Three new compilations due soon

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pljms
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Location: London

Three new compilations due soon

Post by pljms »

'Make it Easy on Yourself 1962' is the third compilation in Cherry Red's Bacharach retrospective series following on from 'The First Book Of Songs 1954 - 1958' and 'Long Ago Last Summer 1959 - 1961'. It has 26 tracks and is due on October 14th.

The Atlantic Sound of Burt Bacharach features the likes of Aretha Franklin, Carla Thomas and the Sweet Inspirations and is released on September 25th.

The Warners Sound of Burt Bacharach includes the Everly Brothers and Ella Fitzgerald. This is also due for release on September 25th.

The fact that these compilations keep coming suggests that there must be still quite a few Bacharach collectors out there!
Paul
Martin Johnson
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Re: Three new compilations due soon

Post by Martin Johnson »

If it doesn't rain it pours!

The Cherry Red album contains at least one track I don't have, Marlene Dietrich's 'Kleine Treue Nachtigall (Small True Nightingale)', which went on to be better known as Message to Martha/Michael. I haven't seen the track listing for the other two but the Atlantic collection looks the more interesting for the artists featured alone. I know that the Sweet Inspirations featuring Cissy Houston covered several Bachararch songs, so I'm hoping there's going to be more than one or two of those on there. Here's one of them:

pljms
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Re: Three new compilations due soon

Post by pljms »

Martin, there appears to be three tracks on the Atlantic compilation by the Sweet Inspirations, Reach Out, What the World Needs Now and Alfie. Other tracks on there include Lou Johnson's Please Stay, Any Day Now by Carla Thomas, Loneliness or Happiness by the Drifters, One Less Bell to Answer by Keely Smith, Always Something There to Remind Me by RB Greaves and Aretha Franklin's Don't Go Breaking My Heart and You'll Never Get to Heaven. Of more recent vintage we have Rumer's recordings of Some Lovers and Alfie. As is often the case with these compilations, there are some bizarre choices of covers and over the two CDs there are more than a few songs with more than one version included, Please Stay weighing in with no less than four! Here's Aretha's totally unique take on You'll Never Get to Heaven. I would love to know what Burt thought of this at the time!:

Paul
DFELD
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Re: Three new compilations due soon

Post by DFELD »

From a long-time BB Forum reader in Ann Arbor, MI

This week I found two compilations of some early BB & HD music while searching the Amazon website (US).
These bargain-priced CD's were recently released by NOT NOW MUSIC.
http://www.notnowmusic.com/
Even after collecting BB music on 45's, LP's and CD's for almost 50 years, I was not aware of at least 1/3 of the songs on these two compilations.

THE SONGS OF BACHARACH AND DAVID


THE SONGS OF BURT BACHARACH
nymusicalsguy
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Re: Three new compilations due soon

Post by nymusicalsguy »

Just wanted to share The Second Disc's report on THE WARNER SOUND OF BURT BACHARACH and THE ATLANTIC SOUND OF BURT BACHARACH. We have a rundown of both titles plus the full track listings with discographical annotation, and there are quite a few tough-to-find rarities over the two volumes:

http://theseconddisc.com/2013/10/01/bab ... ch-tracks/

Best,

Joe
pljms
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Location: London

Re: Three new compilations due soon

Post by pljms »

Thanks nymusicalsguy for the Second Disk link. Although the Warners collection appears to have more rarities it's the Atlantic album I'm looking forward to getting hold of most, although both compilations are not exactly readily available in the UK at the moment and it looks like I'll have to pay an arm and a leg to purchase them.
Paul
Blair N. Cummings
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Re: Three new compilations due soon

Post by Blair N. Cummings »

The Not Now compilations seem to corral most of what Cherry Red has released and more at a tiny fraction of the cost.
Having listened to all of this, I can report that nothing new here is more than mediocre.
I do like this,`though:
pljms
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Re: Three new compilations due soon

Post by pljms »

Good review of the 'Make it Easy on Yourself - 1962' compilation.
http://strangethingsarehappening.com/burtbacharach.html
Paul
pljms
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Re: Three new compilations due soon

Post by pljms »

Well, it's almost three years since we discussed the news of the release of The Atlantic Sound of Burt Bacharach along with the other two compilations and I finally got hold of a Japanese import copy last week. Spread across two CDs are 45 tracks and 28 songs, 13 of which feature between two and four times. While CD 1 is made up of recordings by 'Atlantic Ladies', CD 2 features 'Atlantic Men & Jazz'.

