Ronan Keating in the Studio with Burt

[MissyK]

Nice little interview with Ronan talking about making the album with Burt:

[Martyn]

Thanks so much for posting this link MissyK.

It's very interesting to hear, first hand, what an accomplished singer experiences as he records the music of a living legend, in the presence of the living legend!

The documentary should be fascinating!

Martyn

[vincent.cole]

Missy K;

Thanks for the update!

Hey Martyn mon ami, how is it going?!

[Martyn]

Hi Vincent,

I'm fine thanks, and always looking out for your latest posts!

Martyn

[MissyK]

Here is a short video of the making of "When Ronan met Burt". It gives an idea as to what the album is going to sound like.




and you can hear more clips on this advert for the album:

[blueonblue]

Sounds absolutely superb !!!!!!!!

"blue"

[gillanddon]

He's fabulous and a beautiful voice. A great fan Of Dionne.

[Djalma Junior]

Now just "wait" and buy!

Regards.

[pljms]

As with any album of Bacharach songs, the role of the arranger is almost if not just as important as the vocalist(s). When I heard 'Something Big' from the album on the radio the other day, with an arrangement almost identical to Bacharach's own version from 'Living Together', it made me assume that he'd arranged/orchestrated the whole album. Now having just heard a verse and a chorus of 'The Look of Love' on the net I know that it's almost certainly not the case. When you hear straight major chords where there should be major 7ths then it's fairly safe to assume that BB's not responsible. As an old jazz musician friend of mine once remarked to me, "With Bacharach you don't monkey around with his chord sequences because as soon as you do some of the magic goes".

[Pablo]

Any opinion about the record?

[Djalma Junior]

Dear Pablo,

I personally enjoyed this CD!
The songs are very beautiful in the voice of Ronan, which obviously gave his "personal touch" in the arrangements, without distancing the originality of each one.
But "Something Big" is closely similar to the album "Living Together - 1973" and I hope that this time "Something Big" becomes a hit parade, as the Master Burt always wanted to be.
Anyway, nice work.
It's a shame that only 10 songs!

Regards.

Djalma Jr
dspintojr@hotmail.com

PS: Anyway, it is important to note the participation of the Master Burt Bacharach (arrangement and orchestration) asserting their unique style of his songs!

[MissyK]

As with any album of Bacharach songs, the role of the arranger is almost if not just as important as the vocalist(s). When I heard 'Something Big' from the album on the radio the other day, with an arrangement almost identical to Bacharach's own version from 'Living Together', it made me assume that he'd arranged/orchestrated the whole album. Now having just heard a verse and a chorus of 'The Look of Love' on the net I know that it's almost certainly not the case. When you hear straight major chords where there should be major 7ths then it's fairly safe to assume that BB's not responsible. As an old jazz musician friend of mine once remarked to me, "With Bacharach you don't monkey around with his chord sequences because as soon as you do some of the magic goes".

I'm not quite sure what you are trying to say here. Burt was in the studio with Ronan and the orchestra for the whole recording, and was the producer on the album.

[Djalma Junior]

I'm not quite sure what you are trying to say here. Burt was in the studio with Ronan and the orchestra for the whole recording, and was the producer on the album.

Exactly MissyK!

[GehVorbei]

Burt obviously gave his blessing to the project and he is listed as a co-producer together with Greg Wells, who I believe is conducting the orchestra in the promo clips. Greg probably did - if you listen to the album - much of the producer's job here though.

Out of the 10 tracks on the album only "Something Big" and "My Little Red Book" were arranged or co-arranged by BB. Most of the other arrangements were done by American composers Joel McNeely and Pat Williams. (Pat Williams I believe arranged the two Sinatra "Duets" albums in the 90s.)

Here in Europe Ronan Keating has been a household name for 15 years or so because he was in a fairly lightweight boyband in the 90s and had a pretty MOR solo career afterwards that peaked almost a decade ago. He is no Robbie Williams or Justin Timberlake.

But he has a nice instrument and seems to be an extremely nice guy, probably one of the most likable people in the industry.

However when the collaboration of Bacharach and Keating were announced the question was obviously how will such a technically limited singer like Keating rise to the occasion of singing such complicated material. Will it all be 38 takes with Burt pushing him and pushing him and getting something out of Ronan that no one had ever dreamed he was capable of?

But clearly this is not what happened here. It's the music, the arrangements, that were so watered down that they didn't represent a challenge even for Ronan Keating.

I hope it will introduce and re-introduce a lot of people in Europe and Australia to the BB/HD catalogue and they will then go out and buy Dusty or Dionne. And if that's what Burt is hoping for here, I think it is a good project.

I only wished they had staid away from "The Look Of Love" and "Walk On By". But surprisingly the tacky arrangement I find the most offensive is on "Arthur's Theme". "Something Big", "My Little Red Book" and "This House Is Empty Now" are actually all quite listenable.

[GehVorbei]

One thing I actually find quite offensive here is that in the liner notes Keating literally thanks everybody and their sister and he is very gracious towards BB but there is not a single word of appreciation or a single thank you in the direction of Hal David.