The nearly 30-year history of songwriting collaborations between Elvis Costello and Burt Bacharach will be the subject of a four-CD/two-LP boxed set, “The Songs of Bacharach & Costello,” arriving March 3. The collection draws much of its live and studio material from 1998’s “Painted From Memory,” the Grammy-winning album that represented their sole joint release to date.
But of particular interest to fans will be a disc, titled “Taken From Life,” that for the first time assembles all of the songs that the pair wrote together in subsequent years for a proposed “Painted From Memory” Broadway musical that they worked on for years but were never able to have mounted on the legit stage. Although many of those songs made their way onto Costello’s last few studio albums (especially another Grammy-winning effort, “Don’t Look Now”), about a half-dozen have never been released in any form before.
The super-deluxe version includes, in the CD format, a newly remastered version of “Painted From Memory”; the “Taken From Life” collection that has Costello’s and other artists’ recordings of the songs from the scrapped stage musical; a third disc, “Because It’s a Lonely World — Live,” of concert versions of the “Painted From Memory” tracks from the late ’90s, most of them performed as a duo by Costello and Steve Nieve; and a fourth disc of Costello covering 1960s classics by the writing team of Bacharach and David, live or in the studio, titled “Costello Sings Bacharach & David.”
That super-deluxe set is rounded out by two vinyl LPs, which contain the newly remastered “Painted From Memory” on the first three sides and six songs from the “Taken From Life” collection on the fourth side. Although “Painted From Memory” remains one of the most applauded and rewards Costello has been a part of, it was never issued on vinyl originally, as 1998 represented a low ebb for the format; it was only subsequently available in two Mobile Fidelity limited editions in the last few years that quickly sold out.
There are also less elaborate versions of the package, including a two-CD or two-LP set that includes just the first two discs, “Painted From Memory” and “Taken From Life,” minus the live tracks and oldies covers that make up the boxed set’s back half. Streaming and download versions will be available of all the tracks, as well as a new Dolby Atmos mix of “Painted From Memory.”
A handful of the tracks in the boxed set were newly recorded in the last couple of years. These include “Taken From Life,” done in the studio by Costello and his band the Imposters in 2022 with Sebastian Krys, the producer of Costello’s last few albums. A couple of the other unheard songs on that disc, “You Can Have Her” and “Look Up Again,” were recorded in 2021 under Bacharach’s direction and with Vince Mendoza leading the orchestration.
The unproduced “Painted From Memory” musical was the brainchild of TV veteran Chuck Lorre and Tony-winning writer Steven Sater, who were attempting to put together a story around the songs from the ’98 album and in the process had Costello and and Bacharach write about a dozen supplementary ones. Costello acknowledges in the liner notes that the apparently solemn production was a long shot to ever get picked up for Broadway, as “such a show might feel like Eugene O’Neill’s ‘Long Day’s Journey Into Night,’ only with less tap-dancing.” Besides Costello’s versions of the songs, some feature vocals by Jenni Muldaur and Audra Mae, presumably representing tunes that would have been sung by the female lead in the musical.
Altogether the extended collection includes 45 tracks, 19 of which are previously unreleased. It also includes a 20-page booklet with a 10,000-word essay by Costello, early drafts of lyrics and pages of the script from the unproduced stage musical.
Although most of the contents of the deluxe package easily fit into assigned categories, there are oddities such as the track that Costello and Bacharach wrote for a proposed stage version of “Austin Powers: Man of Mystery” that Mike Myers was developing at one point. That tongue-in-cheek song, “Lie Back and Think of England,” as performed by Bacharach, is the final track on the otherwise sober “Taken From Life” disc. (The duo did have an on-screen association with the Austin Powers franchise, as they performed a remake of Bacharach/David’s “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again” in the “Spy Who Shagged Me” sequel; that soundtrack cut appears on the set’s “Costello Sings Bacharach & David” disc.)
The collaboration between Costello and Bacharach began in 1994 when they were asked to write and record a song together for Allison Anders’ film “Grace of My Heart,” as part of a soundtrack that involved many such intergenerational collaborations between then-contemporary artists and songwriters of the 1960s. That song ended up being “God Give Me Strength,” a touchstone of the joint album that came in 1998.
But Costello’s love for Bacharach was well established two decades before that, even, as he and the Attractions had a live version of “I Just Don’t Know What to Do With Myself” on the “Stiffs Live” collection in the late ’70s, and he also recorded “Baby It’s You” as a duet with Nick Lowe in the ’80s. Those tracks are included on the final disc of the boxed set.
The full track listing:
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 *
* Previously unreleased
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