The Burt Bacharach Discussion Forum

This is taken from an interview Rumer gave to Paul Lester that I found on the Net:

[Interview removed]

I received an email from Rumer's management requesting the removal of the interview. Apparently it's an early draft of publicity material for "This Girl's in Love" and includes some erroneous information. Rumer's management has promised to post a link to the updated article when it's ready for publication. -Mark

Merci Pljms!

Looking forward in buying the CD!

Reading the article we now know 11 of the 14 proposed tracks and I'm impressed by the choices they've made. I'm not an enormous fan of Rumer but I do think she has a nice tone to her voice. That said, I hope she sounds less sleepy on this album than she does on some of her previous recordings. It was once said of Julie London's smoky, sultry voice that she always sounded like she'd been recorded at two in the morning. With Rumer it's more like eight in the morning and she's hardly woken up. 

Rumer is joining Burt on his upcoming appearance at London Palladium no doubt prompted by their personal interest in this album.

Nicko wrote:Rumer is joining Burt on his upcoming appearance at London Palladium no doubt prompted by their personal interest in this album.

Marc Almond, formerly of Soft Cell, and Norma Jean Martine are also set to perform with more guests to be confirmed.

Is this the same Marc Almond of the Marc Almond Band from 45 years ago? Jesus, he must be nearly as old as Burt by now.

Blair N. Cummings wrote:Is this the same Marc Almond of the Marc Almond Band from 45 years ago? Jesus, he must be nearly as old as Burt by now.

No, this is the English singer Marc Almond (born 1957) who was once part of the duo Soft Cell who had a worldwide hit in 1981 with 'Tainted Love'.

As for Norma Jean Martine, she's an American singer/songwriter, originally from Middletown, New York now based in London.

"I enjoyed trying to understand what Hal is saying in his lyrics."

Oh, please!!

Far from wanting to snipe at Rumer for wanting to get to the heart of Hal David's lyrics, AEBBF, I'm full of admiration for her and I think it's very indicative of her very professional attitude to music making in general and her Bacharach and David album in particular. That it's so obviously a labour of love comes over loud and clear in the article posted above and with Burt's former MD at the helm both as the arranger and producer I think it has enormous potential. 

Not that this has anything to do with the potential quality of the album, but didn`t Burt fire Rob for exploiting his position to have an affair with Rumer? Or is that just a rumor?

That's pure and incorrect speculation.

From the album here's Close to You:

http://www.shortlist.com/entertainment/ ... mer-no-356

Martin Johnson wrote:From the album here's Close to You:

http://www.shortlist.com/entertainment/ ... mer-no-356

Thanks Martin. I'm fairly certain the same arrangement was used when she sang it during Bacharach's London Palladium show.

According to the Amazon UK link below the album is set for release (in the UK at least) on October 21st. includes the track list:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/This-Girls-Bac ... 7s+in+Love

Here is the press release that Rumer's team put out today (July 27th)

RUMER
ANNOUNCES NEW ALBUM
THIS GIRL’S IN LOVE: A BACHARACH AND DAVID SONGBOOK - OCTOBER 21, 2016

Platinum-selling British singer-songwriter Rumer has announced the release of her new and fourth album This Girl’s
In Love: A Bacharach And David Songbook through East West / Warner Music on October 21. The album features
some of Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s most memorable co-compositions and sees Rumer – described as ‘the heir to
Dusty Springfield and Karen Carpenter’ (Q Magazine) - bring her extensive experience and singular talent to bear on
her most enticing undertaking to date. Recorded at the renowned Capitol Studios with accomplished arranger,
composer and orchestrator, Rob Shirakbari - This Girl’s In Love includes an appearance by Bacharach himself on piano.
To mark the news, Rumer has shared a first track ‘(They Long To Be) Close To You’, with live plans to be announced
shortly.

“I couldn’t have made this album five years ago,” admits Rumer; “I think I’ve now got a wide enough emotional
palette to draw on for these songs’ characters and stories. That kind of insight only comes as you get older”. Fittingly
though, Rumer’s links to Burt Bacharach have been a longstanding constant throughout her recording career. In 2010
(the year her multi-platinum selling debut Seasons Of My Soul was released) Burt invited Rumer to his California home
just to hear her sing. That same year saw the release of a special single, Rumer Sings Bacharach at Christmas,
featuring ‘Some Lovers’ from the new Bacharach & Sater musical, Gift of the Magi. Another highlight saw Rumer sing
for Barack Obama: in 2012 she performed at the White House singing ‘A House Is Not A Home’, as part of a tribute
concert honouring the songwriting partnership.

