The Songs of Bacharach & Costello: collection based on Painted From Memory, March 3, 2023

Pretty self-explanatory
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sweetest punch
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Re: New compilation / package, based on Painted From Memory, 2022

Post by sweetest punch »

Uncut February 2023 has the news: http://www.elviscostellofans.com/phpBB3 ... =2&t=12123

Titel: Songs of Bacharach and Costello.

Four-album set that revisits a favourite collaborator

It’s Painted From Memory (1998) and Taken From Life, which is a collection of songs that Burt and I wrote over the last 15 years for a proposed Painted From Memory musical. So you’ll hear other people singing a couple of those original songs, but also a bunch of songs that have never heard before. We’ve compiled them with a couple of songs from Look Now (1998) and some recordings that were piano/voice explorations of what the songs would sound like if they were sung by other people. We’ve put them all together to create an impression of what it would have been like to have that score.
There’s another disc of live performances of Painted From Memory songs, mostly with Steve Nieve and myself, a couple of them orchestral. Finally, a whole album of Bacharach/David songs, which I thought would be fun to include. This is a love letter to Burt. We went into the studio last september and recorded two songs with Vince Mendoza conducting a 30-piece orchestra. So the bookends for this Taken From Life are newly recorded. The Imposters and I recorded a third song, in Capitol Studios with an orchestra. It was a few years since we’d worked together, but it didn’t take very long before I’m in the booth and he was on the call-back saying, “Elvis, you’re not singing the right melody.” So I had to be on top of it.
Since you put me down, it seems i've been very gloomy. You may laugh but pretty girls look right through me.
sweetest punch
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Re: Songs of Bacharach and Costello: package, based on Painted From Memory, 2023

Post by sweetest punch »

Since you put me down, it seems i've been very gloomy. You may laugh but pretty girls look right through me.
sweetest punch
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Re: Songs of Bacharach and Costello: package, based on Painted From Memory, 2023

Post by sweetest punch »

The following video’s will be available soon on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iin_ndPOcZU (Painted From Memory, Live In Stockholm, Sweden, Berdwaldhallen / January 5,1999)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWeie1e2tjg (In The Darkest Place, Live In Melbourne, Australia, Athenaeum Theatre / February 16, 1999)

They seem to come from the forthcoming release: “The songs of Bacharach & Costello”. This means that the release can’t be that far away!
Last edited by sweetest punch on Mon Jan 09, 2023 12:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Since you put me down, it seems i've been very gloomy. You may laugh but pretty girls look right through me.
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Re: Songs of Bacharach and Costello: package, based on Painted From Memory, 2023

Post by And No Coffee Table »

https://music.apple.com/nz/album/the-so ... 1659959601

March 3, 2023
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Disc 1
1. In The Darkest Place (2023 remaster) - Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach
2. Toledo (2023 remaster) - Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach
3. I Still Have That Other Girl (2023 remaster) - Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach
4. This House Is Empty Now (2023 remaster) - Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach
5. Tears At The Birthday Party (2023 remaster) - Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach
6. Such Unlikely Lovers (2023 remaster) - Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach
7. My Thief (2023 remaster) - Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach
8. The Long Division (2023 remaster) - Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach
9. Painted From Memory (2023 remaster) - Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach
10. The Sweetest Punch (2023 remaster) - Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach
11. What's Her Name Today? (2023 remaster) - Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach
12. God Give Me Strength (2023 remaster) - Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach

Disc 2
1. You Can Have Her - Elvis Costello
2. Painted From Memory - Cassandra Wilson & Bill Frisell
3. Don't Look Now - Elvis Costello & The Imposters feat. Burt Bacharach
4. Everyone's Playing House - Elvis Costello & The Imposters
5. I Looked Away - Audra Mae
6. Taken From Life - Elvis Costello & The Imposters
7. My Thief - Don Byron & Bill Frisell
8. Shameless - Jenni Muldaur
9. Photographs Can Lie - Elvis Costello & The Imposters feat. Burt Bacharach
10. In The Darkest Place - Audra Mae
11. Why Won't Heaven Help Me? - Elvis Costello & The Imposters
12. Stripping Paper - Jenni Muldaur
13. He's Given Me Things - Elvis Costello & The Imposters
14. What's Her Name Today? - Audra Mae
15. Look Up Again - Elvis Costello
16. Lie Back & Think Of England - Burt Bacharach

Disc 3
1. Toledo (Live In Tokyo, Japan, Nakano Sunplaza Hall / February 08, 1999) - Elvis Costello & Steve Nieve
2. In The Darkest Place (Live In Melbourne, Australia, Athenaeum Theatre / February 16, 1999) - Elvis Costello & Steve Nieve
3. My Thief (Live In Tokyo, Japan, Nakano Sunplaza Hall / February 08, 1999) - Elvis Costello & Steve Nieve
4. I Still Have That Other Girl (Live In Tokyo, Japan, Shibuya Hall / February 10, 1999) - Elvis Costello & Steve Nieve
5. I'll Never Fall In Love Again (Live In Toronto, Ontario, Massey Hall / June 16, 1999) - Elvis Costello & Steve Nieve
6. God Give Me Strength (Live In Toronto, Ontario, Massey Hall / June 16, 1999) - Elvis Costello & Steve Nieve
7. Painted From Memory (Live In Stockholm, Sweden, Berwaldhallen / January 5, 1999) - Elvis Costello & Steve Nieve
8. What's Her Name Today? (Live In Stockholm, Sweden, Berwaldhallen / January 5, 1999) - Elvis Costello & Steve Nieve
9. This House is Empty Now (Live In New York City, Late Night With Conan O'Brien / November 27, 1998) - Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach

