The Burt Bacharach Discussion Forum

The link to Burt's interview in today's Denver Post is here:
http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,141 ... 74,00.html

There are also links to hear audio clips from Burt's interview with the Post's writer. The quality isn't great, but I thought some of our international would be interested in hearing what Burt had to say about touring Europe:

"Italy? Spectacular audiences. I mean just as good as it can get, you know. Because they're very free, they're very enthusiastic, they know the music. England's great, Ireland's great. France, forget about it. I can't even get arrested there, you know. God, how are France and Italy so close together? Germany, we never play a concert in Germany because you don't want to go if there's no demand, you know."

That was great mark, thanks. And to hear Burt talk like that is so cool.

I do have one question. He mentions that Dre gave him a 4-bar loop and he'll write over it. Is the loop just a base line? Or does the loop contain the actual chord changes that Burt will have to use? I ask this because I'm wondering if Burt will find himself very limited as to where he can go with the song. I'm just wondering out loud why he would want to be so handcuffed in his creativity. I can't think of one song that Burt has ever written that could stay within the parameters of a 4-bar loop.

Or is the the 4-bar loop just the starting point for his creativity to begin? Maybe that's it.

Either way, I can't wait for the final product.

I once wrote that Burt is too creative, in a way, so that a hook is probably a good thing to get him started. Anything would work with him, I think.
But I also think that the way the market is today, as Burt himself mentions, one almost needs support fom guys like Dre who have a large (young) following. So maybe Burt isn't too pleased to be handcuffed that way.