OPO: Burt Bacharach

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.)