Disc 4
1. I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself (Live At University Of East Anglia, Norwich, UK, October 18, 1977) - Elvis Costello & The Attractions
2. Baby It's You - Elvis Costello & Nick Lowe
3. Please Stay - Elvis Costello
4. I'll Never Fall In Love Again - Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach
5. Make It Easy On Yourself (Live In London At Royal Festival Hall / October 29, 1998) - Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach
6. My Little Red Book (Live In London At Royal Festival Hall / October 29, 1998) - Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach
7. Anyone Who Had A Heart (Live In London At Royal Festival Hall / October 29, 1998) - Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach
8. I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself (Live In New York City, Sessions At West 54th / October 18, 1998) - Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach
sweetest punch
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Re: Songs of Bacharach and Costello: package, based on Painted From Memory, 2023

Post by sweetest punch »

Since you put me down, it seems i've been very gloomy. You may laugh but pretty girls look right through me.
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Re: The Songs of Bacharach & Costello: 4 album set based on Painted From Memory, March 3, 2023

Post by verbal gymnastics »

I’m excited to see how the whole package will look (and not so much what price it will be :lol: )
Who’s this kid with his mumbo jumbo?
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Re: The Songs of Bacharach & Costello: 4 album set based on Painted From Memory, March 3, 2023

Post by millaa »

Surely 8 tracks on CD 3 and 4 could fit one 1 cd?
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Re: The Songs of Bacharach & Costello: 4 album set based on Painted From Memory, March 3, 2023

Post by Hawksmoor »

millaa wrote:Surely 8 tracks on CD 3 and 4 could fit one 1 cd?
I guess he wants to stick with the idea of each of the four discs being its own 'thing'?
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Re: The Songs of Bacharach & Costello: 4 album set based on Painted From Memory, March 3, 2023

Post by Newspaper Pane »

Other than a few on Disc 2, I already have all of these!
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Re: The Songs of Bacharach & Costello: 4 album set based on Painted From Memory, March 3, 2023

Post by Man out of Time »

Someone posed the question "How many of the tracks on this album are unreleased?"
Songs of Bacharach & Costello
Songs of Bacharach & Costello
Songs of B&C.jpg (188.14 KiB) Viewed 90852 times
This table aims to answer that question. TSP is The Sweetest Punch. LN is Look Now. PFM is Painted From Memory. OOOI is Out Of Our Idiot. KV is Kojak Variety. SAW 54th is Sessions at West 54th Street;
Disc 1 is remasters of existing recordings. Disc 2 has 6 new songs and 3 new recordings of previously released songs. Disc 3 has 6 unreleased live recordings (but some have appeared on bootlegs). Disc 4 has 3 unreleased live recordings and one song that has had a video-only release.

Unless you know otherwise?

MOOT
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Re: The Songs of Bacharach & Costello: 4 album set based on Painted From Memory, March 3, 2023

Post by sulky lad »

Fantastic work MOOT !
Really useful; ( and in consequence) it's a bit disappointing that there isn't a complete live recording of one show. I think the RFH show in 1998 had lots broadcast by the BBC in GB and on Belgium radio (is that right SP?).
It's certainly forever etched on my memory as it was the first ever gig I attended with VG !! :lol: :wink:
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Re: The Songs of Bacharach & Costello: 4 album set based on Painted From Memory, March 3, 2023

Post by And No Coffee Table »

"The Songs of Bacharach & Costello, brings together all of the published songs that Costello has written with Burt Bacharach, celebrating the three decade songwriting partnership between them. Compiled by Costello, the Super Deluxe Edition includes the newly remastered album, Painted From Memory, along with a new collection, Taken From Life, featuring unreleased songs from the proposed “Painted From Memory” musical score, plus live performances, and a detailed 10,000 word essay by Costello."

Image

https://www.amazon.co.uk/TBC-VINYL/dp/B0BQQXL71D/
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Re: The Songs of Bacharach & Costello: 4 album set based on Painted From Memory, March 3, 2023

Post by sweetest punch »

https://shop.universalmusic.it/products ... per-deluxe


Versione esclusiva Super DeLuxe stampata su 2 LP e 4 CD che comprende:
45 tracce in totale
3 nuove composizioni firmate da Bacharach e Costello, Taken From Life incisa da Elvis Costello con The Imposters, You Can Have Her e Look Up Again registrate da Elvis Costello con la direzione di Burt Bacharach e con arrangiamenti orchestrali di Vince Mendoza
19 tracce inedite, canzoni, demo e performance dal vivo
nuovo remastering dell’album Painted From Memory dai nastri master analogici a cura di Bob Ludwig e cutting del vinile realizzato da Ryan Smith agli Sterling Studios

TRACKLIST

CD1 - Painted From Memory
Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach - In The Darkest Place
Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach - Toledo
Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach - I Still Have That Other Girl
Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach - This House Is Empty Now
Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach - Tears At The Birthday Party
Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach - Such Unlikely Lovers
Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach - My Thief
Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach - The Long Division
Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach - Painted From Memory
Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach - The Sweetest Punch
Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach - What’s Her Name Today?
Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach - God Give Me Strength

