ORIGINAL ALBUM (52:24)
- In The Darkest Place (4:15)
- Toledo (4:31)
- I Still Have That Other Girl (2:44)
- This House Is Empty Now (5:08)
- Tears At The Birthday Party (4:37)
- Such Unlikely Lovers (3:22)
- My Thief (4:17)
- The Long Division (4:11)
- Painted From Memory (4:11)
- The Sweetest Punch (4:07)
- What's Her Name Today? (4:05)
- God Give Me Strength (6:10)
It is easy to imagine a hypothetical Painted
From Memory reissue including its own album-length Rhino-style
bonus disc, since there is already an album's worth of related material
available on existing CDs. These tracks — alternate and live versions of Painted From Memory songs, Elvis
covering old Bacharach hits, and an Elvis cameo on one of Burt's solo
albums — are listed in the "Related Extras" section below.
The songs listed in the "Additional Extras" and "Unreleased &
Unrecorded" sections have no real connection to Painted From Memory other than the
chronological one. It seems unlikely they would ever be part of a Painted From Memory reissue, but they
could turn up somewhere else.
There has, in fact, already been a Painted
From Memory reissue. Seven months after the album's initial
release, the "2CD limited tour edition" was issued in the UK with a
bonus disc of five otherwise unavailable live recordings. These tracks
are included in the "Related Extras" section.
RELATED EXTRAS
I'LL NEVER FALL IN LOVE AGAIN with Burt Bacharach
[Austin Powers: The Spy
Who Shagged Me — Music From The Motion Picture album by various artists]
Elvis and Burt make a brief appearance in the second Austin Powers film miming to a new
recording of the Bacharach & David classic. They filmed their part
in November 1998 and presumably recorded the song shortly before that.
GOD GIVE ME STRENGTH (LIVE, NEW
YORK, FEB. 25, 1997)
[Live On Letterman — Music From The Late Show
album by various artists]
GOD GIVE ME STRENGTH (LIVE, NEW
YORK, APR. 8, 1998)
[One Amazing Night album by Burt
Bacharach]
PAINTED FROM MEMORY (LIVE, NEW
YORK, OCT. 18, 1998)
[The Best Of Sessions At West 54th
album by various artists]
THIS HOUSE IS EMPTY NOW (LIVE,
NEW YORK, NOV. 23, 1998)
[Painted From Memory (2CD Limited Tour
Edition)]
I JUST DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH
MYSELF (LIVE, LONDON, JUN. 30, 2000)
[Tribute To Burt Bacharach & Hal David
album by various artists]
These are the officially released live performances by Elvis Costello
and Burt Bacharach. They are backed by a larger band on all but "This
House Is Empty Now," which features only Elvis' voice and Burt's piano.
"This House Is Empty Now" and both versions of "God Give Me Strength"
are abbreviated arrangements of the songs, having been shortened for the
television shows for which they were originally recorded. The first "God
Give Me Strength" actually dates from Elvis' tenure with Warner Bros.,
but it is listed on this page for thematic reasons. Elvis and Burt also
included versions of Bacharach & David's "Make It Easy On Yourself,"
"My Little Red Book," and "Anyone Who Had A Heart" in most of their 1998
concert appearances, and all three can be heard on the officially
released Sessions At West 54th
video.
TOLEDO arranged by Bill Frisell
[The Sweetest Punch — The New Songs Of Elvis
Costello And Burt Bacharach album by Bill Frisell]
I STILL HAVE THAT OTHER GIRL with Cassandra Wilson;
arranged by Bill Frisell
[The Sweetest Punch — The New Songs Of Elvis
Costello And Burt Bacharach album by Bill Frisell]
While Elvis and Burt were working on Painted
From Memory in Los Angeles, Bill Frisell was recording his
primarily instrumental arrangements of the same songs in New York.
Although he was not otherwise involved in the recording of The Sweetest Punch, Elvis
contributed vocals to a reworked "Toledo" and a duet version of "I Still
Have That Other Girl" with Cassandra Wilson.
