Painted from Memory

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Painted from Memory
Painted from Memory cover
Studio album by Burt Bacharach and Elvis Costello
Released 29 September 1998
Recorded ???
Genre Pop
Length 52:07
Label Mercury Records
Producer Burt Bacharach and Elvis Costello
Professional reviews
Burt Bacharach and Elvis Costello chronology
Extreme Honey
(1997)		 Painted from Memory
(1998)		 The Sweetest Punch
(1999)

Painted From Memory is a collaboration between Elvis Costello and famed sixties pop tunesmith Burt Bacharach, released September 29, 1998, on Mercury Records, a division of Universal Music Group.

The collaboration commenced with "God Give Me Strength", a commission for the 1996 film Grace of My Heart, directed by Allison Anders and starring Illeana Douglas. Apparently pleased with the result, the pair expanded the project to this full album, the first for Costello after an absence of two years, and for Bacharach after an absence of 21 years. Lyrics and music are co-credited to both Bacharach and Costello.

A companion album was made concurrently by jazz guitarist Bill Frisell, released in 1999 on another Universal label, Decca Records, The Sweetest Punch. It consists of jazz arrangements of the Painted From Memory songs done by Frisell and his studio group. It features vocals by Costello on two songs, and by jazz singer Cassandra Wilson on two songs, one of which is a duet employing both.

Costello had long been a Bacharach fan, and had recorded several Bacharach songs, beginning with "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself," released on a 1978 Stiff Records compilation Live Stiffs.

Painted from Memory won a Grammy Award in 1998 for "Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals" for Bacharach and Costello.

Contents

[edit] Track listing

All songs written by Elvis Costello and Burt Bacharach.

  1. "In the Darkest Place" – 4:19
  2. "Toledo" – 4:35
  3. "I Still Have That Other Girl" – 2:46
  4. "This House Is Empty Now" – 5:10
  5. "Tears at the Birthday Party" – 4:38
  6. "Such Unlikely Lovers" – 3:24
  7. "My Thief" – 4:20
  8. "The Long Division" – 4:15
  9. "Painted from Memory" – 4:12
  10. "The Sweetest Punch" – 4:09
  11. "What's Her Name Today?" – 4:08
  12. "God Give Me Strength" – 6:11

[edit] 1999 limited edition bonus disc

  1. "This House Is Empty Now" (live on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, November 27, 1998)
  2. "I Still Have That Other Girl" (live at Shibuya Hall, Tokyo, February 10, 1999)
  3. "In the Darkest Place" (live at the Athenaeum, Melbourne, February 16, 1999)
  4. "Painted from Memory" (live at the Athenaeum, Melbourne, February 16, 1999)
  5. "What's Her Name Today?" (live at Shibuya Hall, Tokyo, February 10, 1999)

[edit] Charts

Album

Year Chart Position
1998 The Billboard 200 78

[edit] Documentation

Prior to the recording of the album, Irish film producer Phillip King proposed to Costello that a film should be made to document the process.[1] The resulting film, Because It's a Lonely World, was produced by King's company, Hummingbird Productions;[2] the title, taken from the lyrics of "What's Her Name Today?", was also originally a working title for the album itself and part of a promotional tagline for the album.[3] The hour-long documentary originally aired in the UK on Channel 4 on December 26, 1998,[4] and in the U.S., Bravo, which was then expanding its original programming lineup during the midst of a major advertising campaign,[5] aired it on October 20, 1999.[6]

[edit] Live

Following the album's release, Costello and Bacharach performed songs from the album together at only a limited number of venues. One of these comprised a second-season episode of the American public television program Sessions at West 54th, later released on VHS. Also at this time, however, Costello began playing a different style of live concerts, accompanied by only longtime keyboardist Steve Nieve on piano. In 1999, Costello subsequently embarked on the Lonely World Tour, performed in this style with Nieve receiving equal billing; songs from Painted from Memory were a prominent part of the setlists on this tour.

Songs from the album remain in both Costello and Bacharach's live repertoires. A rendition of "God Give Me Strength" closes Costello's 2004 orchestrated live album My Flame Burns Blue, while some of Bacharach's current concerts with regular singer John Pagano also incorporate "God Give Me Strength".

[edit] References

  1. ^ Kelly, John (December 19, 1998), “Calling the tune”, The Irish Times: 63 
  2. ^ Hummingbird Productions. Screen Producers Ireland. Retrieved on 2007-11-19.
  3. ^ Dominic, Serene (2003). Burt Bacharach, Song by Song. Schirmer Trade Books. ISBN 0825672805. 
  4. ^ “When Elvis met Burt”, The Irish Times: 56, December 24, 1998 
  5. ^ Fruitkin, Alan James (October 4, 1999), “Bravo beefs up for fall”, Mediaweek 9 (37): 14, ISSN 1055-176X 
  6. ^ Schoemer, Karen (October 28, 1999), “Because It's a Lonely World”, Rolling Stone (no. 824): 111, ISSN 0035-791X 

[edit] External links

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