Time Out, September 23, 1998

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Time Out

UK & Ireland magazines

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Painted From Memory

Elvis Costello and Burt Bacharach

Ross Fortune

Hey, hosanna, pop music as the good Lord always intended it, courtesy of the bespectacled craftsman and the platinum old master. Following their collaboration for the Grace Of My Heart soundtrack — the epic and sublime "God Give Me Strength" (also included here) — this album's depth and beauty should come as no surprise. Certainly, it doesn't disappoint. In a classy set of 12 big, irresistibly catchy songs, Bacharach plays piano and conducts a 24-piece pop orchestra, while Costello thunders and emotes, singing his hear out with plangent and earnest aplomb — ably providing the spit to Bacharach's polish. In truth, possibly the album's only weakness lies in Costello's tendency to over sing; his too wracked and straining voice sometimes jarring amid such beauteous and lush surrounds. But it's a minor quibble.

Overwhelmingly this is a great album. Sensitively orchestrated, with additional keyboard contributions from Steve Nieve and a sprinkling of female backing vocals to soften the tone, the two protagonists meld their respective songwriting might in a mature fusion of styles and suffusion of identity. "Toledo" immediately stands out — a gently paced, haunting and graceful piece to set beside anything from Bacharach's inestimable canon — but it is just one delicious and delightful part of the elegantly crafted and sharply focused whole. Veering stylishly, with soulful languor, from savage melancholy to soaring epic, Painted From Memory is a an honest and blue, tender and true masterpiece of punchy and pristine, deft moody splendour.


Tags: Painted From MemoryBurt BacharachSteve NieveToledoGrace Of My HeartGod Give Me Strength

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Time Out, September 23, 1998


Ross Fortune reviews Painted From Memory.

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Painted From Memory album cover.jpg

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