TEARS AT THE BIRTHDAY PARTY
(LIVE, SYDNEY, JAN. 27, 1999)
["Toledo"
CD single #1]
WHAT'S HER NAME TODAY? (LIVE,
TOKYO, FEB. 10, 1999)
[Painted From Memory (2CD Limited Tour
Edition)]
I STILL HAVE THAT OTHER GIRL (LIVE, TOKYO,
FEB. 10, 1999)
[Painted From Memory (2CD Limited Tour
Edition)]
SUCH UNLIKELY LOVERS (LIVE, PERTH, FEB. 13,
1999)
["Toledo"
CD single #2]
IN THE DARKEST PLACE (LIVE,
MELBOURNE, FEB. 16, 1999)
[Painted From Memory (2CD Limited Tour
Edition)]
PAINTED FROM MEMORY (LIVE, MELBOURNE, FEB.
16, 1999)
[Painted From Memory (2CD Limited Tour
Edition)]
Nine songs from Elvis Costello
and Steve Nieve's 1999 "Lonely World Tour" were distributed among
various CDs in 1999, including these six versions of Painted From Memory songs. All differ
significantly from the elaborately produced album versions.
WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE? with Burt Bacharach
[At This Time album by Burt Bacharach]
WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE? (EXPLICIT
VERSION) with Burt Bacharach
[download-only
single]
Elvis does most of the singing on this song (written by Bacharach and
Tonio K) from Burt's 2005 album. The song was originally recorded with
Elvis singing the closing line as "See things really have to change or
we're all fucked," but the lyric was toned down to "See things really
have to change before it's too late" on the album. The original
"explicit version" was made available from online download services
(including iTunes and Yahoo! Music) in February 2006.
ADDITIONAL EXTRAS 1998-2000
LONG JOURNEY HOME (ANTHEM) with The Chieftains,
The Irish Film Orchestra and Anúna
[Long Journey Home — Original Soundtrack
album by various artists]
"Long Journey Home" was
created for the TV miniseries The
Irish In America: Long Journey Home. It was written by Elvis and Paddy
Moloney and recorded with The Chieftains, The Irish Film Orchestra, and
the vocal group Anúna at Windmill Lane Studios in Dublin.
Released in January 1998, "Long Journey Home" apparently dates from the
brief period following Elvis' departure from Warner Bros. and prior to
his debut as a Mercury recording artist. (The CD booklet says he
"appears courtesy of By Eleven," his management company.) The track can
also be found on The Chieftains' 2002 album The Wide World Over — A 40 Year Celebration,
but there it is in the form of the "radio edit" (previously available
on a European promo-only CD single) which is about a minute shorter than
on the soundtrack album.
MY MOOD SWINGS
[The Big Lebowski — Original Motion Picture
Soundtrack album by various artists]
MY MOOD SWINGS (ALTERNATE MIX)
["My Mood
Swings" promo CD single]
Elvis' unofficial debut as a Mercury recording artist was this
Costello/O'Riordan original written especially for the film The Big Lebowski and produced by T
Bone Burnett. It was recorded at New York's Clinton Recorders with Marc
Ribot, Greg Cohen, and Jim Keltner in October 1997 and first released on
the movie's soundtrack album in February 1998. A promo-only CD single
inexplicably featured a completely different mix of the song. The
original mix from the soundtrack album was also used as the B-side of
the single for "45" in 2002.
SHE
[Notting Hill — Music From The Motion Picture
album by various artists; also released as a single and included on The Very Best Of Elvis Costello]
Elvis' version of Charles Aznavour's "She" was recorded for use in the
1999 Julia Roberts/Hugh Grant film Notting
Hill. Its subsequent
release as a single resulted in a respectable chart hit (#19 in the UK —
making it Elvis' biggest hit in the UK since 1983's "Pills And Soap")
which also found a home on The Very
Best Of Elvis Costello later in 1999.
