Review of Painted From Memory
Seattle's Alternative Weekly, The Stranger, 1998-10-08
Issue Vol. 8, No. 3, p31 in the CD Review Section
- Eric Fredericksen

ELVIS COSTELLO with Burt Bacharach
Painted From Memory
(Mercury)  3 Stars

Of all the activity surrounding Burt Bacharach's critical rehabilitation,
this could be the most significant.  Why?  Because the normally
strong-willed Costello lets Bacharach take over; it's much more a
Bacharach album with Elvis Costello singing than an Elvis Costello album
with with Bacharach arrangements.  And because those arrangements, only
occasionally slipping into self-parody, are still-today-the most potent,
rich, and moving in pop music. Hey indie-rocker: Do you think Eric
Matthews knows his way around a trumpet lead?  That Stereolab and the High
Llamas have great string sections?  Then you must hear the font from which
this flows, the main reason we're not still being crushed by a tsunami of
overdriven guitars: Burt Bacharach, Father of the perfect pop song, Son of
the great Broadway composers, Holy Spirit of pop music.