The Burt Bacharach Discussion Forum

Personally speaking, Blair, I hold fire before dismissing a CD after just one hearing, particularly one featuring no less than 33 Bacharach songs! Yes, most of the songs' structures and arrangements are very much of their time but I think there's still plenty of good music here, especially the track...

Blair, I saw Laura Nyro perform just the once, in London at the Union Chapel, Islington. I think it was November '93 and as far as I can remember it was just her at the piano plus a couple of backing vocalists. She perfomed most of her famous songs plus a few covers, including 'Walk on By' and was i...

Yes, a Nyro sings Bacharach album does seem like pure fantasy, doesn't it? However, one songwriter paying tribute to another in this way has been done at least once before that I know of, the Nillson sings Randy Newman album. I personally don't think I would have had a problem with Nyro's improvisat...

The late, great singer-songwriter Laura Nyro has been mentioned more than a few times on this forum and it was well known that she was an admirer of BB and even recorded a couple of his songs. She certainly loved extended chords and there's more than a hint of Bacharach in the lilting quality to man...

When Jimmy Webb was interviewed on BBC tv a few weeks ago he mentioned Bacharach as an early influence on his music, something he's done many times over the years and I know we've highlighted two or three songs of his on this forum as examples. 'Summer's Daughter' from the 5th Dimension's 'Magic Gar...

It looks like a fascinating compilation. I've long thought that 'With Open Arms' is one of Bacharach's most beguiling melodies and 'In Times Like These' deserves to be much better known than it is.

Yes, the compilation show was a bit of a hotch-potch as these things invariably are but never less than fascinating all the same. I hadn't seen the 'This Is Now' documentary in many a year and that too was an intriguing watch. It was interesting hearing Carole Bayer Sager state how ridiculous she fo...

I posted this before and for some reason it disappeared without trace a few hours later: Next Friday the 27th BBC4 are dedicating two hours of their evening schedule to Bacharach with a repeat of the 'This Is Now' doc preceded by a compliation of videos taken from TV shows from the last 40 years of ...

Burt alone at the piano in a London TV studio circa spring '96, singing full versions of 'Alfie' and 'A House is Not a Home'. I recorded this at the time and still have it on a now very wobbly sounding VHS cassette. The show was the very short-lived 'Big Mouth' on Channel 4 presented by Tony Parsons...

Dionne Warwick singing 'Who Gets the Guy' live on the Jack Benny Show circa 1971. There's subtle differences from the original recording in the arrangement and in Dionne's vocal interpretation.

Gillanddon and Grooverider, the other Bacharach songs that Gladys Knight has recorded are 'Seconds' from '74 and 'Love is Fire' (love is Ice), 'Let Me Be The One' and 'Ovenight Success' all from '87. Then of course there was her cameo on 'That's What Friends are For'.

My arithmetic was never very good, although I'm a wiz with a calculator! When you say that "this is the first performance for those involved with more performances booked for an even larger orchestra.........", I'm assuming you mean of this particular show. Let's hope so.

I’m sure our thoughts are with Cissy Houston and her family at what must be a heartbreaking time. In the interviews I’ve seen over the years she always spoke with such love and obvious pride in her daughter. As we all know, Cissy has recorded several Bacharach songs over the years, whether as a solo...

Not the full symphonic orchestra, of course, but around thirty musicians plus the standard rhythm section (drums, bass, guitar, keyboard). The four vocalists were fine, especially Mary Carewe and Cat Simmons, and there were genuinely moving versions of 'A House is Not a Home', 'I Just Don't Know Wha...

The Music of Burt Bacharach at London's Cadogan Hall, 14th Febuary 2012: We've just got our tickets, just in the nick of time as it turned out as there's only a few left. I hope there's a few imaginative song choices among all the hits. With the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra invoved there's plenty of...