Rhino's "Look of Love" turns 25

[pljms]

The part of the discussion on this thread that I have the most trouble getting my head around is that of a musical figure as legendary and iconic as Burt Bacharach being referred to as "always underrated" by US rock journalist Stephen Holden. Certainly for those of us who grew up in the UK during the 1960s, avidly reading the music press and listening to the BBC and pirate radio stations like Caroline and Radio London, it would be impossible to imagine a pop composer more highly revered than Bacharach was in those days and I remember that every time a record of one of his songs was played on the radio it seemed that the DJ would mention his name and often in glowing and even awed terms. I think the high esteem in which he was held even survived his mid-70s career slump, the blandness of the 80s hits written with Carole Bayer Sager and the rock music revolution in general because of the sheer breadth and quality of his 60s output. I think it's fair to say that it was probably no coincidence that the revival of interest in his music in the mid-90s began in the UK, sparked off by a combination of Oasis featuring a photo of Burt on the cover of their million selling 'Definitely Maybe' album; bands and musicians like Blur, Swing Out Sister and Paul Weller talking in the music press about their admiration for him and his influence; his classic 60s hits being rediscovered on London's club scene, and all culminating in BBC's 1995 television documentary 'Burt Bacharach - This Is Now'. I was reminded of all this on Friday evening as around five hours of BBC 4's schedule were dedicated to Burt, including his set from Glastonbury in 2015, the show at The 2008 BBC Electric Proms and last year's tribute concert from Ronnie Scott's by some of the cream of the present day London jazz scene.

[mark]

This year also marks the 25th anniversary of Bacharach's "One Amazing Night" concert. I drove to NYC from Boston, sat in a nosebleed seat beyond a loudmouth who yammered throughout (annoying everyone around him),and then drove back to Boston the same night. Of course, it was all worth it and more.

I was there in the nosebleed section too! (I hope I wasn't the loudmouth.)

[Sara D]

The part of the discussion on this thread that I have the most trouble getting my head around is that of a musical figure as legendary and iconic as Burt Bacharach being referred to as "always underrated" by US rock journalist Stephen Holden. Certainly for those of us who grew up in the UK during the 1960s, avidly reading the music press and listening to the BBC and pirate radio stations like Caroline and Radio London, it would be impossible to imagine a pop composer more highly revered than Bacharach was in those days and I remember that every time a record of one of his songs was played on the radio it seemed that the DJ would mention his name and often in glowing and even awed terms. I think the high esteem in which he was held even survived his mid-70s career slump, the blandness of the 80s hits written with Carole Bayer Sager and the rock music revolution in general because of the sheer breadth and quality of his 60s output. I think it's fair to say that it was probably no coincidence that the revival of interest in his music in the mid-90s began in the UK, sparked off by a combination of Oasis featuring a photo of Burt on the cover of their million selling 'Definitely Maybe' album; bands and musicians like Blur, Swing Out Sister and Paul Weller talking in the music press about their admiration for him and his influence; his classic 60s hits being rediscovered on London's club scene, and all culminating in BBC's 1995 television documentary 'Burt Bacharach - This Is Now'. I was reminded of all this on Friday evening as around five hours of BBC 4's schedule were dedicated to Burt, including his set from Glastonbury in 2015, the show at The 2008 BBC Electric Proms and last year's tribute concert from Ronnie Scott's by some of the cream of the present day London jazz scene.

Paul, the irony of Bacharach being more highly regarded in the UK is that I believe he had something in the region of twenty more Top 40 hits with his songs in the US than he did here. I don't know how we did it but we somehow managed to completely ignore gems like Any Day Now, Wives And Lovers, What The World Needs Now Is Love, Promises, Promises and One Less Bell To Answer. We even totally by-passed the original recording of I Say A Little Prayer by Dionne Warwick, one of her biggest hits in the US.

[harrymcc]

This year also marks the 25th anniversary of Bacharach's "One Amazing Night" concert. I drove to NYC from Boston, sat in a nosebleed seat beyond a loudmouth who yammered throughout (annoying everyone around him),and then drove back to Boston the same night. Of course, it was all worth it and more.

I was there in the nosebleed section too! (I hope I wasn't the loudmouth.)

Definitely wasn't you. This guy was paying no attention to the conference and seemed annoyed the rest of us cared about it.