The Burt Bacharach Discussion Forum

Congatulations to Burt and Hal!

In my judgement, they, together with George and Ira, are the best songwriters ever.

Burt is still very underrated as an arranger. Best ever, IMHO.

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2011/9/prweb8835771.htm

Rio & Ron;

Thanks for the information on Burt & Hal!!!

Take care;

Vincent

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_b ... gress.html

But, since no one "who really matters" reads headlines or watches award shows anymore... (Kidding reference to the other thread on the subject.)

Do we need anyone to validate what we think about Burt or Hal? No. What else is new, except that maybe some of us seem to care about precisely who agrees with them?

Can awards in general help create mistaken perceptions about who is or isn't worth paying attention to? I certainly think so.

Can we put an end to awards that grossly misrepresent, in our opinion, the quality of the artists who receive or don't receive them? We certainly can't. Thanks G-d for that! What we can do is to complain about them if we wish --as I have done.

In my opinion, we should be rejoicing at the fact that, despite all the issues with most or all awards and award shows, this specific prize is tied to two of the greatest names in music history (a good choice to begin with) and to an iconic institution (that not by accident houses the Gershwings' works) -- and is being offered to Burt and Hal at a relatively early stage in the life of the award. Indeed, maybe its first edition didn't mean as much, and names like Paul Simon, Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney may help some people appreciate Burt and Hal more than if these two giants had received, say, the first or the second edition of the prize. So if I were in charge, maybe I would have set it up precisely this way. (OK. Maybe I would have had only one edition of the Gershwin Prize.)

Since receiving an early edition of this prize doesn't seem to question the wisdom of the giver, I welcome the additional exposure. I know of no one more deserving of an even wider (and deeper) audience or of an audience that deserves anything better.

I see no need to attempt to blemish this award -- now, at least -- with whatever resentments we may have relative to other awards.

I think I can relate to just about everything that was said by all of you. I just tried to spell out my pespective, which seems closer to the one expressed by Ron. Maybe it will be helpful to those who aren't sharing our joy.

Let's hope that Burt and Hal are glad and are going to be happy about how it all turns out.

Rio:

For the most part - I do believe that we are pretty much on the same page regarding this subject. ........... "It's a great honor to receive this award and to follow the past recipients Paul Simon, Stevie Wonder, and Paul McCartney - it doesn't get any better than this" .... Bacharach 83, said in a statement following this week's announcement.

One could argue that Burt was just being gracious and does not really care one way or the other. I disagree! ... Throughout my personal and professional life - I have concluded that people who claim they do not care about praise or recognition are less than truthful. ... many simply resent the fact that they have experienced very little positive feedback themselves. I'm fairly certain that this Gershwin Award means a lot to Burt and Hal as well as their families. ... For many years Dionne Warwick has stated that she aspires to winning an Emmy, an Oscar and a Tony in addition to her "5" Grammys!

Clearly - Burt, Hal and Dionne do not require "validation"; however, they are human and "most" of us truly appreciate being recognized for the things we are good at - whether it's a positive employee evaluation, a good review on a film or play we've appeared in - or making an invaluable contribution to the music industry!

Ron,
Very well put, everyone enjoys recognition for their efforts......it's human nature.

"blue"

I think actually these quality awards awards are quite important for their longterm legacy. When I became a fan of BB/HD/DW in the early 80s their music was still widely regarded as "elevator music" and EVERYTHING that came out of the rock era was seen as superior to the so-called "pop muzak" Bacharach and David had written. And even if you look at some of the reviews of the recent "Promises, Promises" revival on broadway there are still large pockets of resentment left among America's rock era music and theatre critics.

Artistic reputations come and go and come and go and it is by no means a given that from now on Bacharach/David's will just be based on the incredible artistic merit of their work and will just grow forever after. In the last two decades Burt put an incredible and clearly conscious effort into securing his legacy as an iconic figure in popular culture. And on the other hand the Polar Music Prize (the so-called Nobel Prize for music) the King of Sweden handed to Burt in 2001 will forever stand guard against the misconception that Bacharach was a composer of plain and lightweight and musically unimportant material.