CD2 - Taken From Life
Elvis Costello - You Can Have Her
Cassandra Wilson & Bill Frisell - Painted From Memory
Elvis Costello & The Imposters - Don't Look Now
Elvis Costello & The Imposters - Everyone's Playing House
Audra Mae - I Looked Away
Elvis Costello & The Imposters - Taken From Life
Don Byron & Bill Frisell - My Thief
Jenni Muldaur - Shameless
Elvis Costello & The Imposters - Photographs Can Lie
Audra Mae - In The Darkest Place
Elvis Costello & The Imposters - Why Won't Heaven Help Me?
Jenni Muldaur - Stripping Paper
Elvis Costello & Imposters - He's Given Me Things
Audra Mae - What’s Her Name Today?
Elvis Costello - Look Up Again
Burt Bacharach Lie Back & Think Of England

CD3 - It's A Lonely World - Live
Elvis Costello & Steve Nieve - Toledo Live In Tokyo, Japan, Nakano Sunplaza Hall - February 8, 1999
Elvis Costello & Steve Nieve - In The Darkest Place Live In Melbourne, Australia, Athenaeum Theatre - February 16, 1999
Elvis Costello & Steve Nieve - My Thief Live In Tokyo, Japan, Nakano Sunplaza Hall - February 8, 1999
Elvis Costello & Steve Nieve - I Still Have The Other Girl Live In Tokyo, Japan, Shibuya Hall - February 10, 1999
Elvis Costello & Steve Nieve - I'll Never Fall In Love Again Live In Toronto, Ontario, Massey Hall - June 16, 1999
Elvis Costello & Steve Nieve - God Give Me Strength Live In Toronto, Ontario, Massey Hall - June 16, 1999
Elvis Costello, Steve Nieve & The Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra - Painted From Memory Live In Stockholm, Sweden, Berwaldhallen - January, 5, 1999
Elvis Costello, Steve Nieve & The Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra - What's Her Name Today? Live In Stockholm, Sweden, Berwaldhallen - January, 5, 1999
Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach - This House Is Empty Now Live In New York City, Late Night with Conan O'Brien - Nov. 27, 1998

CD4 - Costello Sings Bacharach & David
Elvis Costello & The Attractions - I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself Live in Norwich, UK, University of East Anglia - October 17, 1977
Elvis Costello & Nick Lowe - Baby It's You
Elvis Costello - Please Stay
Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach - I'll Never Fall In Love Again
Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach - Make It Easy On Yourself Live in London, UK, Royal Festival Hall - October 29, 1998
Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach - My Little Red Book Live in London, UK, Royal Festival Hall - October 29, 1998
Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach - Anyone Who Had A Heart Live in London, UK, Royal Festival Hall - October 29, 1998
Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach - I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself Live In New York City, Sessions at West 54th - October 18, 1998

LP1 - Side A - Painted From Memory
Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach -In The Darkest Place
Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach - Toledo
Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach - I Still Have That Other Girl
Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach - This House Is Empty Now

LP1 - Side B - Painted From Memory
Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach - Tears At The Birthday Party
Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach - Such Unlikely Lovers
Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach - My Thief
Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach - The Long Division

LP2 - Side A - Painted From Memory
Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach - Painted From Memory
Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach - The Sweetest Punch
Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach - What’s Her Name Today?
Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach - God Give Me Strength

LP2 - Side B - Selections From Taken For Life
Elvis Costello - You Can Have Her
Audra Mae - Don't Look Now (new?)
Audra Mae - I Looked Away
Elvis Costello & The Imposters - Taken From Life
Audra Mae - What’s Her Name Today?
Elvis Costello - Look Up Again
Since you put me down, it seems i've been very gloomy. You may laugh but pretty girls look right through me.
sweetest punch
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Re: The Songs of Bacharach & Costello: 4 album set based on Painted From Memory, March 3, 2023

Post by sweetest punch »

https://shop.universalmusic.it/products ... pio-vinile

Image

Versione Esclusiva stampata su doppio LP che contiene:
l’album Painted From Memory
una selezione di canzoni tratte da Taken From Life, lo spettacolo teatrale con soggetto Painted From Memory
una litografia esclusiva
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Re: The Songs of Bacharach & Costello: 4 album set based on Painted From Memory, March 3, 2023

Post by Ulster Boy »

No Windows of the world?
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Re: The Songs of Bacharach & Costello: 4 album set based on Painted From Memory, March 3, 2023

Post by verbal gymnastics »

sulky lad wrote:It's certainly forever etched on my memory as it was the first ever gig I attended with VG !! :lol: :wink:
:D :lol:

I’ve tried to lose you ever since yet here we are 25 years later! :lol:
Who’s this kid with his mumbo jumbo?
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Re: The Songs of Bacharach & Costello: 4 album set based on Painted From Memory, March 3, 2023

Post by And No Coffee Table »

https://www.elviscostello.com/the-songs ... -costello/

THE SONGS OF BACHARACH & COSTELLO CELEBRATES THREE DECADE SONGWRITING PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN COMPOSERS BURT BACHARACH AND ELVIS COSTELLO WITH LAVISH NEW BOX SET

