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Music CD - Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach: Painted from Memory
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Music CD: Painted from Memory
Artist: Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach
List Price: $13.98
Our Price: $1.99
Your Save: $ 11.99 ( 86% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Island / Mercury
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Tracks:
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1. In The Darkest Place
2. Toledo
3. I Still Have That Other Girl
4. This House Is Empty Now
5. Tears At The Birthday Party
6. Such Unlikely Lovers
7. My Thief
8. The Long Division
9. Painted From Memory
10. The Sweetest Punch
11. What's Her Name Today?
12. God Give Me Strength
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Binding: Audio CD
EAN: 0731453800229
Label: Island / Mercury
Manufacturer: Island / Mercury
Number Of Discs: 1
Publisher: Island / Mercury
Release Date: 1998-09-29
Studio: Island / Mercury
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: 1998 album - holds up well, to say the least
Comment: Questions from 1998:
Q: "Are her eyes still blue?"
Q: "Should she trust in you?"
Q: "Was she the one who took away your pride
-and your reason?"
(Partial) Answers from 2008:
A: 'Yes.'
A: 'No.'
A: 'In all honesty, Declan, yeah, ...still yes, buddy.'
Customer Rating:
Summary: If you love both Costello and Bacharach, you obviously have to have this album. It contains beautiful songs and
Comment: is so unique, the pairing of these two geniuses. Like most people, I had feverishly high expectations for this album. Two of my favorite song-writers, one of my very favorite voices. For the most part I totally relished Elvis's voice as it delivered all the neat Bacharach twists and turns. The only thing that disappointed me about this album was that the mood of the songs was spoiled somewhat for me when the high notes went loud in the vocal. I just didn't like this treatment on a lot of the high notes. For me, it detracted from the reflective, smoky sound that otherwise pervaded these beautiful songs thanks to Elvis's one-of-a-kind sound. Sometimes Elvis used a gentle falsetto on high notes and it was fantastic. Maybe the album should have been engineered in such a way as to keep the other high notes from going loud. So that's my one complaint about this album. The album is obviously unique and very much worth having. I don't think it's either artist's best, but that's a tremendously hard standard to measure up to, and besides, it's unique for what it is. Thanks to Elvis and Burt for doing this interesting experiment. I have to say when I heard Elvis perform some of these songs live he was totally mesmerizing and fantastic, the whole audience was riveted.
Customer Rating:
Summary: 5 Star Album You Don't See Coming
Comment: On first exposure the songs seem like a heavy meal with their dense orchestrations, Burt Bacharach's signature stop and go rhythms and Elvis Costello's opaque, barroom syntax. The overall effect could be extremely pretentious. Over time, however, after repeating listening, the rush of the songs' emotional climaxes have great depth and an eerie simplicity about them.
Burt Bacharach appeared to be attempting something truly original and different from his smash hits of the past. I, for one, believe that he succeeded.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Composition that can't be beat!
Comment: Excellent compositions & orchestration. Burt & Elvis make an excellent combination. Even though I have been married for 21 years I would consider this date music! Awesome.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Absolute class
Comment: This magnificent album combines the wonderful talents of Burt Bacharach and Elvis Costello together to create something completely unique. Sure from the opening notes its clear who has had a bigger influence on the music (Bacharach) but Costello's input both lyrically and in some fantastic vocal performances is not to down-played.
Bacharach's background as one one of the finest popular songwriters needs no introduction. However the journey that Costello has taken from 70's new-wave angry young man to frankly all-round musical chameleon is amazing. He's now married to a Jazz Pianist, reads music and has written his own classical music - including the score! At the time of this recording Costello was halfway through this transitional period, but was already writing at the Piano and indeed a large part of the music was written by Bacharach and Costello at two keyboards.
On this album Costello pushes his voice to the limit and consequently puts in a number of astounding performances. His voice will not be to everybodies taste, but I love the emotion he puts into his singing and the vibrato he adds to any held note has become a trademark feature.
Favourite tracks - well "Tears at the Birthday Party" gives Costello a chance great to demonstrate his vocal range. Perhaps not the most interesting track lyrically, but when Costello sings the chorus you can't help but become wrapped up in the whole thing. Likewise "God give me Strength" is another great performance from Costello.
Another track I love is "The Sweetest Punch" which demonstrates Burt Bacharach's fabulous arranging and conducting skills. It goes without saying that all the songs are impeccably arranged, and the production is spot on.
You know how sometimes you have to play an album quite a few times before you begin to appreciate it. Well not with this one, the first time I played it I new it was a classic.
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Editorial Reviews:
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As promised, Elvis Costello and Burt Bacharach's long-awaited full-length collaboration Painted from Memory bears the hallmarks of Bacharach's classic '60s work with the likes of Dionne Warwick--full-force melodies, traditional pop instrumentation, clever and occasionally pained lyrics. It finds the pair reveling in their gifts on a dozen tracks that range from concise under-three-minute gems to sprawling art songs. The result is a set of instant classics that stand head and shoulders above much of Costello's '90s recordings. --Rickey Wright
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