Review of Painted From Memory
Chicago Tribune, 98-09-27
by Greg Kot


"Bacharach's arrangements for a 24-piece orchestra should make Babyface
weep in envy.  Bells chime in The Sweetest Punch, strings zoom in God
Give Me Strength, horns say a little prayer in Toledo. Unfortunately,
Bacharach's tunes demand a certain vocal smoothness that Costello is
ill-equipped to supply (paging Luther Vandross).  Only when Costello
stops straining for high notes and lets his poison valentines simmer
inside the sweet orchestrations does this pairing of '60s lounge icon
and '70s angry young man achieve a deliciously unsettling synthesis."