The Burt Bacharach Discussion Forum

I wonder how MySpace.com survives nowadays.. with all the wonderful music on tap there for free . I hope they find ways to monetize it ... I'm very thankful for that site, as so many LPs from the magical 60s-70s era of music are there to listen at no cost. If you have broadband highspeed internet I ...

I always like to put the plug in for Scott' Walker's songwriting, for those that haven't discovered it. Burt's super-high quality and originality of melody is impossible to find in contemporary music, but stuff close to it was scarce even in the 60s. Scott had great melodic inspiration for awhile in...

This makes my week. I had never seen the full vid of Cilla's final studio take of "Alfie' before (youtube vid embedded in this story). For me, watching that is as thrilling as it gets when it comes to music. Cilla said she was smitten with Burt, which is probably why she didn't storm off after ...

Sorry one more ... Three more unfinished/posthumous Gershwin songs were completed by Ira Gershwin and appeared in the 1964 movie "Kiss Me Stupid ..." ... Hey I'm no expert, just what I found out on the Web ... So you wonder what leavings Brian is working with ... possibly stuff that Kay Sw...

FWIW, there were/are lots of unfinished Gershwin songs. The songwriter Kay Swift, also Gershwin's lover for a long while, made it her late-life's work to get them to the public. The following is from her Website bio: "Kay Swift's intense lifelong devotion to George Gershwin and his music led he...

Burt over Brian, no doubt. A Burt-Gershwin collaboration might inspire Burt to some top-level writing, like when he paired up with Elvis C. 10 or 12 years ago ... Not to diminish Brian, but the days when he wrote great songs are long past. That said, the state of songcraft is bad off these days ever...

Thank YOU, Roberto! Sadly it looks like Marian McPartland's show with Burt of a few years ago isn't among her many archived shows that can be heard on her Piano Jazz site. ..... It was on there until a year ago or so, maybe it will be back amongst her archives or replayed soon. The show itself was p...

This is either my favorite BB tune ever, or it's at least my favorite BB deep cut. It has high drama .... that quick (and unusual harmonic) modulation after the above lyric is stated and drawn-out by Dionne ... does that represent a transition between/from an A section to a B section, or maybe it's ...

Wow, one of the greatest Beach Boys songs ever (it was circa 1965) escaped my attention until a few days ago. Have you heard "She's Not The Little Girl I Once Knew" .... It was a single, never on an LP in that era apparently... added as an extra tune on "Beach Boys Today" CD. I c...

So good it's never been on CD, (even LP I think ever.. wow what happened ..) But greatness can't be hidden. It has three scratchy 45s playing on You Tube ... including ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwpAXQszZew Frederick Knight's "Betcha Didn't Know That ..." ... yeah the "I've Be...

Sorry everyone ... can I recommend one more. I'm an ass, just kick me in the ass (ouch, ouch) Singers Unlimited "A Capella II" (1971 I think) .... you sink into a melancholy, beautiful mood, pure beauty pours onto you. These four singers (with overdubs) render harmonies and changes you don...

Uh oh, been drinking tonite, D. Cowboys won sorry, so I must say: May I also tout an album/record that should be a classic: "Scott 3" by Scott Walker. Can anyone ever tout enough, this most-brilliant-songwriting, most-heart-shattering, most-inspired tour-de-force of melody? No hits in here...

Well, no Burt involved, but .... Paul McCartney and Cat Stevens duet? Yes, on a new Cat song called "Boots and Sand" ... on Cat's new release ... Cat was on Tavis Smiley show the other night ... he's not so religiously against music as something trivial nowadays, but said that the culture ...

Like most of y'all I didn't buy the comprehensive Beach Boys, 1963-64 kind of stylized surf Chuck Berry stuff .. but from 1965 into 1966 or so, enormous work. Especially before Pet Sounds, those LPs hide some hidden beautiful stuff. Especially the two previous, "Beach Boys Today" and "...

Greetings. - Sept. 29, 1998 ... Burt and Elvis Costello's extremely fine CD is released .. - Oct. 18, 1998 ... The duo's awesome live concert is recorded, produced beautifully musically and video ... with full orchestral backing and Burt's arrangements, conducting, and he's at the piano too - at Son...