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Composer Burt Bacharach, who died Feb. 8, worked with many top lyricists over the years on individual songs that became huge hits. But his most meaningful album partner may have been Elvis Costello. Together, they wrote about the anguish of failed relationships—creating a new breed of saloon song minus the saloon.
Their collaboration on “Painted From Memory,” in 1998, nudged them out of their lanes and resulted in a 1999 Grammy for the song “I Still Have That Other Girl.” By teaming up, they also raised their visibility. As a soulful new-wave rocker, Mr. Costello helped re-establish the relevance of Mr. Bacharach, who, in turn, gave Mr. Costello the Tin Pan Alley panache he’d long sought.
UMe has just issued “The Songs of Bacharach & Costello,” a four-CD, two-LP boxed set that includes a remastered “Painted From Memory,” a new album of material for an unrealized Broadway musical, 14 live performances and three newly recorded tracks.
“Painted From Memory” is significant for its anxiety-ridden, lovelorn concept. Not since “Anyone Who Had a Heart” and “I Just Don’t Know What to Do With Myself” had Mr. Bacharach composed and arranged such strong melodies for lyrics about romantic despair and uncertainty. The music required a different approach from his usual opalescent optimism.
For his part, Mr. Costello had to write lyrics and sing in a more traditional pop vernacular. The songs demanded clear, poetic narratives, and his voice needed to express heartbreak and misery without going overboard.
Their partnership began in 1989 as a chance encounter at a Hollywood recording studio. Mr. Costello invited Mr. Bacharach to hear the mix of “Spike,” his newly completed album. Mr. Bacharach came by and liked its edgy quality and the stretched desperation of Mr. Costello’s singing voice.
Six years later, when Mr. Bacharach was composing for the movie “Grace of My Heart,” he asked Mr. Costello for lyrics. Mr. Costello faxed over words as well as music for a verse and hook.
The next evening, Mr. Bacharach faxed back a revised draft with an introductory melody and a bridge that Mr. Costello describes in the new set’s liner notes as “operatic in scale.” The result was “God Give Me Strength,” which would later be nominated for a Grammy. As Mr. Costello explained in his 2015 memoir, “To have written a song like [that] and simply stopped would have been ridiculous.”
Mr. Costello asked Mr. Bacharach if he’d consider working with him on an album, and they slid together like magnets. At Mr. Bacharach’s writing studio, they developed 11 additional songs in sync with the strained mood of “God Give Me Strength.”
Thematically, Mr. Costello’s vision for the album “Painted From Memory” was inspired by Frank Sinatra’s solitary ache on “Only the Lonely” (1958) and “No One Cares” (1959). Unlike the Sinatra arrangements, which feed into the sorrow, Mr. Bacharach offset the lyrics with animated and dramatic orchestrations.
On “Toledo,” a song about romantic betrayal and forgiveness, Mr. Bacharach’s arrangement gingerly circles the lyrics. Mr. Costello’s vocal sounds like a cheating lover’s agonized pleas outside a slammed door: “But it’s no use saying that I love you / And how that girl really didn’t mean a thing to me.”
Also notable is the album’s torment and despair. On “I Still Have That Other Girl,” Mr. Bacharach’s “Alfie”-paced arrangement builds and explodes in a crescendo as Mr. Costello gives everything he has vocally. The concept continues with “This House Is Empty Now,” a gut-wrenching extension of Mr. Bacharach’s mood on “A House Is Not a Home” (1964). “Tears at the Birthday Party” looks at how cheating, a failed marriage and a refusal to forgive play out at a child’s party, accompanied by a bouncy orchestration.
Though the songs all center on regret, each has a completely different coloration. In retrospect, the album’s only flaw is the decision on “My Thief” to have a female vocal reply in the fourth verse: “I didn’t lead you on / But there will always be / A little larceny in everyone.” It now feels intrusive and contrived.
A second collection in the box, “Taken From Life,” includes several new songs and was recorded mostly in 2021 with guest artists. These 15 tracks were conceived for an unrealized Broadway musical and have been assembled here by Mr. Costello for the first time.
Two songs that bookend these tracks are “You Can Have Her” and “Look Up Again.” The former was co-written around 2010, and lyrics for the latter predate the project and were written by Mr. Costello for his wife, singer-pianist Diana Krall. The two songs were recorded for the new set by Mr. Costello in April 2022.
The music and vocal on “You Can Have Her” are provocative, with a jaunty intro reminiscent of Joni Mitchell’s “Ray’s Dad’s Cadillac.” “Look Up Again” has a tender melody, with a sweeping string arrangement by Vince Mendoza. The lyrics’ narrative unfolds in reverse, hoping for a relationship do-over.
With the recent loss of Mr. Bacharach, the new box takes on fresh import. Songs now sound like shared marital regrets from a late father and straying son, and may turn out to be both artists’ most significant and heartfelt work.
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