OPO: Burt Bacharach

I'd never even heard of Lou Johnson before getting the box set a couple of years ago. He recorded the definitive versions of a few Bacharach/David songs and then seemed to vanish into obscurity. I've tried getting hold of any other stuff by him with no joy.

Particularly love this one for the way he glides over the strings on the verses and the "I'll never love another" shoo-de-bop bit at the end.

Perry Como, Childness and Cheapness: some thoughts

As performed by the Shirelles or by Smith: but Smith, being a late 60s early 70s harder edged band gets the nod. Awesome gutsy performance on vocals by (damned if I can google her name) and a hot organist playing some simmering licks. Plus they were a one hit wonder with this song. Their version changed Bacharach's arrangement much like Vanilla Fudge changed Holland/Dozier/Holland's You Keep Me Hanging On.

64 versions of "what the world needs now is love"
!!!

T'was Gayle McCormick. She had a minor solo charter two years later with "It's a Cryin' Shame."

Back to thread, my pick is the Walker Brothers' "Make It Easy on Yourself." Gives me chills every single time.

Anyway, my first choice woulda been Love's "My Little Red Book", but apparently Burt himself hated that version. So I'll go with Dionne Warwick's "Anyone Who Had A Heart" - love those convoluted twists and turns.

Also gotta give love to Herb Alpert's "This Guy" and "Casino Royale." So super-killer when the maracas up the rhythmic potency on the last chorus repeat.

Finally, I love BB's own "Hasbrook Heights." It seems that Bacharach's vocals give rise to more controversy among lovers of "good voices" than even Dylan's, but I like them. He's so mellow and friendly on this one, fits the weekend-squire theme perfectly.

But he's wrong about Love.

The first two and a half discs of this --

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00000DGR0.01._SS500_SCLZZZZZZZ_V1115937910_.jpg

-- are just mind-blowingly good.

"Send My Picture To Scranton, PA"
"Twenty-four Hours from Tulsa"
"Do You Know The Way To San Jose?"

...and that FUCKED-UP monotone sax solo

Seconded but actually... no... I think I'll pick the Dionne version. A classic tune

Didn't realize "This Guy's In Love With You" was a great song until I heard Marshall Crenshaw play it Saturday night. Before he sang it, he told a story about how he used to torment his younger brother for having the single when they were kids.

The White Stripes did a thundering version of "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself"

I'm a huge fan of the box Hip-O-Select put out of his solo releases. Those records are treasure troves of prime-era Bacharach.

god i love burt bacharach

I should also mention:

Bacharach's first post-Hal solo record, Futures in 1977, is quite the mindfuck. Operatic in places, unbearably gushy in others, it seems like every one of the tracks is about getting old, relationships ending and feeling like the music industry is passing him by. It's pretty bleak and depressing, but some of the arrangements are fascinating. Plus, it has this cover:

http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/dre600/e666/e66623nbljf.jpg

saw him play on friday! was really nice. wish he could still sing though. :(

What a random-ass tour schedule this is:

Sept. 27 Denver, CO (Boettcher Concert Hall)
Sept. 28 Phoenix, AZ (Orpheum Theatre)
Oct. 2 Rama, Ontario, Canada (Casino Rama Entertainment Centre)
Oct. 3 Montreal, Quebec, Canada (St-Jean Baptiste Church)
Oct. 5 Utica, NY (Stanley Theatre)
Oct. 26 Milan, Italy (Teatro Degli Arcimboldi)
Oct. 27 Florence, Italy (Teatro Verdi)
Oct. 28 Rome, Italy (Auditorium di via della Concilia)
Nov. 13 Newport News, VA (Ferguson Center for the Arts)

Come & Get Me by Jackie DeShannon
I love the chorus of this. She sounds heartbreaking.

only picked one commercial.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBLMbJnN69c

Best Halloween song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCtcgI4BcIQ

Lovecraftian horror version of same. IE, a ten hour edit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lulfRjHFrDo

Over the last month, I've taken to using this song to wake my eight year-old daughter up for school.

Sometimes it feels like it takes ten hours.

