New Interview - London Time Out

[pljms]

Taken from last week's London Time Out magazine. Both the 'Painted From Memory' and 'Austin Powers' projects are mentioned:

The Great American Songbook, aka the finest pop and show tunes of the twentieth century, would be considerably shorter and a whole lot less loved-up without Burt Bacharach. The master of sophisticated smooch, he’s written 48 Top Ten hits worldwide, and his tunes have been recorded by more than 1,000 artists from The Beatles to Aretha Franklin. When he cameoed in the Austin Powers films (which he’s now helping turn into a Broadway musical) he hit ‘play’ on an entire guilty pleasures revival, seeing hits he penned such as ‘Walk on By’, ‘Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head’ and ‘Do You Know the Way to San Jose’ surge in popularity once again.

If his personal life hasn’t always been as smooth as his sound, that’s only made for a classic music autobiography, 2013’s strikingly unguarded ‘Anyone Who Had a Heart’. Now 86, he’s preparing to don his blazer and sneakers for a world tour that takes in two nights at the Royal Festival Hall this week and Wilderness Festival in August. Crackling down the line from LA with a voice that makes Leonard Cohen sound like Joe Pasquale, he tells me you’ve never done it all – but he’ll courteously agree he’s getting close.

There’s a unique laidback air to songs like ‘The Look of Love’, ‘I Say a Little Prayer’ and ‘What the World Needs Now’. What’s their secret?
‘I never did try to make my songs crowded: too many notes, too much for the listener to absorb. There’s nothing I dislike more than hearing a record that is overloaded, strings playing from the introduction to the very end. Give us a break! When those strings come back in they’ll sound like a big breath of fresh air.’

Why did you invite your ex-wives to contribute to your autobiography?
‘I invited two or three former wives, and a former girlfriend got in there too. The only way to write a book for me was to be totally honest. If it shows some not so nice things about me, well, that’s who I am. That’s who I was at the time, that’s what I was going through.’

Who’s the bigger ladies’ man, you or Leonard Cohen?
‘Oh, I’m not a ladies’ man. And I didn’t know that Leonard was either! Well okay, [I’m not] right now. I’m quite content, quite married. I have two children by this marriage. I’ve got a 21-year-old and an 18-year-old. Sure, it’s a little late to do it in life.’

You have two lifelong loves: music and horse racing. Do they give you a similar rush?
‘If you look at all the winner’s circle pictures on the walls in my office where I’m sitting now, the photographer never has to say “smile!” It’s a great feeling. My horse, Heartlight No 1, was the champion filly years ago. But listen, you cannot get too involved with horses. They’ll break your heart.’

How’s your Austin Powers musical going?
‘It’s a little bit at a standstill. Mike [Myers] is very involved with the documentary he did on Shep Gordon. I brought him some songs in April and he seemed to love them. But these things take time. Elvis [Costello] is on tour this summer too, and he’d like to sing one of the songs we’ve written, and I’d like to sing one of the songs we’ve written, but [Mike] says no. We mustn’t do that before they see the light of day in context. Our other musical, “Painted from Memory”, is making great strides towards a production.’

What’s your pre-tour fitness regime?
‘I’ll be in my pool every day, with the trainer, and when he’s not here I have an Aqua Jogger. And I’m going to see the dentist today, trying to keep my teeth clean. I finally found a pill for my insomnia. Although when I’m in a cycle of intense work, music will keep me awake no matter what I take.’

And the tour wardrobe?
‘I’m not a big clothes horse. I wear a blazer on stage and some very dressy sneakers: white Nikes that are very lightweight and it almost feels like I’m walking in bare feet, which is a good feeling.’

Any dreams left to fulfil?
‘You’ve never done it all. My writing creativity goes towards whatever musical might be in store, whether it’s Mike’s or “Painting from Memory”. “Promises Promises” [the 2010 Broadway revival of his 1968 musical] was a huge success. It’s exciting.’

You’re 86 on paper. What age are you in your head?
‘Oh, I’m younger than the chronological. I’m still working, I’m still writing, I’m still relevant. It’s just numbers, right?’

[blueonblue]

The Burt goes on........

"blue"

[pljms]

Indeed it does. Are you seeing Burt in Liverpool this Sunday evening, Blue?

[Blair N. Cummings]

My problem is that none of this activity is going to be recorded. If you`re not going to pay extortion rates for a seat at a B`way theater some years away, you`re not going to hear any of this music. Does this not concern anyone responsible for it?

