The Burt Bacharach Discussion Forum

Let`s admit it... At This Time was not what we hoped it would be. Despite its very real pleasures it wasn`t quite Bacharachian enough.
My suggestion: Rewind to `99 and the Isn`t She Great soundtrack. Sure, the movie was crap (Who saw it? Not me). But for sheer melodic inventiveness it outranks the new album by a mile . Even Dionne, diplaying her gravely diminished vocal range, appears on one of the album`s best tracks. Want more? Mass Love pre-dates the rap-rhythms, another refeences Look of Love, and still another nods at Wives and Lovers. Yes, there`s the usual repetition, filler, and sludge that clogs every soundtrack album ever made, but this is worth the attention of every fan who doesn`t yet have it. (The last I knew, it was going for a penny plus shipping on Amazon, but I haven`t checked lately).
And before anyone accuses me of apostasy: I just spent hundreds of dollars to see Burt conduct a symphony orchestra hundreds of miles from where I currently live.

'At This Time' might not be what you hoped it would be but it certainly lives up to expectations as far as I'm concerned. As for the soundtrack to 'Isn't She Great', I thought it was the most uninspired, derivative and desultory score Bacharach has ever written for film. Coming on the back of 'Painted From Memory' I found it massively disappointing.

I think Isnt she great is among Burt's best instrumental work. I think it depends on what you've expected from the album.. i thought it was one of the highlights of Burt work in the 90's... full of melody and beautiful arrangements... maybe a lighthearted side of Burts work.. but maybe that is because i (also) did not see the film
Werner.

I had the same thoughts myself - I think because some of the ATT orchestration reminded me of more satisfying elements of Isn't She Great. I congratulate you for your candor, apostatical or not! And, you should probably see the movie once, for two reasons: to see how the score fits in, and to see Nathan Lane in the unlikely role of a man who is passionately in love with a woman!

Listening to Isn`t she great? was the old Bacharach sound to me.(some kind of way)
Why? I did saw the movie on the BBC once and it was inspired by Valley of the Dolls.
So it was a kind of `remake`of Valley of the Dolls.
What about the music? there are a few songs that i really liked.
such Sexual you,Sexual me and Mimsy (similar songs) even Vanessa Williams was great!


kind regards Marcel (from the Netherlands)