Search found 462 matches

by Martin Johnson
Thu Jan 19, 2023 10:20 am
Forum: The Burt Bacharach Forum
Topic: Songs of Bacharach & Costello 4-album collection in 2023
Replies: 25
Views: 15617

Re: Songs of Bacharach & Costello 4-album collection in 2023

Looking at the contents of the fourth CD in the collection I see that there's a version of 'Baby It's You' by the impressive pairing of Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe, a recording apparently made in the 1980s which until now I'd never heard before. I don't know who plays the guitar solo but it's a bea...
by Martin Johnson
Sat Dec 17, 2022 11:37 am
Forum: The Burt Bacharach Forum
Topic: Songs of Bacharach & Costello 4-album collection in 2023
Replies: 25
Views: 15617

Re: Songs of Bacharach & Costello 4-album collection in 2023

I remember about thirty years ago hearing Elvis Costello's recording of Bacharach & Hilliard's 'Please Stay' and being impressed that he chose to base his interpretation on the UK hit version of the song by The Cryin' Shames rather than The Drifters' original. This is featured on disc 4 of the c...
by Martin Johnson
Mon Nov 21, 2022 7:18 am
Forum: The Burt Bacharach Forum
Topic: Bob Dylan
Replies: 12
Views: 9774

Re: Bob Dylan

"When you're writing songs with Burt Bacharach, you obviously don't give a fuck what people think". Now which Burt Bacharach do you think Bob Dylan was referring to in that statement? The one with a long-standing reputation as one of the greatest popular music composers of the twentieth c...
by Martin Johnson
Sun Oct 16, 2022 3:49 pm
Forum: The Burt Bacharach Forum
Topic: Dusty Springfield lived in Ealing?
Replies: 7
Views: 5431

Re: Dusty Springfield lived in Ealing?

Performed decades before the term 'political correctness' came into common usage and when women singers regularly sang 'Wives And Lovers' without batting an eyelid, or more in keeping with the language of the times, their pretty little eyelids.
by Martin Johnson
Mon Oct 03, 2022 3:30 am
Forum: The Burt Bacharach Forum
Topic: Another Rare Laura Nyro Clip
Replies: 10
Views: 15708

Re: Another Rare Laura Nyro Clip

There seems to be a growing interest in Laura Nyro if British music magazines like Record Collector and Shindig are anything to go by. Both these publications have done big features on her in the last month or two and in fact she's on the front cover of the latest edition of Shindig. A continuation...
by Martin Johnson
Fri Sep 02, 2022 10:58 am
Forum: The Burt Bacharach Forum
Topic: “A Sinner‘s Devotion“ New recording by Henry Dee
Replies: 8
Views: 5134

Re: “A Sinner‘s Devotion“ New recording by Henry Dee

Great choice of song and a terrific version that more than does it justice. It certainly has a better sound quality than the two previous recordings of the song!
by Martin Johnson
Wed Jul 20, 2022 4:11 am
Forum: The Burt Bacharach Forum
Topic: Burt in Concert at the Adler Theatre 1986
Replies: 3
Views: 2926

Re: Burt in Concert at the Adler Theatre 1986

I remember reading somewhere that Bacharach's wife Jane Hansen was influential in his decision to drop from his shows the instrumental or semi-instrumental versions of his hits so familiar to us from the A&M albums, her argument being that audiences wanted to hear the songs with the words sung. ...
by Martin Johnson
Thu Jul 14, 2022 12:38 am
Forum: The Burt Bacharach Forum
Topic: Traincha Sings The Burt Bacharach Songbook Vol III
Replies: 41
Views: 45115

Re: Traincha Sings The Burt Bacharach Songbook Vol III

.....My guess is that there's been dozens of orchestral albums released over the years by the likes of Frank Chacksfield, Ronnie Aldrich and Tony Hatch and for them and all the various jazz musicians who've recorded Bacharach albums there's a separate list to be made. I think the main reason why fo...
by Martin Johnson
Sat Jun 04, 2022 2:28 am
Forum: The Burt Bacharach Forum
Topic: Traincha Sings The Burt Bacharach Songbook Vol III
Replies: 41
Views: 45115

Re: Traincha Sings The Burt Bacharach Songbook Vol III

I liked what I heard of the arrangement on the brief snippet of 'Let Me Go To Him' featured in one of the two videos just posted, so I immediately went in hot persuit of the complete track:
by Martin Johnson
Tue Mar 22, 2022 1:19 am
Forum: The Burt Bacharach Forum
Topic: Bacharach arranged and conducted by Tony Hatch (complete album)
Replies: 2
Views: 2586

Re: Bacharach arranged and conducted by Tony Hatch (complete album)

I remember being very underwhelmed the first time I heard Tony Hatch's Bacharach album back in the 70s. I can't remember what exactly I was expecting but perhaps I was hoping that "Britain's Burt Bacharach" could have produced something a bit more adventurous and less bland and which conta...
by Martin Johnson
Thu Jan 13, 2022 12:23 am
Forum: The Burt Bacharach Forum
Topic: R.I.P.—Marilyn Bergman
Replies: 4
Views: 3685

Re: R.I.P.—Marilyn Bergman

'Pieces Of Dreams' was not only one of my favourite Alan and Marilyn Bergman lyrics but also one of my favourite pieces of music by Michel Legrand. This is the recording of the song I always come back to:
by Martin Johnson
Mon Dec 27, 2021 1:35 am
Forum: The Burt Bacharach Forum
Topic: The Bacharach Sound: 1965 TV Special
Replies: 14
Views: 21458

Re: The Bacharach Sound: 1965 TV Special

By 1965 Dionne Warwick would have already been well aware of Bacharach's fame in the UK after her visits to promote her single releases, and through her Hal David would have known of all the hype surrounding his songwriting partner, but I should imagine that they both must have been more than a lit...
by Martin Johnson
Wed Dec 15, 2021 12:07 am
Forum: The Burt Bacharach Forum
Topic: Traincha Sings The Burt Bacharach Songbook Vol III
Replies: 41
Views: 45115

Re: Traincha Sings The Burt Bacharach Songbook Vol III

'Be Aware' has previously been recorded by Barbra Streisand, Dionne Warwick, The Anita Kerr Singers and Laura Nyro, and here's Trijntje Oosterhuis's version from her new all-Bacharach album:
by Martin Johnson
Sat Dec 04, 2021 3:59 am
Forum: The Burt Bacharach Forum
Topic: Traincha Sings The Burt Bacharach Songbook Vol III
Replies: 41
Views: 45115

Re: Traincha Sings The Burt Bacharach Songbook Vol III

I looked on the Amazon UK website and I see that a week after its much delayed release that it is only available on the vinyl format of the album on Amazon Prime and not the CD. You can buy the CD on Amazon but only from an independent seller based in Switzerland and for about £15 more than you woul...
by Martin Johnson
Fri Dec 03, 2021 9:44 am
Forum: The Burt Bacharach Forum
Topic: R.I.P.—Stephen Sondheim
Replies: 11
Views: 7099

Re: R.I.P.—Stephen Sondheim

What's so extraordinary about Sondheim's success in the musical theatre is that he achieved it all with highly sophisticated music and lyrics, and in the second half of the twentieth century when standards were supposed to have dropped alarmingly and with them the taste and discernment of the theatr...