What’s most fitting to This Girl’s In Love is the personal relationship between Rumer and Shirakbari. The pair married
in 2015 in Shirakbari’s native Arkansas after first meeting at a Dionne Warwick gala at the Royal Albert Hall where
Rumer was to sing a duet of Bacharach & David’s ‘Hasbrook Heights.’ With Shirakbari having worked for 25 years with
Bacharach and 30 years with Dionne Warwick—serving as musical director to them both—this could even be deemed
'a Bacharach romance'. It was a natural project for the newly married couple to create together, with both having
great respect and reverence for the song catalogue.

And now, Rumer’s love of Bacharach & David has been captured on a lovingly assembled long-player. Some of the
songs on This Girl’s In Love are as familiar as any from the 20th century. Which is why Rumer and Shirakbari decided,
in many cases, to remake/remodel them, affording these standards a melancholia that gets right to the emotive core
of Bacharach’s melodies and David’s lyrics. Where before ‘(They Long to Be) Close to You’ might have been slightly
wistful, here there is a sense that the lyric’s longing is unlikely to be consummated. ‘The Look of Love’ is more
sepulchral, with just a taste of the bossa nova tendencies of the ‘60s versions. ‘You’ll Never Get To Heaven’ has all the
sophistication of Dionne Warwick’s take, but with a new attention to the cautionary narrative of the lyrics. And Rumer
has dug deeper into the catalogue to find the hidden treasure ‘Balance of Nature’ and made it her own.
“In some cases I said, ‘Forget all the other versions - what is the song about?’” Rumer continues, citing as an example
‘What the World Needs Now,’ a 1965 hit for Jackie DeShannon, which Rumer has here invested with a stunning
devotional quality. “When I looked at the words, I realised that it was a prayer moment. It's a song about someone
asking God to bring peace to the world."

She attests that the project is as much a homage to Hal David as it is to Bacharach: his words, capturing emotional
crises with consummate simplicity, are key to the duo’s timeless compositions and to Rumer and Shirakbari’s new take
on them. “I love Hal,” she says brightly. “You can feel his personality through his lyrics, his opinions and thoughts on
the world… there’s so much of his own heart in these songs."

Elsewhere across This Girl’s In Love, Rumer elects in places for straighter interpretations: ‘Walk On By’ feels familiar to
those who grew up on Warwick’s version, but with closer ties to the Brazilian influences implied in much of
Bacharach’s music, whilst the title track features Bacharach himself on piano. “An honour” Rumer says. “That track is
quite true to the original… I felt it would be a little churlish to mess around with it too much. There’s a reason people
like these songs and the original arrangements.”

The version of “A House Is Not a Home” is “not too dissimilar" to the Gershwin Prize iteration Rumer performed at the
White House, while “The Last One to Be Loved” was included at Bacharach’s own personal request, as was ‘Land of
Make Believe.’

Interpreting a back catalogue already known the world over through versions sung by such accomplished vocalists as
Gene Pitney, Cilla Black, Karen Carpenter, Dusty Springfield, Shirley Bassey and, of course, Dionne Warwick was bound
to be intimidating, to say the least. However, matched step for step by Shirakbari’s intuitive arrangements and
focused orchestrations, Rumer has risen to the occasion magnificently. “There’s a timelessness to these songs,” she
observes. “They will last forever.” This Girl’s In Love finds Rumer in possession of a record that rightfully deserves to
be cherished alongside its namesake.

Tracklisting (CD/Digital)
1. The Look Of Love
2. Balance Of Nature
3. One Less Bell To Answer
4. Are You There (With Another Girl)
5. (They Long To Be) Close To You
6. You’ll Never Get To Heaven (If You Break My Heart)
7. Land Of Make Believe
8. A House Is Not A Home
9. Walk On By
10. The Last One To Be Loved
11. This Girl’s In Love
12. What The World Needs Now Is Love

Here's a more reliable link to Rumer's Close to You. Yes, she nails it alright:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LxwoK5pYM48