Review of Painted From Memory
LA Times, 1998-10-02
- Elysa Gardner

Album Review / Pop
Costello, Bacharach Sparkle on 'Memory'
By ELYSA GARDNER

     *** 1/2 Elvis Costello With Burt Bacharach
     "Painted From Memory"
     Mercury
     As two of the most gifted and distinctive tunesmiths of their
respective generations, Costello and Bacharach will forever be judged
against the nearly impossible standards of their best material. So in
collaborating on this album of new songs--composed by Bacharach with
Costello's support, with lyrics and vocals by Costello--they are shouldering
quite a collective burden.
     That challenge yields impressive, if mixed, results. The deftly
syncopated, breezily bittersweet "Toledo" sounds like vintage Bacharach, and
the pining "In the Darkest Place" and "My Thief" evidence both artists'
enduring knack for sophisticated but deeply poignant melodies.
     (The tastefully lush arrangements, written and conducted by Bacharach
and performed by rock musicians and an orchestra--and by the composer on
piano--recapture much of the pensive elegance that characterized classic
recordings of his old songs.)
     "Such Unlikely Lovers" and "Tears at the Birthday Party" are clever and
charming, but have less of the richness that distinguishes Bacharach's and
Costello's music from that of their many imitators.
     Most strikingly, though, Costello contributes some of his most
virtuosic singing and emotionally intuitive lyric-writing to date. On "In
the Darkest Place" and "The Sweetest Punch," he blends wistful irony and
gentle pathos as adroitly as Bacharach's old collaborator Hal David did,
while on "Painted From Memory" and "This House Is Empty," he ponders broken
relationships with shattering directness.
     All told, then, the Costello-Bacharach synergy sparkles, and demands a
sequel. The duo will perform at the Universal Amphitheatre on Oct. 20.