OPO: Burt Bacharach

Video (not mine obviously)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00YyqUAZG3k

I love the person nearby who hadn't realized he died!

Haven’t clicked on the video, is it from tonight?

It is indeed.

FWIW, I've been going to his shows since 2011 and it's too bad I didn't go this time because then I could say it might have the best one I've ever seen, so much that I would've bought tickets to more shows had I been more confident that it was going to be this good.

I trust you mean Elvis. Burt had to cancel all his dates.

Who else would he mean?

Sorry to bust in here like Bruce Thomas at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and make trouble.

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

He’s up there in the green room right now being stared out from behind a potted plant à la Laugh-In’s Arte Johnson by Tom Verlaine.

I'm confused - did poster 'birdistheword' go to see EC?

I'm very touched to hear of EC's tribute to BB.

Bacharach & Verlaine would have been a good collaboration.

Watched EC's video. His spirit when talking is classic EC, but his singing is possibly the worst I have ever heard from EC.

Bacharach & Verlaine would have been a good collaboration.

What do you get when you fall
When you fall
Into the arms of the Venus de Milo

Take a message to Richard

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.)