Just a note of thanks to everyone at Castello Sforzesco, Milano – our third and final show in Italy, following a return to Rome and my first ever appearance in Palermo – during which Steve Nieve and I shared the stage with Carmen Consoli and her musicians, performing in turn and then in the finale; contrasting our songs, our voices and even our languages.
Those in attendance will note that, among other things, Carmen sang the chorus of my composition, “All This Useless Beauty”, which I first attempted to translate into Italian, many years ago, in acknowledgment of the country in which I began writing the song.
To return this favour, I adapted the two refrains of, “Le Cose Di Sempre” into English, not a literal translation but retaining some of the images and emotion of Carmen’s consoling original text, understanding it to be addressed to a child.
For those who are curious to know, these are the two stanzas that I sang:
If you close your eyes, my love, nothing can happen to you Come and lie here in my arms and talk to me Of the soft beating of wings and fantastic things That you fear you may hear scuttling in these shadows
But if I call out your name again then you may answer for me In a place were moonlight fell and stories tell: “Pull oyster from a shell and a pretty pearl to string That mosquito and its sting Are found in everything”
As Steve and I leave for our next engagement in Granada, Spain, we send our many thanks to all concerned in making this brief but delightful adventure possible.
We hope to see you all again before so very long. Elvis Costello
I have been at a rare loss for words since the passing of Tony Bennett, still amazed that I had ever met him, much less that I got to spend time with him, talking about music, art or family, let alone record or share the stage with him or that I would be granted such privileged proximity to witness his more substantial collaborations with my wife, Diana Krall.
Looking back over photos of us together, one could not help but note the contrast between us in style and ease in front of the camera.
This first shot was taken at “The Red Parrot” in NYC in 1983 at the taping of an unaired NBC television special, “Swing It Again” and, yes, that is Count Basie smiling up at us from behind the piano.
I felt and certainly sounded like an ill-equipped, terribly hoarse novice on that occasion, yet Tony, sensing that I had drifted too far from shore in even taking on this assignment, was sympathetic and encouraging to me, gracefully getting me through that uncomfortable ordeal.
I had been just thirteen years old when I first heard Tony Bennett sing. My mother, Lillian, took me to a show in London on which the singer – who rivaled or even surpassed Sinatra in her affections – was co-billed with Buddy Rich.
As a singer’s son myself, I thought the drummer to be an obnoxious show-off, constantly stepping into the singer’s limelight, delaying the appearance of one of those beautiful ballads that meant so much to Lillian but finally, the tempo dropped, the tempest stilled and Tony sang “When Joanna Loved Me” and Johnny Mandel’s, “Shadow Of Your Smile” more beautifully than anyone could imagine.
The next time Tony and I would sing together was at the taping of his “MTV Unplugged” in 1994, trading lines on “They Can’t Take That Away From Me” like two old pals. Tony also had k.d. lang as duet partner but all of the guests were simply there to frame the event, not to define it.
This was an opportunity for Tony to sing concentrated, sometimes hushed versions of “Body and Soul” or Kurt Weill’s “Speak Low” and, perhaps, some of those songs were heard for the first time by this younger audience.
In this second shot, Tony looks immaculate as ever but the stance illustrates his generosity; his hand on my shoulder, a gesture of reassurance to the camera, as if to say, “This guy is okay by me”.
That snapshot was taken at the sessions for “Duets: An American Classic”. We had a ball, singing “Are You Havin’ Any Fun?”. One take for sound balance, one take for the tape and one more for the camera, because that’s how it was done.
Later that same day, Diana and Tony cut “The Best Is Yet To Come”.
They had toured together before Diana and I had even met. That was in those rich years when the accolades and success came to Tony’s songbook and salute records; tipping a brim to Sinatra on “Perfectly Frank”, to Fred Astaire on “Steppin’ Out” and recording collections like the exquisite “Silver Lining – The Songs Of Jerome Kern”, each seeming like a current event rather than some dim nostalgic view.
