Search found 865 matches

by pljms
Tue Nov 28, 2023 5:00 am
Forum: The Burt Bacharach Forum
Topic: Rhino's "Look of Love" turns 25
Replies: 16
Views: 4622

Re: Rhino's "Look of Love" turns 25

I recently re-read Ian MacDonald's 'Revolution In The Head' and I agree with him that the remarkable thing about the Beatles was that while there's been many popular composers better qualified to write music more sophisticated in form and technique, few if any were capable of displaying feeling and ...
by pljms
Sat Nov 25, 2023 3:37 pm
Forum: The Burt Bacharach Forum
Topic: Rhino's "Look of Love" turns 25
Replies: 16
Views: 4622

Re: Rhino's "Look of Love" turns 25

I've read a lot of absurd things written about the Beatles over the years, both pro and con, but that statement by William F. Buckley which appeared in The Boston Globe in 1964 at the height of Beatlemania and posted on here by Blair is probably the most preposterous of them all. The quote from Step...
by pljms
Sun Nov 12, 2023 3:21 am
Forum: The Burt Bacharach Forum
Topic: The Bacharach Sound: 1965 TV Special
Replies: 3
Views: 1653

Re: The Bacharach Sound: 1965 TV Special

Burt wasn't joking when he stated on the show that London had become a second home for him in 1965 because apart from filming that special he also recorded his 'Hitmaker!' album here that year and then wrote and recorded the soundtrack to 'What's New Pussycat', all in between walking around Hyde Pa...
by pljms
Fri Nov 10, 2023 3:54 pm
Forum: The Burt Bacharach Forum
Topic: The Bacharach Sound: 1965 TV Special
Replies: 3
Views: 1653

The Bacharach Sound: 1965 TV Special

Videos taken from the 1965 TV special 'The Bacharach Sound' featuring guests Dusty Springfield, Chuck Jackson, The Searchers, The Merseybeats and Dionne Warwick have been posted on here before, but not the complete show. Made in the UK by Granada Television the special's opening sequence of Bacharac...
by pljms
Fri Nov 10, 2023 4:27 am
Forum: The Burt Bacharach Forum
Topic: Rhino's "Look of Love" turns 25
Replies: 16
Views: 4622

Re: Rhino's "Look of Love" turns 25

The first thing that struck me about this 3 CD collection when it was released was how poorly the Carole Bayer Sager years were represented, with just three of her seven Top 40 hit collaborations with Bacharach included. The compilers left us in no doubt that in their opinion the inclusion of severa...
by pljms
Wed Nov 08, 2023 10:25 am
Forum: The Burt Bacharach Forum
Topic: The original demo of 'Alfie' by Kenny Karen
Replies: 3
Views: 1790

Re: The original demo of 'Alfie' by Kenny Karen

It was in looking for the umpteenth time of a video of George Martin's beautiful orchestral version of 'Alfie' that I stumbled upon that Kenny Karen demo, which is often the way of things on YouTube. Talking of orchestral recordings of 'Alfie', when I first heard Bacharach's own slightly quirky inst...
by pljms
Sun Nov 05, 2023 7:26 am
Forum: The Burt Bacharach Forum
Topic: The original demo of 'Alfie' by Kenny Karen
Replies: 3
Views: 1790

The original demo of 'Alfie' by Kenny Karen

In a famous interview given by Cilla Black for BBC TV's documentary on Bacharach made in 1995 and entitled 'This Is Now', she talked about how prior to being given the option of recording the title song of the movie 'Alfie' she was handed a demo in acetate form by her manager Brian Epstein of, as sh...
by pljms
Wed Oct 25, 2023 7:38 am
Forum: The Burt Bacharach Forum
Topic: Eliane Elias and Burt
Replies: 3
Views: 1540

Re: Eliane Elias and Burt

And bossa nova is a good genre for singers without endless range, as witness one of my favorites, Astrud Gilberto. Yes, her vocal range was narrow and she was sometimes uncertain in pitch but what the now sadly late Astrud Gilberto possessed in bucketloads was charm. Of the several Bacharach songs ...
by pljms
Mon Oct 23, 2023 3:52 am
Forum: The Burt Bacharach Forum
Topic: Eliane Elias and Burt
Replies: 3
Views: 1540

Re: Eliane Elias and Burt

Eliane Elias's record company apparently persuaded her to sing more on her albums around about the time of 'Dreamer' so that she could be promoted as Brazil's answer to Diana Krall, but her exceptional piano playing skills were always going to overshadow her pleasant but limited singing voice. I saw...
by pljms
Wed Oct 18, 2023 3:22 pm
Forum: The Burt Bacharach Forum
Topic: Katriona Taylor sings Bacharach in Barnes, SW London
Replies: 1
Views: 1321

Katriona Taylor sings Bacharach in Barnes, SW London

For those who live in the London area, the singer Katriona Taylor and her quintet are performing a show called 'The Best Of Bacharach' at The Bull's Head in Barnes on Saturday, November 11th. Fans of trivia will be interested to know that she's the daughter of the former British no.1 tennis player R...
by pljms
Wed Sep 27, 2023 3:08 pm
Forum: The Burt Bacharach Forum
Topic: 'Moon Over Wichita' (cover versions)
Replies: 7
Views: 2802

Re: 'Moon Over Wichita' (cover versions)

Blue, that video was posted on the forum several weeks ago on the topic 'The musical genius of Wichita Lineman'. I've remembered that there's a connection between Shawn Colvin and Jimmy Webb other than the fact that they both wrote songs with 'Wichita' in the title and it is that she recorded his 'I...
by pljms
Mon Sep 25, 2023 3:46 am
Forum: The Burt Bacharach Forum
Topic: 'Moon Over Wichita' (cover versions)
Replies: 7
Views: 2802

Re: 'Moon Over Wichita' (cover versions)

'Moon Over Wichita' has grown on me substantially since I first heard Daniel Tashian's original version eighteen months ago and I now find it just as haunting as another Wichita song. No, not THAT one:
by pljms
Sun Sep 24, 2023 3:28 am
Forum: The Burt Bacharach Forum
Topic: 'Moon Over Wichita' (cover versions)
Replies: 7
Views: 2802

Re: 'Moon Over Wichita' (cover version)

I wonder when or even if we'll get to hear what were allegedly the last two songs Bacharach and Daniel Tashian wrote together, 'Starlight Hotel' and 'You're In My Heart Now'. Apparently Tashian was putting the finishing touches to both songs at the time of Burt's death.
by pljms
Thu Sep 21, 2023 3:31 am
Forum: The Burt Bacharach Forum
Topic: The First UK A-side release of 'Close To You'
Replies: 10
Views: 5583

Re: The First UK A-side release of 'Close To You'

From my recollection I'd say that "broken in two" has replaced "broken and blue" on numerous recordings of 'Walk On By' and the only thing to say in its defence is that it sounds a lot more elegant than "broken in pieces", which came courtesy of The Stranglers on their ...
by pljms
Wed Sep 20, 2023 12:13 am
Forum: The Burt Bacharach Forum
Topic: The First UK A-side release of 'Close To You'
Replies: 10
Views: 5583

Re: The First UK A-side release of 'Close To You'

The only version of 'Raindrops' that has ever worked for me is by BJ Thomas and when the lead singer of The Four Tops Levi Stubbs sings the line, "So I just did me some talking to the sun and I said I didn't like the way THEY got things done", it suggests to me that perhaps his heart wasn'...