This album is brilliant. Pick any superlative in the English language and apply it to this album and the description fits. This unlikely collaboration between post-punk icon Elvis Costello and Burt Bacharach (arguably among the best tunesmiths of the century) has produced what is unquestionably one of the most interesting and beautiful albums of the nineties.

The music is pure Bacharach. The songs are as lush and as moving as anything he ever penned in the sixties, and with the state of pop music at this point, it's definitely "what the world needs now." Painted From Memory is filled with bittersweet songs about love and despair and all the timeless themes that have made Bacharach's composition such an integral part of modern culture.

Elvis Costello's patented brand of angst makes for an exquisite vehicle for Bacharach's genius. His voice may not be as smooth as Karen Carpenter's or Dionne Warwick's (who popularized many of his sixties hits), but his passionate renderings bring a fresh dimension to Bacharach's timeless tunes, that once again examine "what we get when we fall in love." Buy this album ASAP and enjoy.