Review of Painted From Memory
New Haven Register, 1998-10-02
- Fran Fried

"Costello & Bacharach sounded better on paper than on their collaborative
disc"
        By Fran Fried

Elvis Costello with Burt Bacharach - "Painted From Memory" (Mercury):

        Twenty years ago, when Costello was the angry young man from
England and Bacharach wasn't far removed from his successes with Dionne
Warwick and The Carpenters, the only instance in which you would have
pictured a joint album would have been a gag cover in an issue of
National Lampoon.
        But here we are. What started as a one-off collaboration for a
film soundtrack ("God Give Me Strength," from "Grace Of My Heart") became
a full-on project for Costello, perhaps foremost pop wordsmith of this
generation, and Bacharach, one of the best songwriters of a previous
generation.
        The result is far from a joke, but, as with so many recent
Costello works, it's mixed. At its best, it delivers on the promise
implied on paper by such a pairing. At its worst, it's dull and rambling.
        Elvis sings; Burt plays piano and conducts the orchestra,
augmented by Costello's longtime keyboardist, Steve Nieve. And the album
is nothing if not lushly appointed throughout, even at its quietest
moments.
        Clearly, the emotional peak is one about a hugh void, "This House
Is Empty Now." The mood is appropriately colored heartache blue, and the
word picture is vivid; Costello brings it all home, vocally, by keeping
an even keel and avoiding being overdramatic. Strings lend an optimistic
tone to and support strong singing on the bittersweet "My Thief" about
the end of a relationship. "In the Darkest Place," on which the piano
sets the mood, does wonders with an economy of sounds.
        But the album has its flaws. The main one, not a new one with
Elvis, is that on numerous occasions, the words take precedence over the
melody, and the hooks seem secondary. Sometimes, it seems like
Bacharach-by-numbers, as with the breezy, "Walk On By" trumpet
punctuations on "Toledo." Sometimes, the fit isn't quite right; both
"Tears at the Birthday Party" and "Such Unlikely Lovers" begin with
Bacharach trying awkwardly to match Costello's vocal cadence, then move
on to phases in which Elvis' vocals strain to match Bacharach's
arrangements, in keys that seem more suited to a Warwick voice.
        Costello has always had a sense of adventure, one that has taken
him from soul, to country, to working with Paul McCartney, to working
with a chamber quartet, to this. Unfortunately, his passion isn't always
equaled by the output, but here, as always, he gets points for trying.