Review of Painted From Memory Aftenposten, 1998-10-01 - Kjell Henning Thon Translated by Sverre Ronny Saetrum TWO SONGWRITING GIANTS COME TOGETHER TO MAKE A BEAUTIFUL RECORD Elvis Costello, born Declan McManus in 1954. An Englishman who made a stunning breakthrough with his notably strong material in the late seventies. Already in the ballad "Alison" from his debut album "MAIT", Costello showed that wounded love was going to be a recurring theme for the bespectacled songwriter. Since then Costello has delivered one brilliant album after another and gone off in all sorts of musical directions with his own terrific songs as a strong backbone. This has led him into such diverse musical directions as jazz, folk, ska, country and classical music. He has collaborated with people like Paul McCartney and The Brodksy Quartet. NEW POPULARITY Burt Bacharach, born in 1928. An American, who, with his jazz background made his breakthrough as a musical director for Marlene Dietrich in the mid-fifties. At the same time he wrote his very first hit-song when The Five Blobs recorded ; "The Blob" for a low- budget horror-movie with the same title, starring Steve McQueen. Later on he collaborated for many years with lyricist Hal David and together they wrote an abundance of hits for artists like Dionne Warvick, Tom Jones, The Carpenters and many others. After Bacharach and his "easy-listening music" had been ridiculed and sneered at in the late seventies and into the eighties, he suddenly became "hip" again in the mid-nineties. And now these two songwriting giants have chosen to collaborate. They have written the songs together, Costello sings them and Bacharach has contributed some very tasteful arrangements. What strikes me most about "Painted From Memory" is good melodies, understated, but still lush arrangements, strings, brass, carefully laid "carpets" of keyboards and sad and melancholy songs about wounded love. And whilst Costello's records usually have more musical variation, the songs here are some of the strongest he's presented on record for quite some time. All the songs, from the opening "In The Darkest Place" to the closer "God Give Me Strength" contain Costello's instantly recognisable voice and phrasing. SO SAD, SO SAD...... Bacharach has added a warmth to both the songs and the arrangements that rarely has been heard on Costello's previous records. It's simply impossible to be more sad and lost than on "I Still Have That Other Girl" and "This House Is Empty Now". The title track starts off with a mournful piano before Costello steps up to the microphone and reveals the jazz-crooner inside him. To sit in front of a log-fire with a glass of red-wine, listening to this record and thinking about all the things in life that have gone wrong is probably dangerously addictive!!!