4CD+2LP SUPER DELUXE EDITION INCLUDES NEWLY REMASTERED ALBUM, PAINTED FROM MEMORY, ALONG WITH A NEW COLLECTION, TAKEN FROM LIFE, FEATURING UNRELEASED SONGS FROM PROPOSED “PAINTED FROM MEMORY” MUSICAL SCORE, PLUS LIVE PERFORMANCES AND MUCH MORE

TWO NEWLY RECORDED, ORCHESTRALLY ACCOMPANIED BACHARACH/COSTELLO SONGS ARRANGED BY VINCE MENDOZA BOOKEND TAKEN FROM LIFE, WHILE THE TITLE TRACK WAS RECORDED WITH THE IMPOSTERS IN 2022 AND PRODUCED BY SEBASTIAN KRYS

THE SET INCLUDES AN EMOTIONAL AND DETAILED 10,000 WORD ESSAY BY COSTELLO ON THE STORY OF BACHARACH SONGS IN HIS LIFE, THEIR COLLABORATION IN THE STUDIO AND ON STAGE, AND WORK TOGETHER ON, NOT ONE BUT TWO, MUSICAL SCORES

UNSEEN PHOTOGRAPHS, EARLY LYRICAL DRAFTS AND SESSION NOTES INCLUDED

THREE RARE AND UNRELEASED LIVE SONGS STREAMING TODAY AHEAD OF RELEASE

AVAILABLE MARCH 3 VIA UMe

Los Angeles – January 10, 2023 – The Songs of Bacharach & Costello, personally compiled by Elvis Costello, brings together all of the published songs that Costello has written with the legendary Burt Bacharach, one of the great composers of popular music in the 20th and now 21st Century.

Releasing March 3 via UMe, The Songs of Bacharach & Costello, celebrates a collaboration which began in 1995 and which continues to this day.

Those who were surprised by the writers of “I’m Not Angry” and “What’s New Pussycat?” working together perhaps overlooked that Bacharach was engaging in musical collaboration for only the second time in his storied career – the first resulting in just a handful of songs musically written with Neil Diamond.

It was Costello who wrote the first musical draft of “God Give Me Strength,”communicating from Dublin to Los Angeles by fax – back in the 20th Century – and far from being offended by this presumption, Bacharach sent back an amended copy, laying out the signature intro motif for flugelhorn, adding the expansive bridge section and making all sorts of subtle but crucial amendments to the melodic and rhythmic phrasing of Costello’s first draft.

This song was a commission for the Allison Anders’ motion picture, “Grace Of My Heart,” and though both song and movie were overlooked by the Academy Awards, the song did place in the GRAMMY nominations of the following year, as Costello remarked in his book “Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink”: “To have written a song like “God Give Me Strength” and simply stopped would have been ridiculous.”

So began a series of face-to-face songwriting sessions in both California and New York City.

Their working methods ranged from one writer responding to the other’s opening musical statement to Costello trying to put lyrical substance and definition to a complete Bacharach composition that did not need any such musical reply. By the end of their initial sessions, there were occasions when they were seated across the room at two pianos, writing successive bars of the new tune.

Recorded in Hollywood in 1998, the album, Painted From Memory – orchestrated by Bacharach with the exception of the title track which was arranged by the great Johnny Mandel – has gone on to capture an appreciative worldwide audience far beyond its initial release. The song “I Still Have That Other Girl”even managed to wrestle a GRAMMY away from both Celine Dion and Van Morrison – no easy task in the crowded field of the “Best Collaboration With Vocals” category of the 41st Awards.

The idea that the songs and lovelorn themes of Painted From Memory might be realized on the Broadway stage were perhaps an unlikely prospect, given that, as Costello puts it in his essay, such a show might feel, “Like Eugene O’Neill’s “Long Day’s Journey Into Night” only with less tap-dancing.”

Nevertheless, this was the belief of dedicated Painted From Memory aficionado and television comedy mogul, Chuck Lorre, who together with Tony Award-winning writer, Steven Sater, set about threading a story through the original folio of songs, creating a tale and set of characters who demanded that Bacharach and Costello write more than a dozen additional songs.

Writing the lyrics of these new songs, Costello told us, “These reflect the stories and impulses of a group of people who are, obsessive and vain, who are betrayed and become disappointed in life but long tenderly for a happier time, who are unfaithful, dishonest, destructive and turn out to be the inventors of a dangerous past, who are guilty, haunted and romantically deluded, desperate, vengeful and even cruel.”

“In their musical form they are different kinds of dark love songs that anyone might sing if they happened to be an artist, his model, a wife, a fantasist, a lover, a philanderer or disillusioned daughter.

You know, fun for all the family.”

These songs are all found on Taken From Life, opening and closing with “You Can Have Her”and “Look Up Again,”arranged by Vince Mendoza and recorded at Capitol Studios, Hollywood in September 2021 under the direction of Bacharach.

The Taken From Life collection also brings together performances on which Bacharach led The Imposters for the GRAMMY winning album, Look Now, and songs from the proposed score from the E.P. Purse and the Decca Records release, The Sweetest Punch, on which guitarist Bill Frisell arranged the then brand new Bacharach/Costello songs for the voice of Cassandra Wilson and the clarinetist, Don Byron.

The Taken From Life title track is a 2022 recording with The Imposters produced by Sebastian Keys and the collection is completed by startling and beautiful vocal performances of other songs from the “Painted From Memory” musical score by Audra Mae and Jenni Muldaur with the piano accompaniment of Jim Cox and Thomas Bartlett, including the tragic, “I Looked Away”and the deranged catalogue song,“Shameless,”just two of the 19 previously unreleased tracks included in the set.

