The Beginning of Loneliness

[acshore]

According to steveo_1965 this board has been rather stale lately... I could not agree more. Well, here's something for you...


I've recently posted a comment regarding the song "The Beginning of Loneliness." But the information surrounding this Bacharach/David tune is quite fascinating.

Apparently, this A-side of single 12187 was Scepter's attempt at giving Dionne a boost, for Warwick had not had a resonable chart entry since "Message to Michael" peaked in the Top10 of both the Hot 100 and R&B in 1966. Released March 18, 1967, it entered Billboard's Hot 100 to last until April 1 at 2 weeks; reaching its peak at #79, while ranking #44 R&B, and ending a one week stint on the Cash Box chart on March 25. Despite it's rapid ascend upward, it came to a sudden stop when DJ's still trying to gain a hit out of Bacharach/David's "Alfie" began flipping the single. The public made no comments; in all likelyhood because of it's abrupt departure, it was took quick to take note of. What makes this song so memorable are three key elements:

This is probably the most robust and gritty Warwick dared to venture on any Bacharach/David song and, for once, is not restrained by subtlety that was required for most of the duo's compositions. Or just the story behind "Alfie" being the flip-side alone is mesmerizing. Lastly, this song features legendary guitarist Vincent Bell, who originated the "water sound" by a trick of string restraint, a technique that would go on to be used on records of the day such as "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You" by The Four Seasons. Bell was also the electric sitarist on B.J. Thomas' "Hooked on a Feeling."

Bacharach's music was such a phenomenon of the 1960's you could not go anywhere without hearing it. I know this may sound cliche, but that infamous french horn, such a prevalent and signature sign of any Bacharach tune, could be easily recognized while shopping in any grocery store back then. Just imagine walking down that isle and hearing one note, you'd know exactly what you were listening to. "The Beginning of Loneliness" is one of those songs that should have been memorable; one which those would remember hearing, reminding them where they were at a given place in time. I find it amazing that out of other Warwick's Hot 100 charters, this song nearly managed to reach the Top40 in the R&B circut within 2 short weeks. It's that good!


I highly encourage you all to seek this one out! Definitely worth a listen, and comments!


Note: All chart entry information courtesy of Billboard, and Cash Box charts.

[steveo_1965]

I dont know about this being one of the classic melodies of
Burt Bacharach, but I can tell you this..it is unparalled in it's
dynamics! I don't know how Burt does it....The dynamics in this song are
genius! It's a "must" for any Bacharach/David fan! It burns a hole in ya!

[Blair N. Cummings]

Are all those Scepter albums that were re-issued only a couple years ago out of print again?
I figured we all had them by now; and that,anyway, they would remain available again for a while.
What `s going on? Did Dionne herself have a hand in remaindering them?
These are classics of American pop ( not unlike Ella Fitzgerald`s "Songbooks") and should never be unavailable.

[grooverider]

If they are out of print, a big reason may be a financial one. The recorded music business continues on a downward spiral, so I doubt that the major music companies will reissue anything that wouldn't make money for them.
Music companies are really rethinking the "CD" model, seeing as how few units the are selling.
As much as music is such a large part of our culture, the music business is just that, a business, one where the primary objective is to make money for the record company.
Of course, there are exceptions, just look at how much excitement the Beatles remasters created, but that's the Beatles!
With absolutely no disrespect to Dionne Warwick, from a business standpoint, it makes more business sense to reissue the Beatles, but less so, to reissue Dionne Warwick in this current financial climate.
I wholeheartedly agree that these are American classics, but unfortunately, the music business is run by businessmen first and foremost.
If anything keeps Dionne Warwick's music available, it would have to be itunes, where people have access to her "hits", which the majority of the public would want, anyway. Ms. Warwick's fans would most likely lean towards baby boomers, who usually do not run out and purchase recorded music.

