The First Book of Songs

[grooverider]

Does anyone have any info or has heard the new CD "The First Book of Songs 1954-1958"? It sounds like it really has some great little-heard selections on it, seeing as it covers the years before Burt Bacharach really made a name for himself. I believe it's on the Cherry Red label, a British label and I believe the CD just came out (as an import) in February of 09.

I saw the advertisement for it on the back cover of the latest edition of "Record Collector" magazine (March 09).

[blueonblue]

Hi grooverider,
Here's some info about this wonderful compilation.
.........the sound quality is amazing !!!
http://eil.com/shop/moreinfo.asp?catalogid=461045

"blue"

[An Enormous BB Fan]

I have a question regarding the link above. The song "Searching Wind" is attributed to Burt. But at the ASCAP site, it is listed as being written by Victor Young. Here is the link:

http://www.ascap.com/ace/search.cfm?requesttimeout=300

Okay, I just checked www.thehitmakerarchive.com and there it says that Burt did write "Searching Wind".

So my question is this: Who wrote "Searching Wind". Was it Burt or Victor Young? Does anyone know for sure? Thank you.

(By the way, it doesn't sound anything like Burt. But, of course, that's true of many of his early, early music -- like "Wendy, Wendy" for example.)

[pljms]

Not counting the two instrumentals at the end of the disc, I had over the years managed to acquire third, fourth and probably fifth generation copies of all but two of the songs featured on this compilation. The two songs in question are 'Wendy Wendy' and 'Another Time, Another Place', the latter song being completely new to me and obviously to Serene Dominic and the Hitmaker Archive as well because it's not featured in any shape or form in his book or on that site. And I notice that All Music Guide in its review of Patti Page's 'Golden Greats' CD credits the song to Evans and Livingstone. To be honest, I suspected immediately upon hearing 'Another Time, Another Pace' that it wasn't composed by Bacharach because of its similarity, both harmonically and melodically, to 'Tenderly',composed in the 40s and made famous by Rosemary Clooney. I don't think Bacharach would ever have been guilty of such a mistake.

Incidentally, although the years given in the sub-title are 1954 - 1958, it really should be 1955 - 1959 as 'Keep Me in Mind' wasn't released until mid-55 and 'That Kind of Woman' mid-59.

1. Keep Me In Mind - Patti Page
2. These Desperate Hours - Mel Torme (from the film "The Desperate Hours")
3. Peggy's In The Pantry - Sherry Parsons
4. The Morning Mail - The Gallahads
5. I Cry More - Alan Dale (from the film "Don't Knock the Rock")
6. Beauty Isn't Everything - June Valli
7. The Story Of My Life - Marty Robbins
8. Winter Warm - Gale Storm
9. Love Bank - Bob Manning
10. Warm and Tender - Johnny Mathis (from the film "Lizzie")
11. Underneath The Overpass - Jo Stafford
12. Sad Sack - Jerry Lewis (from the Film \x{201c}Sad Sack\x{201d})
13. Uninvited Dream - Peggy Lee
14. The Story Of My Life - Michael Holliday
15. Magic Moments - Perry Como
16. Hot Spell - Margaret Whiting (from the film "Hot Spell")
17. Sittin' In The Tree House - Marty Robbins
18. Humble Pie - The Four Preps
19. The Night That Heaven Fell - Tony Bennett (from the film \x{201c}The Night Heaven Fell (Les bijoutiers du claire de lune)\x{201d}
20. The Blob - The Four Blobs (from the film "The Blob")
21. Saturday Night in Tiajuana - The Four Blobs
22. Wendy Wendy - The Four Coins
23. Heavenly - Johnny Mathis
24. Another Time, Another Place - Patti Page
25. That Kind of Woman - Joe Williams and The Count Basie Orchestra
26. Burt Bacharach - Searching Wind
27. Burt Bacharach - Rosanne

[nymusicalsguy]

Once upon a time, I owned a 45 of Patti Page's "Another Time, Another Place" which was (incorrectly) attributed to Bacharach & David rather than their Famous Music colleagues Livingston & Evans, who actually did write the song. It seems our friends at Cherry Red/El have used this 45 as their jumping point without recognizing the song's correct authorship. I hope to make El aware of this.

[Sara D]

Yes, even on a CD packed full of songs that because of the time they were written don't sound like Bacharach, 'Another Time, Another Place' sticks out like a sore thumb as just not having the Bacharach imprint and I too was humming 'Tenderly' for the rest of the day after hearing it for the first time. However, I'm thoroughly enjoying the CD as I've a real soft spot for Bacharach's often quirky early songs and, typical of most of his work, the more you hear them the more the tunes lodge themselves in the brain. Two particular favorites for two very different reasons are 'That Kind of Woman', which is a truly beautiful song wonderfully well sung by Joe Williams, and 'Peggy's in the Pantry', which is a real perverse pleasure that is great to have on CD so I can now inflict it on unsuspecting friends!

[An Enormous BB Fan]

Burt must be mortified that "Peggy In The Pantry" is now available because he ALWAYS mentions that song as being a horrible song that he wrote and "one that you will never hear." Or so he thought.

Actually, I'm sure he would get a kick out of it. And he knows darn well that no song -- good or bad -- that he ever wrote could ever hurt his reputation.

And I agree that many of his earlier songs have none of that Bacharach magic that we all have come to know and love. I find it extremely interesting to see how Burt's whole way of composing changed over the years. Burt was on some TV show and he said that, even if he wanted to, he wouldn't be able to write a song the way he did in the 60's. To me, that shows maturity and growth as an artist.