Elvis Costello has announced the release of The Songs of Bacharach & Costello, which features music he created with legendary composer Burt Bacharach.

Available on March 3, the collection includes highlights from the songwriters' decades-long partnership, which stretches back to 1995 when Costello penned "God Give Me Strength" for the movie Grace of My Heart. Communicating between Dublin and Los Angeles via fax, Costello and Bacharach workshopped the song together, which led them to write and record the 1998 album Painted From Memory.

As Costello noted in his 2015 autobiography, Unfaithful Music and Disappearing Ink, "To have written a song like 'God Give Me Strength' and simply stopped would have been ridiculous."

A proposed theatrical production was later developed by Chuck Lorre and Steven Sater using Painted From Memory songs, which prompted Costello and Bacharach to write more than a dozen additional songs. “In their musical form," Costello explained of the newer songs in a press release, "they are different kinds of dark love songs that anyone might sing if they happened to be an artist, his model, a wife, a fantasist, a lover, a philanderer or disillusioned daughter. You know, fun for all the family.”

These songs make up another album on the box, Taken From Life, which includes two tracks ("You Can Have Her" and "Look Up Again") arranged by Vince Mendoza and recorded in Hollywood in September 2021 under the direction of Bacharach. Its title track comes from a 2022 recording with Costello's Imposters and was produced by Sebastian Krys.

The Super Deluxe edition of The Songs of Bacharach & Costello will include a newly remastered version of Painted From Memory, along with the newest collection, Taken From Life, which features unreleased songs from the proposed Painted From Memory musical score, plus various live performances from the late '90s, a booklet of photography and a 10,000-word essay by Costello.

You can see a complete track listing below.

Costello is currently gearing up for a 10-night residency at the Gramercy Theatre in New York City, where he'll perform more than 200 different songs throughout the nights. He's also revealed that while some of the sets will be solo, he'll be joined by some unnamed guests, too.

Elvis Costello and Burt Bacharach, 'The Songs of Bacharach & Costello' Track Listing
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) *

*Previously Unreleased

Elvis Costello Albums Ranked

Even with a career spanning more than four decades, many collaborators and several record labels, his discography has had way more hits than misses.