The Burt Bacharach Discussion Forum

Although I think it`s too bad we`ve had to resort to this category, here`s one I haven`t seen posted here before:
Oddly and despite the obvious Bacharach influence, I can`t hear Dionne (even in `72) do this. I hear the late-period Laura Nyro covering it on her uncompleted "originals plus `heart songs`" project. (Yeah, I know - I didn`t like Laura doing Bacharach, but think she`d have been superb at pseudo-Bacharach).

More than a few people have mentioned Alicia Keys to me saying that some of her stuff betrays a Bacharach influence and apparently he's a fan. Well, out of the tracks of her's I've listened to this is the one with the most obvious BB touches, particularly the chord sequence. It's curious how major 7ths and minor 7ths have almost been banished from R 'n' B music in recent years:

Yes pljms, I remember being knocked out when Alicia Keys performed 'If I Aint Got You' alone at the piano on the Jonathon Ross show before it was released as a single in the UK. I still prefer this to the hit version.

You guys aren't old as dirt, like I am. It's 1973 and I'm driving down the highway listening to the radio. All of a sudden, I hear what I think is Burt...and Hal...A new song?

"If I could be any tree in the ground, I'd wanna be a tree where the birds hang around..."

But they'd split over Lost Horizon! Were they back writing, with Dionne's and their law suits flying?

"Cause everybody needs to be loved and I'm no exception, I was born to reject rejection..."

Not Burt, I concluded. But who!? "Send a Little Love My Way" was written by Henry Mancini AND YES, Hal, intentionally aping Burt's remarkable BUTCH CASSIDY sound track, for the film OKLAHOMA CRUDE.

Have a listen to the similarities:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/oklaho ... d370987247

See if you can match 2 of Henry's songs to Burt's BUTCH CASSIDY compositions.

Nice to be among Bacharachians!

Sara D wrote:Shirley Bassey's version of the Leslie Bricusse song You and I owes a lot to Bacharach in the arrangement, I think you'll all agree!

Im so disgusted with how beautiful this song is. The most Bacharachian( i am getting that word copyrighted) parts are the piano intro.0:05-0:35 kind like a slowed down Raindrops Keep Falling or This Guys in Love. The drum section at 0:37 is suprisingly ahead of that time. Listen to 0:25 of this Alicia Keys song( and tell me if you think someone in the copyrighting department will be calling their lawyer if they read this. At 3:22 Burt wants his outro back and ironically it sounds like a slower version of Raindrops Keep Falling. You can't be made at anyone trying to copy Burt the only thing they are guilty of is having good taste.

pljms wrote:Les Reed and Barry Mason's 'If We Lived on Top of a Mountain' as recorded by Cleo Laine in 1968 is so indebted to Bacharach it's almost ludicrous and, of course, it just had to be a beautiful song.

Beautiful song. The resemblences is ridiculous and ludicrous.

pljms wrote:Yes BtoB, Tony Hatch has never denied Bacharach's influence on his writing and arranging in the '60s. Apart from Les Reed, the other British songwriter who obviously came under Bacharach's spell was Chris Andrews. He wrote several of Sandie Shaw's hits, most of them with a distinct Bacharach flavour and none more so than 'Girl Don't Come':

In this song I hear Always Something There to Remind Me and Do You Know the Way to San Jose. Good song.

pljms wrote:Yes Gillanddon, Helen Shapiro did record another Bacharach song, namely 'Keep Away From Other Girls' which he wrote with Bob Hilliard. Released as a single in '62 it got to No.40 in the UK charts.

Songwriter Teddy Randazzo was often compared to Bacharach in the 60s and I've seen his most famous song 'Going Out of My Head' more than once credited to BB on album sleeves. Another of his 60s songs 'Get Out of My Life' has more than a few Bacharach touches to it. Here it is as sung by Timi Yuro on American TV in the mid-60s:

Teddy Randazzo and Bobby Weinstein were phenomenal in their own right. My fave song of their is The Imperials Hurt So Bad. I do hear Bacharach influences from around the time of Don't Make Me Over.

David_Noble wrote:Here are some more -

A Girl Called Eddy (Erin Moran) -



and



Kate Earl -



The Pearlfishers -


















and

God these were great!!!!!!!!!!! A girl named Eddy is very similar to a contemporary singer I like named Aimee Mann but I def hear her Bacharach influences. The Pearlfisher song The Vampire of Cameleon is prob the most all time Non- Bacharach but Bacharach sounding song I have ever heard. Wish it had words.

Dick,

great post, it's a straight copy.

Sara D wrote:When Jimmy Webb was interviewed on BBC tv a few weeks ago he mentioned Bacharach as an early influence on his music, something he's done many times over the years and I know we've highlighted two or three songs of his on this forum as examples. 'Summer's Daughter' from the 5th Dimension's 'Magic Garden' album is another that owes a lot to Burt, especially in the intro and in the vocal arrangement. Listening to this again 44 years on it made me wonder if we really were aware back then of just how lucky we were to have the likes of Bacharach, Webb, Paul Simon, and Laura Nyro all at their creative peaks at the same time:

Probably my favorite Fifth Dimension song! The Magic Garden was def their best album imo.

gillanddon wrote:Hi Dennis .. there is a fabulous recording of 'I Wish I'd Never Loved You' by Helen Shapiro!

The Dusty Springfield version is far more Burt Bacharach influenced. Both are great tho.

pljms wrote:It's amazing to think that Nyro was only 19 when she wrote and recorded 'I Never Meant to Hurt You'. That first album of hers that included the track also featured three songs that would go on to be big hits for other artists, 'Wedding Bell Blues', 'Stoney End' & 'And When I Die' 'I don't think the Bacharach influence is as obvious as it was with Jimmy Webb, but it's there alright .

You do hear Burt a bit in alot of Nyro's work. I also hear alot of Motown(thinks Martha and the Vandellas) in alot of her work as well especially in Wedding Bell Blues, Luckie, and Lu. However I feel Nyro's is so idiosyncractic in her own right that her natural elements outshine her influences.

Blair N. Cummings wrote:Although I think it`s too bad we`ve had to resort to this category, here`s one I haven`t seen posted here before:
Oddly and despite the obvious Bacharach influence, I can`t hear Dionne (even in `72) do this. I hear the late-period Laura Nyro covering it on her uncompleted "originals plus `heart songs`" project. (Yeah, I know - I didn`t like Laura doing Bacharach, but think she`d have been superb at pseudo-Bacharach).

This song sounds more like a Laura Nyro song and maybe even a Neil Sedaka song as well. The Bacharach nfluences are mild but it has to be there since they were all influenced by each other. I could hear Fifth Dimension singing it. Thanks so much for this I had never heard this song before.

pljms wrote:More than a few people have mentioned Alicia Keys to me saying that some of her stuff betrays a Bacharach influence and apparently he's a fan. Well, out of the tracks of her's I've listened to this is the one with the most obvious BB touches, particularly the chord sequence. It's curious how major 7ths and minor 7ths have almost been banished from R 'n' B music in recent years:

I think Alicia Keys biggest musical influence is probably Frederic Chopin( the classical piano composer). The Piano intro you hear is more like one of his preludes or etudes. I couldn't really hear the Bacharach influence much.