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

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

Post by Hawksmoor »

The format is impossible to know for sure, of course, but going by the number of new songs we think have been recorded, and the way he's talking this project up, I think we can safely say we're not looking at a re-release of PFM with a couple of new tracks tacked on the end. My dream would be a lavish box-set with (a) the original PFM, (b) an LP''s worth of new Costello/Bacharach songs (in the PFM style), and (c) a third disc of demos/live recordings. Fingers crossed.

At the same time, tail-end of 2022 (or even early 2023) is a long time for us to wait and speculate. Naturally, as an Elvis Costello fan, I want everything and I want it now. But there it is. I think it's blindingly obvious now that TBNI was intended to precede the US tour which was set up to promote it, but the great vinyl shortage of 2021 prevented that. So the knock-on is that if the PFM set makes it to the racks by the end of 2022, we'll still have had another calendar year with two major EC releases in it, so that's always nice.

Between TBNI and the PFM set? I still harbour a hope that we'll get a release from the Memphis Magnetic sessions - either as en EP or, with luck, a mini-LP. 'Truth Drug', the MM sessions versions of EDIWTB and 'Magnificent Hurt', and so on. I guess the best time for that would be April/May to whip up a bit of excitement around the UK tour. But even Elvis must be pleasantly surprised by the universally rapturous critical response (and surprisingly strong chart performances) of TBNI, so no doubt he and his record company will be happy to milk that for a few months before embarking on new releases.

So my best guess (or fantasy, if you will) for 2022 is: January: TBNI; April/May: the MM Sessions mini-LP; November: PFM box-set. Plus, of course, various one-off tracks and contributions to other people's projects along the way. For an artist who said, a decade ago, that he was giving up on making records, these have turned out to be happy days.
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Re: New compilation / package, based on Painted From Memory, 2022

Post by sweetest punch »

Elvis said that they recorded only two new songs: http://www.elviscostellofans.com/phpBB3 ... 6#p7750243
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Re: New compilation / package, based on Painted From Memory, 2022

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sweetest punch wrote:Elvis said that they recorded only two new songs: http://www.elviscostellofans.com/phpBB3 ... 6#p7750243
Yes, sorry. When I said 'going by the number of new songs we think have been recorded' I should really have said 'the number of songs we think we know exist'. Combining the ASCAP registrations with the two he says he's recorded might get us up to 8-10? And of course, the other question is, would such a project include orchestral or newly-recorded versions of 'Don't Look Now', 'Everyone's Playing House', 'Look Up Again' and so on?
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Re: New compilation / package, based on Painted From Memory, 2022

Post by sweetest punch »

Indeed, there must be enough unreleased songs for another great album.
Besides the ASCAP registrations, there are also the songs they have written for the Austin Powers musical.
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Re: New compilation / package, based on Painted From Memory, 2022

Post by John »

A nice digital release for Sessions at West 54th would be good.
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Re: New compilation / package, based on Painted From Memory, 2022

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I am excited about this, I love everything Costello/Bacharach.
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Re: New compilation / package, based on Painted From Memory, 2022

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John wrote:A nice digital release for Sessions at West 54th would be good.
A vinyl one would be better!
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Re: New compilation / package, based on Painted From Memory, 2022

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https://www.hotpress.com/music/punch-th ... o-22891710

(…)
“From the time we've written together, we wrote an album, it was reinterpreted by Bill Frisell [The Sweetest Punch, which also features the great Cassandra Wilson], a bunch of people recorded ‘God Give Me Strength’ [commissioned for the 1996 movie Grace Of My Heart, and one of Costello’s greatest achievements], and we were approached to write a musical based on it. We worked on it for three or four years. It got as far as the workshop performance, but it was clear that the new songs that we'd written and the old songs never really cohered, and the story that the writers wrote kind of competed with the songs, to be honest, I think they fought a fight that they couldn't win. That sounds a bit arrogant that there was more narrative in some of the lyrics than there was in the story. So it never was gonna work."

"Those were some of the songs that Burt led The Imposters in the studio on Look Now, that was an amazing session - 'Look Now' and 'Photographs Can Lie' - and there were other songs that we'd written together which The Imposters and I recorded with Steve Nieve playing, like 'He's Given Me Things'. There's still more, we were asked to write a score for Austin Powers and he wrote some fucking beautiful tunes. I wrote all of the music for 'Stripping Paper' on Look Now for that Painted From Memory musical. I gave that song to Burt, and he said, ‘that's finished, I'm not gonna add anything’. That's a pretty big compliment.”

"I think we will put a record which presents the original songs, and some sort of version of what could have been added to that, ranging from studio versions to really great vocal and piano demos, not just my voice but some other singers who did them at the time, what we call production demos, really amazing performances of some of these unheard songs."

(…)
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: New compilation / package, based on Painted From Memory, 2022

Post by bronxapostle »

Newspaper Pane wrote:I am excited about this, I love everything Costello/Bacharach.

