New Songs for "PAINTED FROM MEMORY"

[ron hertel]

Check out Elvis Costello's take on the new songs posted by Mark on the homepage. ....... Sounds like he and Burt are approaching this with realistic expectations. ....... In addition to what will certainly result a great score - it will require a solid script and audience acceptance. ... "one step at a time"!

[An Enormous BB Fan]

But Elvis said that the show will have to reach a certain measure of success before an album comes out. So what if the show is not a success, does that mean we'll never get to hear the songs?

Where are the songs from "Some Lovers?"

I like the old way that Broadway musicals were produced better. Sure, you could get a "Kelly" or a "Broadway Moose Murders," but at least the producers went for it! We need another David Merrick or Hal Prince or Leland Hayward. And even better, we need another Bacharach/David/Simon team! I don't think that Elvis Costello's lyrics are Broadway-style lyrics, quite frankly.

[Blair N. Cummings]

I know I`ve made this point before but I don`t know why the ne plus ultra of success in pop is STILL to stage a musical on B`way.
With the exception of the tireless Sondheim, no one has given audiences a sophisticated (or even clever) production since the mid- sixties. It`s all super-heroes, camp, and nostalgia. Who is encouraging these guys to even think of this doomed effort?
Some Lovers will receive a sympathy staging after Burt dies but not until. Painted From Memory won`t even reach the casting stage. I don`t care what "Elvis" says; if he and Burt have new songs that they`re proud of, they should record them for an expanded re-issue of the original album. Anything else is a fool`s errand.

[ron hertel]

Blair:

What you're suggesting is they redirect these efforts toward releasing some new recorded material. In that case - I'd prefer to see an entirely new project instead of an expanded version of "Painted From Memory". ...... Bacharach & Costello have obviously entered into some form of contractual agreement which is directing these efforts toward a stage production. ........ I agree overall with your take on the lack of worthwhile stage productions over the past 50 years; however, there have been a few good ones! ....... Although "Jersey Boys" and "Mama Mia" capitalized on previously recorded widely known and accepted songs - I can not imagine "Painted From Memory" coming even close to being as commercially successful as those two.

ron

[An Enormous BB Fan]

I basically agree with you guy. I do think, however, that for songwriters, having a smash Broadway hit, is a really, really good thing and a great measure of success. How could, for example, Rodgers and Hammerstein have been more successful? Their shows are still being produced all over the world. Burt and Hal have had enormous success, there's no question about it. However, think about how many of their songs that only we have heard of would have survived all these years had they been in a smash Broadway show? I don't think Burt and Hal could have been more successful than when "Promises, Promises" was a smash Broadway hit 46 years ago. Winning an Oscar or Grammy is great, but it's just for one song. Besides, from a financial perspective, imagine if your show is playing in theatres all over the world? Andrew Lloyd Weber makes Burt and Hal look like paupers. And I see nothing wrong in striving for that kind of financial success, quite frankly. Imagine if "I Cry Alone" had been in a smash Broadway show. It's the greatest showcase for one's songs, and it's the greatest way to keep the songs alive.

Regarding Burt and Elvis and "Painted From Memory": I do agree that a successful Broadway show is an incredible long shot, considering how they're going about it.

But please believe me: I hope that I'm 100% wrong and that Burt and Elvis end up with a big Broadway smash. I would LOVE it!

[Downtown]

With the end of the CD era approaching and quickly everything moving into streaming and services like Spotify the traditional context of "album" is likely to disappear to a certain degree soon, too. By "album" I mean: I write ten or 12 songs and put them into a particular order and publish them through a physical record or cd and expect people to listen to them in the order I intended. Albums come from a time where you had a physical container with technical limitations for storing music. That concept is soon to disappear.

On Spotify "album" is still a category but it's mostly about either individual songs OR whole bodies of work. Almost everything Burt ever wrote is on Spotify but it's all in one place and not on individual albums anymore.

So at this point in time writing for musical theatre might very well your best bet to create something that will continue to be viewed in context and in the order you intended it to be......As a coda to a great career it's a very smart move I think.

[Jan R.]

Then somebody should tell Spotify what an album is.

The idea of having ten or twelve songs to be listened to as a suite or something like that is still a valid concept. Or at least it should be.

[Downtown]

There will certainly be other ways for composers and musicians in the future to group songs together and put them in a particular order. I'm just pointing out that the times where the container - record or cd - was binding them together is coming to an end. Theatre will be around in 10 years from now but the cd just barely (as a way to release new music).

[An Enormous BB Fan]

Downtown has a good point.

Who here goes to record stores anymore and buys CDs?

Yes or no?

An Enormous BB Fan -- No.

[Bruce Bernard Williams]

The way a person gets his music is simply a matter of preference. I for one prefer CD's. I have a huge, eclectic collection—from Bach to Bacharach, Strait to Streisand to Snoop, Haggerd to Hendrix, and everyone in between. Music is my next to first love, FOOD being my first. I purchase old and new CD's from Starship here in Tulsa and everytime I'm in there, there's always a crowd. They have quite a selection of not only CD's but vinyl as well. They even have high-ended turntables for sale. There at Starship I can place an order for ANY CD that I want and it arrives within 3-4 days. There's also a chain called Vintage Stock that sells used CD's and, again, everytime I go the place is packed. A lot of their customers are young (I'm 63) and are buying brand new releases on vinyl. I might add that I have numerous Mobile Fidelity CD's along with other gold CD's and those have great sound reproduction. Long live brick and mortar! Long live the CD!

[Downtown]

I'm 50 now...In the 80s and 90s I used to go to the record store basically every day...Now I'm down to maybe once or twice a year - going there physically.

Through Amazon I purchase CDs maybe on average once a month. Mostly classical plus everything that's being released on DW, BB or Glen Campbell.

I buy about 10 tracks (rarely albums) per month through iTunes and I pay a 10 € monthly fee for Spotify... My daily "consumption" of music - both old an new - is probably at an all time high. I probably listen to more "just released" music today than I did in the 80s. But 95% of that through streaming.

[Jan R.]

There will certainly be other ways for composers and musicians in the future to group songs together and put them in a particular order. I'm just pointing out that the times where the container - record or cd - was binding them together is coming to an end.

OK, I see what you mean, and it's correct for the classic vinyl LP. But this ended already when the CD came up. You can shuffle the tracks or program your own path. I even remember a CD (by the Blue Chip Orchestra) where the band suggested three different paths to go through the album.

And yes, I'm sure there will be ways to keep this album idea also on streaming services. We are just at the beginning with this.

To answer the other question: Sometimes I still like to have a physical thing in my hands, so from time to time I still buy CDs, but not in a store - simply there are no stores anymore. Pittsburgh has only one record store left. Besides this, there's a giant second-hand store here, and sometimes (but rarely) I buy vinyl there.

[Blair N. Cummings]

Now in my seventh decade, I seldom listen to new music and find that I can stream my jazz and classical favorites easily from the web. Age has a way of making one sick of even the best of pop music familiar over a half-century. My last purchase was of Todd Rundgren`s inferior State album which I got digitally via Amazon.