Salon.com
http://www.salon.com/ent/audiofile/index.html (for reviews of this and other recent albums)
Burt Bacharach, "At This Time"
You know things are going south when smiley, happy lounge-meister Burt Bacharach is getting depressed. "Things are getting really bad," he tells the the New York Daily News. "Young men and women are dying in an unwinnable war in Iraq, there's Hurricane Katrina, and this President shows so little empathy. I'm scared for the future." It's this sense of angst that fuels a lot of the music on Bacharach's newest, "At This Time," as the New York Times notes in its (only four-sentence long) review: "The windows of the world are covered with rain in Burt Bacharach's new album of downbeat mood music with vocals. The suite of 11 new Bacharach songs composed in his signature Wagnerian lounge style announces that the world has gone to hell in lumpy original lyrics he wrote with Tonio K." (Most reviews can't refrain from punning -- USA Today [three and a half stars out of four] opens with the favored "What the world needs now" joke -- but the irony, of course, is that Bacharach didn't write the lyrics he is famous for.) This isn't to say the album is all dour frowns, writes Billboard, as "his trademark melodicism and gorgeous arrangements remain intact."
Bacharach collaborated with Dr. Dre on a few tracks, and the song "Who Are These People," done with longtime friend Elvis Costello, gets praise from a number of writers -- it's called "a plaintive highlight" (USA Today) and "most arresting" (Billboard). Dre's appearance is clearly meant to lend some street cred to the record, but it also signals a shift of aesthetic concern, as the Independent writes: "At 77, Austin Powers's spiritual father has suddenly gone hardcore, dressing hip-hop loops hatched by 50 Cent and the Eminem producer Dr Dre with biting, self-penned lyrics that take the Bush administration to task." Other guests include Rufus Wainwright, Prinz Board (of the Black Eyed Peas) and producer Denaun Porter.
If the combination of political lyrics and rap beats makes the album difficult to imagine as Bacharach's work, the N.Y. Daily News has perhaps the best summation of its sound: "'At This Time' is an odd beast, comprising seven long suites, which often have the abstraction of instrumental mood pieces. They're broken up by vocal sections that waft in and out, often at the least likely moments." As Bacharach tells the Independent: "I'm just being honest about this reflective time in my life. Other people can write what they feel in their Newsweek column, but I put it in my music. I won't get on stage with the Buffalo Philharmonic [with whom he plays this weekend] and say something derogatory about Bush, but my feelings are on the album." Bacharach has been talking with a lot of outlets in the publicity push for the album, but there's a nice, long interview over at All About Jazz that seems worthy of highlighting: "All my life, I've written love songs. And you know what's involved, hearts being broken, you know? Relationships. 'Only Love Can Break Your Heart,' you know what I mean, you can go down the list, you know? ... But this image from this writer was: These are still love songs about being broken-hearted, about hearts being broken. But instead of another person, the relationship breaking your heart, it's the situation: The war."
-- Scott Lamb
[14:06 EDT, Nov. 2, 2005]
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Boston Globe
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/living ... +Arts+News
Not-so-dynamic duos
November 3, 2005
Burt Bacharach, the kingpin of swinging 1960s hits such as ''I Say a Little Prayer" and ''What the World Needs Now Is Love," this week released a new album, ''At This Time." Among the many surprises is the fact that the album is mostly downbeat and addresses Bacharach's ''indignation over the state of the world." But most surprisingly, there are contributions from disparate artists. Some make perfect sense (Rufus Wainwright and trumpeter Chris Botti); others are a thoughtful choice (Elvis Costello); and then there are three songs with drum loops provided by . . . hip-hop pioneer Dr. Dre? Believe it. Of course, music has a long history of odd couples. Here's a look at some of the more head-scratching pairings over the years.
song: ''Unforgettable"
The players: Jackie Chan and Ani DiFranco
Where to hear it: ''When Pigs Fly: Songs You Never Thought You'd Hear"
A real contender for strangest duet of all time, ''Unforgettable" with Jackie Chan and Ani DiFranco is just that. The mood is straight jazz, with DiFranco sounding like quintessential DiFranco (minus the vocal tics), and Chan is earnest enough to sit in on a Michael Buble session. Even the harmonies are on their best behavior. It's sterile enough to remind you of that trite jazz ensemble featured in the film ''Lost in Translation," the one called Sausalito.
The song: ''Son of a Gun (I Betcha Think This Song Is About You")
The players: Janet Jackson and Carly Simon
Where to hear it: Jackson's ''All for You"
Yo, Carly, drop it like it's hot, sister. That's right. The queen bee of Martha's Vineyard goes hip-hopping with Miss Janet in her pre-''wardrobe malfunction" days. Jackson samples the chorus of Simon's ''You're So Vain," but when Jackson tells her to break it down, the best Simon can muster is: ''Clouds of various shapes and sizes/ Most guys like to evaluate their prizes." It makes Madonna's rap ''I drive my Mini Cooper/ And I'm feeling super-duper/ Yo, they tell me I'm a trooper" sound like Neneh Cherry.
The song: ''Cha Cha Heels"
The players: Bronski Beat and Eartha Kitt
Where to hear it: Kitt's ''Collection"
Perhaps taking a cue from the Pet Shop Boys' hit duet with Dusty Springfield on ''What Have I Done to Deserve This?," 1980s synth-pop trio Bronski Beat decided to dust off the venerable Kitt. As Bronski's fierce lead singer Jimmy Somerville charges up the scales for a high C, Kitt purrs and lets out a ghastly cackle to let you know you're in for four minutes of fresh hell. A Casio keyboard chugs along in the background, and, as she had been doing for the past 40 years, Kitt deadpans lines such as ''I'm all dressed up and ready to fall in love" as though it were a threat.
The song: ''Buckets of Rain"
The players: Bob Dylan and Bette Midler
Where to hear it: Midler's ''Songs for the New Depression"
Long before she became Disneyized and the wind beneath our wings, Midler recorded some interesting duets, including this mid-'70s gem and one with Tom Waits. ''Buckets of Rain" is a Dylan song that originally appeared on ''Blood on the Tracks." Here, Dylan and Midler give it a slick, upbeat treatment, with some rollicking piano accompaniment, but it's toward the end when it crashes and burns. Midler decides to ad-lib some horrific lines, including ''Bobby, Bobby, hey there, Mr. D., you set me free." Obviously unamused, Dylan mumbles something about giving ''Paul Simon a chance." Thankfully, she never did.
The song: ''Justified and Ancient"
The players: Tammy Wynette and the KLF
Where to hear it: Wynette's ''Tears of Fire"
''They're justified, and they're ancient/ I hope you understand," Wynette sings in the opening of her 1992 duet with British dance-pop duo the KLF. Understand? Actually, we don't. At all. But that's nothing compared with the video, which features Wynette, almost 50 and decked out like a Christmas tree, standing atop what appears to be a pyramid amid a chorus of tribal dancers. Ultimately, Wynette explained the whole experience best: ''They called me up in Tennessee, and said Tammy, 'Stand by the jams.' " JAMES REED
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