The Burt Bacharach Discussion Forum

English singer Michael Ball's latest album 'Coming Home To You' containing a new Jimmy Webb song entitled 'When The Loving Was Easy' entered the UK album chart at No.1 last week. Apparently the key to its instant success is a strong TV advertisement campaign aimed at the Mother's Day market. My appreciation of this instantly attractive although not particularly original song is greatly enhanced by the production, arrangement and not least by Michael Ball's vocals. After a few plays I'm beginning to regard this as a kind of near relative to another Webb song with a country flavour, 'I Was Too Busy Loving You'.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5URBNV5cmK4

I heard an earlier rehearsal demo of this song some time last year. It was then arranged as a L. I. bar band rocker. It wasn`t any better, but it was very different.
I also question whether this is really new or just previously unheard. JW has announced that his next album will be just piano covers of old hits by the likes of Billy Joel (ugh!), Harry Nilsson et. al. I have difficulty believing that he has lined up a distributor for this doomed misfire, but since his last album of truly new songs was released in `92 this may be his only way out of a contractual obligation.
(There are darker murmurings which I`m not comfortable spreading here).

Apparently it was Michael Ball hearing and being very impressed with Glen Campbell's 'Adios' album that led to him and his co-producer getting in touch with Webb and asking for a song. The way Michael Ball told it on a recent TV chat show the song was written especially for the album which although released only a couple of weeks ago was actually recorded last year.

The up-tempo version of this song was debuted at a music festival in (I seem to recall) Ireland. I don`t remember the name of the guy who sang it but I don`t think it was Ball.
Unfortunately, the old Webb forum has been "disappeared" or I could track this down.

I believe the singer was an Aussie by the name of Jimmy Barnes and the video I saw of him performing some of the song at a rehearsal in Sydney with a band including Jimmy Webb on keyboards was quite short but long enough for me to be thoroughly underwhelmed. At least with the Michael Ball recording it sounds like a proper song and is a lot more subtle.

I think the new song is ok but nothing to get excited about and probably the best thing about the record is Michael Ball's vocals, something that's a surprise to me as I've never really been a fan of his. I don't recall it creating much of a stir here but Ball actually recorded a hit album of Bacharach classics around 11 or 12 years ago.

However bare Webb's cupboard of new songs may be it surely doesn't justify an album of solo piano renditions of other writers' hits? He has a tendency to take liberties with the chords of his own songs when playing live, probably out of overfamiliarity, but I should imagine he'll curb that inclination when it comes to playing the songs of others. Of all my musical heroes Webb remains by far the most enigmatic and the most frustrating but I'll always love his best songs even if the majority of them were written more than fifty years ago.

Re the piano covers album, I've seen the track list and it seems that all his songwriting heroes are represented except Bacharach. So we have The Long And Winding Road, God Only Knows, Old Friends, A Case Of You, All In Love Is Fair, Moonlight Mile (Jagger & Richards), Accidentally Like A Martyr (Warren Zevon), Lullaby Goodnight My Angel (Billy Joel), Pretty Ballarina (Left Banke) and Marie (?). The album does at least contain one Webb classic, The Moon's A Harsh Mistress.

If I`m not mistaken, "Marie" is from Randy Newman`s `74 album, Rednecks.
I could spew immoderately for hours over this absurd project, but I won`t.

Blair N. Cummings wrote:If I`m not mistaken, "Marie" is from Randy Newman`s `74 album, Rednecks.
I could spew immoderately for hours over this absurd project, but I won`t.

I've always considered this to be one of the most beautiful ballads ever written, let's hope JW can do it justice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsccG8OYKnk

'blue'

Sorry I got the album title wrong. I haven`t heard it since...well, `74.
As a pianist, JW is a superb accompanist. As a soloist he ranges from the ornate to the outright florid.
For many reasons, I have no intention of listening to this album.

I was curious to see if I recognised 'Pretty Ballerina' by Left Banke and I do, just.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=m-Ep5x-DETc

pljms wrote:I was curious to see if I recognised 'Pretty Ballerina' by Left Banke and I do, just.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=m-Ep5x-DETc

Hypnotic !

'blue'