The Burt Bacharach Discussion Forum

The Tony Bennett recording of the 'Promises, Promises' song is something I'd not heard in years and I was reminded how much I like it. I personally don't mind how far an arranger may stray from Bacharach's original template as long as the arrangement serves the song and ultimately does it justice, s...

Cilla Black's Anyone Who Had a Heart is the most successful hit record of a Bacharach song in the UK.
As Bacharach himself stated recently during the onstage interview with Michael Grade at the Festival Hall,
she put in a truly great performance on the record.

I'd not only pay good money, Martin, I'd walk 20 miles in tight shoes to hear that set. I've long thought that the medleys have sounded tired and besides can never really do justice to such great material, no matter how generously proportioned.

Here is a Youtube link to the complete Glastonbury set, not what the BBC edited for their 1 hour broadcast, so it includes not only Josie James's 'Anyone Who Had a Heart' but also 'Trains and Boats and Planes', cut from the first medley: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUyQ7za46s0 My idea of a great...

Two more very positive reviews of the 'What's it all About? - Bacharach Reimagined' show, from the London Evening Standard and The Independent: http://www.standard.co.uk/goingout/theatre/whats-it-all-about-bacharach-reimagined-menier-chocolate-factory-review-love-letter-to-a-songwriting-legend-10392...

Here's one less than great review from this morning's Daily Telegraph of the show's official opening last night. Includes nice photo with BB sat at the piano on stage with the cast at the end of the show: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/theatre-reviews/11736575/Bacharach-Reimagined-Menier...

I'm going to see the show next week. While it is very easy for us 'avids' to become a bit precious when it comes to how BB's songs are performed, I think his music is far too subtle to be interpreted in the happy, clappy, shouty style suggested by the excerpts I've seen of the show on YouTube. Howev...

All the concerts of the UK tour have received very positive reviews, none better than for the last night at Bristol. Here's a reviewer who not only fully appreciates the music but understands Bacharach's legacy, so the terms 'singer', 'singer-songwriter' and even 'crooner' are nowhere to be found un...

Please open the link below to find some wonderful photos taken during the show. They're so good that they make the show look like the very special event it ought to have been. Close but no cigar as they say: http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/joss-stone-performs-at-the-burt-bacharach-a-l...

BB's set lasted about 70 minutes so the BBC had to lose 10 minutes for the hour-long TV broadcast a few hours later at 7pm. Inexplicably they chose to edit out Josie James's Anyone Who Had a Heart plus Trains and Boats and Planes from the first hits medley. Watching on TV, Burt and his singers and b...

I'm not sure, Blue, if Bacharach's set at Glastonbury on Saturday afternoon is scheduled to last more than an hour. If it is only an hour then the 'hits' medley that usually follows the 'What the World Needs Now' overture and the film song medley which usually precedes the encores are almost certain...

It was announced yesterday that Burt Bacharach is a late addition to the Glastonbury Festival line-up. The world-renouned festival will be staged from June 24-28 and Bacharach is scheduled to appear on the main Pyramid Stage between 4.30 & 5.30 in the afternoon of Saturday the 27th. It will be r...

I've always been fond of Jackie Trent's 'When the Summertime is Over', the follow-up to her big UK hit 'Where Are you Now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwxKU_53Bvs It's well known that Tony Hatch could write both words and music ('Downtown', 'Call Me', 'My Love', etc, etc) but it's less commonly ...

Unfortunately I was unable to get to the Pheasantry for either of the two nights and judging by the very muted applause at the end of Katie Neiman's performance of 'This House is Empty Now' featured in the video below, I wasn't the only one who missed the show! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sdgd0W...

Pljms; It might be the same concert, but are you still going to go? Hey, it might be the last time Burt will be coming to the U.K. You never know. So I would go!!! Take care; Vincent Yes Vincent, I'll be going to the London concert simply because I can't NOT go and I'm sure you're familiar with thi...