The Burt Bacharach Discussion Forum

Bacharach did a few "western" sounding tunes for Gene Pitney (The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance); there were also some quasi country-western tunes (Three Wheels on My Wagon, The Story of My Life, and even Perry Como's Magic Moments would have sounded country if done by Robbins) done for Mar...

In the Land of Make Believe was recorded in the same session as Walk On By and Anyone Who Had A Heart. Both Make Believe and Walk On By had taken up the majority of the session because Burt got upwards of 20 or more takes on each tune. According to accounts from Burt, Hal, Dionne and others, there w...

There are alternate takes of Who Is Gonna Love Me, Here Where There Is Love, A House is Not a Home, Do You Know the Way to San Jose, In Between the Heartaches and a couple of others which escape me now. Who is Gonna Love Me alternate take has appeared in a couple of English compilations, Here Where ...

I can tell you that there are still many around who were there either on the periphery, or working or contracting in some capacity with these good folks (many of the good folks at Scepter who worked closely with Dionne such as Paul Cantor survive). However, only Burt and Dionne can specifically spea...

The sheet music is available on e-bay from time to time.

I had always heard that Burt, Hal and Dionne had gone into the studio after the release of the Dionne album in January 1972 to start recording for the follow-up album and this would coincide with Burt and Hal beginning work on Lost Horizon. If it is indeed true that Dionne went back into the studio ...

I heard rough mixes of all three tunes in 1974 and particularly remember "And Then He Walked Through the Door" simply because it was a great tune and Dionne was superb on that recording as well as the other two. There was a lot of excitement when Dionne and Burt went back into the studio t...

I liken Dionne's reaction to, I feel, Burt's ad nauseum chatter about Karen Carpenter this way: when you are making love to your wife, you don't drone on and on excessively about your mistress. He was in the studio to record Dionne and anything other than some passing chatter about Close to You (whi...

I was sorely disappointed with the book simply because there was really no depth regarding the songs themselves and the dynamic in the studio when the tunes were recorded. No real backstory about the creative process and how Dionne fit into all that. Considering that Dionne was so important to Burt,...

The book is a quick read. I liken it to Dionne's autobiography with more substance...it's certainly more interesting than the lightweight pap that Dionne's book was. One nugget I found really interesting was something I knew back in the 1960s but was never explained in any great depth and just accep...

So many reviewers get that wrong, don't they. Many reviewers also used to attribute Theme From Valley of the Dolls to Burt and Hal instead of Andre and Dory Previn too.

KIRKUS REVIEW Reminiscences of a master songwriter. Compiled from interviews conducted by journalist Greenfield (The Last Sultan: The Life and Times of Ahmet Ertegun, 2011, etc.) with Bacharach and his associates, this oral memoir provides a congenial overview of a life devoted to music. Bacharach b...

I have the book enscribed to Florence Greenberg from Hal David with a nice personal note from Hal...it's the second edition. Dionne also signed the forward. It's something I wouldn't part with. The book sold well enough to have several printings and even paperback. Hal achieved a fame in the 1960s t...

Blair I agree that PFM was probably the last great work Bacharach did and I also agree that the Isn't She Great soundtrack was outstanding. Isn't She Great elicited the last wonderful recorded performance Bacharach and David got from Warwick. Her vocal limitations were very apparent but somehow, the...

I agree Enormous. This is a discussion forum and I, like others here have written about the good, the bad, and the ugly regarding Burt, Hal and Dionne. I am sorry Andreas feels the way he does. I am not a cheerleader for BB/HD/DW and never have been and there are fan forums for that type of thing. I...