Always Something There To Remind Me-1st recorded by Warwick!

[BachtoBacharach]

In the January 2, 1965 issue of the UK rock magazine NME, Dionne Warwick stated that she recorded the original demo of There's Always Something There to Remind Me" which had been a minor USA hit for Lou Johnson and a Top 10 UK hit for Sandy Shaw in 1964. Warwick said the tune was written specifically for Lou Johnson and she recorded the demo for Bacharach in early 1964 to present the tune to Johnson. Apparently, after Warwick cut the demo, there was some discussion with Bacharach to release the tune as a single for her rather that have the tune used as the demo recording for Johnson since she was on a hot streak and had just placed Anyone Who Had A Heart and Walk on By on the US Top 10 charts and Walk on By in the UK Top 10. Warwick stated that she didn't feel the tune was quite right for her and gave her blessing for Bacharach to pitch the tune to Johnson. She stated that she had first choice of most all his material and was pleased that Sandy Shaw had hit with the tune in the UK. Warwick re-recorded the tune with a new Bacharach arrangement in 1967 and it was the B-Side of Who Is Gonna Love Me; DJs flipped the single and her version of Remind Me became a Hot 100 hit, her third double sided hit in a row, after Prayer/Dolls, San Jose/Let Me Be Lonely. I would love to hear the original demo recording and wonder if David Nathan has ever unearthed the tape in the Warner vaults?

[An Enormous BB Fan]

Great stuff!

[steveo_1965]

Ahh yes, I'm teering up a little....just the rememerance of this great tune!
What a great period for Burt and Dionne!
Steveo

[Pablo]

Hi!

It would be nice to hear the DW demo

Sandie Shaw's version was a #1 hit in the UK in october 1964... with an interesting teenage drama angle to the song I find very nice.



I don't think this version (or Sandie Shaw in general) are very well known in America. In Europe she was very very popular because she recorded in several languages (french, spanish, italian), did a lot of TV promotion and also won the Eurovision song contest in 1967.

[Hank]

I wonder what the fate of Who Is Gonna Love me would have been if the djs had stuck with that. That really is one of the uncelebrated Burt, Hal, Dionne classics. Deserved to be a hit.

[ron hertel]

Hank:
Couldn't agree with you more re: "Who Is Gonna Love Me" - one of the very best BB/HD/DW recordings ever! "Always Something There To Remind Me" is one of my least favorites - although I do like the medley version on Dionne's "Hot, Live and Otherwise" double album (now on CD).

[Jerry]

Agree with you guys 100% on 'Who is Gonna Love Me?' Especially fond of the way it builds in musical momentum towards the end...pretty darn breathtaking!! As for the Sandie Shaw version of ASTTRM, I don't think it holds a candle to the Dionne version; whereas, listening to Sandie it's teeniebopper time, hearing Dionne gives the whole thing a history, as if there REALLY ARE 'things to remind her (sic)'...she gives it a history!

As always, I learn so much from all the Bacharachians here...

Thanks,

Jerry

[Dionnefan]

Dionne is one of the greats when it comes to singing, but looking at her history, her taste in songs is rather suspect. It seems like she didn't like most of the songs that became her biggest hits. From what understand, she didn't like San Jose, Then Came You, or Heartbreaker. All 3 were top 10 hits. I have also heard rumors she recorded and didn't like or turned down On My Own and she turned down What the World Needs Now. I heard she didn't like Check Out Time, which is one of my personal favorites. And now I find out she didn't like "Remind Me", and I continue to laugh! I guess Dionne should have figured out if she didn't like it, release it as a single!

Who knows what else she turned down or gave to someone else!

[Pablo]

Dionnefan!

I think that's a "pose" of her... I can understand she does not like "Heartbreaker" (although maybe it's her most consistent hit), but "Check out time" is one of the best songs EVER.

[Jerry]

Hey, DionneFan & Pablo--

I don't know if it was so much a pose on Dionne's part regarding these songs, so much as, she just didn't like them, but her management/Burt knew that they were sure-fire hits. Honestly, with the exception of 'Check-Out Time', I really don't care all that much for the songs you mention...but they have great 'hooks' that stick to one's brain, like white on rice! So many great songs have been mentioned on this listserv by so many knowledgable people, that were not even medium-sized hits---for me, 'Paper Mache' comes instantly to mind, I'm sure everybody on here has their list of incredible 'flops'.

It could be that Dionne just didn't care for the songs, but--with the exception of 'On our own'--more chart-conscious heads prevailed.

Juat a thought,

Jerry

[JR]

I bought the album because I liked his take on Light My Fire. I was 18 at the time and wasn’t that familiar with Burt Bacharach but got a pleasant surprise when I heard this one. It became my favorite track on the album with those strings and Ray Brown on upright bass.

[scotsgreg]

While it's true that Warwick turned down what in retrospect may appear to have been obvious hits, it's important to remember that she may been presented with drafts of arrangements that altered her perception of the commercial merits of the songs and whether or not they were a good personal fit for the image she was cultivating. For example, given the vaguely country-accessible sound of 'Only Love Can Break A Heart,' 'The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance' and '24 Hours to Tulsa,' I can easily imagine an early arrangement of 'What the World Needs Now Is Love,' originally intended for Gene Pitney, coming off like a 'cowboy song,' as has been described by the more urban-skewing Warwick. Similarly, 'Do You Know the Way to San Jose' probably sounded dated outside of the funky bass line and organ fills in the context of the youthful sounds in vogue in 1967 radio, or even trivial following the mature, weighty content of her most recent hits, such as 'The Windows of the World' and 'Alfie.'

