The Burt Bacharach Discussion Forum

Hear me through on this...
I went to the UK concerts this year and I'd never heard "Be Aware" before, so I needed to buy it. So Blue told me to buy "Dionne" which I did. First I got some dreadful Barry Manilow-produced CD. So I went back to Amazon and bought a US import of the right "Dionne". And what did I find thereupon? The best version ever of what is surely Burt's second best known song ie. Close to You. Serene lists hundreds of covers of this song: I think Dionne's version beats them all - even Karen C. And the coda is perfection.
Anyone agree?

Your youth is showing.
The version to which your referring was a non-Bacharach arranged re-make of this original recording:
This is also the arrangement Burt used for his own (post-Carpenters) version on the eponymous `71 A&M album. Odd, too, because Burt is on record (so to speak) as crediting Richard Carpenter with "nailing" the song and confessing that he, himself, got the wrong "groove."
I actually agree with Burt and prefer the Carpenters` version to any other.

Dear nowmedical, Dionne Warwick's 2nd version is indeed a beauty. My favorite version of "Close to You" is by Ken Berry (actor from "Mayberry RFD"), arranged by Artie Butler. Similar in style to the Richard Carpenter arrangement but it stands on its own, the tempo slowed down. Wish that it was on Youtube. Ken Berry's album (his only one, I believe), has not been released in digital format, too bad, he had quite a voice.
Another gorgeous version is by Nancy Wilson, arranged by the great Thom Bell.

Thanks Blair for sharing that link. That version (taken from "Make Way for Dionne Warwick") is my favorite. The piano chords that are used in this version are just sheer magic—they're not used in her 1972 version. If Burt wasn't playing on the 1964 recording, then there was somone named Paul Griffin playing. This version along with two (2) others ("The Last One To Be Loved" and "In The Land of Make Believe) are my all-tme favorites of hers.