The Burt Bacharach Discussion Forum

Anyone checked out Starbucks' new Bacharach offering, which appears to be another compilation of the usual suspects? Just curious as to whether any of the cuts offer studio intros, extended or alternate takes or anything otherwise collectable. http://www.starbucksstore.com/Various-Artists---Music-by...

Tisk, tisk (sic), indeed. Apart from his weakly worded, inaccurately spelled and condescending assessment of what is clearly intended to be a simple chamber musical waxing nostalgic over lost love, the critic's comprehension of Bacharach is likewise limited, given that Bacharach's fumbled 1970s outp...

The link below offers the last legitimate article I've seen on the show's progress. According to the piece, following the earlier Los Angeles workshops, an additional workshop had been intended for this month with an anticipated late fall opening intended to capitalize on the Christmas theme of the ...

Without question, one of my very favorite versions is this rare recording of Warwick performing the song on a television talk show in the early-1970s:



Truly stunning.

While it's true that Warwick turned down what in retrospect may appear to have been obvious hits, it's important to remember that she may been presented with drafts of arrangements that altered her perception of the commercial merits of the songs and whether or not they were a good personal fit for ...

I can't definitively speak to when the song was written, but the recording can't be any older than the late-1980s or early-1990s at the very earliest, based upon the arrangement and production. But at that time, he was still immersed in delivering the kind of accessible, undemanding tunes he'd been ...

For a moderator to leave a site at the mercy of spammers like this is frankly ludicrous. Still, I'm a great believer in the old maxim that if something is worth doing it's worth doing properly and the level of spam on this site, especially the pornographic stuff, is something that we really should ...

Surreal? How about this? (Jones' and Duncan's delivery is a little stilted, but the arrangement clearly has the maestro's fingerprints and he himself makes a bizarre cameo as a band leader conducting a Sousa-styled march of 'Alfie' near the end.)

Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney 'lightweight diversions?' I'm all for supporting recognition of Burt Bacharach's music and appreciate the general cynicism of recent posters regarding the endless and increasingly meaningless proliferation of awards, but I think characterizing these two tremendously ...

Has anyone noted whether or not any Bacharach songs were included in Rolling Stone's newly released list of the 500 greatest songs of all time this time around? If my memory serves me correctly, it seems like 'Walk On By' and 'Anyone Who Had A Heart' both made a previous edition of their list, altho...

Hi, Steve. It's my understanding that the project currently being developed by Bacharach and Sater is a musical adaptation of O. Henry's 'The Gift of the Magi,' although it's unclear to me whether or not any potential producers or backers are actually involved at this point. In the meantime, Sater i...

They did. It was just a few days after I rejected it, but before Richard Nixon declined.

Wow. What a challenging song to sing well! Even on Dionne, who performs it passionately and with conviction, it sounds like it's near the top of her belt range. And I'm pretty certain the only live orchestra is the one that swells at the end before the backing track's fade-out. I remember reading so...

I have absolutely and unexpectedly fallen in love with this song and relish the live performance by Karima, Mario Biondi and Bacharach himself. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=il5f0n58Gyk&feature=related The single is gorgeous, but particularly in this live arrangement, Bacharach's fingerprints a...

I think the host simply experienced an error in memory in recounting the anecdote. From the Lyndon B. Johnson biography on the U.S. Department of the Interior's National Park Service website related to the Johnson Family Cemetery: 'Though often plagued with poor health, he spent his final years writ...