The Burt Bacharach Discussion Forum

Here's a performance of "You'll Never Get to Heaven" by Darlene Love. The arrangement sounds pretty much like Burt's, but I wonder whether Phil Specter had any hand in it. (I can't hear any castanets, at any rate.) It's a nice performance and gives a chance to hear DL display her vocal talent without being submerged in Specter's "wall of sound".



-Dennis Webb

Marlene sings Burt..........


"blue"

Jackie De Shannon's great version of 'A Lifetime of Loneliness', from American TV. Apologies if this has appeared here before.

Anyone here own the LP 'Bacharach Baroque' by the 18th Century Corporation? Recorded in the late 60s in Germany, this has yet to be issued on CD & so the record is a bit of collectors' item. Yes, the concept behind the album would appear to be a bit gimmicky, but as you can hear from their rendition of 'Promises, Promises' (see the link) the arrangements are tasteful and imaginative.

I bought the Baroque LP in the early 70s but lost it in a house move a few years ago. I remember it being a fascinating listen - a Baroque group playing extended chords for pity's sake! - but it doesn't all work as well as 'Promises, Promises'. In the early 70s I had a school summer holiday job helping out in a local record shop and it was then I realised just how many light orchestral albums there were out there dedicated to Bacharach's music, which has to be the main reason he's been dogged with the 'Easy Listening' tag ever since.

If you listen to the start of the 18th Century Corporation's recording of 'This Guy's in Love with You' they change the extended chords, only to revert to them later.

The controversial LP cover to 'Bacharach Baroque', typical of its time, can be seen via the link below with 'This Guy's in Love'. As my mother would have said, "why isn't the man half naked as well as the woman?":

Following up what Sara wrote about all those orchestral albums of Bacharach that proliferated from the late 60s onwards, I remember buying an LP by Frank Chacksfield in the mid-70s that apart from having tasteful arrangements of the hits introduced me to a couple of Bacharach tunes I was still unfamiliar with 5 years after Dionne Warwick's single releases, 'Paper Mache' and 'The Green Grass Starts to Grow'. In fact, it would still be a few years before I eventually found the Dionne Warwick LPs that featured the two songs. It just shows how much quality Bacharach material slipped under the radar here in the UK after 1970.

Below are the links to Frank Chacksfield’s versions of the two songs:

At long last, Andy Williams's wonderful recording of 'Wives and Lovers' is available on Youtube. I don't know who wrote the arrangement but it's stunning:

The Supreme sing the Bacharach/David song entitled "Let The Music Play".

That Andy Williams recording of Wives and Lovers has quickly become my favorite version of the song. Great to have it here.

Magic Mario Biondi Live:

Remember the master's first number one hit?

Don't know if it's been posted previously, but here it is:



Enjoy

Another classic from "Sir Burt" !!!


"blue"

If you do a search in Youtube, there are several fans who sing and play Bacharach/David
songs using their own styles, changing the tunes with different variations.
Also there are Singing Idol contests, karaoke bars, foreign singers overseas who possibly
perform and record them without asking permission. Maybe there should be a Bacharach
Foundation that manages his works, 600 songs according to a book I'm reading
'Song By Song', because new and unknown singers should give him credit and royalties
for using his songs for their careers. There are many singing idol contests that make
money and give cash prizes, but I wonder if the organizers bother to ask permission from
individual composers since these fall under commercial public performances and
maybe even recordings and some have publicity/media attention too. In most countries
works go into public domain 50 years after the lifespan of the original composer/lyricist/
author etc. unless it remains protected and in use, so maybe a Foundation can do that ongoing.
Maybe there should be an annual Bacharach online singing competition since he has enough
songs (600?!) to have them. I'm attending as web video media to video record a singing contest
in Toronto 'Sing For Your Heart' which happens annually for the Asian Canadian communities. Instead
of trying to stop fans from doing it, increase your publicity and make money from those who may
have talent and popularity (based on video views) and get credit/royalties (commercial performances/recordings).
Have an annual music industry event/workshop for serious singers/musicians/composers including
music businesses such as schools/karaoke bars/bars/clubs/recording studios/music stores/talent agencies
which can learn how to make a career/business in music using the songs for their shows/recordings, etc.
because people go to music school and operate music businesses and can afford to pay for such advice/mentorship.
Some are already performing publicly and posting on Youtube.
An example of success story -- Kelly Clarkson singing in
American Idol and she has a career now .
Important: I bought a cd 'Burt Bacharch with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra' because he sings a few
songs in it. He really should sing more because it's the unique part the voice of the composer
which cannot be copied, although it's interesting to hear his songs sung by other singers.

Refer to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_domain and http://cmcasians.com/pages/idol/
and http://www.youtube.com/my_playlists?p=6784725DCF18C81D

Steve Schenck wrote:Well, I applaud your desire to bring Burt's great music to more people by adding words, but I would caution you that it is illegal to change/adapt, add to or take away from someone else's intellectual or artistic property. Not that I think this site is a place where people would want to do that, but Burt himself may not appreciate people altering or adding to his already published music and then posting it on a public site. Just a little friendly advice.

I just read about VEVO and Youtube, which is a collaboration with Universal Music Group
for quality music videos of their artists. I did a search and saw Costello and Bacharach
Toledo performance. Costello has a channel on VEVO and none for Bacharach. I
messaged VEVO on Youtube and asked about that because he should have one .
This is probably equivalent to MTV and MuchMusic official quality videos online
http://www.youtube.com/user/ElvisCostel ... OPXvtZvb7g
http://www.youtube.com/press_room_entry ... e9WmtO6LF4