Records: Elvis Costello wand Burt Bacharach's Painted From Memory

By Saul Austerlitz

It doesn't quite seem like a match made in heaven. Elvis Costello, king of the "fuck you" song, the man who wrote caustic gems like "Less Than Zero" and "Deep Dark Truthful Mirror." In Painted from Memory, he's matched up with Burt Bacharach, king of schlocky '60s pop, whose old collaborator, Hal David, is now a Psychic Friend. Yet out of this recipe for failure comes a compelling document of love and longing.

Costello fascinates in his attempt to fit his angry-Brit lyrical persona into the traditional form of Bacharach's arrangements. Costello's lyrics are more simplistic than usual, but he has trimmed the fat from his songwriting, leaving only the emotional core of heartbreak.

Bacharach steps up to the musical challenge as well, arranging backdrops for Costello that bring to mind empty rooms, packed suitcases, and the sadness of sunny Los Angeles days. Bacharach even employs female backup singers as a Greek chorus, answering Costello's words with interjections like, "There's nothing left over."

Barring earthshaking changes in musical taste, there will not be widespread interest in this album. It's a shame, too, because Costello is possibly the most brilliant lyricist to emerge from the new wave era, and his talents have not diminished over the past 20 years. On Painted from Memory, he has temporarily shelved his righteous anger and replaced it with songs soaked with regret. This from the same Elvis Costello of "Tramp the Dirt Down" from 1989's Spike, on which he announced that he is anxiously awaiting the day he can spit on Margaret Thatcher's grave. But the Elvis Costello of Painted from Memory churns out songs with uniformity of emotion that make for one of the most consistent albums of his career. (Mercury)

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