There is no better illustration of Tony’s possession of the moment than when he pulled Diana out of the audience at the taping of my television show, “Spectacle” and asked her to join him on “I’ve Got The World On A String”.
Our lads were but infants then and, during a technical re-set, Diana had been glancing down at her phone to check for a message from home about one of them, when Tony suddenly asked for her to join him on stage – unscripted and unrehearsed – and to take over the piano bench. The ease and joy of their performance was worth ten more questions that I might have asked.
Songs were always there to be celebrated and revisited with the benefit of a lifetime of experience and appreciation because Tony’s possession of these songs was more instinctive than academic. Diana and Tony’s last studio work together was “Love Is Here To Stay” – his second-to-last album, a lovely, intimate recording of numbers from the Gershwin songbook.
One final picture: a sunny day in Central Park in 2017 and our family is out walking when we happen to see Tony sitting on a park bench near his apartment. There he was; the exceptional New Yorker, looking splendid in his track suit, taking in the day, being hailed by passers-by.
There are no more words needed to tell you how much this photo means to me now or how fortunate I feel to have known him or to have spent these moments together.
Unlike some posturing political charlatans one might mention, Tony Bennett actually saw the horror and suffering of war from the perspective of an enlisted man, serving in the U.S. Army in the Second World War and was in a unit that liberated the Kaufering concentration camp near Dachau.
These experiences seem to have confirmed him as a patriotic but peace-loving American. On a fundamental level of human decency, he was disgusted by segregation of African-American servicemen who had served and risked as much as any other soldier in the fight against fascism.
In peacetime, he was equally dismayed to find that while he and Duke Ellington could headline a gala event as musicians, only one of them could attend the social festivities preceding the performance.
In 1965, Tony Bennett performed at a rally in Alabama alongside his lifelong friend, Harry Belafonte, Mahalia Jackson, Nina Simone and Joan Baez in support of the civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery led by Dr. Martin Luther King.
It is said that he did not care for the bellicose sentiments of “The Star Spangled Banner” – with its “bombs bursting in air”. He was certainly critical of the ungainly and, for some, impossible melodic leap on those very words and identified more closely with the hopeful promise of “America The Beautiful”.
I understand that New York City has declared Tony’s birthday, August 3rd, to be “Tony Bennett Day”. Some day, when the world is right, it will be a national holiday.
Until then, may I suggest you spin Tony’s incomparable duo album with Bill Evans, particularly the composition by Leonard Bernstein with lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, never more lovely and consoling than at this moment: “Some Other Time”.
My thoughts, gratitude and loving condolences go to Susan, Danny, Dae and all of Tony’s family and to his many colleagues and friends whose loss is immeasurable.
t’s not many tours that take a complete left turn from the style, content and tone of how they started with just a few dates left on the itinerary before everyone heads home. That’s coasting time. Yet that’s exactly what happened with the final six shows on Elvis Costello & the Imposters’ “We’re All Going on a Summer Holiday Tour,” where no one who saw any of the first 17 gigs on the outing would have much recognized how things transpired in the final half-dozen. It was all due to the transformative presence of a three-man horn section, which the advertising had accurately promised would only be showing up for the tour coda. What was unexpected was just how thoroughly Costello retooled the whole show to build it around these new brass arrangements, discarding certain set staples and adding new ones to show just what different flavors could be realized with horns o’ plenty.
This is a much less physical show than the last tour I saw. It’s not like Nick’s set, where every song was at a much slower tempo than the originals — Elvis still opened with “Mystery Dance,” which is a declaration, shots fired, and setting a decided mood. But he sat down for at least half the show, which didn’t detract from the overall energy because that move created an atmosphere of decided focus and intent. Elvis is always focused, but this was more of an exploratory, let’s see what I can do with this kind of vibe, a mix of jam band and quasi-improvisatory jazz ensemble. He’s tinkering with the songs, he’s starting to pry them apart at the seams to see what’s inside and what he can do with it. Hot damn.
