Mojo, October 1998: Difference between revisions
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{{:UK & Ireland magazines index}} | {{:UK & Ireland magazines index}} | ||
{{Bibliography article header}} | {{Bibliography article header}} | ||
<center><h3> | <center><h3> Gentlemen prefer diminished sevenths </h3></center> | ||
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<center> Dave DiMartino </center> | <center> Dave DiMartino </center> | ||
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'''Dave DiMartino meets Elvis and Burt | |||
{{Bibliography text}} | {{Bibliography text}} | ||
How different was the making of this album from your collaboration on "God Give Me Strength?" | ''How different was the making of this album from your collaboration on "God Give Me Strength?" | ||
EC: For me I think the major difference was that it was nerve-wracking to send that first bit of music down the fax. When I called Burt with an idea, one bit of "God Give Me Strength" I think the title was there already with a bit of melody and a couple of lines I sent him a tape of it. And I called him up and thought maybe I could talk him through it and play it over the phone because we really had a deadline and he wasn't in. So I played it into the answering machine, just like that guy in ''Swingers'', that scene where the guy keeps leaving messages. It's very different, because I don't collaborate that often and imagine the daunting nature of playing it for somebody you really admire, and you can't look in their eye and see their reaction. We managed to write a good song anyway. | EC: For me I think the major difference was that it was nerve-wracking to send that first bit of music down the fax. When I called Burt with an idea, one bit of "God Give Me Strength" I think the title was there already with a bit of melody and a couple of lines I sent him a tape of it. And I called him up and thought maybe I could talk him through it and play it over the phone because we really had a deadline and he wasn't in. So I played it into the answering machine, just like that guy in ''Swingers'', that scene where the guy keeps leaving messages. It's very different, because I don't collaborate that often and imagine the daunting nature of playing it for somebody you really admire, and you can't look in their eye and see their reaction. We managed to write a good song anyway. | ||
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EC: It was an amazing disciplining experience to write in response. Sometimes the character of the music would immediately imply a story or some sort of notion. And then I would take back a rough sketch sometimes Burt would say, "Well, you've misread this" I do pick things up aurally faster than [written notation]. Sometimes I would write a word that fit my conception of the phrase, and Burt would point out that it actually added a note. Or that there was a pick-up note where there shouldn't be, or some little detail like that, which would require me to find different words to say the same thing. But that wasn't a bad thing, because overall I got more disciplined. | EC: It was an amazing disciplining experience to write in response. Sometimes the character of the music would immediately imply a story or some sort of notion. And then I would take back a rough sketch sometimes Burt would say, "Well, you've misread this" I do pick things up aurally faster than [written notation]. Sometimes I would write a word that fit my conception of the phrase, and Burt would point out that it actually added a note. Or that there was a pick-up note where there shouldn't be, or some little detail like that, which would require me to find different words to say the same thing. But that wasn't a bad thing, because overall I got more disciplined. | ||
''Did you expect certain stylistic things from each other | ''Did you expect certain stylistic things from each other? | ||
BB: I knew it wasn't going to be rock 'n' roll. | BB: I knew it wasn't going to be rock 'n' roll. | ||
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BB: Because there's stuff in there. | BB: Because there's stuff in there. | ||
EC: It would be terrible to do a record, and put a lot into it and like it, and feel like, | EC: It would be terrible to do a record, and put a lot into it and like it, and feel like, "Oh, I've heard that." For me, I've tended to want to put so much into records sometimes I realize that to enjoy it requires you to become me. And believe me, you don't want to do that. | ||
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<center> | |||
<small>Photo by [[John Rankin Waddell|Rankin]].</small><br> | |||
[[image:1998-10-00 Mojo photo 01 jrw.jpg|390px]] | |||
