You can’t keep a good legend down.
Very famed composer Burt Bacharach has written three new songs with Elvis Costello for the latter’s new album, “Look Now.”
Even more amazingly, Bacharach plays piano on two of those tracks. Costello and Bacharach recorded and released a seminal album called “Painted from Memory” back in 1998, so this is a nice nod to that work.
That’s not all that’s interesting or special about “Look Now,” set for an October release. One song is co-written with Carole King, left over from the 20 year old soundtrack to the movie “Grace of My Heart.” Also, the first single from “Look Now,” called “Unwanted Number,” was also supposed to be from that soundtrack but was never recorded.
“Look Now” is the first new album recorded by Costello with his group, The Imposters, in a decade. From the first two tracks he’s released on YouTube, the album harkens back to his best work.
The singer has had a tough summer. He announced on July 6th that he was canceling the final six dates of a European tour to better recover from a recent surgery that had “defeated” a “small but very aggressive cancerous malignancy.”
The announcement caused an uproar. When I emailed him about it, Costello replied with expected cheekiness:
‘LOOK NOW’ Full Track-listing:
- Under Lime
- Don’t Look Now
- Burnt Sugar Is So Bitter
- Stripping Paper
- Unwanted Number
- I Let The Sun Go Down
- Mr. & Mrs. Hush
- Photographs Can Lie
- Dishonor The Stars
- Suspect My Tears
- Why Won’t Heaven Help Me? 12. He’s Given Me Things
Deluxe Special Edition Tracks:
- Isabelle In Tears
- Adieu Paris (L’Envie Des Étoiles)
- The Final Mrs. Curtain
- You Shouldn’t Look At Me That Way