“The most valuable advice I have ever received was given to me by my mother, Lillian. She taught me to write down what I could not bear to say, and it has served me well.’
More than four decades into an astonishing career, pop legend Elvis Costello’s energy and ambition appears undimmed. Esquire joined him for the entirety of his recent residency at the Gramercy Theatre, Manhattan, for a rare encounter with a remarkable man.
From Bridgeport, CT to Philadelphia, PA, Elvis Costello & The Imposters – already augmented by guitarist, Charlie Sexton – will also be joined by a horn section featuring trumpet player/arranger, Michael Leonhart, saxophonist, Donny McCaslin and the trombonist, Ray Mason.
SECOND NYC SHOW ADDED BEACON THEATER – THURSDAY JULY 13
Nick Lowe & Los Straitjackets To Open All Dates.
These horn players first joined Costello over two shows of the “100 Songs & More” stand, his acclaimed 10-night engagement at the Gramercy Theatre, NYC, at which over 230 titles were performed, most of them original compositions with only three titles being repeated.
Michael Leonhart wrote or adapted horn arrangements for a variety of Costello’s songs featured from “Pills & Soap”, “Almost Blue” and “Come The Meantimes”.
On NIGHT NINE, Leonhart became the first trumpet player to take the solo on “Shipbuilding” since Chet Baker’s original performance on the studio recording in 1983 before leading the horn section into the sequel song, “Cinco Minutos Con Vos”, first recorded for “Wise Up Ghost” with The Roots.
Donny McCaslin is a saxophonist, composer and bandleader whose recordings include his trio album “Recommended Tools”, “Fast Forward” and his vital contribution to David Bowie’s final album, “Blackstar”.
McCaslin raised the emotional pitch of NIGHT EIGHT at the Gramercy Theatre with a passionate tenor saxophone solo in the coda of Costello’s ballad, “Someone Took The Words Away”.
Ray Mason is a trombonist, arranger and member of Antibalas as well as having featured in numerous ensembles and concert collaborations with artists from Erykah Badu and Randy Newman to Taylor Swift and Valerie June. He was among the players accompanying Jennifer Lopez and Shakira at the 2020 Super-Bowl Half-Time show, so is unlikely to be confounded by any of The Imposters’ dance moves.
In 2020, Elvis Costello wrote lyrics for a Michael Leonhart composition that became “Newspaper Pane” after Costello had provided the spoken word performance to Leonhart’s recorded collaboration with Bill Frisell and Nels Cline which became, “Radio Is Everything” on Costello’s “Hey Clockface” album before writing the lyrics and recording vocals for “Shut Him Down” from The Michael Leonhart Orchestra release, “The Normyn Suites”.
BEACON THEATER SHOW #2 ADDED – Thursday July 13th
Ticket information: · Artist Presale: Wednesday, April 19 at 10AM Local – Thursday, March 30 at 10PM Local Live Nation Presale: Wednesday, April 19 at 12PM Local – Thursday, March 30 at 10PM Local General Onsale: Friday, April 21 at 10AM local
Wed Jun 07 – Vancouver, BC – Queen Elizabeth Theatre Fri Jun 09 – Woodinville, WA – Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery Sat Jun 10 – Bend, OR – Hayden Homes Amphitheater Sun Jun 11 – Reno, NV – Silver Legacy Casino Reno Tue Jun 13 – San Francisco, CA – Golden Gate Theatre Wed Jun 14 – Ventura, CA – Ventura Theatre Fri Jun 16 – Los Angeles, CA – Greek Theatre Sat Jun 17 – Las Vegas, NV – Pearl Concert Theater at Palms Casino Resort Sun Jun 18 – Phoenix, AZ – Arizona Financial Theatre Tue Jun 20 – Oklahoma City, OK – The Criterion Wed Jun 21 – Omaha, NE – Steelhouse Omaha Fri Jun 23 – Hammond, IN – The Venue at Horseshoe Casino Sat Jun 24 – Milwaukee, WI – Summerfest* Sun Jun 25 – Nashville, IN – Brown County Music Center Tue Jun 27 – Interlochen, MI – Kresge Auditorium* Wed Jun 28 – Rochester Hills, MI – Meadow Brook Amphitheatre Sat Jul 01 – Lenox, MA – Tanglewood* Sun Jul 02 – Hampton Beach, NH – Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom Wed Jul 05 – Bridgeport, CT – Hartford HealthCare Amphitheater Thu Jul 06 – Boston, MA – MGM Music Hall at Fenway Sat Jul 08 – Syracuse, NY – Landmark Theatre Sun Jul 09 – Baltimore, MD – The Lyric Wed Jul 12 – New York, NY – Beacon Theatre Thu Jul 13 – New York, NY – Beacon Theatre Fri Jul 14 – Philadelphia, PA – The Met Philadelphia
Sydney Opera House: Sunday, 31 March 2024 (Easter Sunday) Sydney Opera House: Monday, 1 April 2024 (Easter Monday) Sydney Opera House: Tuesday, 2 April 2024 The Palais, Melbourne: Thursday, 4 April
Your current tickets will be valid for these performances. Ticket providers will be in contact.
A note from Elvis Costello:
“We are so disappointed not to be returning to the stages at Byron Bay, where we had plans to surprise you with a few friends joining the show. It is maddening these unfortunate but unavoidable circumstances mean that our three sold-out nights at Sydney Opera House and a return to the Palais in St. Kilda, which was also sold out, must also be rescheduled. We are sorry for any inconvenience and hope that the wait will seem worthwhile when we return. Yours through music.” Elvis Costello & The Imposters (and their pal, Charlie Sexton).
Refunds will be available should you not wish to attend the rescheduled performances. Bluesfest only refunds one-day tickets for up to 30 days after the event.
Elvis Costello & The Imposters – with their special guest Charlie Sexton – are proud to announce: “We’re All Going On A Summer Holiday” – a 23 date tour produced by Live Nation. Commencing on June 7th in Vancouver, B.C. Canada, the tour includes stops at The Greek Theatre in Los Angeles and the Beacon Theatre in NYC. Nick Lowe & Los Straitjackets will open all of the coast-to-coast dates. TICKETS: The general on sale will begin Friday March 31, 2023 at 10am Local on ElvisCostello.com.
Since returning to the road in the summer of 2021, in the guise of “Elvis Costello & The Layabouts”, E.C. and The Imposters – Steve Nieve, Pete Thomas, Davey Faragher and augmented by Texas guitarist Charlie Sexton – have undertaken three tours in the United States and one in the U.K. and northern Europe. Most recently Costello played the highly-acclaimed “100 Songs and More”, a ten-night engagement at the Gramercy Theater, NYC at which he played more than 230 original songs, repeating only three titles. The shows that began in solo performance went on to spring nightly surprises, involving everything from an ensemble including musical saw, fiddle and Uillean pipes to an eight-person Broadway vocal chorus led by M.D. Rob Mathes, duets with jazz bassist, Endea Owens and, from the halfway point, performing with Steve Nieve at the piano before adding two different horn sections, led by trumpet player and arranger, Michael Leonhart. The stand included guest vocal appearances by Rebecca Lovell, La Marisol and JSWISS and concluded with a more than three hour finale performance with the full band line-up.
The “We’re All Going On A Summer Holiday ” dates will follow two headlining appearances at the Byron Bay Bluesfest in Australia, three nights at the Sydney Opera House and a show at the Palais Theatre in Melbourne. In May, Costello and Steve Nieve will return to the concert hall stage together for the first time in twenty years, in Reykjavik, Iceland. Further dates are planned for later in the year and will be announced shortly.
