The Burt Bacharach Discussion Forum

Paul,
Thank you for another great find very Bacharachian....with shades of Dionne.

'blue'

Blue, yes it's a beautiful track and shows a side to Led Zeppelin's bassist that most people wouldn't have known existed. Of course John Paul Jones along with another future member of Led Zeppelin, Jimmy Page, played on sessions for Burt's 'Hitmaker' album in 1965.

I hadn't realised until recently that Madeline Bell covered a song in 1967 that was originally recorded by Dee Dee Warwick and which went on to be a hit for The Supremes with The Temptations, one of the earliest collaborations by the songwriting and production team of Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff.

Apparently blue-eyed soul merchant and former Doobie Brother Michael McDonald has been performing since his mid-teens and in 1968 at the age of 16 he made a recording of 'There's Always Something There To Remind Me'. Although he sounds remarkably mature and soulful for someone so young, he's not yet singing in the high tenor range that was later to make his voice so distinctive and instantly recognisable. Little would he have known then that eighteen years later he'd have a US no.1 record (with Patti Labelle) with another Bacharach song.

Michael McDonald duetting with Donna Taylor for 'On My Own', with Bacharach playing the piano.

I wonder when and where this was performed ?...... "Sing-A -Long-A-Burt"

'blue'

Blue, what a great find. According to the IMDB website Burt appeared on The David Frost Show in 1969, but it doesn't stipulate whether it's the UK or the US version of the show. My memory of the UK version is that there was always a substantial studio audience just like the one seen in the video, but I'm not sure whether that was the case for the US version.

pljms wrote: ↑Sun Apr 28, 2024 12:16 am Blue, what a great find. According to the IMDB website Burt appeared on The David Frost Show in 1969, but it doesn't stipulate whether it's the UK or the US version of the show. My memory of the UK version is that there was always a substantial studio audience just like the one seen in the video, but I'm not sure whether that was the case for the US version.

Paul,
Thanks for the info, at a guess it looks like the US version from around the late sixties, early seventies.

'blue'

Re Burt performing What's New Pussycat on The David Frost Show. I get the impression that it probably occurred during a pre-recording or a pre-broadcast warm-up, hence Burt looking far more relaxed than he usually did when performing on TV.

On hearing the sad news earlier today that the French singer Françoise Hardy had died I immediately recalled her French language version of Bacharach & David's The Love Of A Boy.

More from the edition of the David Frost Show from the late 60s which featured Burt, this time performing a shortened and seemingly impromptu version of 'Alfie'.

In a way of acknowledging Jimmy Webb's birthday today (78th, no less), here's Thelma Houston in 1969 performing his song 'This Is Your Life' on The David Frost Show.

And from their second and lesser known (semi-) collaboration, `Breakwater Cat`, "Gone':

JW wrote only half of the songs on this album and arranged none. It was largely dismissed as a misfired disco album by Webb fans. Although "Gone" is a relatively slight torch song, Houston knocks it out of the park (to coin a phrase).

I finally got to see Thelma Houston perform live in 2009 when she topped the bill as part of a Motown 50th anniversary show in London and it was one of the very few occasions when an artist has actually exceeded my expectations of them. She did perform one song from 'Sunshower' but, alas, it was 'Jumpin' Jack Flash' and not one of the Jimmy Webb songs.

Every time I hear the chorus to Jimmy Webb's 'Let's Begin' I think the song should be much better known, but apart from Leah Kunkel's version from 1980 all there is out there is a live recording the following year by, of all people, Bob Dylan singing in a duet with Clydie King. Jimmy Webb did in fact record a demo of the song which did the rounds among Webb devotees on cassette a few decades ago, but never a proper studio version. He's also to my knowledge never performed the song live in concert. Here's Leah Kunkel's recording that with the prominence given to the Fender Rhodes and the alto sax positively screams the early 80s at us.


I see that the forum on Jimmy Webb's official website is disabled and has been for a number of weeks.

From the special first broadcast in 1973 entitled 'Burt Bacharach Opus 3', here he is at the piano with Gilbert O'Sullivan performing 'Do You Know The Way To San Jose'. Peter Ustinov also guested on the show in the guise of Beethoven in a series of conversations with Burt, hence the reference to the composer during the brief chat with Gilbert O'Sullivan. Of all the specials this is probably my least favourite and for the simple reason it's the one that contains the least Bacharach music.

Paul, thank you....priceless footage !

'blue'