Along with multiple lyrical drafts of “This House Is Empty Now” which reveal the harrowing disillusionment beneath the more measured tone of the finished lyric, pages from the draft script are also reproduced with pencil annotations proposing lyrical changes and even other unwritten songs.

Opportunities to see Bacharach and Costello perform on stage were rare. Their 1998 tour opened at Radio City Musical Hall, NYC and closed five shows later at the Royal Festival Hall, London, after just a handful of television and radio appearances.

However, Costello and Steve Nieve began the “Lonely World Tour” – taking its title from a line in the Painted From Memory song, “What’s Her Name Today?”– opening with an appearance with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra at Berwaldhallen in Stockholm on the Feast Of The Epiphany, 1999 and proceeded to place the Bacharach/Costello songs central to their concert repertoire from Toronto to Tokyo, and closing in Osaka on December 18th, in a concert in which forty songs were performed.

A selection of these performances can be heard on the third disc of the box set: “Because It’s A Lonely World – Live.”

Bacharach’s songs written with his greatest lyricist, Hal David (as well as those written with Bob Hilliard and Mack David) were heard on English radio and television from his latter collaborator’s earliest memories.

Costello’s 10,000 word essay is illustrated by a number of photographs including detail from a shot of the entire company of the Royal Variety Performance of 1963, in which The Beatles – who had recently recorded Bacharach’s “Baby It’s You” – are seen flirting with Marlene Dietrich, whose accompanist, Bacharach can be found in the third row back, just four places along from Costello’s father, Ross MacManus, who was also heard at the famous “rattle yer jewelry” show, singing with The Joe Loss Orchestra.

Aside from this strange coincidence that his father appeared on the bill with two songwriters with whom “Elvis Costello” would write more than thirty songs, Declan MacManus’ upbringing was like anyone else who grew up in England during the early 1960s in that he lived in the shadow and under the spell of BBC Light Entertainment on which Bacharach/David songs were first heard sung by Cilla Black, Dusty Springfield or Zoot Money and The Big Roll Band before these renditions were chased up the hit parade by the “original” recordings by Dionne Warwick and many other great American vocal artists.

From his first concert hall dates with the Attractions as part of the “Live Stiffs” package tour in 1977, Costello turned to the Bacharach/David songbook for “I Just Don’t Know What To Do With Myself,” the first performance of a tune other than his own to make it on to vinyl.

The fourth disc of the box set, “Costello Sings Bacharach/David,” traces the singer’s relationship from that date through a duet with Nick Lowe on “Baby It’s You,” a version of “Please Stay” recorded in Barbados, all the way to a trio of Bacharach/David classics performed at the Royal Festival Hall in 1999, including “Make It Easy On Yourself,”“My Little Red Book,” and “Anyone Who Had A Heart.”

Another studio collaboration yielded a rendition of “I’ll Never Fall In Love Again” recorded for the Austin Powers – The Spy Who Shagged Me soundtrack, in which both artists made a cameo appearance.

Indeed this in turn led to exploratory workshops with Mike Myers for a possible stage adaptation of “Austin Powers” and further songwriting sessions with the Bacharach/Costello team completing or sketching up to fifteen more songs, one of which would have been a “secret track” back in this collection in the carefree days before algorithms ruled the waves but which is tucked on the end of the Taken From Lifealbum, in the form of Bacharach’s tender and intimate vocal and piano performance of one of the more unexpected drafted subplots – the song of a disillusioned spy entitled: “Lie Back And Think Of England.”

Painted From Memory has been newly remastered for its 25th anniversary from the original tapes by Bob Ludwig at Gateway Mastering Studios. The new remaster is presented on CD as well as 140-gram 2LP black vinyl. Side D of the double vinyl showcases six songs from Taken From Life, including the three newly recorded compositions.

Pre-order The Songs of Bacharach & Costello

Boxset
The comprehensive 45-song set also includes live performances of Bacharach and Costello performing several of the songs from Painted From Memory, as well as other beloved Bacharach numbers, with orchestras in New York and London; Costello performing stripped down versions of the songs on his “Lonely World Tour” with Nieve (the classically trained pianist and keyboard player in both The Attractions and The Imposters); and a selection of Bacharach and Hal David songs Costello has performed and recorded over the years, including “I’ll Never Fall In Love Again,” which Bacharach and Costello famously performed together on screen in “Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me.” Housed in a lavish 12.75” x 12.5” box, the expansive set features a 20-page booklet with photography from William Claxton and Rankin, in and out of the studio, early drafts of lyrics, studio notes, pages from the “Painted From Memory” musical script, and a newly written 10,000-word essay by Costello that beautifully details his nearly three-decade long friendship and prolific musical partnership with Bacharach, and how influential the legendary songwriter has been throughout his life.

