On Burt and Dionne touring together

[nowmedical]

There's a feature/interview with Burt in the UK Daily Telegraph today. On the question of Burt and Dionne touring together, he said:

"I've always been very straight with Dionne. Many of these songs belong in the keys that the records were made in. And when you take everything a fourth lower it's just a very different thing. She can do all she wants out on the road; I just don't want to be part of it."

[nikray77]

Dionne has been open about this for years in many interviews that Burt has stated to her he wants to hear the songs the way he wrote them. Dionne has stated some years ago as well she can not take the liberties with these tunes when she works with Burt that she does on her own tours and solo performances. We all know Dionne generally can no longer do that because of many reasons including her smoking habit. Life goes on, no news flash here.

[Jerry]

Frankly, I admire his openness in saying so...

[ron hertel]

Although I saw them perform together several times back in the 80's and 90's - I've always hoped they would do one last limited tour. Based on Burt's statement - I'll probably abandon that thought! ........... While Dionne claims to update these classics and bring them into the 21st century - Burt and his 3 touring vocalists (John Pagano, Donna Taylor and Josie James) perform them as originally intended with very minor exceptions. Burt's live performances remain "very special"! .......... Looking forward to his annual concert with the San Diego Symphony on August 4th.

[Earthbound1975]

This sensitive and somewhat tragic situation seems to be handled with great tact by all concerned.

[turnupthemusic]

It is a real shame they won't at least perform together occasionally - each time they do it's still fantastic, despite Dionne's voice not being what it was. As already mentioned in the above posts, she sings in a higher key with Burt and sounds all the better for it. I'm far from a fan of the songs she does on her own performances - Say A Little Prayer and Do You Know The Way To San Jose are particularly awful.

I must admit though, I do wonder if she's still up to singing in a higher key full stop. From what I've seen in recent performances of hers, her voice is on a bit of a downward slope again (see AVO Session 2012 and and her performance of Heartbreaker on I Migliori Anni in January)

[Blair N. Cummings]

Nothing is more tempting as we age than to try to tour the past. It doesn`t work. Burt, Dionne, and Hal solidified their artistry with the Scepter recordings.
I`m not at all happy with this idea of expanding PFM into a Broadway show. It will almost certainly never come about and probably shouldn`t.
"Broadway" as an icon of great musicals hasn`t existed for decades. If Burt and "Elvis" want to write together again, I`d much rather see a new album than an overblown stage show.

[ron hertel]

.... I AGREE with you Blair! ....... Costello's vocals are as critical to the artistic success of PFM as Warwick's are to those early BB/HD/DW classics. .... There have been attempts - with little success - to showcase the BB/HD songbook over the years. ... I believe the same fate would await any attempt to bring PFM to Broadway. ........ This brings to mind something I read in an interview with Dionne a few years after the release of "Painted From Memory". ...... When asked how she liked PFM - she responded by saying she had never listened to it! ...... I was astounded by her response!

[Blair N. Cummings]

The first review of PFM that I saw was by Stephen Holden in the Times. In it he called it the equivalent of the classic albums Burt wrote for Dionne in the sixties with Costello filling the latter`s role. If Dionne read that review, I can easily understand her simply not being able to bring herself to listen to it...for a whole flood of reasons.

[nikray77]

In my opinion "PFM" was well written, and yes some great songs but I am sorry Elvis' vocals are difficult for me to listen too throughout the album. Frankly I think the songs are keyed bit to high for him. I think either a female voice or another male voiceless could have done a lot better job. Nothing against Elvis but he is no Dionne or even Burt's background singers.

I enjoy Elvis written contribution way more than his voice/vocals with Burt's music.

[Blair N. Cummings]

To be honest, I`m not a big Costello fan, either. Yet, I have an affection for rough voices doing strong melodies. Purity of the sort represented by, say, Judy Collins is overkill to my taste. So while, no, EC wasn`t Dionne, I quickly took to the sound of his voice in this context. Just my taste, really.

[nikray77]

To me one does not have to have a pure/crystal like vocals to present those lyrics more effectively. But to each his own, it's clear Burt has always had some affection for that kind singing as well. Burt's own limited vocal techinque is nothing to write home about, yet he continues to present his voice on stage even too this day.

With that added I will always have a preference for 'real singers' in general, those singers who can actually sing the actual notes and present a fuller performance.

[ron hertel]

Looks like we've got Costello somewhere between Joe Cocker and Warwick! ...... I'm not a Costello fan; however, I love his performances on PFM (something special about one performing their own material) .... Same holds for Burt's vocals - doing his own stuff is music to my ears! ........ For those interested in a female interpretation on one of the PFM tracks - Bette Midler recorded "God Give Me Strength" (2000 CD "Bette") - and - for the most part - Burt obviously prefers to work with females interpreting his work. His own performing entourage includes 2 female vocalists (Donna & Josie) and I male (John Pagano).

[Blair N. Cummings]

"...between Joe Cocker and Warwick..." is about where Jimmy Webb`s voice lies as well and, Ron, I believe you enjoyed that composer`s unvarnished vocals as well.
That`s what I mean.

[blueonblue]

Ron,
The song you mentioned...


"blue"