90 today!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBLMbJnN69c

going to a movie
only makes me sad
parties
make me feel as bad
(cuz i'm not w you)
i just don't know what to do.

^otm

Perhaps "Make It Easy On Yourself", but the Jackie Trent rendition. That particular orchestral arrangement is somehow more affecting than the Walker Brothers'

Cool interview: http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-ol-patt-morrison-burt-bacharach-school-shootings-20180925-htmlstory.html

RIP.

Burt Bacharach, the composer and Oscar winner who delighted millions with the quirky arrangements and unforgettable melodies of "Walk on By," "Do You Know the Way to San Jose" and dozens of other hits, has died at 94. https://t.co/YaOIjozgSr

— The Associated Press (@AP) February 9, 2023

ugh. a true legend, we'll never see his like again.

Can anyone tell me the relationship between what he did and Brian Wilson? Which came first? Were they fans of one another? Where did that style of Baroque, complex, weird pop come from?

tin pan alley

Beach Boys covered "Walk On By". I think it's fair to say Brian was a big fan.

This is sad. But a long, greatly fulfilled life.

I think Elvis Costello is about to release a new edition of PAINTED FROM MEMORY, which I have always liked more than any other later EC.

I have long thought of Bacharach as one of the absolute greats of pop, and I'm glad that, with another ilx poster, I was able to see him play in concert.

xpost For sure. But I always understood Brian to be a sort of self-made, untrained savant, whereas Burt was formally trained. Did Brian hear Burt and say, wow, I want to do that, how do I do that, and force himself into that mold/mode?

I gotta say, Warwick was up for any melodic challenge that Bacharach offered her. The first time I did last night after watching the new doc was put on one of her comps and -- well, my god. As fruitful and fulfilling as any artist/producer combination you can think of.

time = thing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmEgxqSnHXQ

always loved 'the dells sing dionne warwick's greatest hits,' some inspired arrangements of burt's best tunes in there

Anyway, here's my OPO:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMDMODdfr7w

birdistheword is actually Elvis Costello

No way, his posting style is way too concise.

Where's all the "clever" wordplay from birdistheword?

Yes, exactly.

Bless Costello for keeping him busy in his later years, God Give Me Strength is just tremendous, for anyone, nevermind pushing 70, does anyone know what he got up to post Painted from Memory?

Also had no idea he co-wrote On My Own, unbelievable, what a treasure, songwriting MVP fuck off to beautiful music heaven Burt Bacharach

I don't really share the view that the first track towers over the rest of PAINTED FROM MEMORY. I think the best song may be 'the sweetest punch'. Extraordinary. But I think the whole LP is pretty even in quality.

re: what BB did later, he released AT THIS TIME, which I looked at in a record shop but never bought. My recollection is that it included attacks on the (very bad) US government of the time; one or two collaborations with Costello; a song with the promising title 'Go Ask Shakespeare'. I rather wish I'd bought it now and got to know it.

“Go Ask Shakespeare”? Sung by Rufus Wainwright? Heard it for the first time last night on the radio tribute by Alec Cumming. Pretty good!

The Look of Love box is still probably the best way to listen to Burt and one of the greatest boxed sets ever produced.

^^This. In the foreword, the producer mentions that the project started out as a 1-disc hits package that grew into a double-disc anthology and finally the three-disc set we know and love simply because they keep finding more and more songs to include. It's a fine capper to the whole Bacharach renaissance of the time, formed through Loungecore and up through films like Austin Powers, Grace of My Heart (which is where "God Give Me Strength" came from), and My Best Friend's Wedding.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c74BSImG4xM

Here I am - Isley meets Bacharach from 2003 sounds good . Ron Isley, Burt, and an orchestra take on Bacharach/ David classics

Absolutely love the Isley record.

anyone have a favorite set of burt singing his own songs?

https://archives.wpkn.org/bookmarks/listen/374639/snap-crackle-pop-with-alec-cumming-fill-in-for-ed-flynn-t

anyone have a favorite set of burt singing his own songs?