BABY PLAYS AROUND (LIVE, SYDNEY,
FEB. 19, 1999)
["Toledo"
CD single #2]
INCH BY INCH / FEVER (LIVE,
SYDNEY, FEB. 19, 1999)
["Toledo"
CD single #1]
ALISON (LIVE, ROME [NEW YORK]
JUL. 25, 1999)
[Woodstock 99 — Volume Two album by
various artists]
Three additional recordings from Elvis Costello and Steve Nieve's 1999
"Lonely World Tour."
MEET ME ON THE CORNER with Dan Hicks and the
Hot Licks
[Beatin' The Heat album by Dan Hicks
and the Hot Licks]
This uptempo duet with Dan Hicks also features Brian Setzer on guitar
and was released in 2000. Elvis' involvement was limited to adding his
vocal to an otherwise completed track.
UNRELEASED & UNRECORDED
BRIGHT BLUE TIMES
Elvis wrote and recorded this song especially for the film Soft Sand, Blue Sea, which was
produced by Alan Bleasdale and aired on British television in 1998.
Elvis played the recorded version on Irish radio shortly before the
telecast and explained, "It's not out on record yet, but it'll turn up
somewhere — I don't really know where." So far we're still waiting.
Since the film recording sounds like a rough demo, he may intend to
record a more polished version in the future. The song was also played
in concert on at least one occasion (February 15, 1998 in Cremona,
Italy).
EDITH AND THE KINGPIN
Sometime around 1998, Elvis recorded this Joni Mitchell song
(from 1975's The Hissing Of Summer
Lawns) for a Joni Mitchell tribute album which has yet to be
released.
YOU LIE SWEETLY
Several unrecorded tunes were performed during Costello
& Nieve's 1999 Lonely World Tour. Many of them — "45," "Alibi,"
"When I Was Cruel," "Oh Well," "Soul For Hire," and "Heart Shaped
Bruise" — have since been recorded, but others have either been
abandoned or continue to wait for a future project. "You Lie Sweetly,"
written by Costello & Nieve, was featured frequently in their 1999
concerts and has been heard occasionally since (including as recently as
July 2004).
COULDN'T YOU KEEP THAT TO YOURSELF
Another unrecorded tune from the Lonely World Tour was played
only twice before receiving official release in the form of Ute Lemper's
cover version (on her 2000 album Punishing
Kiss). "I sent two versions of it to Ute, different kinds of
variations on the available verses and left it for her to choose which
final lyrics she sang," Elvis said at the time. Elvis had joked in 1996
about writing a song called "Couldn't You Keep That To Yourself" for
Madonna, which may indicate that the song was written around the time of All This Useless
Beauty.
ADDITIONAL NOTES
Elvis is featured as producer, co-writer (with Cait O'Riordan), and
background vocalist on "I Throw My Toys Around," which was credited to
"No Doubt featuring Elvis Costello" in its initial appearance on the
soundtrack to The Rugrats Movie
in 1998. (It can also be found on the No Doubt box set Boom Box and B-sides collection Everything In Time.) It is not
listed above because I do not consider it a Costello performance. The
track was recorded April 23, 1998.
An early version of "God Give Me Strength" recorded with the
Attractions is discussed on the All This Useless Beauty page.
Three unrecorded songs — "I Dreamed Of My Old Lover Last Night," "Burnt
Sugar Is So Bitter," and "Suspect My Tears" — premiered in 1999 concerts
will eventually be discussed on a page devoted to The Delivery Man.
"Sleepless Nights," Elvis' contribution to Return Of The Grievous Angel: A Tribute To
Gram Parsons, was recorded around the time of Painted From Memory but is not listed
above as it has already appeared as part of Rhino's reissue program on
the Kojak Variety
bonus disc. Similarly, the Elvis-related songs from Roy Nathanson's Fire At Keaton's Bar & Grill date
from this period but are included on The Juliet Letters bonus disc.