The Songs of Bacharach & Costello is being previewed today with the release of three rare and unreleased live performances from 1998 and 1999, including a stark and gripping “In The Darkest Place,” recorded as a duo with Nieve at the piano in Australia on the Lonely World tour, andan arresting performance of “Painted From Memory,” recorded in Stockholm, Sweden with Nieve and The Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. Finally, we hear Costello and Bacharach live with an orchestra at London’s Royal Festival Hall, performing a sensational version of the latter’s 1963 Dionne Warwick (and Cilla Black’s) 1963 smash, “Anyone Who Had A Heart.“ Listen to the live tracks here: https://elviscostello.lnk.to/TSOBACPR

In addition to the Super Deluxe Edition box set, which will also be available digitally for streaming and download, The Songs of Bacharach & Costello will also be available in a variety of abbreviated formats, including on 2CD, which features both the newly remastered Painted From Memory and the entirety of Taken From Life; and on 2LP, with Painted From Memory and selections from Taken From Life, available with an exclusive lithograph or without. Additionally, Painted From Memory has been mixed in immersive Dolby Atmos. For more information about the formats and to pre-order visit: https://elviscostello.lnk.to/TSOBACPR

Of Painted From Memory, Pitchfork raved, “The album’s second and most lasting surprise is the quality of the teamwork. This project is obviously not hurried studio time aimed at selling scads of records, but rather the very precise, determined work of two gifted artists,” adding, “As a result, trying to decipher and describe where one’s contribution begins and the other’s influence ends is a nearly impossible task– Painted from Memory’s most outstanding tales of loss and bitterness, ‘I Still Have That Other Girl,’ ‘Toledo, ‘The Sweetest Punch,’ and the album’s title track are reminiscent of Costello’s most clever and haunting work, and Bacharach’s memorable piano melodies stretch the old punk’s voice to new limits.”

Entertainment Weekly exclaimed, “neither their checkered histories nor that initial duet are preparation for the sublime and subtle beauty of much of Painted From Memory,” while the New York Times hailed it as “a finely crafted collection of lovelorn ballads in which Mr. Costello flaunts his gift for quirky imagery,” and “finds Mr. Bacharach returning enthusiastically to the hyper-romantic signature style of the 1960’s hits he wrote, arranged and produced with the lyricist Hal David for Dionne Warwick.”

The Los Angeles Times enthused that the “Costello-Bacharach synergy sparkles, and demands a sequel.” Bacharach and Costello capped off a thrilling year with the GRAMMY Award for “Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals” for “I Still Have That Other Girl.”

Meticulously compiled and thoughtfully sequenced with the invaluable help of compilation producer, Steve Berkowitz, The Songs of Bacharach & Costello is the complete picture of the two songwriters enduring partnership and friendship.

THE SONGS OF BACHARACH & COSTELLO – SUPER DELUXE EDITION TRACKLISTING
CD1 – Painted From Memory
1. Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach – In The Darkest Place (2023 Remaster)
2. Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach – Toledo (2023 Remaster)
3. Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach – I Still Have That Other Girl (2023 Remaster)
4. Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach – This House Is Empty Now (2023 Remaster)
5. Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach – Tears At The Birthday Party (2023 Remaster)
6. Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach – Such Unlikely Lovers (2023 Remaster)
7. Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach – My Thief (2023 Remaster)
8. Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach – The Long Division (2023 Remaster)
9. Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach – Painted From Memory (2023 Remaster)
10. Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach – The Sweetest Punch (2023 Remaster)
11. Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach – What’s Her Name Today? (2023 Remaster)
12. Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach – God Give Me Strength (2023 Remaster)

CD2 – Taken From Life
1.Elvis Costello – You Can Have Her *
2.Cassandra Wilson & Bill Frisell – Painted From Memory
3.Elvis Costello & The Imposters – Don’t Look Now
4.Elvis Costello & The Imposters – Everyone’s Playing House
5.Audra Mae – I Looked Away *
6.Elvis Costello & The Imposters – Taken From Life *
7.Don Byron & Bill Frisell – My Thief
8. Jenni Muldaur – Shameless *
9.Elvis Costello & The Imposters – Photographs Can Lie
10.Audra Mae – In The Darkest Place *
11.Elvis Costello & The Imposters – Why Won’t Heaven Help Me?
12.Jenni Muldaur – Stripping Paper *
13. Elvis Costello & The Imposters – He’s Given Me Things
14.Audra Mae – What’s Her Name Today? *
15.Elvis Costello – Look Up Again *
16.Burt Bacharach – Lie Back & Think Of England *

CD3 – Because It’s A Lonely World – Live
1. Elvis Costello & Steve Nieve – Toledo (Live In Tokyo, Japan, Nakano Sunplaza Hall – February 8, 1999) *
2. Elvis Costello & Steve Nieve – In The Darkest Place (Live In Melbourne, Australia, Athenaeum Theatre – February 16, 1999)
3. Elvis Costello & Steve Nieve – My Thief (Live In Tokyo, Japan, Shibuya Hall – February 10, 1999) *
4. Elvis Costello & Steve Nieve – I Still Have The Other Girl (Live In Tokyo, Japan, Shibuya Hall – February 10, 1999)
5. Elvis Costello & Steve Nieve – I’ll Never Fall In Love Again (Live In Toronto, Ontario, Massey Hall – June 16, 1999) *
6. Elvis Costello & Steve Nieve – God Give Me Strength (Live In Toronto, Ontario, Massey Hall – June 16, 1999) *
7. Elvis Costello, Steve Nieve & The Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra– Painted From Memory (Live In Stockholm, Sweden, Berwaldhallen – January 5, 1999) *
8. Elvis Costello, Steve Nieve & The Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra – What’s Her Name Today? (Live In Stockholm, Sweden, Berwaldhallen – January 5, 1999) *
9. Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach – This House Is Empty Now (Live In New York City, Late Night with Conan O’Brien – Nov. 27, 1998) *

