crooning torch-song is simply very uninspiring, not very well-composed and just a bit of a corn-fest really. 4/10

8. The Long Division
Things improve slightly here, but overall the weaker section of the album is continued here. Again, Costello's voice and the horn arrangements are the saving grace of a song with an unusually weak set of lyrics and a moog-break towards the end which just doesn't really belong. 5/10

9. Painted From Memory
Another full-on crooner here, the vocals are again dead-on form, but again an otherwise emotionally-rich, tender and bright piece of chamber music threatens to be undone occasionally by the overdone, drippy sentimentality of Bacharach's orchestral arrangements. 6/10


10. The Sweetest Punch
But all of a sudden the overall quality of the album takes a turn for the better here, with a much more uncluttered instrumental approach opted for which doesn't distract from the vocal performance at hand which, as you might have gathered by the fact that I've mentioned it under just about every song here, is the common strong-point of this album. The lyrics are fairly decent too, even if Costello simplifies his writing style a little to fit snugly into Bacharach's melodies.

'You only saw red
After I said, "How can we continue?"
Hidden from your view
In the blue corner that I painted myself into
Then we started to fight
And it changed everything
Here's the ring' 7/10

11. What's Her Name Today?
It's basically that vein of songwriting and arrangement which is carried over to the penultimate song; the fragile, relatively unembellished orchestration and band instrumentation not doing anything to threaten a decent, if not unforgettably memorable song. 7/10

12. God Give Me Strength
And here's the song that the whole project began with. Despite its pretty damn corny title, it's certainly a very good song. Where we've seen the strengths and weaknesses of the Costello-Bacharach songwriting partnership at work on this album, this song rolls al of the plus points into one gentle, soft and beautifully-flowing package. Not quite one of the best songs Costello's ever sung, but definitely worth hearing. 8/10


The Outtakes.
As far as I know, no studio outtakes from these sessions exist. Either that or they haven't seen the light of day for nosy little collectors like me to have a listen.

So, summing up then...
The album as a whole is a bit of a mixed bag. Where there are awe-inspiring moments there are a few weaker and lacklustre ones to even things up. It was certainly a somewhat ambitious and artistically refreshing move for Costello to work with Bacharach's music over an entire album, and one which raised a few eyebrows in the industry (the album won a 'best pop duet' Grammy or something along those lines), despite the fact it didn't sell very well at all upon release. Unfortunately, the lack of sales would find Costello becoming disillusioned with his label yet again and not singing on another album for some four years. Anyway, definitely not for fans who exclusively listen to his first three albums, but if you can indeed take a bit of soppy easy-listening I'd recommend rolling a cig or two, brewing a steaming cuppa coffee, putting your feet on the desk and giving this a try.
7/10