The Burt Bacharach Discussion Forum

Interesting show on BBC Radio 2 yesterday featuring well known records which failed to make the UK Top 75 singles chart. Among them were recordings of two Bacharach and David songs, Gene Pitney's 'Only Love Can Break a Heart' and the 5th Dimension's 'One Less Bell to Answer', both top 3 hits in the US. The topic of Bacharach songs which were Top 40 hits in the US but not in the UK has been touched on before on this forum but 'the list that shames Britain' is always worth looking at, especially when someone claims Bacharach had more success in the UK than in the US, including the Great man himself:

1/ The Blob – The Five Blobs
2/ With Open Arms – Jane Morgan
3/The Man who Shot Liberty Valcnce – Gene Pitney
4/ Any Day Now – Chuck Jackson
5/ Only Love Can Break a Heart – Gene Pitney
6/ Blue on Blue – Bobby Vinton
7/ Be True to Yourself – Bobby Vee
8/ True Love Never Runs Smooth – Gene Pitney
9/ Don't You Believe It – Andy Williams
10/ Wives and Lovers – Jack Jones
11/ What the World Needs Now is Love – Jackie DeShannon
12/ Are You There With Another Girl – Dionne Warwick
13/ The Windows of the World – Dionne Warwick
14/ Who is Gonna Love Me – Dionne Warwick
15/ Promises, Promises – Dionne Warwick
16/ The April Fools – Dionne Warwick
17/ Everybody's Out of Town – BJ Thomas
18/ Let Me Go to him – Dionne Warwick
19/ One Less Bell to Answer – 5th Dimension
20/ Living Together, Growing Together – 5th Dimension
21/ Stronger than Before – Carole Bayer Sager
22/ Making Love – Roberta Flack
23/ Heartlight – Neil Diamond
24/ Love Power – Dionne Warwick and Jeffrey Osborne

Even The Look of Love Struggled to chart in the UK, having to wait until the early 70s before Gladys Knight took it to No.21.

There’s been only four instances when the trend was reversed, of Bacharach song recordings reaching the UK Top 40 and failing to do the same in the US: Another Tear Falls by the Walker Brothers, Long After Tonight is all Over by Jimmy Radcliffe, It's Love That Really Counts by the Merseybeats and Keep Away From Other Girls by Helen Shapiro. Remarkably, A House is Not a Home has never been a Top 40 hit on either side of the pond.

Martin Johnson wrote:Interesting show on BBC Radio 2 yesterday featuring well known records which failed to make the UK Top 75 singles chart.

24/ Love Power – Dionne Warwick and Jeffrey Osborne

Martin, I have to differ here. "Love Power" did make the UK Top 75 singles chart -- at least according to the link below which gives a listing of the Top UK hits. It shows that "Love Power" reached Position 63 in August of 1987.

http://www.officialcharts.com/artist/_/ ... 20warwick/

But I am totally amazed that a song like "What The World Needs Now" didn't crack the Top 75 in England. I wonder -- did everyone in England go deaf at that time??!? It's insane!

The one statistic in the UK's favour is that Bacharach had already had 6 No.1s here before a song of his eventually got to the top of the US charts in 1968, Herb Alpert's 'This Guy's in Love with You'. I think it's that achievement more than anything that made him a household name in the UK years before that was apparently the case in the USA.

I first became aware of the music of Burt Bacharach when this show was aired in the UK in (correct me if I'm wrong) 1965.
I realised I'd witnessed something special....something very special indeed.


"blue"

To AEBBF, although the radio show concerned famous records that didn't make our Top 75 singles chart, the long list of 24 Bacharach songs I posted is of TOP 40 US hits that failed to reach the UK Top 40, not 75. However, I doubt if BB got too excited about 'Love Power' reaching the lofty heights of No.63 in the UK chart, although I suspect he'd give an arm and a leg for one of his songs to chart as high as that nowadays.

I`d give an arm and a leg to hear a Bacharach song that actually sounds like a Bacharach song, a condition unmet by far too many recent compositions. Hence, my obnoxious nay-saying. I`m beginning to feel a queasy sensation in the face of these new Burt/"Elvis" songs, too.
Then, again, it`s sadly true that I`ve become a "grumpy old man."

Martin Johnson wrote:To AEBBF, although the radio show concerned famous records that didn't make our Top 75 singles chart, the long list of 24 Bacharach songs I posted is of TOP 40 US hits that failed to reach the UK Top 40, not 75. However, I doubt if BB got too excited about 'Love Power' reaching the lofty heights of No.63 in the UK chart, although I suspect he'd give an arm and a leg for one of his songs to chart as high as that nowadays.

Thanks for the clarification. Of course, it's still amazing that none of the songs on that list made it into the Top 40 in England. I guess tastes in music can vary greatly from country to country. Of course, I can't believe the absolute garbage that makes it into our Top 10 (let alone our Top 40) these days. Oh, what I would give for another Burt Bacharach quality songwriter!!

There will never be another Burt Bacharach.............

"blue"

I think it's that achievement more than anything that made him a household name in the UK years before that was apparently the case in the USA.