Burt Bacharach in Vancouver

[devorah]

Anyone Who Had a Heart

Devorah Macdonald
On music


Was aware of it last night as Burt Bacharach - along with his core group and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra - performed thirty-three songs from a discography of countless hits dating back to 1957 with Marty Robbins singing Story of My Life. Perry Como had a hit with Magic Moments shortly after and those hits kept on coming. Countless as well, are the number of singers made famous because of a Bacharach tune. With a career spanning half a century, to say this man has legs would be putting it mildly. A little known fact is that Bacharach started his career in the 1950s and the early 60’s touring as the pianist, arranger and bandleader for Marlene Dietrich. It was his collaboration with lyricist Hal David that made for sheer magic during the latter part of 1960 and the 70’s.

Starting off with a medley that included Don’t Make Me Over, Walk On By, This Guy’s in Love With You, I Say A Little Prayer, Trains and Boats and Planes, Twenty Four Hours From Tulsa, Wishing and Hoping, and (There’s) Always Something There to Remind Me, this audience was ripe for the pickings. The first of several standing ovations occurred by osmosis.

After an awe-inspiring version of Anyone Who Had a Heart, Bacharach said, “That song is one of my favourites. I recorded it with Walk On By in the same evening and remember walking out after the session and saying to myself, ‘that’s a pretty good nights work’.â€￾ No one could argue that. Take all the letters in the alphabet and there are only six that a Bacharach hit doesn’t start off with. And there are plenty of multiple hits starting off with the same letter. Even Bacharach can’t remember all of the hits he’s had. Nor the songs he has written. Those he shared with us were some of his finest.

The newly released Grammy winning album, At This Time, proves that Bacharach still has the magic touch and, more importantly, that a new generation of musicians and music lovers concur. Everyone from Wynona to Dr. Dre has performed with Bacharach. I am personally waiting for Pink to perform Baby It’s You.

The songs from the new album that were performed last night could have been vintage Bacharach. The melodies and the orchestration remain familiar, but the lyrics are a departure from the love themes of the past. This is not unintentional.
It’s evident that Bacharach is stepping up to the plate and using his clout as a performer non-paralleled to make a few statements about the condition of the world we live in – no thanks to the present administration along with big business in general. During the song Stop The Clock, - with his familiar whisper - Bacharach sang of his youth and compared it to what the world now offers his children and ours. It is clearly apparent that Bacharach hopes that the halcyon days of his personal long ride will not be an anomaly for youth in the future.