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{{tags}}[[Painted From Memory]] {{-}} [[Burt Bacharach]] {{-}} [[God Give Me Strength]] {{-}} [[This House Is Empty Now]] {{-}} [[Tears At The Birthday Party]] {{-}} [[In The Darkest Place]] {{-}} [[Jim Keltner]] {{-}} [[Greg Cohen]] {{-}} [[Dean Parks]] {{-}} [[Steve Nieve]] {{-}} [[Paul McCartney]] {{-}} [[Dionne Warwick]] {{-}} [[Jerry Leiber]] {{-}} [[One Amazing Night]] {{-}} [[Burt Bacharach: One Amazing Night]] {{-}} [[TNT]] {{-}} [[Dusty Springfield]] {{-}} [[Grace Of My Heart: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack|Grace Of My Heart]] {{-}} [[I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself]] {{-}} [[Hal David]] {{-}} [[Imperial Bedroom]] {{-}} [[I Say A Little Prayer]] {{-}} [[Scott Walker|The Walker Brothers]] {{-}} [[Labelle|Patti LaBelle]] {{-}} [[Michael McDonald]] {{-}} [[Allison Anders]] {{-}} [[Steely Dan]] {{-}} [[James Ingram]] {{-}} [[The Juliet Letters]] {{-}} [[The Brodsky Quartet]] | |||
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{{Bibliography notes header}} | {{Bibliography notes header}} | ||
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'''Mojo, No. 59, October 1998 | '''Mojo, No. 59, October 1998 | ||
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[[Dave DiMartino]] reviews ''[[Painted From Memory]]'' and interviews | [[Dave DiMartino]] reviews ''[[Painted From Memory]]'' and interviews Elvis Costello and [[Burt Bacharach]]. | ||
{{Bibliography images}} | {{Bibliography images}} | ||
[[image:1998-10-00 Mojo page 98.jpg| | [[image:1998-10-00 Mojo page 98.jpg|x270px]][[image:1998-10-00 Mojo page 99 illustration.jpg|x270px]] | ||
<br><small>Illustration by [[Ski Williams]].</small> | <br><small>Illustration by [[Ski Williams]].</small> | ||
<br> | <br> | ||
{{Bibliography box}} | {{Bibliography box}} | ||
<center><h3> | <center><h3> Painted From Memory </h3></center> | ||
<center | <center>''' Elvis Costello with Burt Bacharach </center> | ||
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<center> Dave DiMartino </center> | <center> Dave DiMartino </center> | ||
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Two years in the making, the full-on follow-up to "God Give Me Strength," their collaboration from the soundtrack to ''Grace Of My Heart''. | Two years in the making, the full-on follow-up to "God Give Me Strength," their collaboration from the soundtrack to ''Grace Of My Heart''. | ||
The title of this marvellous collaboration by two pop music icons could not be better chosen. For the music contained within it seems strangely and soothingly familiar evoking another time, but sounding less a replication than a continuation of a style, one often emulated but never successfully duplicated. And the lyrics most of them dealing with lost love, broken relationships, happy days long gone or missed opportunities dwell almost exclusively in the past. Yet rather than a look backward, ''Painted From Memory'' is thrilling evidence that the artful pop song simple, subtle or preferable, both still has a glorious future. It is as masterful as its makers. | The title of this marvellous collaboration by two pop music icons could not be better chosen. For the music contained within it seems strangely and soothingly familiar — evoking another time, but sounding less a replication than a continuation of a style, one often emulated but never successfully duplicated. And the lyrics — most of them dealing with lost love, broken relationships, happy days long gone or missed opportunities — dwell almost exclusively in the past. Yet rather than a look backward, ''Painted From Memory'' is thrilling evidence that the artful pop song — simple, subtle or preferable, both — still has a glorious future. It is as masterful as its makers. | ||
Since the days Elvis Costello took to singing "I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself," his affection for the Burt Bacharach/Hal David songbook has been a matter of record. It has coloured his style occasionally, often to great benefit. If the melodies of ''Imperial Bedroom'' lacked Bacharach's trademark melodic syncopation, its lyrics still bore the sophisticated-lover stamp of a writer once struck by Hal David's vivid ''"wake up/ make up"'' couplet in "I Say A Little Prayer." Such little touches of lyrical reality of the '60s swinger taking out his little red book, of someone asking the route to San Jose combined with Bacharach's enormous melodic gift to form perfect little jewels of pop music that have yet to be equaled and continue to be appreciated 30 years on. | Since the days Elvis Costello took to singing "I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself," his affection for the Burt Bacharach/Hal David songbook has been a matter of record. It has coloured his style occasionally, often to great benefit. If the melodies of ''Imperial Bedroom'' lacked Bacharach's trademark melodic syncopation, its lyrics still bore the sophisticated-lover stamp of a writer once struck by Hal David's vivid ''"wake up/ make up"'' couplet in "I Say A Little Prayer." Such little touches of lyrical reality — of the '60s swinger taking out his little red book, of someone asking the route to San Jose — combined with Bacharach's enormous melodic gift to form perfect little jewels of pop music that have yet to be equaled and continue to be appreciated 30 years on. | ||
