The Burt Bacharach Discussion Forum

An odd, flawed, but appreciative piece on Burt appears on this weekend`s edition of CounterPunch (www.counterpunch.com). Note: For the uninitiated, CounterPunch is a site featuring left-ish views. Those who fear their feathers may be ruffled by exposure to these should steer clear. Most of us recall...

After Simon and Garfunkel but before John Cale and Lou Reed. Seriously, I think most of us would relish a late-career project from Burt and Hal...maybe a Weill / Brechtian - style opus with Dionne`s tobacco-cured pipes providing the Lotte Lenya vibe. But, honestly, with the cd market in its death th...

I attribute to my own newly re-booted computer the fact that I didn`t receive those tracks, but Keith, you have repeatedly on the forum expressed your dissatisfaction with the tenor of the discussion. As to venom, I refer you to your post of Oct. 15 in which we are addressed without detectable irony...

Keith, Just under six months ago you joined this forum expressing your frustration with what was then a tangle of political arguments mostly stemming from right-wing web-sites over-reacting to Burt`s rather gentle chiding of the current administration. Your response was to clear the air by making av...

Seldom do I answer my own question, but a search of ASCAP reveals that the song in question was composed by Graeme Kronsberg and Michael Randall, but indicates no recording. So is that out-of-print version by Steve Lawrence the only one ever? I know there are more knowledgeable pop experts than me o...

Thanks, Musical Guy! I even ordered the whole album (since I couldn`t find a site that would allow me to download the song). While we`re on the (taboo) subject, What has been Roger Nichols been up to since his (in my opinion) disappointing Be Gentle With My Heart project? Did the reunion with Paul W...

I brought this up a year or so ago without success and have again checked relevant websites and done searches with no better results, so if I may be indulged... Does anyone know of currently available recordings of these songs I long ago had on a vinyl copy of RCA`s This Is Steve and Eydie Vol. 2: Y...

I can`t thank you enough for that one, Keith! I, for one, would listen to her sing the entire score ... and every other B&D song,too! Too bad the only available cd of recent vintage has her doing less than apt material. Then again, she probably would have something to say regarding my recent act...

Since Keith Burke so fully supplied the answer to my first query regarding Joanie Sommers, I`m back with another regarding...Jill O`Hara. With respect to everyone else who covered the songs she debuted in "promises...", I have always preferred her vocals. I know she did "Cohan!" ...

Keith, you make the point I most recently made last fall after seein Burt in Buffalo. Sure, it`s nice to be In the Presence as he performs and conducts music that will surely live decades after his (and our) demise; but I think a bit more variety is called for. Especially for those of us of a certai...

I agree, Mario. It`s almost a fool`s game - choosing a "best" or "favorite" from a catalogue like Burt and Hal`s, but at gunpoint I`d go with Be Aware, too. As for the three versions here, I`ll take Dionne`s just for the improved arrangement and instrumentation. I was a huge fan ...

My take on this whole matter rests on two considerations on which I`m not wholly clear. First, the legality of it. If it`s flat-out illegal to publically trade copyrighted material, I can understand not wanting to be exposed to the possiblity of facing a ludicrously huge fine (never mind a prison se...

You`re obviously among the many fortunate who have never heard Where There`s a Heartache(There Must Be a Heart) a wholly unnecessary desecration of Come Touch the Sun which may also have been recorded by Ames.

I`ve never been particularly fond of Kenny Rogers, Carole Bayer-Sager or Wal-Mart but at long last the latter`s music download service has made available They Don`t Make Them Like They Used To, a song I`ve had an unaccountable attachment to since I first heard it in a chain-store Muzac tape twenty y...

Send My Picture to Scranton, PA (originally on Thomas` Everybody`s Out of Town lp, never issued on cd) appears on Rare Bacharach Vol. 1 from the Australian label Raven Records. I don`t have the tech savvy to transcribe and upload these things, but the disc should still be available. Try their websit...