New York Daily News review
Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2005 6:55 pm
Burt against Bush
Bacharach turns protester - with help
from Dr. Dre and Elvis Costello
By JIM FARBER
Burt Bacharach
According to Burt Bacharach, what the world needs now isn't love, sweet love, but a good, stern talking to.
"Things are getting very bad," Bacharach declares. "Young men and women are dying in an unwinnable war in Iraq, there's Hurricane Katrina, and this President shows so little empathy. I'm scared for the future."
Scared enough for Bacharach to write lyrics for the first time in his nearly 50-year career. Though Bacharach has penned some of the most sumptuous tunes and plushest arrangements of our time, never before has he composed words to match. (He did have some help, however, from wordsmith Tonio K.) Previously, Bacharach leaned entirely on outside lyricists, most notably Hal David, the partner on his most impeccable hits.
For Bacharach's new CD, "At This Time" - the first album released under his own name in nearly 30 years - he wrote out of frustration and anger. "Never in my life have I been a political person," the 77-year-old composer explains. "I never marched about the Vietnam War or protested. But it's really hit me what's going on now."
That's not the only aspect of the new album that's likely to raise eyebrows. "At This Time," in stores Tuesday, finds the white-haired king of lounge-pop working with none other than the hit man of hip hop, Dr. Dre. Isn't that a bit like Mike Nichols collaborating with Ashton Kutcher?
Bacharach doesn't see it that way. "You could say the same thing about me working with Elvis [Costello]," he says, making reference to "Painted From Memory," his 1998 Grammy-winning collaboration with the rocker.
But it's not quite the same thing. Before working with Bacharach, Costello mastered just about every form of music, and could match the elder musician in sonic erudition. Dre's talents adopt a more - shall we say - earthy approach. While Bacharach admits he doesn't spend much time low-ridin' with the latest rap tracks, he calls Dre "the most extraordinary producer of our time. I wanted to meet him. And he wanted to meet me."
DIVINE SPIRIT
The two got together several years ago, when Dre gave Bacharach some drum loops to fool around with. There was talk of the pair recording together, but conflicting schedules scotched that idea. So Bacharach wound up playing with Dre's loops on his own. He wasn't sure what he'd do with them, until an odd offer to record an album came two years ago from Rob Stringer, head of Sony/BMG's U.K. division.
According to Bacharach, Stringer told him, "'Don't give me an album of 10 pop songs that you think will get played on the radio.' I was given total freedom, which is amazing at a time when the market is so tight and the business is so restricted."
Bacharach ran with it. "At This Time" is an odd beast, comprising seven long suites, which often have the abstraction of instrumental mood pieces. They're broken up by vocal sections that waft in and out, often at the least likely moments.
Some key vocals are provided by anonymous backup singers cast in the lead roles. "They're like a Greek chorus," Bacharach explains.
A few star guest singers turn up, including Costello on "Who Are These People?," which questions governmental authorities. Rufus Wainwright's vocal arrives late in the track "Go Ask Shakespeare," sounding like a divine spirit arriving to inject a note of sanity.
Bacharach himself sings a few lines on the album, in his trademark gravelly whisper. But the album's instrumental focus, often marked by ambient rhythms, lends it a resemblance to a style Bacharach helped inspire: British trip-hop, as defined by groups like Portishead, Morcheeba and Everything But the Girl.
Trip-hop is just one contemporary style that this vintage songwriter has crucially influenced. Bacharach's work is often sampled by hip-hop stars, most recently Kanye West on the hit "Slow Jamz." In the realm of rock, Bacharach's "I Just Don't Know What to Do With Myself" was recently covered by the White Stripes, while in R&B, Ron Isley had a hit two years ago with a terrific album of Bacharach covers.
Classically swanky Bacharach hits, like "Do You Know the Way to San Jose?," "The Look of Love" and "Alfie" have endured not only because of their emblematic sophistication, but because of the many great readings they've been awarded over the years. Bacharach singles out Aretha Franklin's "Say a Little Prayer" as his own favorite cover version.
The composer says part of the reason his unusually sleek songs were able to break through in the '60s was the freedom of that era. "They were written at a time when radio was more open, there was less of a youth-driven market," he says.
(In fact, even at the height of classic rock in the early '70s, artists like Peggy Lee and the Carpenters had hits.)
It's not just Bacharach's compositions that have stood out, but the composer's trademark sound. Marked by bossa nova beats, lush strings and a mournful flugelhorn, it has become one of the seminal templates in modern pop, rivaled only by that of the Beatles. It's a style that continues to inform Bacharach's music on the new album. He calls the flugelhorn "such a lyrical instrument. It has a voice that speaks."
Yet, Bacharach says he can't pin down the precise reason for his music's resilience.
"You can't go into it saying 'I'm going to write a timeless piece,'" he says. "It's either instinct, timing or maybe just luck."