In the intervening years, while Costello's career was blossoming in the '70s and '80s, Bacharach's pop touch seemed to slide away into a morass of sickly-sweet, MOR concoctions that won awards, made oodles of money, and on the hipness scale seemed diametrically opposed to the works that preceded them. "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)" and "That's What Friends Are For" may be the best known; longtime lyricist David had by then departed, and Bacharach's then-wife Carole Bayer Sager simply wasn't in his league. But to ascribe any artistic decline to the presence of a particular lyricist would be missing part of the point. Bacharach's work had smoothed out, become less herky-jerky and hook-filled; further, the stunning array of distinctive vocalists that sang his best known songs had been replaced by a puzzling squad of silky snoozers. Consider: from Dionne Warwick, Dusty Springfield, The Walker Brothers, Sandie Shaw, Gene Pitney, Tom Jones, even Arthur Lee to Christopher Cross, James Ingram, Patti LaBelle & Michael McDonald, Jeffrey Osborne and Tevin Campbell. The mind boggled and, er, the organs grew flaccid. | In the intervening years, while Costello's career was blossoming in the '70s and '80s, Bacharach's pop touch seemed to slide away into a morass of sickly-sweet, MOR concoctions that won awards, made oodles of money, and on the hipness scale — seemed diametrically opposed to the works that preceded them. "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)" and "That's What Friends Are For" may be the best known; longtime lyricist David had by then departed, and Bacharach's then-wife Carole Bayer Sager simply wasn't in his league. But to ascribe any artistic decline to the presence of a particular lyricist would be missing part of the point. Bacharach's work had smoothed out, become less herky-jerky and hook-filled; further, the stunning array of distinctive vocalists that sang his best known songs had been replaced by a puzzling squad of silky snoozers. Consider: from Dionne Warwick, Dusty Springfield, The Walker Brothers, Sandie Shaw, Gene Pitney, Tom Jones, even Arthur Lee to Christopher Cross, James Ingram, Patti LaBelle & Michael McDonald, Jeffrey Osborne and Tevin Campbell. The mind boggled and, er, the organs grew flaccid. | ||
While Costello's work has shown no similar decline, it became apparent around the time of ''The Juliet Letters'', his collaboration with the Brodsky Quartet, that the singer's artistic ambitions were growing and that boredom with the album/tour record industry life-cycle might be setting in. It is an interesting place for a talented artist to find himself; few performers have attempted to liven up their careers as ambitiously, or as admirably, as has Costello. That said, is it any wonder his previous collaboration with Bacharach — "God Give Me Strength" from Allison Anders's film ''Grace Of My Heart'' seemed just another temporary stop along the way? It was moving, it was masterful, and it seemed just slightly, but it did an attempt to evoke an era, rather than the opening shot in a partnership that would ultimately prove so bountiful. | While Costello's work has shown no similar decline, it became apparent around the time of ''The Juliet Letters'', his collaboration with the Brodsky Quartet, that the singer's artistic ambitions were growing and that boredom with the album/tour record industry life-cycle might be setting in. It is an interesting place for a talented artist to find himself; few performers have attempted to liven up their careers as ambitiously, or as admirably, as has Costello. That said, is it any wonder his previous collaboration with Bacharach — "God Give Me Strength" from Allison Anders's film ''Grace Of My Heart'' — seemed just another temporary stop along the way? It was moving, it was masterful, and it seemed — just slightly, but it did, really — an attempt to evoke an era, rather than the opening shot in a partnership that would ultimately prove so bountiful. | ||