[nymusicalsguy]

The Rhino Handmade reissues of Dionne's Scepter catalog were always limited editions, and as long as the print run hasn't sold out completely, will remain available. I also believe the Collectors' Choice reissues are still technically in print, and will only go OOP once Collectors' Choice's deal with Rhino/Warner expires. More of Dionne's catalog is available today on CD than has been in a long, long time.

And while the media would certainly like us to believe that the CD is dead (it makes for better copy!), the rumors of its demise have been greatly exaggerated.

While downloads certainly have their partisans, 65% of music purchased is still in physical form according to recent reports published by Billboard; I grew tired long ago of all the articles saying how dead the CD is, when it certainly is healthy compared to many other industries in terms of sales figures alone. Is it healthy compared to ten years ago? No. But any number of books on the topic say that the music explosion of the 1990s was unprecedented, and simply unable to sustain. When I think of the literally tens of reissue CDs I seem to be buying each month from British labels (Ace, Demon/Edsel and the Cherry Red family of labels, most usually), I wonder if these companies feel that their business is dead and/or dying. After all, would they continue releasing as many discs as they do if they were losing money on them? (Ace just announced a new series, The London American Label, which will be completed over an 8-year time period!) And box sets seem to be undergoing a minor renaissance as has been reported in Billboard and elsewhere. (Certainly I'm saving my pennies for way too many of them this fall...not even counting the Beatles boxes!) Rhino may have slowed down their release schedule of single-disc CDs, but I have no problem with them putting their energy into so many great multi-disc sets.

It's easy to write off the CD -- especially with the demise of so many great brick-and-mortar retailers. But even if it does become more of a niche product in the years to come, I just don't see its burial any time soon...at least not before comic books, the Broadway theatre, and all of the other things I've read about as "dying" for years and years. There will always be consumers who want to listen to music somewhere that isn't near a computer, and consumers who want better sound quality than that of an mp3...and I'm not even speaking of audiophiles who read forums like this one. I'll go on a limb and say that there will always be a place for physical media...seemingly not at the numbers attained some years ago, but at a reasonable number that will level off, allow the retailers who've held in there to survive, and allow the record labels to keep manufacturing. Of course, downloads aren't going anywhere. But they will co-exist with a physical product of some sort, I've no doubt. Blu-Ray Audio, anyone?

Joe

[BachtoBacharach]

Joe, Totally agree...reports of the death of the CD are greatly exaggerated. Dionne has always been a consistent seller on CD...so may reissues are available of her output worldwide...much more than some folks would lead you to believe. Rhino issued The Dionne Warwick Collection: Her Alltime Greatest Hits in 1989 and it remains in print, a money maker and one of Rhino's best and most consistent sellers among all the collections they have released. Although Dionne's sales aren't up there with The Beatles, she sells better than many of her contemporaries. Many other Rhino "hits" collections and compilations are long out of print but Dionne's is still around...outselling even Aretha's Rhino compilation. And more Dionne tracks are reissued each year. I would guess among the studio albums Dionne cut, all are available in CD format and are fairly easy to locate. Also, outlets such as Amazon and ITunes also have a staggering array of Dionne tracks on MP3...more than you could find even 15 years ago. I also believe there is, again, a young audiophile market out there that is just beginning to discover these brilliantly remastered recordings that sound so much better than the mp3s they've been hearing and I believe there is definitely a market to hear the complex tunes Bacharach cut with Warwick mastered in a whole new way.

[grooverider]

Percentages/Numbers: approximately 3,650 stores that sell music have closed nationwide in the last 6 years, according to the Almighty Institute of Music Retail marketing firm (LA Times 9-24-09), including Tower Records and Virgin Megastores.
CD sales for 08= 227,340,000 and for 09 (so far)= 179,755,00 (Billboard 9-12-09). Percentages do not always tell the full story: many articles give total cd sales, which include digital cd sales in that total. Percentages can also be misleading (ie: if I manufacture and sell 10 cd's, my sales are 100%). Sure, stores are selling more cd's but there's less competition, and what are those stores? More and more they're big box stores like Wall Mart and Best Buy, which are devoting less floor space to cd's.

