The Burt Bacharach Discussion Forum

I don't know how I never saw this before. For best results, watch this in "Full Screen" mode, and with headphones.

Genius in action!

http://new.music.yahoo.com/videos/BurtB ... --24817194

Bonjour An Enormous BB Fan;

Yes, a "Genius in Action!!!"

Thanks for posting!

Take care mon ami.

Vincent

Like many fine wines - Burt Bacharach's ability to communicate verbally keeps improving with age - FANTASTIC VIDEO! Thanks to - An Enormous BB Fan - for bringing this to our attention!

Enormous, Vincent, Ron,
This video is also available on the DVD side of Burt's "At This Time" sony "dual-disc" CD (2005) and it's well worth seeking out........great video, fantastic album !

"And the Burt goes on"
"blue"

Superb and deligthed to see Burt in action - wonderful video. I will purchase this cd reflecting on Burt's words and purpose for developing these timely compositions. An important milestone for Burt - the ability to create without restriction in his twilight years. He has reflected our humanity (or inhumanity) through the decades - (Windows of the World, What the World Needs Now and others). Amazed at how strong and vital he is - now more than ever. God Bless you Burt.

PS. I have seen Burt live in concert twice. Once at the Hollywood Bowl and at the Sun Dome in Phoenix with the fabulous Dionne W. - amazing both times!!!

Agreed! What a super video...and agree Burt was able to create without restriction...by the way Hal David deserves props for the lyric content! Windows of the World, What the World Needs Now, etc. were simple, lovely and poingnant statements of his personal perspective of the times and set to Burt's music...wow!

Burt, Hal and Dionne signed to Scepter in 1962 for the very reason that Burt and Hal had been so stifled by the "system" present in the recording industry during those days when recording content was greatly controlled by the label and the label's powerful A & R people. These Artist and Repertoire folks were responsible for matching tunes and artists and would, generally, along with the label's powers that be assign producers, arrangers etc. Burt submitted tunes as "demos" to the label and was under pretty much the complete control of the label. Often the tunes were stripped of the intricacies Burt wrote into them and made to sound pretty generic (but us Burt fans can hear even in those recordings that the A & R folks and staff arrangers didn't gut them completely) and the A & R folks made sure they were tailored for a mainline audience. Many times, the vocalists assigned to sing the tunes were not talented in the way Dionne was and the tunes were simplified so that the singers could actually sing them A few times he would conduct or arrange but most of the time, once he pitched the tune to the record company and they accepted it, paid him for it, it was pretty much out of his hands. Florence Greenberg gave Burt, Hal and Dionne complete artistic freedom to do essentially whatever they wanted as long as she retained the rights to the backing track! This was certainly unusual in the time of 1962. And with the chops Dionne had, they didn't have to compromise a tune's integrity. Whatever they gave her, she sang the hell out of it. From 1962 until 1972 when they all split, Burt, Hal and Dionne had the artistic freedom to pursue their unique brand of music. Burt worked with Gene Pitney and had more freedom with him, but borh were pressured by Liberty records A & R folks and Burt was not even then able to escape their influence and their short relationship ended, primarily due to the influence of the label.

Bonjour BachtoBacharach;

Thank You for your wonderful insight on this subject!!!

OMG, I loved it. Burt is a true genius. I am a huge fan of BB. He shows his true feelings in everything..
Susan Vincent