The Burt Bacharach Discussion Forum

Just wondering what everyone is listening to on their IPODs, MP3, etc. Here's what I'm listening to on my MP3:
Burt performances:
Do You Know the Way To San Jose?
I Say a Little Prayer
Bond Street
Reach Out For Me
Come Touch The Sun
Make It Easy On Yourself
Promises, Promises
Wives and Lovers
Living Together, Growing Together
Alfie from 'A Night To Remember'- just Burt and the piano

Artists doing Burt tunes:
Carpenters: (They Long To Be) Close To You
Herb Alpert: This Guy's In Love, Casino Royale
Neil Diamond: Heartlight
Naked Eyes: Always Something There To Remind Me
Elvis Costello and Burt Bacharach: Toledo, This House Is Empty Now
Ron Isley and Burt Bacharach: In Between Heartaches
Dionne Warwick: Walk On By, Do You Know..., I Say A Little Prayer, Don't Make Me Over, Anyone Who Had A Heart
'Lost Horizon' sntk: Question Me An Answer, The World Is a Circle

As I said before, I prefer Burt's interterpretations of his own stuff, espcially: Reach Out For Me, Make It Easy On Yourself, and A House Is Not a Home. The only song I like by Burt and another artist is: Wives and Lovers by Jack Jones and the 1971 Burt version.

Thank you

Burtchifan,

thanks and in your "other artists" section you prudently list a divine yet scarcely mentioned BB classic (even Serene misses the beauty of this song, surely written for Russell Thompkins Jr). Oh and one of the worst songs Burt ever wrote. Guess which is which, anyone.....?

Neil Diamond: Heartlight
Ron Isley and Burt Bacharach: In Between The Heartaches

Listening today to the soundtrack of "Together" and also Dionnes CD "Here I Am"
Tom (from Chicago)

I hate to think that 'Heartlight' is one of the worst songs Burt ever wrote. I read an article that there was some legal action of sorts, as the song is a direct reference to 'ET-The Extra Terrestrial' film. As neither Burt, Carole, or Neil were invloved in the film, but wrote song, MCA/Universal threatened to sue over the content of the song. Never heard what became of that. I like it, it's a nice song- not a great song, but a good Burt 80's tune.
'In Between The Heartaches' sounds good with both Ron and Dionne.
Another tune I like, but haven't downloaded is 'Paper Mache' by Dionne. Like the nice, soft tune.

In my opinion, Heartlight is not one of the better tunes Bacharach wrote. Although Burt wrote some very good tunes in the 1980s, a few seem very dated and very identifiable with the typical sound of that decade. All the sythesizer work lacked the depth of a live orchestra and sounded rather "perfectly dead" and Heartlight in my opinion, would not be identifiable as a Bacharach tune if one had no idea who composed it. The tune just never moved me much at all and there was definitely a "roteness" to it that, to my ear made it sound bland and uninteresting. Heartlight was a hit but seldom heard these days and I seem to recall that Burt included it in his playlist from time to time, but it doesn't seem to have that trademark Bacharach sound and I would venture to guess that most people who know Bacharach's work in passing would probably not identify it with Burt. In the times, I have seen Bacharach perform, I have heard him play a snippet of that tune once.

I prefer Bacharach's albums from the 60s and 70s and of course, most all the originals of his tunes recorded by Dionne and others. I would recommend these for an intro to Bacharach: Burt Bacharach Plays His Hits from 1965 and on the Kapp Label, Reach Out from 1967, Make It Easy On Yourself from 1970 both by Burt and on A&M and Dionne's Here I Am from 1965, Make Way For Dionne Warwick from 1964, Dionne Warwick in Valley of the Dolls from 1968 on Scepter and in reissue CDs and Rhino's The Dionne Warwick Collection. There are so many others that I listen to but these are always close to the top of my playlist. The album Here I Am has some of the most stunningly innovative and original works Bacharach/David and Warwick ever recorded together.