I haven't found a full set, just little dribbles here and there. "Something Big" is so beautiful

otm, "something big" is glorious

Yep. By his own admission, he was never a good singer of his songs – one reason he only would sing a song or two on his solo releases and usually with a lot of vocal assistance from background singers. But some are charming – Something Big, Hasbrook Heights. The few verses he sings on Lost Horizon from Living Together are pretty terrific.

For instance, the other day I came across this version of him performing A House Is Not a Home at 92 – as positively decrepit as his voice sounds, it’s not actually much different than it was in 1967 when he sang it on Reach Out! But the whole of the performance is actually incredible nonetheless.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4mOEADryLg

Literally DJing a warmup Bacharach tribute set right now. Feels so good.

Pieces from Carole King:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/02/10/carole-king-burt-bacharach-songwriting/

And Diane Warren:

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2023-02-10/diane-warren-on-burt-bacharach

From Beck:

One of my favorite things of recent years was getting the occasional phone call from Burt Bacharach. His name would pop up on my phone and it always felt like I was getting a call from the President (President of Songwriting). He always checked in and I feel lucky for the conversations and hangs we got to have. What a master of songwriting and a generous soul— you will be missed! Take care Burt and thank you for the music. 🤍

Lost Horizon may have been a bust but this is the business:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tms_sZio5-4

I'd forgotten about this but it's def another side of the coin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZualTksF8A

Truly top shelf content in these last two posts.

If you look at the “Written by Burt Bacharach” playlist on Spotify, you’ll notice that roughly 40% of the tracks there are hip-hop tracks from the last 15 to 20 years. Almost all of which, if not all, simply feature samples of his music. And a bunch of them are sampling Isaac Hayes’ version of “Walk on By.” The guy must have positively cleaned up the last few decades of his life on these royalties alone.

Anyway here are a few others:

An early and kind of wild one haunted by a ghostly soprano from 1957 for Johnny Mathis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-419Uxp1uoM

And this one is Burt shepherding Jackie DeShannon to pioneer Liz Frasier’s vocal stylings in 1966: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sn1dMgluoiY

James Redd, did you ever recreate my big playlist for Spotify?

No, never found the time, sorry.

Good/sad timing here (per the mailout I got about this, this was in the works for a while and was about to be announced anyway):

https://realgonemusic.com/collections/upcoming/products/dionne-warwick-the-complete-scepter-singles-1962-1973-3cd-set

...More importantly, Warwick, Bacharach, and David brought a new level of sophistication to popular music…and by doing so, created some of the most indelible recordings of all time. However, despite its brilliance and lasting influence, there has never been a collection at music retail that truly captured this incredible body of work…until now. The Complete Scepter Singles 1962-1973 offers the A and B-side of every single Dionne cut for the Scepter label (with the bonus inclusion of her single for Musicor featuring the hit “Only Love Can Break a Heart”), all original, (mostly) mono single versions remastered by Mike Milchner of Sonic Vision from original tape sources and annotated by veteran music journalist and Billboard contributor Paul Grein.

Hell of a tracklist for sure, 74 total.

Just heard in the car earlier Mavis Staples doing "A House is not a Home"

xp This is actually the same exact release that was given to PBS donors several years ago (I think with a $200 donation) - Real Gone confirmed they're using the same CD masters, they just changed the title. It's great news as it was previously unavailable or really expensive on the secondhand market.

Okay, this is kind of stupid, I know, but I like the fact that the few real Bacharach mavens I have had to good fortune to interact with are nice and approachable and not some crazy defensive Keepers of the Faith.

Actually I did have a weird interaction with one discography nut but he was more a self-styled cut and paste music "historian" rather than a Bacharach guy, which is in part why I got into the argument.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcbq62P48K4

FWIW, here's a track from the "Taken from Life" disc that's on both the two-CD and super deluxe editions of The Songs of Bacharach & Costello:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPD9t1rit7g

I don't have the liner notes, but I think this is for the Broadway musical that never came to be. I'm not sure if this is a demo, but it sounds like it could be and with a little more oomph, this could really kill on stage.

(To clarify, it's a song from Painted from Memory but I'm guessing it was to be incorporated into the musical.)