Oh, oh...

The Burt Bacharach Forum is a board to discuss the music and career of composer Burt Bacharach and performers associated with his songs.

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Blair N. Cummings
Posts: 1123
Joined: Fri Jun 11, 2004 4:14 pm

Oh, oh...

Post by Blair N. Cummings »

The four posts below suggest only one thing to me: Mark is on vacation.
We should all probably just vacate this site, too, for the next couple weeks if the past is any indication of what`s coming.
Hey, there`s nothing new anyway. Those two albums allegedly in the can are apparently meant to be mysteries. The coming Dionne album still smells funny to me . I`ll believe Burt and Hal wrote two new songs for this lame project when I read their copyright dates.
After the break, maybe someone will know something about that Bacharach/Costello project rumored for Diana Krall. (I hope it`s true, but I never really believed it).
Last edited by Blair N. Cummings on Thu Aug 16, 2012 7:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.
gillanddon
Posts: 224
Joined: Tue Dec 14, 2010 6:54 am

Re: Oh, oh...

Post by gillanddon »

I don't know ... the new Dionne album is looking more interesting to me ... I like the title 'Now' and the few opening bars I heard from I Say A Little Prayer sounded excellent ... also terrific choice of Are You There With Another Girl? Lets hold thumbs ....
Blair N. Cummings
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Joined: Fri Jun 11, 2004 4:14 pm

Re: Oh, oh...

Post by Blair N. Cummings »

Well...Did it occur to anyone to wonder why, if Dionne had the killer selling point of including two new songs by the people responsible for her 50th recording anniversary in the first place, she didn`t even allude to them? And wouldn`t one be a single by now? Why would anyone be hiding them?
And just to nitpick - "Now" seems like a willfully misleading title for a package scrupulously dedicated to the past.
If we still lived in an era when recorded music had monetary value, We`d have seen a 50th anniversary re-issue of all the Bacharach/David recordings for Scepter and Warners - including the latter label`s unreleased `75 recordings from the failed Burt and Dionne reunion of that year. Alas, there`s no longer any incentive for such an undertaking.
BachtoBacharach
Posts: 530
Joined: Wed Jul 11, 2007 3:32 pm

Re: Oh, oh...

Post by BachtoBacharach »

Blair. I agree that this project sounds like mostly a rehash of Dionne's old hits once again. I don't understand why Burt's camp has been silent on this project if there are two "new" Bacharach tunes. Of course, has anyone found it odd that Bacharach himself has never commented, to my knowledge, on any of the three or four remake projects she has done since 1997? Not one word, endorsement, or anything. Strange indeed. I have given up hope that we will see anything new from Dionne and Burt together and I don't believe we will ever see them in the studio together again. Dionne's remake projects have failed miserably with little commercial or critical success. Interesting to note that Dionne's Cahn CD sold respectably well and garnered the best reviews she's had in years. Why another yawn of a remake album to commemorate her remarkable career thus far makes no sense. I, for one, am not interested in yet another remake of I Say A Little Prayer. I would have loved to see this project be Bacharach tunes that Dionne has never recorded as that would something we haven't heard. How many remakes of her hits do we need (or really want)? I will bypass this entire CD, unless the two "new" tracks are truly new.
GehVorbei

Re: Oh, oh...

Post by GehVorbei »

In the last decade Phil Ramone has picked up another half a dozen Grammies. He has been producing hit-albums for Tony Bennett, Ray Charles and Rufus Wainwright among other people that did not contain a single new composition.

And if Phil Ramone with his history and connection with Hal and Burt announces that there are two "brand new" Bacharach/David collaborations on the "Now" album, I'm sure we are talking about unheard material here. Was that material written in 2000 and has been sitting in some drawer or in 2012? I don't know or particularly care...

This is most likely going to be Dionne's final album, it is very unlikely that Hal will add a lot more to his oeuvre and with Burt we just do not know. So I think it is actually quite appropriate to pay a final visit to her catalogue on this album. And anything new will be the icing on the cake.

I think Julie Burchill once wrote, that if Dionne had died in a plane crash in 1972 her status as the greatest singer of the pop era would be much more generally accepted today. It seems that some posters here feel the same and I personally can just not relate to that.

During the two DW concerts I saw this summer there were definitely painful moments on Anyone Who Had A Heart or even Walk On By and it's been like that for years. But there were also moments of great beauty and musical surprises on songs she had not sung live in decades. There are definitely some of Hal's lyrics that gain enormously from the insights of a 70 year old woman. And I for one am sure that Phil Ramone will have captured some of that.
BachtoBacharach
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Joined: Wed Jul 11, 2007 3:32 pm

Re: Oh, oh...