To her credit, all parties indicate that it was her enthusiasm for 'Anyone Who Had A Heart' that helped to drive Hal David to complete the lyrics in time for their impending recording session. And she had the good sense to avoid recording (or releasing, whichever the case may be) Bacharach's and David's more frivolous material for female artists from the era, such as 'Call Off the Wedding,' 'Keep Away from Other Girls' and the like. I do think her failing to record 'Don't Count the Days,' a non-hit for both Marilyn Michaels and Sandi and Salli in 1968, was a missed opportunity as I believe the pace and spirit of the song could have made a decent late-1960s single for her in the wake of her uptempo smashes like 'I Say a Little Prayer' and 'San Jose.' I tend to agree with Pablo, however, that the stories of the songs she turned down or didn't think would become hits make for good publicity copy, regardless of their veracity.

It's funny. I've never considered 'Paper Mache' a non-hit. Granted, it may not have been the monster crossover hit of some of her bigger singles, but I remember it receiving a good amount of airplay on Houston top-40 and easy listening stations in the summer of 1970 and I think it's chart performance (#6 Adult Contemporary, #43 Pop) is more than respectable, particularly given it's very unique, soft sound and socially relevant lyrics. 'Check Out Time,' on the other hand, has never resonated very deeply with me. Certainly, I enjoy it well enough. I recognize the beauty of the production and appreciate the adult perspective of the subject matter, but its narrative has always been too specific and personal, aspects of the melody and arrangement too eccentric, to compare favorably to the universal emotions conveyed in their best songs. Perhaps Warwick felt similarly.

[ron hertel]

scotsgreg:

Yours is one of the most articulate posts I've seen on this subject which has been addressed a number of times here on the discussion forum. We can all relate to listening to some of our NOW FAVORITE songs and albums for the first time and not being favorably impressed. My most recent recollection of this was listening to Burt's "At This Time" project for the first time and not reacting favorably ....... It is now high on my list of favorites! ...... I'm certain the same holds true for Burt and Dionne as well as many other artists (particularly when presented with an early draft of an arrangement or an inferior vocal demo). I've often wondered whether or not Dionne is truly a Bacharach fan. I recall her being asked a few years ago about the Elvis Costello/Burt Bacharach collaboration CD "Painted From Memory" and she stated that she had never heard it! (this was several years after it was released). I also recall some on stage banter between Dionne and her son David Elliott regarding his favorite song recorded by his mother - David's response? "Love Song" (the Lesley Duncan penned song that was included on Dionne's first Warner Brothers album "DIONNE" - which is an "elevator music song" to my ear). Bottom Line ........... I do not think there was much Bacharach music played in the Warwick/Elliott household!

[BachtoBacharach]

Ron, with all respect, I think it's a stretch to assume because David Elliott chose Love Song as his favorite recording his mom did or that because Dionne hadn't heard Painted From Memory that Dionne and/or family was not a fan or that Bacharach was not played in her household...remember that Dionne and her children were on the road a great deal together and I am sure that they heard mommy sing her hits so often that they preferred to listen to other things by that weren't so popular. I doubt mommy Dionne sat around the house playing her music all the time. Even Angie Dickinson said she liked the music Bacharach wrote before they met better than what he was doing after they married because she said she saw the process and heard the music so much that she grew tired of it. I guess she probably wouldn't sit around watching her movies all the time either. She said her favorite tune was Walk On By which was written right before they met! David Elliott's favorite group in the late 70s was Devo and Dionne told Johnny Carson that her children never listened to her music; they didn't like it (now both of them were not even teens then and I imagine they now appreciate all mommy did now that they are grown, not just the Bacharach stuff). Dionne is not a "fan" of Bacharach any more than Bacharach is a "fan" of Dionne...they were collaborators in the truest sense of the word and to use the word "fan" doesn't acknowledge that Dionne had any involvement in the music other than singing it. She was not detached from this music, she was a part of its creative process. Just as Bacharach likes other music, so does Dionne. I am not surprised that Dionne hadn't heard Painted From Memory when she made those comments years ago; she's one busy lady and she and Bacharach are not as in touch as often as folks believe they and aside from some good reviews and the love of the project by us Bacharach fans, it remains relatively obscure when compared to Bacharach's works in the 60s and 80s...and I am also going to allow that Dionne may have been a little envious that Bacharach did the project with Costello! She's been burned by Bacharach before. I doubt very seriously that much of Dionne's later material was on Bacharach's "must have" list, to be frank, either...I am sure he was not familiar with a good deal of her work with WB and Arista that he didn't have a hand in. I think they both have a great deal of respect for each other but I doubt they listen to each others music exclusively. Dionne's mom loved the music her daughter recorded with Bacharach and her favorite tune was "Who Gets the Guy" and you could hear Dionne's music all the time in the Warrick household!!

[ron hertel]

BachtoBacharach:

You make some great points! - it probably was a stretch to make some of those assumptions; however, I still find it astounding that Dionne had not at least listened to "Painted From Memory" - if for no other reason than - CURIOUSITY ............. after all - she is unquestionably the ultimate interpreter of most of Bacharach's compositions. ....... My kids had no choice when it came to listening to Bacharach/Warwick music around our household. Although it's not on their iPods - they know most of the lyrics and as adults "voluntarily" have joined us at both Bacharach and Warwick concerts (and really enjoyed them). I can also appreciate the fact that an artist is not likely to be listening to their own stuff when they're at home! ....... Re: Dionne's proud parents - I'm sure that BB/HD/DW music rang through the Warrick household as much as it still does in mine! ...... THANKS for bringing this to my attention BachtoBacharach!

Ron