The Burt Bacharach Discussion Forum

Earlier in this thread I listed most if not all of the artists who had recorded Bacharach tribute albums over the years and I have to say after a couple of listens that Rumer's album leaves them all standing, and the crucial factor in this is the arranger Rob Shirakbari whose familiarity with and understanding of Bacharach's music can only be bettered by the great man himself. I really like the way his arrangements emphasise the songs’ harmonic twists and turns, particularly on The Last One to be Loved, and it’s also refreshing to hear acoustic guitars featuring more prominently than is usually the case on an album of Bacharach’s music. This is the first time that I’ve listened to Rumer for a whole album’s worth of material and I found it a very agreeable experience as her voice is a very subtle, warm and beautifully toned instrument, although the alleged similarity to Karen Carpenter is only really evident to my ears when she's singing at the lower end of her register and her voice is double-tracked as it is on Are you There (With Another Girl), You’ll Never Get to Heaven (If you Break My Heart) and The Last One to be Loved. No, hers is not a big voice and I don’t think she’ll ever be capable of belting a song out to the back row of a theatre, but as she shows on her very touching interpretations of Close to You and What the World Needs Now Is Love, you don’t really need to raise the decibel level to convey emotion.

Rumer's nigh-on perfect rendition of 'The Look Of Love', featuring a spot-on arrangement by Rob Shirakbari.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BsBIXaeqDbQ

I studied and I know music. Great job, anyone who can do better.

Yes, in this present moment in time It's difficult to conceive of a Bacharach & David album being done any better than this and by two people, Rumer and arranger/producer Rob Shirakbari, who are so obviously steeped in the music. My personal favourite tracks are the songs which have been re-set or rearranged the most, Close to You, You'll Never Get To Heaven, The Last One To Be Loved and What The World Needs Now. 

Here's the title-track of the album featuring Bacharach singing at the piano in the intro. Having seen a few videos of Rumer singing live I know she occasionally has problems with her pitching, so what's surprising isn't the fact she sings a duff note in the second verse of 'This Girl's In Love With You' but that they kept it in.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5kYeZ2G_qKc

The arrangement of "Are You There (With Another Girl)" was too beautiful.
It's impossible not to hear every day.

Here's a little bit of information from Rumer on these songs that sheds a little light

"For songs like Look Of Love and Close To You, they were all one takes. Sometimes you get a bit of magic in the studio, whilst playing the piano, if I'm in the right mood, the lighting's in the right spot and you just catch something and you think, "That was a really beautiful moment. Let's keep that."

Okay, I`ve stayed out of this discussion long enough.
What are you guys hearing in this that`s even remotely appealing?
Rumer`s vocals are even drier and more sexless than Karen Carpenter`s and the arrangements are just as bland.
Anyone who hasn`t heard these songs before needs to go back to the original versions.
Does anyone agree? BachtoBacharach, where are you?

Whenever an artist records a Bacharach album, Blair, I think most of us 'old timers' are not necessarily expecting them to improve on the original versions we're just hoping that they somehow do the material justice and maybe in some cases give the song enough of a different slant to make you re-evaluate it, and I think this is where Rumer and her arranger/producer Rob Shirakbari have succeeded so brilliantly. And to be honest, in the case of The Balance Of Nature, In The Land of Make-Believe, The Last One To Be Loved and Close To You I actually prefer Rumer's versions to the originals, although with the last song and Richard Chamberlain that would hardly have been difficult. 

I think Rumer's interpretation of A House Is Not A Home on the album is much more assured than her understandably nervy performance of the song at The White House in 2012. However, I'm still not totally sold on the intro/outro arrangement:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oNsGeBep_hQ