Me too...hi Mike!!
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Re: New compilation / package, based on Painted From Memory, 2022

Post by Newspaper Pane »

bronxapostle wrote:
Newspaper Pane wrote:I am excited about this, I love everything Costello/Bacharach.

Me too...hi Mike!!
hey buddy! I quit facebook lol.
Hawksmoor
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Re: New compilation / package, based on Painted From Memory, 2022

Post by Hawksmoor »

sweetest punch wrote:"I think we will put a record which presents the original songs, and some sort of version of what could have been added to that, ranging from studio versions to really great vocal and piano demos, not just my voice but some other singers who did them at the time, what we call production demos, really amazing performances of some of these unheard songs."
OK, so in our ongoing curiosity to figure what exactly the hell this is...suspect we got a bit excited about the idea of a whole new LP of songs which had been written for the (now aborted) stage production. But the above quote steers us back towards something similar to (but maybe not identical to) the Rhino/Rykodisc reissues? The original LP plus a second disc of out-takes, demos (plus, presumably, the two newly-recorded tracks)?
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Re: New compilation / package, based on Painted From Memory, 2022

Post by FAVEHOUR »

Hawksmoor wrote:
sweetest punch wrote:"I think we will put a record which presents the original songs, and some sort of version of what could have been added to that, ranging from studio versions to really great vocal and piano demos, not just my voice but some other singers who did them at the time, what we call production demos, really amazing performances of some of these unheard songs."
OK, so in our ongoing curiosity to figure what exactly the hell this is...suspect we got a bit excited about the idea of a whole new LP of songs which had been written for the (now aborted) stage production. But the above quote steers us back towards something similar to (but maybe not identical to) the Rhino/Rykodisc reissues? The original LP plus a second disc of out-takes, demos (plus, presumably, the two newly-recorded tracks)?
Unless what he’s saying is that the extra material will be the songs that were written for the musical, as performed by the potential cast members…

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Re: New compilation / package, based on Painted From Memory, 2022

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Or a combination.
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Re: New compilation / package, based on Painted From Memory, 2022

Post by wardo68 »

Maybe he'll just record all the songs in Spanish?
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Re: New compilation / package, based on Painted From Memory, 2022

Post by Hawksmoor »

wardo68 wrote:Maybe he'll just record all the songs in Spanish?
'Toledo' in Spanish would be a nice thing. The whole LP, maybe not.
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Re: New compilation / package, based on Painted From Memory, 2022

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In a recent interview on Radio 1 in Belgium, Elvis confirms the release of the Painted From Memory package for later this year: http://www.elviscostellofans.com/phpBB3 ... =2&t=11987
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Re: New compilation / package, based on Painted From Memory, 2022

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https://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle ... 81068.html

Elvis Costello: 67, and it's time for this year's model to reflect

(…)
One of the many projects Costello completed during lockdown was a collection of songs marking his 30-year collaboration with legendary American composer Burt Bacharach, the man behind hits by Cilla Black, Dusty Springfield, Tom Jones and The Carpenters. Last summer they were in Capitol studios with a 30-piece orchestra recording two more songs for the album. Now they are just waiting to finalise the packaging.

“For all of the achievements of his catalogue, he is curious about the next song,” says Costello of his friend and collaborator. “He doesn’t have an arrogance about, ‘Well, I know how it goes because I wrote Walk On By or I wrote Alfie’.

“Even the fact that in 1995, I think it was, when we were first asked to write together, that he was open to writing music together, which is something you’ve never done. So right there our collaboration is different to every other collaboration he had ever been in.

“And although obviously there are songs where he had the sole responsibility for the music, there are others that were written in musical dialogue. And that’s better than going to college. All these things that you assume you understand from listening to the songs from the outside become a different calculation when you’re within the song and you’re trying to resolve a phrase.”
(…)
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Re: New compilation / package, based on Painted From Memory, 2022

Post by Hawksmoor »

sweetest punch wrote:https://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle ... 81068.html

Elvis Costello: 67, and it's time for this year's model to reflect

(…)
One of the many projects Costello completed during lockdown was a collection of songs marking his 30-year collaboration with legendary American composer Burt Bacharach, the man behind hits by Cilla Black, Dusty Springfield, Tom Jones and The Carpenters. Last summer they were in Capitol studios with a 30-piece orchestra recording two more songs for the album. Now they are just waiting to finalise the packaging.

“For all of the achievements of his catalogue, he is curious about the next song,” says Costello of his friend and collaborator. “He doesn’t have an arrogance about, ‘Well, I know how it goes because I wrote Walk On By or I wrote Alfie’.

“Even the fact that in 1995, I think it was, when we were first asked to write together, that he was open to writing music together, which is something you’ve never done. So right there our collaboration is different to every other collaboration he had ever been in.

