Endgame?

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

Endgame?

Post by Blair N. Cummings »

I`m glad to see Burt booking himself into next year, but I`m more interested to know if he has made any plans for a final studio recording.
As lame as I thought At This Time was, I`m sure something better could be produced. I know that Burt has stated that he thinks the album concept moribund but, surely, he can see the point of - one last time - gathering an orchestra and singers and giving it everything he`s got as a career capstone and for posterity.
These silly Mike Myers and Elvis Costello redux projects are not fitting farewells - even if they come off, which they may well not.
What the world needs now is one (last?) great Bacharach studio album.
nymusicalsguy
Posts: 275
Joined: Fri May 05, 2006 10:39 am

Re: Endgame?

Post by nymusicalsguy »

Elvis Costello has mentioned writing as many as 30 songs with Bacharach in the last few months; some may end up on an album, some in one of the two Broadway shows they're currently writing. As someone who first discovered the Bacharach magic many years ago through the original cast recording of PROMISES, PROMISES, I don't believe there's anything silly about Burt putting his time and energy into a Broadway musical. You can make the argument that Broadway isn't what it once was...but neither is the music business. I get the feeling that you wish Bacharach wasn't putting his energies into theatrical scores, but as he's said numerous times, the record business he used to know is gone. He can still pen a Broadway score, and with the right project, it may well find an audience. Both Chuck Lorre's adaptation of PAINTED FROM MEMORY and an original AUSTIN POWERS stage musical show promise. At the end of the day, if we have 30 more gifts from Bacharach (especially with Costello, his most acclaimed lyricist of the past two decades), it will have been worth it.

Would I love a final (?), fitting studio album - whatever that may be? Certainly. But will I take new Bacharach music in any form? Absolutely. I think most people here would, too. The world will be a much richer place if two more original cast recordings on the order of PROMISES, PROMISES arrive. And if you feel they're not up to that standard, they'll still reflect where Bacharach as an artist is today. That's enough for me, and all I can ask of an artist who's already given so much.

And if that new studio album arrives? I'll be first in line.
Blair N. Cummings
Posts: 1123
Joined: Fri Jun 11, 2004 4:14 pm

Re: Endgame?

Post by Blair N. Cummings »

I have no resentment against Burt working on theatrical or movie scores. I love all that he has previously done. My reservations lie with the concepts of the current projects. Hasn`t the Austin Powers gag played out by now? Painted from Memory is over 15 years old. If the new songs are any good, my preference would be for them just to be recorded. I don`t live in NYC anymore because, like most people, I can`t afford it. But most people can`t afford seats in a Broadway theater, either. If this is the only planned venue for the new material, that material will fall on few and exclusively affluent ears.
Costello is quoted in a squib on this blog that the new collaborations will most likely not be recorded.
These are the reasons I called for a new studio recording, not hostility to your bailiwick.
nymusicalsguy
Posts: 275
Joined: Fri May 05, 2006 10:39 am

Re: Endgame?

Post by nymusicalsguy »

Happily, Elvis has recently alluded that the new PAINTED FROM MEMORY-related songs may, indeed, turn up on an album in 2015 -

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/re ... 7041365024

I think everybody here can agree that, regardless of the fate of the planned stage production (for which Chuck Lorre is reportedly writing the book), a new album of Bacharach/Costello songs is cause for celebration! Here's hoping it comes to fruition. And in any form, I can't wait to hear the "wild songs, from heartbreaking ballads to psychedelic rock ’n’ roll songs" they've penned for AUSTIN POWERS, either on stage or on record or, hopefully, both.
Blair N. Cummings
Posts: 1123
Joined: Fri Jun 11, 2004 4:14 pm

Re: Endgame?

Post by Blair N. Cummings »

Thanks for that link, Joe. It IS very good news, especially since "Elvis" has been busy for a while saying that there`s "no need for another" album.
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