As with all these multi track BB compilations the sound quality is extremely variable while the standard of the song interpretations, whether vocal or instrumental, is more than a little inconsistent. Outside of the five tracks each by the Drifters and Aretha Franklin, three of the four recordings by the Sweet Inspirations and Lulu's 'Please Stay', the selections on this compilation are either totally new to me or are things I've perhaps heard just once or twice, like Rumer's 'Some Lovers' and 'Alfie' from 2010 which, unsurprisingly, sound a tad incongruous in a compilation otherwise made up of tracks from the 60s and 70s. Out of the recordings I'd not heard before it's Leslie Uggams who makes the strongest impression with her five beautifully sung and imaginatively arranged selections, including lesser known gems In the Land of Make Believe and Any Old Time of the Day. Also on the 'Atlantic Ladies' disc the sweet voiced Carla Thomas is an agreeable listen as ever on Any Day Now and What The World Needs Now while Carmen MacRae has intimate fun with Close to You in a live jazz club recording. Listening again to the five Aretha Franklin selections is to conclude once again that when it came to interpreting B&D her gospel infused style only really came off on I Say a Little Prayer.

On the 'Atlantic Men & Jazz' disc it's the instrumental jazz tracks that are the most interesting, if that's the word I'm looking for. However, as many of these tracks contain little or no improvisation it's a given that the term 'jazz' is being very loosely applied here. Still, there's a lot of listening pleasure to be had on some of these selections and hearing flautist Herbie Mann's Don't Say I Didn't Tell You So once again reminded me what a gorgeous tune it is and in common with so many of Bacharach & David's more obscure songs deserves to be much better known. Sergio Mendes's delicate piano-led Don't Go Breaking My Heart is Jobim-esque from start to finish while Arif Mardin, wearing his arranger's hat, is equally subtle on Walk On By. From opposite ends of the jazz scale there's the jaunty near-Muzak of Young-Holt Unlimited's Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head and Roland Kirk's predictably wild and lengthy live recording of You'll Never Get to Heaven. 

Other tracks worth mentioning are Patti Labelle and the Bluebelles typically edgy and off-centre Always Something There to Remind Me and Ben E King's majestic They Don't Give Medals to Yesterday's Heroes, two tracks I was aware of but now own thanks to this enjoyable and more than slightly bizarre compilation.
Paul
ron hertel
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Re: Three new compilations due soon

Post by ron hertel »

pljms:

Really appreciate the detailed review of this compilation! ... I often wonder how much Bacharach/David material is gathering dust in the vaults of the various entertainment companies.
Martin Johnson
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Re: Three new compilations due soon

Post by Martin Johnson »

ron hertel wrote:pljms:

Really appreciate the detailed review of this compilation! ... I often wonder how much Bacharach/David material is gathering dust in the vaults of the various entertainment companies.

Ron, since Bacharach came back in to vogue around 95/96 there’s been so many compilations released of his stuff by various companies I doubt whether there’s a huge amount left in the vaults. Since the mid-60s Bacharach has been a hugely covered composer and I remember working in a small record store in the early 70s during my school holidays and being impressed by just how many albums there were on the shelves by different vocalists and orchestra leaders with either ‘Sings Burt Bacharach’ or ‘Plays Burt Bacharach’ as the title, this compared to a mere sprinkling of albums dedicated to the likes of Gershwin, Porter and Berlin.
ron hertel
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Re: Three new compilations due soon

Post by ron hertel »

Martin:

You're probably right. With the ongoing demise of the CD format - I suspect that those companies with access to this kind of material are anxious to market it before it's too late! .... I sure miss those small record stores that you once worked for and - the big ones too! .... All those hours of browsing and finding those hidden album tracks, the cover art and the album notes and credits! ... Many of those Bacharach tracks were not featured and were used primarily as filler material and were not part of the album title.
pljms
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Location: London

Re: Three new compilations due soon

Post by pljms »

Here's one of the five tracks by Leslie Uggams included on the Atlantic Sound of Bacharach compilation:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yYjdfGfCufU
Paul
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