Burt's Best Interpreter (other than Dionne)

[Harold]

Gene recorded several (as you all know) Bacharach gems and doesn't seem to get his due! What is Pitney's relationship with Burt like at the present? Why didn't he get invited to the tv special? Liberty Valance, Tulsa, Only love, Fool Killer, etc. are all great!

[Harold]

Gene recorded several (as you all know) Bacharach gems and doesn't seem to get his due! What is Pitney's relationship with Burt like at the present? Why didn't he get invited to the tv special? Liberty Valance, Tulsa, Only love, Fool Killer, etc. are all great!

[Steve Schenck]

I'd like to throw a few other names in the mix.

Male: Michael McDonald
Female: Patti LaBelle

Now I realize that they haven't recorded a whole lot of Burt's material. But from what they have done, I think they show terrific promise and I am confident that they could make his material shimmer.

[Italian guest]

Who do you think is the best interpreter of Bacharach songs? Feel free to post your own favorites if I've left them off this highly subjective, thoroughly incomplete list...

1st Karen Carpenter 2nd Jackie DeShannon 3rd Burt himself

[alexis]

female:Karen carpenter ,male chuck jackson

[rob]

My vote is for Gene Pitney. Offhand I can only think of 6 Bacharach-David songs that he recorded, but 4 of them were significant Top 40 national hits (Liberty Valance, 24 Hours from Tulsa, True Love Never Runs Smooth, and Only Love Can Break a Heart). That's an amazing percentage. The other 2 (Fool Killer and If I Never Get To Love You) were never issued as singles. Ditto with the Bacharach-Hilliard gem "Little Betty Falling Star." It's a shame that business economics put an end to this relationship because Bacharach and Pitney were clearly in sync.

[Guest]

Jackie DeShannon

[Guest]

This is my vote

[Fred]

Female = Dusty
Male = BJ (2nd = The Drifters)

only one ? Then Dusty wins.

[Henry]

I would have to say Dusty as well. When it comes to interpretive singers of the 20th century, Dionne and Dusty are unequalled. Today's performers are more about personality then interpretation, whereas Dusty and Dionne tailored their voices to each song. Springfield's rendition of "Look of Love" says it all (just compare it to the version that was sung on "American Idol" during their Burt tribute episode ... yuck! talk about saccharine). "In The Land of Make Believe" is also another slice of perfection.

[rasputin]

Yepper, I also have to hand it to my late, great Sapphic sister and musical Mahatma, Dusty Springfield.

I agree that every artiste brings his/her own interpretation to a BB song; in fact, I believe nobody appreciates this more than Burt himself.

Yet Dusty didn't just interpret the BB/HD she sang; she owned those songs, in the most natural, hand-in-glove way imaginable. So she's my primary choice.

Has anyone mentioned Linda Ronstadt? Her two stabs at BB/HD on her WINTER LIGHT album ["Anyone Who Had A Heart" and "I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself"] were very admirable indeed, especially with Peter Asher, George Massenburg and the Skywalker Orchestra behind her. Powerful, tasteful stuff. Now that the limelight has been focused once again on La Ronstadt with her recent Vegas succès-de-scandale, I am hoping that she will, in future albums, explore some more of the BB/HD oeuvre, recorded DDD, replete with the Asher/Massenburg wall-of-sound.

Dionne wins first prize, hands-down, of course. To sing a BB/HD song correctly requires more than star charisma and a good voice; the artist must literally understand the intellectual and musical ideas that Burt was putting forward in each song; nobody could negotiate Burt and Hal's sophisticated subtleties more capably than Dionne. That she had star charisma and a beautiful voice were actually secondary, IMHO, to the musical intelligence she possessed-- the sine qua non of a great BB/HD interpretation.

[Guest]

rasputin, you nailed it on the head! "musical intelligence" is the perfect word to describe the talent that both Dionne and Dusty had (and still have!) .... Ronstadt I'm not so sure of lol ... she has a wonderful voice but a lot of the time (to me, at least) she prefers to belt the song out of the park rather than revel in its subtleties (ex: Blue Bayou) ... but again, an artist who posseses a high musical IQ only seems to come around every 10-15 years .... im still waiting for ours ... I honestly can't think of an artist since Karen Carpenter who has shown much interpretive skill ... any suggestions?

[rasputin]

Young R&B vocalist/songwriter Brian McKnight has impressed me the most over the last 10-12 years.

Obviously a natural musical genius, he has razor-precise pitch, uncanny ability at melodic substitution (a.k.a. "scat") like Dionne has.

Most impressively to me, he possesses that impeccable sense of taste and restraint that Bacharach and Warwick have.

In charisma, handsomeness, precision, tenderness, self-effacement and emotional finesse, he actually reminds me of a young Nat "King" Cole.

DAVE

[eliz]

The same song in the hands of two different singers may as well be two different songs - they all bring something unique, and almost always worthy, to the interpretation. That said, I think Tommy Hunt's version of I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself is perfect. Costello also inhabits this song when he sings it. And while it's not my favorite version, Chrissie Hynde's Message to Michael makes you want to tear your heart out. I really recommend it. The first time (and subsequent hundreds) I heard Ronald Isley's Raindrops I couldn't believe how different it is from the B.J. Thomas version. I love them both, but the Isley one is so profound and nuanced. Another favorite interpretation is Bacharach's own version of A House is Not a Home - raw, romantic and heartbreaking.

Elizabeth

[daddy dom]

Isaac Hayes has to be the best male Bacharach singer ever. Dig deep, people. listen to his Walk On By and Close To You!
As for female singers, there's only one Burt and there's only one Dusty.