Woman

[Werner]

Wikipedia states that the "woman" recording session took four hours. does anybody know if there are any outtakes of that session available on any bootleg? And does somebody know if the songs on that album were ever performed (and then recorded) live again?!

[nowmedical]

Werner, this is my favourite album by miles, yet no-one knows anything about it. Riverboat makes me tingle.

Any information gratefully received. Did Burt ever do this stuff in later concerts? Did the Houston Symphony Orchestra ever recover??!

[blueonblue]

Werner, nowmedical,
I seem to remember Burt performing "New York Lady" at his concert
at The Royal Festival Hall ( London) in 1996..and here's Noel Gallagher
singing one of Bacharach and David's finest songs from the same show !


"blue"

[Rio]

I attended several concerts in which Burt played New York Lady. Once, at the Garden State Arts Center, it was exactly as in the album (I believe some key members of the Houston Symphony were present). The following time, at the same venue, it was far from the original. Same applies to the other times.
I think Burt usually quips about the musicians of the HSO not being able to go play with him. He might even have quipped that first time at the GSAC, but it was so perfect and so different from the other times, that I have to think that there was something different and special going on that night. It was my favorite Bacharach-live experience. Of course all renditions were pleasurable, and I'm glad Burt didn't shy away from playing that difficult work with different orchestrations. In fact, I once wrote here about a man bored as hell attending a concert in Atlantic City. After the orchestra played New York Lady he stood up and applaued with extraordinary enthusiasm.

[Steve Schenck]

I heard Burt perform NY Lady with a full orchestra at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, in November of 1986 or '87. It was a concert with Dionne; they were both spectacular. The orchestra did NY Lady, and perhaps one other song from that album, though I won't swear to it. For me, too, "Woman" is my favorite of the non-top-40-type albums Burt began recording after breaking up with Hal and Dionne. I still listen to it frequently and never fail to hear something new, something different, something exciting.

[nowmedical]

Glad to hear I'm not the only one. I have a seven year old daughter who knows every word of Riverboat (although not exactly their meaning!).

The whole song is so evocative - It's July on the river, 95 in the shade... - and Burt's trademark change of tempo works beautifully is this song, rather than contrived-for-the-hell-of-it as in some others.

[blueonblue]

Steve,
I fully agree with your comments about the album !!!
The track "Magdalena" is a "Revelation"...one of the best instrumental
pieces Burt has ever created........I'd love to hear him perform it at
one of his concert's !!!

"blue"

[Steve Schenck]

Thanks, Blue! I, too, greatly admire "magdalena." It may be my favorite cut on the entire album. I love the way the arrangement advances. And who can beat those skittering oboes at the end of the song!!! Pure genius. Steve

[Martyn]

I too like this album and play it every so often.

It's a while since I've seen the documentary "This is Now" (BBC 1996) but I recall Burt discussing 'Woman' in the documentary, and the pressure of recording it in one four-hour take. He remarked something along the lines of "If you made a mistake you were stuck with it".

He said that it was a very satisfying experience recording the album but noted that it was not commercially successful.

Martyn.