The Burt Bacharach Discussion Forum

I don't (yet) own the Rhino Handmade reissues of Dionne's 60s albums--i do have the three British cds that release her first 6 albums but they don't have detailed linear notes (and I don't think many 60s albums did anyway) and the discography here isn't much help on this subject...

Did Bacharach produce/arranger the songs on Dionne's Scepter albums (and their one at WB) that were cover songs or by other writers? ie As Long as He Needs me, Porgy, Valley of the Dolls?

E

I'l try to look that up when I get home unless somebody here knows the answer off the top of his or her head (and I'm sure some do).

I've got conflicting memories as to whether Burt produced all of Dionne's recordings, only his and Hal's songs, or a smattering of her non-Bacharach recordings.

Thanks so much--it's too bad album credits back then were much more vague than now (even when it comes to what exactly a producer does and what an arranger does etc). I *suspect* he did some but not all but I guess it would behard to find out which...

E

On Windows of the World, Valley of the Dolls, I'll Never Fall in Love Again, Promises Promises, and Very Dionne, Burt Bacharach and Hal David are listed as producers on all tracks. The difference between Bacharach songs and non-Bacharach compositions is that Burt arranged and conducted his own songs. The non-Bacharach songs were usually arranged by either Peter Matz or Larry Wilcox.

There are a few interesting exceptions. For example, Dionne's version of "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head" was arranged by Wilcox, presumably because it was just a cover song and not an original Bacharach recording.

http://www.warr.org/warwick.html has reviews of her albums and mentions that the Broadway/Hollywood album was all arranged by Bacharach as well. I'd love to hear it but most of it seems to not be out on CD--I have heard her Summertime which has some amazing falsetto work I'd never heard from Dionne elsewhere and is a nice arrangement. I just assumed bacharach wasn't involved in the album as often on the other albums which included showtunes I had read he didn't do the arrangements

I can try to add to this...Burt at that time was a very busy man...and
while he did attempt to do most of the work on Dionne's albums,
for some cuts, he hired some of his friends to do some of the charts..
If these arrangements were not featured as a single, he would often leave
then "as is"....however, on a few important 45's like "Valley of the Dolls"
he assisted in partially reshaping what had been fleshed out already. For the "VAlley"session, it was mostly PAt Williams arrangement you hear, with some touches of Burt re-arrangeing little things he felt would imrove the score for his taste, mostly done on the spot at the session.
This happened once again with Pat and Burt collaborating on "Long Ago Tomorrow, by B. J. Thomas...etc.
Often Burt would decide to play piano at the last moment.
I seem to remember "Porgy" being done by Burt himself, although my memory is a bit hazy on that.
You mentioned Larry Wilcox..he is a a fine arranger who does charts for college and high school publications he did a brilliant job of scoring "I'll Never Fall in Love Again...but it can only be Burt at the pinao at the end with those type of "tasty" fills...brilliant work!

Larry Wilcox is also responsible (or at least credited for) one of my favorite non-Bacharach tracks by Dionne - Jimmy Webb's "Didn't We". The arrangement, combined with Dionne's incomparable rendering, lift it from the "I ate it up and spit it out" genre in which it was previously mired, at least in my mind, and give the drama enough freshness to make it a great recording.

Kyle,
Is that the arrangement that ends on a dischordant brass chord?
It was brilliant....

Dionne's performance of the Styne/Merrill tune sounds as if it was arranged by Burt - very rich and imaginative and the muted trumpet is wonderful. Does anyone know if it was Burt's arrangement?

Babra Streisand's may be the definitive version, but Dionne's is my favourite.

Martyn.

Apologies for the cryptic nature of the above post. I was referring to the song "People".

Martyn,
You are a good listener/musician! Yes, that was Burt's arrangement on People for Dionne.