REVIEW: Various, The Look of Love - The Burt Bacharach
Collection
- Daniel Aloi
Pop melody-writer Burt Bacharach provided most of the songs an entire generation fell in and out of love to in the '60s and early '70s. Even without his recent return to the spotlight (a cameo in "Austin Powers," a tribute album by '90s pop acts, and a landmark collaboration with Elvis Costello), a definitive Rhino anthology was inevitable. And here it is.
This meticulously assembled three-CD box set essays Bacharach's career with due respect, with 75 tracks spanning 40 years, in chronological order. There are too many hits to even mention in this review. The set begins with "The Story of My Life," a No. 1 country hit for Marty Robbins in 1957 (and Bacharach's first work with lyricist Hal David) and ends with the 1996 soundtrack commission with Costello, "God Give Me Strength" -- written via intercontinental phone lines, fax and answering-machine.
In between, there's a lot of passion and heartbreak that did quite well on the pop charts, particularly from 1962 to 1973. (Maybe his marriage to Angie Dickinson kept his muse going.) Everything you associate the Bacharach sound with is here -- from the deliberately paced "Baby, It's You" by The Shirelles to the 5th Dimension's "One Less Bell to Answer," and the incredible run of hits by Dionne Warwick -- "Do You Know the Way to San Jose," "Anyone Who Had a Heart," and on and on. Discovered by the composer among a group of session backup singers, she became the voice most closely associated with his music, realizing all of its emotional power and technical complexity to resounding chart success.
Bacharach was an innovative composer in tune with the human heart. His stop-start melodies, sudden chord changes and odd time signatures perfectly captured the feeling of a heart jumping and skipping a beat when in love, and the heaving sobs from a shattered romance. It's no wonder his songs were so successful. Hal (and brother Mack) David's lyrical contributions can't be discounted, but Bacharach's music gave the songs their real emotional power. Among such non-Warwick masterpieces as Herb Alpert's "Casino Royale" and "This Guy's In Love With You," Dusty Springfield's "Wishin' and Hopin'" and Gene Pitney's "Twenty Four Hours From Tulsa," there were many misses, certainly to be expected from songwriters for hire like Bacharach and David. A pre-Dawn Tony Orlando overemotes on "To Wait For Love," actor Richard Chamberlain struggles with "Blue Guitar" (sadly, matinee idols continued to be foisted on the listening public as "singers" well into the '80s -- where's the Jonathan Taylor Thomas album, hmmm?) and the almost parodic fake beat combo The Five Blobs wigs out on the 1958 sci-fi horror film theme "The Blob."
Bacharach's last great work before his association with Costello was "You'll Never Get to Heaven (If You Break My Heart)" for The Stylistics, a group suggested by Warwick. After that, Disc 4 covers his songwriting partnership (and romance) with Carole Bayer Sager and their three less-than-great '80s MOR hits -- "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)" for Christopher Cross, "On My Own" for Patti LaBelle & Michael McDonald, and the superstar sap of "That's What Friends Are For." It wasn't just Carole's fault -- the melodies are far from the level of his earlier successes. You can almost see the light of redemption shining on Burt on the closing "God Give Me Strength."
Among the many rarely-heard gems here is Warwick's "Paper (sic) Mache'" and Burt's own "Pacific Coast Highway," a nicely quirky top-down instrumental, quintessentially California-sounding.
Among the Warwick and Springfield singles, which seem to be embedded in the collective American and British consciousness, there are soundtrack hits like "Alfie," well-known cuts by Jackie DeShannon, Tom Jones, B.J. Thomas and the Carpenters, and lesser-known songs by Manfred Mann and Rick Nelson. In an effort to stay faithful to the composer's vision, Rhino A&R Director Patrick Milligan's mission was "trying whenever possible to feature the version that Burt was most associated with in a producer-and-arranger role, because his compositions are totally unique and the complexities of his arrangements are sublime."
That said, there's still something missing here. Opening up the retrospective to more seminal early versions and contemporary covers on a fourth disc would have shown Bacharach's relevance to artists of the '80s and '90s. Why not provide the alternate history, the one beyond the charts, to underscore the man's influence? Dusty Springfield's 1963 version of "I Just Don't Know What to Do With Myself," multitracked for full, Phil-Spectorish emotional effect, was a bigger hit than Tommy Hunt's (included here), and certainly influenced Costello's 1977 live performances of the song. (Not to mention Cameron Diaz's.)
Costello and Nick Lowe dueted on a lovely "Baby, It's You" on a 1986 B-side (and the Rhino book notes that The Beatles, of whose cover of that song Bacharach is suitably proud, also made the Brill Building sound obsolete). Susanna Hoffs provided a nicely understated "The Look of Love" and the Posies backed Bacharach himself on the "Austin Powers" soundtrack. And the Big Deal Records tribute What the World Needs Now, released earlier this year, gives 14 Bacharach songs over to '60s and '70s-influenced underground pop acts like Shonen Knife, Splitsville and Michael Shelley -- in cover versions both lovingly dedicated and breezily irreverent.
But "The Look of Love" box set succeeds in capturing an era of great songwriting and production. It's as cool and sophisticated as its subject. All you need to enhance the experience is a smoking jacket, silk pajamas, a martini in hand and a loved one to cuddle up with.
REVIEW: Various, One Amazing Night (N2K)
- Bob Gajarsky
New York City's Hammerstein Ballroom was the site where performers from the world of pop, country, jazz, and country gathered to pay homage to Burt Bacharach. That April 8 performance was the basis for the TNT television special One Amazing Night and the disc by the same name has been released on N2K Music.
While the scope of the artists remains diverse, they generally stay true to the course of Bacharach's original songs. Thus, All Saints' version of "Always Something There To Remind Me" may be more familiar to fans of the 60s than Naked Eyes' synth-pop cover; Ben Folds Five's alterna-geek music serves as the perfect platform for "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head", Chrissie Hynde doesn't sound out of place on the girl-group-inspired "Baby It's You / A Message To Michael", the Barenaked Ladies give a surprisingly serious rendition of "Close To You", and Elvis Costello - whose most recent album Painted From Memory was in collaboration with Burt - performs the first single from that album, "God Give Me Strength".
Any Bacharach tribute would be incomplete without Dionne Warwick. Her pre-psychic network days helped simultaneously launch her career and the rising star of Bacharach/David, so a medley of some of the biggest hits ("Walk On By" / "Say A Little Prayer" / Do You Know The Way To San Jose") fits in wonderfully with the magic of the evening.
Viewers of the home video for One Amazing Night will find extra tracks - by Costello, Warwick, and a medley of instrumental versions - but CD buyers will be satisfied with this meeting of the old with the new. Acts on One Amazing Night: Sheryl Crow, All Saints, Elvis Costello, Mike Myers, Wynonna, Ben Folds Five, Barenaked Ladies, Luther Vandross, David Sanborn & George Duke, Dionne Warwick, Burt Bacharach