I count four major reasons why this album works so wonderfully. First, the music itself: Bacharach's individual stamp, the syncopated time signatures, the leaping melodies have returned in full glory, and they are a joy to hear. Second, the arrangements: Bacharach's own piano, and a rhythm section including drummer Jim Keltner, bassist Greg Cohen, guitarist Dean Parks, and keyboardist Steve Nieve, are joined by a 24-piece string section and brass and woodwinds; the sound is full, lush but never sugary, and meticulously precise. Little things that pop out a female chorus singing only ''"Try to find another lover"'' on "In The Darkest Place," for instance eventually stun you with the perfection and precision of their | I count four major reasons why this album works so wonderfully. First, the music itself: Bacharach's individual stamp, the syncopated time signatures, the leaping melodies have returned in full glory, and they are a joy to hear. Second, the arrangements: Bacharach's own piano, and a rhythm section including drummer Jim Keltner, bassist Greg Cohen, guitarist Dean Parks, and keyboardist Steve Nieve, are joined by a 24-piece string section and brass and woodwinds; the sound is full, lush but never sugary, and meticulously precise. Little things that pop out — a female chorus singing only ''"Try to find another lover"'' on "In The Darkest Place," for instance — eventually stun you with the perfection and precision of their placement. Steely Dan, of all people, are oddly invoked. | ||
placement. Steely Dan, of all people, are oddly invoked. | |||
Third, Elvis Costello has never sung better in his life. Unlike the latter-day squad of Bacharach singers, Elvis's voice oozes with character, passion and subtlety, as did that of so many of the earlier, better vocal interpreters like Springfield, Shaw and Warwick. There is drama in these songs, and Costello focuses on it more grippingly than James Ingram a perfectly fine singer, mind you might ever be able. | Third, Elvis Costello has never sung better in his life. Unlike the latter-day squad of Bacharach singers, Elvis's voice oozes with character, passion and subtlety, as did that of so many of the earlier, better vocal interpreters like Springfield, Shaw and Warwick. There is drama in these songs, and Costello focuses on it more grippingly than James Ingram — a perfectly fine singer, mind you — might ever be able. | ||
And, finally, there are the lyrics, which stand among Costello's best. They are also focused in this case on a mood very much like that of "God Give Me Strength," which appears here as the album's closer. "It's a sad song which didn't have a defeated frame of mind," Costello says of that track, pinpointing it perfectly, "where you halfway enjoy being sad, and halfway use it to go to some other place." Heard in sequence, the first six tracks on ''Painted From Memory'' are as perfect as modern pop music ever gets, combining mood, melancholy and imagery ("Tears At The Birthday Party") at a level so mature and sophisticated, one can only listen in open-mouthed wonder. | And, finally, there are the lyrics, which stand among Costello's best. They are also focused in this case on a mood very much like that of "God Give Me Strength," which appears here as the album's closer. "It's a sad song which didn't have a defeated frame of mind," Costello says of that track, pinpointing it perfectly, "where you halfway enjoy being sad, and halfway use it to go to some other place." Heard in sequence, the first six tracks on ''Painted From Memory'' are as perfect as modern pop music ever gets, combining mood, melancholy and imagery ("Tears At The Birthday Party") at a level so mature and sophisticated, one can only listen in open-mouthed wonder. | ||
What's new, pussycat? | What's new, pussycat? ''This'' is. | ||
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<br><br> | <br><br> | ||
<small>Page scan.</small><br> | |||
[[image:1998-10-00 Mojo page 100.jpg|380px]] | |||
<small>Cover.</small><br> | |||
[[image:1998-10-00 Mojo cover.jpg|x120px]] | [[image:1998-10-00 Mojo cover.jpg|x120px]] | ||
{{Bibliography notes footer}} | {{Bibliography notes footer}} | ||
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==External links== | ==External links== | ||
*[ | *[https://www.mojo4music.com/ Mojo4music.com] | ||
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mojo_(magazine) Wikipedia: Mojo] | *[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mojo_(magazine) Wikipedia: Mojo] | ||
*[http://www.elviscostello.info/articles/m/mojo.981001a.txt elviscostello.info] | *[http://www.elviscostello.info/articles/m/mojo.981001a.txt elviscostello.info] |
Latest revision as of 19:23, 2 September 2021
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