“And although obviously there are songs where he had the sole responsibility for the music, there are others that were written in musical dialogue. And that’s better than going to college. All these things that you assume you understand from listening to the songs from the outside become a different calculation when you’re within the song and you’re trying to resolve a phrase.”
(…)
Hmm. That does sound a bit more like a compilation of the PFM tracks plus other previously-released collaborations with Burt, plus the two new tracks. I'm getting doubtful now about whether it will include out-takes or demos. Not overly bothered about 54th Street or the RFH, I've got good quality recordings of all those already (as I guess we all have). But some alternative cuts or out-takes would be nice...
Last edited by Hawksmoor on Sat May 28, 2022 6:21 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: New compilation / package, based on Painted From Memory, 2022

Post by sweetest punch »

Hawksmoor wrote: (…)
Hmm. That does sound a bit more like a compilation of the PFM tracks plus other previously-released collaborations with Burt, plus the two new tracks. I'm getting doubtful now about whether it will include out-takes or demos. Not overly bothered about 54th Street or the RAH, I've got good quality recordings of all those already (as I guess we all have). But some alternative cuts or out-takes would be nice...
Elvis said this a few months ago ( https://www.hotpress.com/music/punch-th ... o-22891710 ): "I think we will put a record which presents the original songs, and some sort of version of what could have been added to that, ranging from studio versions to really great vocal and piano demos, not just my voice but some other singers who did them at the time, what we call production demos, really amazing performances of some of these unheard songs."
Until now he has not spoken about including live versions of the PFM songs or including ‘Sessions at West 54th’. The VHS of ‘Sessions at West 54th’ was never released in Europe.
Nevertheless I’m still hoping that this “package” will include a lot of live performances and a DVD / Blu-ray of “Sessions at West 54th”.
Last edited by sweetest punch on Sat May 28, 2022 9:20 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Hawksmoor
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Re: New compilation / package, based on Painted From Memory, 2022

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sweetest punch wrote:
Hawksmoor wrote: (…)
Hmm. That does sound a bit more like a compilation of the PFM tracks plus other previously-released collaborations with Burt, plus the two new tracks. I'm getting doubtful now about whether it will include out-takes or demos. Not overly bothered about 54th Street or the RAH, I've got good quality recordings of all those already (as I guess we all have). But some alternative cuts or out-takes would be nice...
Elvis said this a few months ago ( https://www.hotpress.com/music/punch-th ... o-22891710 ): "I think we will put a record which presents the original songs, and some sort of version of what could have been added to that, ranging from studio versions to really great vocal and piano demos, not just my voice but some other singers who did them at the time, what we call production demos, really amazing performances of some of these unheard songs."
Until now he has not spoken about including live versions of the PFM songs or including ‘Sessions at West 54’. The VHS of ‘Sessions at West 54’ was never released in Europe.
Nevertheless I’m still hoping that this “package” will include a lot of live performances and a DVD / Blu-ray of “Sessions at West 54”.
You're right, that does sound a lot more promising. And while I do have good-quality recordings of West 54th Street and RFH* I can't deny it would be nice to have official, nicely-packaged copies, and to have the whole lot in one box. God knows, he's no stranger to lavishly-packaged expensive box-sets, so fingers crossed that this one will be up to the mark :D.

Just went back to edit my previous post to say 'RFH' not 'RAH'!
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Re: New compilation / package, based on Painted From Memory, 2022

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Perhaps the deluxe box set will have individual cut outs of Elvis, Burt, Steve and each member of the orchestra with their instrument!
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Re: New compilation / package, based on Painted From Memory, 2022

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A Diorama!!!
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Re: New compilation / package, based on Painted From Memory, 2022

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Exactly. And fitting it together could cause a Diorama drama!
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Re: New compilation / package, based on Painted From Memory, 2022

Post by cwr »

Has anyone heard any whispers of a release date for this? I feel like we *must* be getting close, right?

I am really looking forward to whatever this release turns out to be, a full-on celebration of PFM and the Bacharach/Costello collaboration is something I am very much in the mood for right about now.
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Re: New compilation / package, based on Painted From Memory, 2022

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I don’t think this will be released this year, otherwise there would already be an announcement.
A review of a Diana Krall concert on April 22 hints at further collaborations between Elvis an Burt other than their recording of two new songs in the summer of 2021: https://www.cltampa.com/music/review-di ... w-13294619

(…)
Every light above was exactly the same amount of dim, except for in between songs, when Diana would either introduce the next song, or just reveal secrets, like how her husband is currently working with Burt Bacharach or…

“I don’t know if I’m supposed to tell you that,” she admitted.


It was a great way to open “The Look of Love,” written by the iconic songwriter and the late Hal David in 1967. It originally appeared in the 1967 version of “Casino Royale,” long before Daniel Craig or Chris Cornell made names for themselves. With that factoid in mind, it’s a struggle to not help but wonder what a Krall-ified version of Cornell’s “You Know My Name”—from the 2006 “Royale”—might sound like.
(…)
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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