Originally published on October 30, 2005
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainmen ... 6846c.html
Bacharach turns protester - with help
from Dr. Dre and Elvis Costello
By JIM FARBER
Burt Bacharach
According to Burt Bacharach, what the world needs now isn't love, sweet love, but a good, stern talking to.
"Things are getting very bad," Bacharach declares. "Young men and women are dying in an unwinnable war in Iraq, there's Hurricane Katrina, and this President shows so little empathy. I'm scared for the future."
Scared enough for Bacharach to write lyrics for the first time in his nearly 50-year career. Though Bacharach has penned some of the most sumptuous tunes and plushest arrangements of our time, never before has he composed words to match. (He did have some help, however, from wordsmith Tonio K.) Previously, Bacharach leaned entirely on outside lyricists, most notably Hal David, the partner on his most impeccable hits.
For Bacharach's new CD, "At This Time" - the first album released under his own name in nearly 30 years - he wrote out of frustration and anger. "Never in my life have I been a political person," the 77-year-old composer explains. "I never marched about the Vietnam War or protested. But it's really hit me what's going on now."
That's not the only aspect of the new album that's likely to raise eyebrows. "At This Time," in stores Tuesday, finds the white-haired king of lounge-pop working with none other than the hit man of hip hop, Dr. Dre. Isn't that a bit like Mike Nichols collaborating with Ashton Kutcher?
Bacharach doesn't see it that way. "You could say the same thing about me working with Elvis [Costello]," he says, making reference to "Painted From Memory," his 1998 Grammy-winning collaboration with the rocker.
But it's not quite the same thing. Before working with Bacharach, Costello mastered just about every form of music, and could match the elder musician in sonic erudition. Dre's talents adopt a more - shall we say - earthy approach. While Bacharach admits he doesn't spend much time low-ridin' with the latest rap tracks, he calls Dre "the most extraordinary producer of our time. I wanted to meet him. And he wanted to meet me."
DIVINE SPIRIT
The two got together several years ago, when Dre gave Bacharach some drum loops to fool around with. There was talk of the pair recording together, but conflicting schedules scotched that idea. So Bacharach wound up playing with Dre's loops on his own. He wasn't sure what he'd do with them, until an odd offer to record an album came two years ago from Rob Stringer, head of Sony/BMG's U.K. division.
According to Bacharach, Stringer told him, "'Don't give me an album of 10 pop songs that you think will get played on the radio.' I was given total freedom, which is amazing at a time when the market is so tight and the business is so restricted."
Bacharach ran with it. "At This Time" is an odd beast, comprising seven long suites, which often have the abstraction of instrumental mood pieces. They're broken up by vocal sections that waft in and out, often at the least likely moments.
Some key vocals are provided by anonymous backup singers cast in the lead roles. "They're like a Greek chorus," Bacharach explains.
A few star guest singers turn up, including Costello on "Who Are These People?," which questions governmental authorities. Rufus Wainwright's vocal arrives late in the track "Go Ask Shakespeare," sounding like a divine spirit arriving to inject a note of sanity.
Bacharach himself sings a few lines on the album, in his trademark gravelly whisper. But the album's instrumental focus, often marked by ambient rhythms, lends it a resemblance to a style Bacharach helped inspire: British trip-hop, as defined by groups like Portishead, Morcheeba and Everything But the Girl.
Trip-hop is just one contemporary style that this vintage songwriter has crucially influenced. Bacharach's work is often sampled by hip-hop stars, most recently Kanye West on the hit "Slow Jamz." In the realm of rock, Bacharach's "I Just Don't Know What to Do With Myself" was recently covered by the White Stripes, while in R&B, Ron Isley had a hit two years ago with a terrific album of Bacharach covers.
Classically swanky Bacharach hits, like "Do You Know the Way to San Jose?," "The Look of Love" and "Alfie" have endured not only because of their emblematic sophistication, but because of the many great readings they've been awarded over the years. Bacharach singles out Aretha Franklin's "Say a Little Prayer" as his own favorite cover version.
The composer says part of the reason his unusually sleek songs were able to break through in the '60s was the freedom of that era. "They were written at a time when radio was more open, there was less of a youth-driven market," he says.
(In fact, even at the height of classic rock in the early '70s, artists like Peggy Lee and the Carpenters had hits.)
It's not just Bacharach's compositions that have stood out, but the composer's trademark sound. Marked by bossa nova beats, lush strings and a mournful flugelhorn, it has become one of the seminal templates in modern pop, rivaled only by that of the Beatles. It's a style that continues to inform Bacharach's music on the new album. He calls the flugelhorn "such a lyrical instrument. It has a voice that speaks."
Yet, Bacharach says he can't pin down the precise reason for his music's resilience.
"You can't go into it saying 'I'm going to write a timeless piece,'" he says. "It's either instinct, timing or maybe just luck."
Originally published on October 30, 2005
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainmen ... 6846c.html