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It sounds like a match made in heaven: two of the finest songwriters of their respective eras joining forces for a composing tour de force. However, something was lost in the transition from sheet music to studio recording. While the songs are often stunning, ultimately Elvis Costello and Burt Bacharach’s much-touted collaboration Painted From Memory is, as Costello once sang, “a brilliant mistake.”
But despite the seeming incongruity of the pairing of the angry “king of punk” and the classy “king of pop” there is quite a bit of logic lurking back there.
Costello, one of the most articulate and diverse rockers to emerge out of the late 1970s punk boom, relied directly on classic pop structures and Tin Pan Alley references. He regularly covered songs by Bacharach and his long-time lyricist Hal David without any trace of irony, even back in punk’s 1977 heyday.
And Bacharach’s oeuvre of light-as-a-feather 1960s pop songs remains timeless, renewing itself for each generation in soundtracks, cover versions and revivals. The possibilities of pairing the two seemed limitless.
But Painted From Memory’s lushly arranged pop suffers from both parties submerging their personalities in order to produce a true collaboration. Whereas Lennon’s aggressiveness and McCartney’s sweetness clashed to create magic for the Beatles, here Costello defers his caustic wit and punchy spunk to Bacharach’s heavy orchestration and dramatic overkill.
While Bacharach gets Costello to reach high vocal ranges he’s never attempted before, the emotional edges they expose are quickly covered up in Muzak-like strings and convoluted melodies. And since when does Bacharach only write ballads? “I’ll Say A Little Prayer for You” and “Do You Know the Way to San Jose” grooved to a swinging ‘60s beat. Yet here the duo fears picking up the tempo, lest they be accused of belittling the craft of serious songwriting.
No doubt, Bacharach and Costello invested a lot of heart and love into this project. But in attempting to create a noble body of work, they forgot to write any songs that you’ll want to hum along to on the radio. And that’s what it’s all about, isn’t it?
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