The cd is not dead, but with many other choices (P2P, satellite radio, online & music streaming, MySpace, ringtones, etc.) people are not as conditioned to buy cd's like "baby boomers" who grew up with vinyl (which by the way has INCREASED sales: 08= 1,128,00 and 09= 1,643,000 (from Billboard). Look at Bruce Springsteen, who sold a cd exclusively through Wall Mart, Paul McCartney who signed with Starbucks (!) and Michael Buble selling a cd through Hallmark Cards. These artists are looking for creative ways to sell their product. Consumers are getting tired of purchasing a cd for only one or two favorite songs and paying big bucks, esp. in this economy.
Chrisette Michele has the current distinction of selling the FEWEST numbers of cd's to debut at #1 on the Billboard charts, 83,000! (According to Billboard there are 3 artists whose #1 debut totaled less than 100,000)
No, the cd is not dead, there will always be demand for cd's, but there are fewer total artists to choose from as majors pare away at the artists signed to their labels.
How would a young Dionne Warwick fare in today's marketplace? Would she have the long and illustrious career that she's had? I don't know, but I surely would hope that she could! I truly hope that younger generations, hear and seek out the music of Burt Bacharach, Dionne Warwick and so many more, for it is truly timeless music.

[ron hertel]

grooverider:

You've brought forth some very interesting facts and observations. One of my favorite pastimes has been taken away with the demise of the retail music stores. There was so much pleasure associated with visits to Tower Records and other retailers that stocked huge inventories where you could purchase not only the latest releases that were of particular interest - but - browse through the enormous selection and be reminded of some of the great music that was in the back of your mind and nearly forgotten. Although this resulted in some "impulse buying" - there are very few things that I regret purchasing as a result of my browsing. TRUE - most is available on the internet - but there is no substitute for being able to touch the merchandise and sometimes compare notes with another customer or a knowledgeable sales person. For the most part the "big box" stores just do not measure up - I'm usually out of there in 10 minutes. This has certainly had a negative impact on so many of the record companies and recording artists.

There are lots of talented individuals out there who will likely never have long and illustrious careers like Burt and Dionne because of the many changes occuring throughout the music industry!

[grooverider]

Dear Ron, Your last observation, which you so very well expressed, is what I was trying to say (through all those numbers). Like you, going "record shopping" was such an enjoyable and unique experience. There is nothing that will probably take the place of those experiences, and that does make me sad. But even more so, the fear of the thought of..."where will the next generation's Burt Bacharach, Hal David and Dionne Warwick come from, if they come at all?" Bacharach, David & Warwick were very fortunate to come along at a time when new music was supported and allowed to flourish. (And it was bought!) Today's climate seems so much LESS conducive and harder for new artists to share their talents. I feel very fortunate to be alive at a time when so much music and so many artists flourished (the 60's). Looking back, it seems like a time that will never come again, at least in that way that
allowed a friend to say, "hey, check out this new song I just heard" or to hear a "Walk on By" on the radio and be blown away! Where are the Florence Greenburgs, the Joe Smiths, the Jerry Wexlers, the Arif Mardins who were visionaries and were business people and, most importantly, had ears?

I guess we are in a different time and the music business is just so different, so the avenues for exposure are going to be different too, but, I wonder, "Where is the new Burt Bacharach, will the public
have a chance to hear him (or her)?"

[steveo_1965]

Let's not forget Mickie Most, Phil Spector, or Bert Berns...
Good post, Groove!

[Hank]

Thanks for bringing attention to this song. I hadn't heard it before (and I call myself a Burt fan!!!!)

I've had my third listen. First sounded a bit harsh but guess what.....

Really looking fwd to my 4th, 5th etc....