Since 2018, Costello has issued ten record releases; the most recent being, “The Songs of Bacharach & Costello,” a 4-CD, 2-LP box-set celebrating his nearly 30-year songwriting collaboration with Burt Bacharach. It was named Best New Reissue by Pitchfork. The Grammy Award-winning Elvis Costello and The Imposters album “Look Now” of 2018 was followed by the companion E.P., “Purse” while a French language E.P., “La Face Du Pendule à Coucou” followed the album, “Hey Clockface” – recorded in Helsinki and, Paris. Together with co-producer, Sebastian Krys, Costello also completed work on “Spanish Model” – an adaptation of 1978’s album “This Year’s Model” with new vocals recorded in lyrical adaptation and translation with a cast of Latin music performers. In 2022, the latest Elvis Costello and The Imposters release, “The Boy Named If,” was followed into the stores by “The Resurrection of Rust,” – the recording debut after fifty years of Rusty – the duo of Liverpool-based singer-songwriters, D.P. MacManus and Allan Mayes, accompanied by The Imposters for new recordings of their 1972 repertoire including two Nick Lowe compositions from his days in the band Brinsley Schwarz.
Preparations for a return to the stage in 2021 (and again in the summer of 2022) led to the release of “The Boy Named If (Alive at Memphis Magnetic)'”, which found the band running down live arrangements of their new songs along with the Jagger/Richards song, “Out Of Time” and Nick Lowe’s 1976 Dutch release, “Truth Drug”. The collection was completed by a brand new version of “Magnificent Hurt” by the Japanese duo, chelmico.
D.P. MacManus and Lowe first met in a public house, opposite The Cavern in Liverpool in 1972. Lowe went on to produce “Elvis Costello’s” largely ignored Stiff Records debut 45rpm, “Less Than Zero” and the subsequent failed singles releases, “Alison” and “Red Shoes”, although the same songs received more attention upon the release of his debut album, “My Aim Is True” in July ’77 in the U.K. and in a Columbia Records release late in the same year.
Between late 1977 and 1980, Nick Lowe produced the Elvis Costello and the Attractions albums, “This Year’s Model”, “Armed Forces”, “Get Happy” and ‘”Trust,”. In the Spring of 1979, Elvis Costello and the Attractions and Mink Deville were joined by Rockpile – featuring both Nick Lowe and Dave Edmunds – and undertook a three-month package tour of the United States. At this time, Costello’s version of a song from the last Brinsley Schwarz album, “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace Love & Understanding” saw its first release as the B-Side of the Radar Records single, “American Squirm”, credited to “Nick Lowe And His Sound” with the producer seen on the picture sleeve seated at the mixing board of Eden Studios in tinted horn-rims, cradling a Jazzmaster guitar with a newly inlaid fretboard reading, “Costello”. The track was subsequently added to the U.S. edition of Elvis Costello and the Attractions, third album, “Armed Forces”.
In 1984, Costello took the producer’s chair for the first and only time at a Nick Lowe session for the Hi Records-informed single, “L.A.F.S.” which was also included on the F-Beat Records album, “Nick Lowe & His Cowboy Outfit”. In the same year, the duo recorded the Burt Bacharach/Mack David/Barney Williams song, “Baby It’s You” at Lowe’s Am-Pro Studios in Shepherd’s Bush, London, also the location for a Boxing Day (1979) recording session with Lowe’s then father-in-law, Johnny Cash which yielded the hit release, “Without Love” and the Cash/Costello duet, “We Ought To Be Ashamed”. In 1986, Nick Lowe produced the Attractions’ last complete album, “Blood & Chocolate” at Olympic Studios, before returning for a bass-playing cameo on “Hurry Down Doomsday (The Bugs Are Taking Over)” for the 1990 Warner Brothers album, “Mighty Like A Rose”. In 1993 Nick Lowe (or Costello himself) played bass on nine of the songs on the album, “Brutal Youth”, which some mistook for a full Attractions reunion. They most recently performed together last summer on The Boy Named If & Other Favourites tour.
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 Lifecollection 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.
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 Timeshailed 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 *
