The Burt Bacharach Discussion Forum

Great

bye
Rob

Dionne Warwick singing 'Who Gets the Guy' live on the Jack Benny Show circa 1971. There's subtle differences from the original recording in the arrangement and in Dionne's vocal interpretation.

Thanks for DW video, Sara. I remember hearing Who Gets the Guy when it came out and not thinking a lot of it. I appreciate it a lot more now! Here's Dionne again giving a fine concert rendition from 1989 of a much later Bacharach classic, On My Own:

Thank you Martin for posting this 'On My Own' ... fabulous. There is a whole album or ten albums waiting to be produced with hundreds of brilliant Dionne covers isn't there. Love her version of the Barbra Streisand/Bee Gees 'Guilty' as well. But 'On My Own' should have been Dionne's song!

Burt alone at the piano in a London TV studio circa spring '96, singing full versions of 'Alfie' and 'A House is Not a Home'. I recorded this at the time and still have it on a now very wobbly sounding VHS cassette. The show was the very short-lived 'Big Mouth' on Channel 4 presented by Tony Parsons. Believe me, it doesn't get much better than this:

Yes, I remember seeing BB on BIg Mouth that night and wishing I'd taped it. Wonderful to see it again after all these years. Apparently the reason he was grinning during his performance of AHINAH was because his two youngest children, practically toddlers at the time, were acting up behind the scenes.

Here's a nice recent video of Sandie Shaw and Rumer sharing the stage together in London to sing 'Trains and Boats and Planes'.

Not being a fan of Tony Parsons I missed Bacharach's extraordinary appearance on his show that night, although I was aware of it the following morning because people were talking about it at work. Fantastic to see it at long last.

As for Rumer and Sandie Shaw, what an unexpected pleasure. Trains and Boats and Planes has always meant a lot to me because it was the song that convinced me of Bacharach's uniqueness as a composer and an arranger via his own UK hit version in '65. I was only 6 years old at the time but obviously already very discerning!

A song for today..........


"blue"

Thanks, Blue! Beautiful.

Ready to Be Done with You / A Thousand Things that Were You” (Reprise) Young Molly, Ben, Molly from Some Lovers




exceptional song!
Thanks Burt & Steven

Bye
Rob

The more I hear of this score, the more often I recall what Elvis Costello said (among other things) regarding working with Burt: "If you tell him he`s great, he`ll just agree with you". Thus, did Elvis proceed to push Burt to creative peaks we haven`t heard since. I`m afraid Sater was a bit too star-struck to play a similar role in the current effort. Especially given that the story is fraught with sexual politics, I wish Elvis had been available to provide his edgier lyrics as well as to goad his elder once again.

I'm lucky enough to have a dvd copy of the 'Burt Bacharach in Shangri-la' TV special from early '73 and my particular favorite part of the show is when Burt is seated around the piano with the 5th Dimension working on an arrangement of the old spiritual 'Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen'. Bacharach's stamp is all over the finished article in the re-harmonisation and in the time changes.

the Pointer Sisters (June Pointer, solo), "Wanting Things" (From "Promises, Promises") from 1975:

A song from an overlooked and underrated pop "Masterpiece" !!!


"blue"

I just wish this "Dynamic Duo" would write and perform once again !



"blue"