The Burt Bacharach Discussion Forum

Surprisingly good remake of What the World Needs Now by Dionne Warwick from the forthcoming album She’s Back. Warwick sounds better than she has in years.

https://youtu.be/m5Chxe89O6c

Thanks BachtoBacharach for sharing the link of which I promptly went to and viewed. Her unmistakable voice sounds great! I scrolled down to the comments and read all 106 of them of which there were only two [2] that were unfavorable. The comments started posting seven [7] days ago. Amazon music shows it being a 2-CD package produced by Damon Elliott with CD-1 having 15 newly-recorded songs which features Musiq Soulchild, Kenny Lattimore, Kevon Edmonds, Krazie Bone ["Déjà-Vù"], Brian McKnight, and FIJI ["Two Ships"], while CD-2 features a remastered "Dionne Sings Dionne"—a 1998 River North release. It drops May 10, 2019. She will be honored this year in receiving the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award along with George Clinton & Parliament-Funkadelic, Billy Eckstine [who recorded surprisingly for Motown for a while], Donny Hathaway, Julio Iglesias, and Sam & Dave. Long live the CD!

Dionne "sounds better than she has in years" because ... this was recorded in 2003! https://www.amazon.com/Church-Songs-Ins ... 136&sr=8-1.

The rest of the CD sounds interesting, though. I'm looking forward to it!

face:
Are you saying the version included on the new CD of "What The World Needs Now" was recorded 16 years ago??? . She's recorded that song many many times. ... I thought this might be NEW!

Yes, unfortunately. I was so looking forward to new music from her, but I became suspicious when a reviewer wrote that the"new" recording had a gentle gospel arrangement. I have had the CD that I linked in my previous post since it came out, so I am well-acquainted with Dionne's gentle gospel performance there. Sure enough, I knew from the opening notes that it was the same recording! I love Dionne, obviously, but it frustrates me that she pulls stunts like this with no regard for her diehard fans who buy everything with her name on it. Despite this glitch, though, and my general dissatisfaction with Damon's production of his mom in the past, the album sounds interesting.

Well, so much for that! I fell for the con! I sounded better 15 years ago than I do now! Warwick and Elliott continue to foist bogus lackluster crap on the public. The video clearly shows a current Warwick singing or lip syncing to the 15 year old recording. Besides, I should have known better since the production values on this old recording sound way too polished to be anything that Damon Elliott produced. I can only imagine what abysmal crap this new album might turn out to be with Elliott and his shoestring production company producing. And the new album appears to be so skimpy that they had to recycle 20-year-old material from the Dionne sings Dionne album to pad it out. Elliott owns the rights to all these recycle albums and his strategy seems to be suckering everyone he can. I didn’t like that album in 1998 when it was released, and I don’t think it has improved with age. It was schlock then IMHO and it’s schlock now. I think Warwick and Elliot have become nothing but hucksters. I think the next production will likely be Warwick sings Warwick with the same material from all the previous endless recycles and remakes! SMH! Stop the madness!!! LOL!

Here is Dionne singing this live this month, over the backing track from the 15-year-old recording. Including some oddly placed backing vocals!

Still, I have to say she can still sing it well in this key (a little higher than the one in her concerts) and it sounds a lot better.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkYXfRDn4bc

Hey ,
this is not really allied to the topic, but I was shuffling through the Atlantic Records Sessionography of the Drifters from 1963, and saw the the typical lineup of session backup singers (The Gospelaires?) were Dionne, Dee Dee and Doris Troy...!!! : ) If youre reading this, Hi Dionne!

... and - That's Where It All Began!