From The Elvis Costello Wiki
Jump to navigationJump to search
—
|
Painted From Memory
Elvis Costello with Burt Bacharach
Robert Philpot
  
|
This collaboration is not as odd as it seems. Costello has always been somewhat of a crooner (listen to "Alison" again), and he has worked with everyone from George Jones to the Brodsky Quartet. And Bacharach's best-known writing partner, Hal David, shared Costello's sarcastic streak (check out "What Do You Get When You Fall in Love?"). Bacharach's always-impeccable arrangements, which evoke a rainy-night/lonely-morning mood, make this work. He knows just where to place a couple of softly bleating flugelhorns ("Toledo") or a supportive female chorus ("Such Unlikely Lovers"), and he's unsurpassed in his use of unobtrusive string sections — you don't notice them unless you try. And if Costello strains for the high notes, at least he does it to call attention to the song, not the singer.
|
|
Clipping.
Page scan.
|
|
|
|
External links