CD4 – Costello Sings Bacharach & David
1.Elvis Costello & The Attractions – I Just Don’t Know What To Do With Myself (Live in Norwich, UK, University of East Anglia – October 17, 1977)
2.Elvis Costello & Nick Lowe – Baby It’s You
3.Elvis Costello – Please Stay
4.Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach – I’ll Never Fall In Love Again
5.Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach – Make It Easy On Yourself (Live in London, UK, Royal Festival Hall – October 29, 1998) *
6.Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach – My Little Red Book (Live in London, UK, Royal Festival Hall – October 29, 1998) *
7.Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach – Anyone Who Had A Heart (Live in London, UK, Royal Festival Hall – October 29, 1998) *
8.Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach – I Just Don’t Know What To Do With Myself (Live In New York City, Sessions at West 54th – October 18, 1998) *

2LP – Painted From Memory
Side A
1. Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach – In The Darkest Place (2023 Remaster)
2. Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach – Toledo (2023 Remaster)
3. Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach – I Still Have That Other Girl (2023 Remaster)
4. Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach – This House Is Empty Now (2023 Remaster)

Side B
1. Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach – Tears At The Birthday Party (2023 Remaster)
2. Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach – Such Unlikely Lovers (2023 Remaster)
3. Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach – My Thief (2023 Remaster)
4. Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach – The Long Division (2023 Remaster)

Side C
1. Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach – Painted From Memory (2023 Remaster)
2. Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach – The Sweetest Punch (2023 Remaster)
3. Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach – What’s Her Name Today? (2023 Remaster)
4. Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach – God Give Me Strength (2023 Remaster)

Side D – Selections From Taken From Life
1.Elvis Costello – You Can Have Her *
2. Audra Mae – Don’t Look Now *
3. Audra Mae – I Looked Away *
4. Elvis Costello & The Imposters – Taken From Life *
5. Audra Mae – What’s Her Name Today? *
6. Elvis Costello – Look Up Again *

* Previously unreleased
Mikeh
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Re: The Songs of Bacharach & Costello: 4 album set based on Painted From Memory, March 3, 2023

Post by Mikeh »

So the only way to get the four cd set is to buy the super deluxe edition? No good for a poor pensioner like me, who ditched vinyl years ago!
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Re: The Songs of Bacharach & Costello: 4 album set based on Painted From Memory, March 3, 2023

Post by geebot »

Mikeh wrote:So the only way to get the four cd set is to buy the super deluxe edition? No good for a poor pensioner like me, who ditched vinyl years ago!
You can ditch CDs as well because it's also available on streaming services. Apple Music already has several tracks available.
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Re: The Songs of Bacharach & Costello: 4 album set based on Painted From Memory, March 3, 2023

Post by sweetest punch »

Chris Willman writes in Variety: https://variety.com/2023/music/news/elv ... 235483711/

Elvis Costello/Burt Bacharach Collaborations to Be Mined for Boxed Set, Including Songs From Unproduced ‘Painted From Memory’ Stage Musical

The nearly 30-year history of songwriting collaborations between Elvis Costello and Burt Bacharach will be the subject of a four-CD/two-LP boxed set, “The Songs of Bacharach & Costello,” arriving March 3. The collection draws much of its live and studio material from 1998’s “Painted From Memory,” the Grammy-winning album that represented their sole joint release to date.

But of particular interest to fans will be a disc, titled “Taken From Life,” that for the first time assembles all of the songs that the pair wrote together in subsequent years for a proposed “Painted From Memory” Broadway musical that they worked on for years but were never able to have mounted on the legit stage. Although many of those songs made their way onto Costello’s last few studio albums (especially another Grammy-winning effort, “Don’t Look Now”), about a half-dozen have never been released in any form before.

The super-deluxe version includes, in the CD format, a newly remastered version of “Painted From Memory”; the “Taken From Life” collection that has Costello’s and other artists’ recordings of the songs from the scrapped stage musical; a third disc, “Because It’s a Lonely World — Live,” of concert versions of the “Painted From Memory” tracks from the late ’90s, most of them performed as a duo by Costello and Steve Nieve; and a fourth disc of Costello covering 1960s classics by the writing team of Bacharach and David, live or in the studio, titled “Costello Sings Bacharach & David.”

That super-deluxe set is rounded out by two vinyl LPs, which contain the newly remastered “Painted From Memory” on the first three sides and six songs from the “Taken From Life” collection on the fourth side. Although “Painted From Memory” remains one of the most applauded and rewards Costello has been a part of, it was never issued on vinyl originally, as 1998 represented a low ebb for the format; it was only subsequently available in two Mobile Fidelity limited editions in the last few years that quickly sold out.

There are also less elaborate versions of the package, including a two-CD or two-LP set that includes just the first two discs, “Painted From Memory” and “Taken From Life,” minus the live tracks and oldies covers that make up the boxed set’s back half. Streaming and download versions will be available of all the tracks, as well as a new Dolby Atmos mix of “Painted From Memory.”

A handful of the tracks in the boxed set were newly recorded in the last couple of years. These include “Taken From Life,” done in the studio by Costello and his band the Imposters in 2022 with Sebastian Krys, the producer of Costello’s last few albums. A couple of the other unheard songs on that disc, “You Can Have Her” and “Look Up Again,” were recorded in 2021 under Bacharach’s direction and with Vince Mendoza leading the orchestration.