Post by BachtoBacharach »

I have heard the plane crash comment before...don't know who it is originally attributed to but the fact that Dionne herself keeps going back to her old catalog of pre-1972 Bacharach hits lends credence to the statement and is certainly ironic in light of the discussion. Dionne is a legend, no doubt about it, but these remakes projects have not contributed much to that status. If I want to hear the definitive version of I Say a Little Prayer, I will listen to her original 1966 recording, not a remake from 1997, 1998, 2004 or 2012. I appreciate her legacy of music and her contribution and have never subscribed to the school that believes everything Dionne does recording wise is remarkable. Dionne, the person, not the singer, is a wonderful , generous and caring person...professionally this project won't do much to uphold her legacy as a legend and won't discredit it either, IMHO. It's not really even icing on the cake...I think this project will prove to be pretty irrelevant and doesn't seem befitting as a final project if that is the case. Again, just my opinion. I have said in the past here that I do not believe that bad Dionne is better than no Dionne. But good Dionne, like the Cahn project, is something that honors her, her legacy and her fans. This seems to be something else, Phil Ramone or not, and although Ramone may have coaxed good performances out of her and handled her with kid gloves (Dionne and Phil are close friends and that he would handle her any other way is not an issue), the fact that this has been tried over and over just leaves me cold. Now, there is so much speculation about the two "new" tunes and that will be put to rest when the album is released.
KleinCarol
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Aug 27, 2012 8:06 am

Re: Oh, oh...

Post by KleinCarol »

Thanks a lot for the info posted!
Twas very interesting for me to read the stuff.
Hope to find some more interesting information within the board;)
An Enormous BB Fan
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Joined: Fri Feb 20, 2004 11:14 pm

Carol Klein

Post by An Enormous BB Fan »

For those who don't know and don't get the reference of our new member KleinCarol: Carol Klein is the singer-songwriter Carole King's real name. She was born Carol Joan Klein (in 1942). She took the stage name "Carole King". (She added the "e" to her first name.)
Alistair
Posts: 67
Joined: Fri Feb 20, 2004 8:58 am

Re: Oh, oh...

Post by Alistair »

Carol Klein is also the name of an English TV presenter and gardener!
gillanddon
Posts: 224
Joined: Tue Dec 14, 2010 6:54 am

Re: Oh, oh...

Post by gillanddon »

I've said it so often and will once again ... please BachtoBacharach etc ... give it a break! Dionne's major calling card over the years are of course Burt Bacharach and Hal David's songs. Since then I think she has done major work which in many ways is much better. Like most artists they have their peak moments and most don't survive in the public eye beyond that. Dionne has survived in the public eye for the past 50 years. Please give her a bit of credit in the light of her new recordings. It's a major achievement for her especially in this day and age when the industry seems to be beyond being able to survive let alone produce anything in the realms of the 60's, 70's or even 80's and 90's. Dionne would look at your ramblings and instantly dismiss them as she knows exactly where she is at this time. You can get old and your voice can change but your delivery can be just as charismatic. Take a look at Judi Dench at the Proms on YouTube singing Steven Sonheim's 'Send In The Clowns'. She's not a trained singer and croaks a bit but the performance is completely stunning. Don't be mislead. I think Dionne's voice is one of the greatest wehave ever heard and remains so. Have to say that in case you jump on the band wagon again.

I'm so dismayed by your comments about Dionne on this site generally and the arrogant attitude you and others always seem to have with Dionne Warwick and the great contribution she has made to contemporary music in general. Almost as if you feel she let Burt Bacharach down. I believe it was the other way around. The new CD reissue of Dionne's first Arista recording 'Dionne' seems to be the defining place where you consigned Dionne's career to the archives as you never mention them.
Blair N. Cummings
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Joined: Fri Jun 11, 2004 4:14 pm

Re: Oh, oh...

Post by Blair N. Cummings »

I wish I could put an end to this boring argument.
Gill, if your personal taste elevates the post Bacharach era recordings, so be it. I think "Deja Vu" and "Heart breaker" were creditable records. They were, unfortunately, rare in a morass of mediocrity. Say what you will aboout the filler on the Scepter albums, the Burt and Hal originals made each one a gem. It was the totality of those recordings that has provided her with her abilty to still make records. Nothing about longevity guarantees quality.
Dionne has earned her place in music history. I know I`ll be hated for adding that I wish that she would gracefully accept her iconic status and retire.
BachtoBacharach
Posts: 530
Joined: Wed Jul 11, 2007 3:32 pm

Re: Oh, oh...

Post by BachtoBacharach »

Thanks Blair. You said it well and there's no need for me to comment further.
gillanddon
Posts: 224
Joined: Tue Dec 14, 2010 6:54 am

Re: Oh, oh...

Post by gillanddon »

Well!! No surprises there then!!!
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