[BachtoBacharach]

Acshore, Dionne followed up Michael with Trains, Boats and Planes which hit #22 and I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself which hit #26 and were respectable hits but it was Alfie which kicked Dionne's (and Burt's) careers into the stratosphere here in the US. And the song began to gain momentum long before its release as the B side of The Beginning of Loneliness. DJs actually started playing the album cut of Alfie from The Here Where There Is Love album (Dionne's first RIAA certified gold album) earlier in the year of 1967. Scepter released Loneliness with B side Alfie and then Dionne performed it at the Academy Awards in 1967 to a worldwide audience of about a billion. Then DJs across the country flipped the single after that and Alfie became a huge hit, much bigger than its #15 placement in the hot 100 would indicate (it was a top 5 R & B hit as well). Dionne was everywhere on television singing Alfie that summer. After that it was full speed ahead for Dionne, Burt and Hal until 1971. Dionne hit the top 40 with Windows of the World in September and when the album of the same name was released concurrently with the single, DJs starting playing another tune from the Windows of the World album...this little ditty was recorded in June of 1966 and intended for the the Here Where There Is Love album but cut from the release. You may have heard that song...I Say A Little Prayer..released as a single almost a year and a half after it was recorded. Burt wanted Prayer buried but Florence Greenburg said lets put it on the album Windows of the World, it deserves to be heard...and DJs loved it and forced Greenburg to release it as a single with Burt protesting all the way but the public loved it and Burt learned to love it. Greenberg was certainly shrewd and DJs loved to program Dionne's music. It hit # 4 in December 1967 (Aretha would hit # 10 with it in 1968 but the public at least in the 60s and 70 preferred Dionne's version and Dionne had the bigger sales and hit with it) and its flip or B side of the single was Theme from Valley of the Dolls...which was an even bigger hit than Prayer and stormed up to the #2 position in February 1968! Prayer was both Dionne and Burt's first RIAA certified US million seller...Dolls sold even more but the RIAA at the time would only certify one side of a double sided hit. Dionne's follow up to Prayer/Dolls was another double sided hit...the top 10 Do You Know the Way to San Jose (a HUGE international hit) b/w the hot 100 Let Me Be Lonely. Following that, was Who Is Gonna Love/Always Somthing There to Remind me another double sided hit (33 for Who and 65 for Somthing)...Promises, Promises followed in September at #19, followed by This Girl's In Love With You at # 7, You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling at # 15 and I'll Never Fall In Love Again at # 6. This from June 1967 through January 1970. That's 5 top tens, 8 top twenties, 10 top 40, and 14 hot 100 hits in 2 and 1/2 years. Hal David told Dionne that Dolls would never be a hit and Dionne bet him that it would be even bigger than Prayer...the story goes that Hal said if Dionne was right he would eat his hat. Rumor has it when Dolls hit the #2 spot on Billboard and Cash Box and the #1 spot on Record World that Dionne presented him with an edible hat and a salt shaker and he ate the hat.

[An Enormous BB Fan]

Great post, BachtoBacharach! Thanks!

It's kind of funny that Burt wanted Prayer buried and Dionne hated San Jose! Could two people have been more wrong?

I just cannot understand how anyone could hear Dionne's "Prayer" and not realize that it was one of the most astounding songs ever recorded?!?! Burt said that he kept "What the World Needs Now Is Love" in his drawer for about a year. He didn't realize what a classic he had. Dionne even turned it down when it was offered to her.

I guess hindsight is a wonderful thing.

[MexicanDivorce]

For me personally it is one of my favorite Bacharach / David tune together with "In between the heartaches", "Where would I go" or "The wine is young". It is a very dynamic songs full of emotional power and Dionne did a great job to sing the song. I like that styles of Bacharach / David tunes with the fade outs and on the other hand there are two and a half minutes symphonies. It´s very great combination !!!!!!!

[steveo_1965]

Im thinking about the Beginning of Loneliness recording again, and how the echo on the record is excellent.the whole production has kind of a wall of sound (sans the Spector production techniques)The whole recording is buried in echo a bit, and I love it..
It makes the booming tymps stand out in a dynamic way..

Steveo