The unproduced “Painted From Memory” musical was the brainchild of TV veteran Chuck Lorre and Tony-winning writer Steven Sater, who were attempting to put together a story around the songs from the ’98 album and in the process had Costello and and Bacharach write about a dozen supplementary ones. Costello acknowledges in the liner notes that the apparently solemn production was a long shot to ever get picked up for Broadway, as “such a show might feel like Eugene O’Neill’s ‘Long Day’s Journey Into Night,’ only with less tap-dancing.” Besides Costello’s versions of the songs, some feature vocals by Jenni Muldaur and Audra Mae, presumably representing tunes that would have been sung by the female lead in the musical.

Altogether the extended collection includes 45 tracks, 19 of which are previously unreleased. It also includes a 20-page booklet with a 10,000-word essay by Costello, early drafts of lyrics and pages of the script from the unproduced stage musical.

Although most of the contents of the deluxe package easily fit into assigned categories, there are oddities such as the track that Costello and Bacharach wrote for a proposed stage version of “Austin Powers: Man of Mystery” that Mike Myers was developing at one point. That tongue-in-cheek song, “Lie Back and Think of England,” as performed by Bacharach, is the final track on the otherwise sober “Taken From Life” disc. (The duo did have an on-screen association with the Austin Powers franchise, as they performed a remake of Bacharach/David’s “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again” in the “Spy Who Shagged Me” sequel; that soundtrack cut appears on the set’s “Costello Sings Bacharach & David” disc.)

The collaboration between Costello and Bacharach began in 1994 when they were asked to write and record a song together for Allison Anders’ film “Grace of My Heart,” as part of a soundtrack that involved many such intergenerational collaborations between then-contemporary artists and songwriters of the 1960s. That song ended up being “God Give Me Strength,” a touchstone of the joint album that came in 1998.

But Costello’s love for Bacharach was well established two decades before that, even, as he and the Attractions had a live version of “I Just Don’t Know What to Do With Myself” on the “Stiffs Live” collection in the late ’70s, and he also recorded “Baby It’s You” as a duet with Nick Lowe in the ’80s. Those tracks are included on the final disc of the boxed set.
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Re: The Songs of Bacharach & Costello: 4 album set based on Painted From Memory, March 3, 2023

Post by Newspaper Pane »

I feel like many of the live tracks on disc 3 were either from the deluxe expanded PFM or B-sides to the PFM singles, but I would have to check.
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And No Coffee Table
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Re: The Songs of Bacharach & Costello: 4 album set based on Painted From Memory, March 3, 2023

Post by And No Coffee Table »

Newspaper Pane wrote:I feel like many of the live tracks on disc 3 were either from the deluxe expanded PFM or B-sides to the PFM singles, but I would have to check.
The same live versions of "This House Is Empty Now," "I Still Have That Other Girl," and "In the Darkest Place" were on the 2CD Painted From Memory (along with different live versions of "Painted From Memory" and "What's Her Name Today?").

What's weird is the "Toledo" CD singles included live versions of "Such Unlikely Lovers" and "Tears at the Birthday Party," and those songs are not on the new live disc at all.
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Re: The Songs of Bacharach & Costello: 4 album set based on Painted From Memory, March 3, 2023

Post by Ymaginatif »

'Disappointment and Disgust'. Now that's a good title for a new Elvis Costello album!

Disappointment that the extra discs cover so little material and are half empty. That most of the songs are re-releases and little is new.

Disgust that the price of the deluxe set is so high. And that most of the interesting material is locked in this overpircied, mixed-media, directly from the artist product. (Like Bjay said, do the maths: 2 LP (= £40.52) + 2 CD Set (=£13.49) = £54.01. The 4 CD Set + 2 LP Deluxe (a book) = £173.99.
So, if you want the two extra CDs and the booklet, they will cost you an extra £120!)
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Re: The Songs of Bacharach & Costello: 4 album set based on Painted From Memory, March 3, 2023

Post by verbal gymnastics »

geebot wrote:
Mikeh wrote:So the only way to get the four cd set is to buy the super deluxe edition? No good for a poor pensioner like me, who ditched vinyl years ago!
You can ditch CDs as well because it's also available on streaming services. Apple Music already has several tracks available.
It depends of if the whole set is available or only selected tracks.

I’m expecting a 4CD set once the initial interest has died down. I’m not paying for the full box set and am not fussed about the 2CD set but I will buy a 4CD (lavish long box) set.

I will be asking somebody for a copy of the whole set and I know from other fans that they feel the same way.
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Re: The Songs of Bacharach & Costello: 4 album set based on Painted From Memory, March 3, 2023

Post by Top balcony »

verbal gymnastics wrote:I will be asking somebody for a copy of the whole set
You got a birthday coming up?

This luxury package looks a thing of beauty - but it's not for me. EC's made a habit of getting me to repeatedly re-purchase the same stuff over the years, seduced by the extra tracks, liner notes etc. However I've been priced out of this luxury market for a while now. Not disgusted just disappointed and realistic. The music 'industry' is now chasing after a different pound to that in my pocket, as streaming has irrevocably changed the landscape. I've already got more than enough product that I don't listen to.

EC's a professional musician - he is entitled to sign whatever deals he can, to earn a living from his talent. My guess is he will be aware of the prices but won't set them and will get an advance fee for the project which assumes selling out a limited run.
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