The Burt Bacharach Discussion Forum

Want to hear your thoughts on Dionne's most impressive vocal recordings from both the Scepter years and Arista years.

Arista - For me it's a toss-up between Love Doesn't Live Here Anymore and Walk Away

Scepter - Who Is Gonna Love Me or maybe even Slaves

So many to choose from, but I'll offer these in terms of impressive vocal performance:
Scepter: "Go With Love/You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling/The Beginning of Loneliness/You're My World/Loneliness Remembers".
Arista: "Love Doesn't Live Here Anymore/Yours/When The World Runs Out of Love".
Warner Bros: "Sure Thing/Getting In My Way/One Less Bell To Answer".
From 1986's Dave Clark's "Time": both "What On Earth" and "Within My World" are excellent (Bacharach arranged and produced the latter track).

In addition to some of the above mentioned recordings ..... these are a few that I would add to the list:

Scepter: "Check Out Time" ... "Let Me Go To Him" ... "Looking With My Eyes" ... "They Don't Give Medals To Yesterday's Heroes"

Warner Brothers: "I Didn't Mean To Love You" ... "You're Gonna Need Me"

Arista: ""Finder Of Lost Loves" ... "Reaching For The Sky"

There are many many more!

Warner Bros.: His House and Me

Scepter
Anyone Who Had A Heart, Looking With My Eyes, Promises, Promises, Do You Know the Way To San Jose, Where Would I Go, Let Me Go To Him, In Between Heartaches, Alfie, How Many Days of Sadness, Walk On By, The Beginning of Loneliness, Windows of the World, Silent Voices, and so many others...hard to choose and change with my moods.

Warner Brothers
Be Aware, Just Being Myself, Then Came You, Since You Stayed Here, Getting In My Way (WOW!), Who Know (Sound like vintage Bacharach), Sure Thing, I Just Have To Breathe

Arista
I'll Never Love This Way Again, Deja Vu, No Night So Long, Heartbreaker

BtB, this may be blasphemy, but I don't really care for some of Dionne's vocal on "How Many Days of Sadness". I am not educated on the appropriate musical terms, but when she is really wailing towards the end of the song, she sounds off key or something to me. In some of Dionne's very early vocals which included really loud parts she just sounded "off". Don't know the best way to explain it. And this includes some of the notes on Anyone Who Had a Heart. By the time the end of the 60's rolled around, it seems like D had really polished her voice and found a way to get rid of this trait. Of course by the time the early 80's came around, she could wail and shout and testify almost better than anyone!

I just have to say that the background vocals in How Many Days are breathtaking. I am almost sure I can hear Cissy and Deedee. To me DeeDee sounds more like her aunt than her sister, and the Drinkard family just has such a warm tone. Sometimes it sounds almost operatic to me. This is evident to me if you watch the Oprah episode on Youtube where Patti, Gladys, and Dionne sang Superwoman. Dionne was almost relegated to a backup role on that occasion, but that's not a bad thing. When the three ladies harmonize, Dionne's warm tone rings out more than either of the others. She was the backbone of that performance, propping up Gladys and Patti's gospel shouting. It seems to me that one of the reasons Dionne is so underrated is specifically because she did not do a lot of this type of vocal showboating. Dionne just has a style all her own that isn't always so "showy" right off the bat. You really have to listen to appreciated Dionne's genius.

That's a fun thread. Thanks for keeping this going despite the spam mess:-)

My top 5s:
Scepter Era: "Where Would I Go", "Unchained Melody", "If I Ever Make You Cry", "Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang", "To Be Young Gifted And Black"

Warner Era: "I Didn't Mean To Love You", "I'm Just Being Myself", "Feelings" (from A Man & A Woman), "You're Gonna Need Me", "I Think You Need Love",

Arista Era: "Yours", "Alfie (Live)", "Finder Of Lost Love", "No Night So Long", "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow"

Just pushing the legitimate threads to the front...

me too

One more time...

Up to the top.....

And back to the top, where she belongs...

again