[blueonblue]

Hi pljms,
I saw Burt in Manchester last night ...fantastic Concert !
He and his band performed a stunning version of "Come Touch The Sun" and John Pagano sang
"The Windows Of The World" on acoustic Guitar, for the first time.
The rest of the Concert was top drawer stuff as you would expect.
Two stand-outs for me were Donna Taylor's "Anyone Who Had A Heart" and Josie James's "Waiting For Charlie To Come Home" .....a truly wonderful evening and one I'll never ever forget !

pljms, enjoy your Liverpool Concert !

"blue"
PS
Burt's son Oliver was there too, he did a great job !
Burt must be very proud.

[blueonblue]

The "Love Theme" from "Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid"
"Come Touch The Sun"


"blue"

[Blair N. Cummings]

I`m glad that "Come Touch the Sun" is back in the set list. I didn`t know that it had been dropped. I saw Burt do it in Buffalo a decade ago.
I`m sorry that "Windows of the World" wasn`t done there. It`s one of the three songs I know of for which Burt said he got the tempo wrong, so I wonder if the new arrangement is different from the recorded versions. The other two were "...Prayer" and "Close to You". The latter, of course was recorded on his `71 eponymous album in the original `63 tempo; but "...Prayer" has only been done differently by Glen Campbell and Anne Murray.

[pljms]

No Blue, I didn't go to the Liverpool gig as I live 300 miles away and I was merely enquiring if you were going because for some reason I associate you with the city. Anyway, I'm glad you enjoyed the Manchester show. I went to the first of the Festival Hall gigs in July (see my review) where John Pagano performed 'Windows of the World' with his guitar and, Blair, at much the same tempo as the Dionne Warwick original. Blue, you're not the first to get Donna Taylor and Josie James mixed up and I for one would be very interested, if their roles were ever swapped, to hear Donna' s take on 'Anyone Who Had a Heart' and Josie's version of 'Waiting for Charlie to Come Home'

[blueonblue]

pljms,
Sorry about the name "mix-up" I just had one of my many "senior moments"...
I don't live far from Liverpool ....it's a remote town called Burnley in Lancashire.
It's a place that's full of stray dogs and tumbleweeds.

And the Burt goes on.......
"blue"

[pljms]

Blue, you paint such an exotic picture of Burnley! I lived in Liverpool for a year but my memories of the place are but slight as I'd left by the age of two! We lived in the district of Hunt's Cross, Liverpool 8 and my mother always insisted that she must have been with me at the same church fete on the afternoon of July 06th 1957 when the most celebrated songwriting partnership in popular music history met for the first time. I've never had any reason to doubt her because it was her local church and she never missed a service or anything to do with the church during the three years she and Dad were based there. Since then I've re-visited the city just once, in the mid-80s for a weekend of heavy boozing with some mates, including a Saturday afternoon at Goodison Park seeing Everton beat Middlesborough 3-0. I used to visit Manchester a lot in the 90s and early noughties and in fact it's my favourite English city outside of London. Here's a personal favourite song by that celebrated Liverpudlian songwriting team. I used to play in a band that performed several Beatles songs and this one was always such a joy to play:

[blueonblue]

pljms,
The last time I was in Liverpool was in July 2002 to see Burt at the "Summer Pops" with special guests Elvis Costello and Will Young...a fantastic concert !

One of the main attractions in Burnley used to a Good Friday fete, were people used to turn out and feed peanuts to a big Monkey in a cage..........I rest my case.

"blue"

[blueonblue]

pljms,
Here's Burt and three terrific singers with a "Beatles Medley"...


"blue"

[pljms]

Yes, I'd love to have a DVD copy of that particular Bacharach special and it's one of two that are proving annoyingly elusive. Also featured on that show is Dusty Springfield's rather breathless interpretation of 'Knowing When to Leave' and the now famous version of 'A House is Not a Home', which she performs with Burt singing at the piano. Here's the latter:

[vincent.cole]

Pjms;

Thanks for that wonderful posted!

Blue, I am so glad that you were at the show and got to shake Burt's hand after the performance!

P.S. Blue, I will give you a call later on this week, just to catch up on more on the Burt Concert.

Take care mon ami.

Vincent

[blueonblue]

Thank you Vincent !

I still haven't washed my hand ! lol

"blue"