Dionne Warwick and a Duet partner (Scepter)

[MexicanDivorce]

Often I think about that reason why Scepter records didn´t give Dionne the opportunity to worked with a duet partner, we have only one Duet with Chuck Jackson "Anything you can do". And in my opinion it´s a great fantastic song. It is conducted by Bacharach because it´s mentioned on the album "On stage and in the movies". I´m wondering that Scepter gave Maxine and Chuck the chance to work together. Maybe it is the reason because the voices blended better together?????? It is a fact that Chuck and Dionne don´t sing really together in "Anything you can do". But every time it is very delicous to hear the song because there is a real highlight in it, simply "a cream of the crop". It´s so very perfect and professional.

Sure years later Dionne sings together with B.J. Thomas, but I think the problem here was the same as with Billy Vera and Judy Clay (a real shame because the voices blended so perfectly together) and maybe Scepter records had a little fear???????

Ironically 1974 Dionne had her first number one hit with The Spinners.

Anybody know if there exists a duet b-side of "Anything you can do"?

[BachtoBacharach]

What would have been Scepter's fear? Duets in the 1960s were not as common as today especially for popular singers. As great as BJ was, he was nowhere selling nearly as many singles and albums as Dionne was...as evidenced by BJ's chart placements when compared to Dionne's. It was only a short two years after Chuck Jackson recorded with Dionne that Bacharach recorded those duets with Dionne and BJ, those duets were recorded on December 3, 1969. I have a suspicion that Jackson cut his part after the fact and it was overdubbed but I may be dead wrong. Scepter had nothing to lose by pairing Maxine and Chuck...neither was selling many records (and in fact Scepter would cut Maxine not long after) and both would have benefitted from a hit duet as would have Scepter and it would have furthered their solo careers. Dionne didn't need help furthering her solo career as the top female singer in the country at the time and the duets with Dionne/BJ happened pre-Raindrops for BJ. I imagine it was simple economics as to why Dionne and BJ didn't work together much at all and that there weren't other duet partners...they were solo artists and a hit Dionne/BJ duet might sell, say, 900,000 copies in the US for Scepter while two single releases from each that happened to hit might sell 1,800,000. I believe that Dionne and Burt wanted her to duet with BJ and they did...Bacharach didn't have to have Scepter's permission to do anything with Dionne as her contract was with BlueJac Productions and would Scepter refuse their cash cow's (Dionne, Burt and Hal) wish to record with BJ? Probably not.

[ron hertel]

Although BJ could handle Bacharach material very well - I read some years ago that he had expressed no interest in becoming Burt's "Male Dionne Warwick". I believe his heart was in country music! ........ I haven't followed his career since his departure from Scepter; however, I really like the handful of BB/HD tunes he recorded.

[An Enormous BB Fan]

I wish that B.J. Thomas had become the male "Dionne Warwick" for Burt and Hal. At least for me, B.J. Thomas had one of the greatest pop voices of all time. The Bacharach/David songs he sang couldn't have been better. And, of course, with Raindrops, he had one of the biggest pop hits of all time. And the two duets that I know that he did with Dionne, "They Don't Give Medals To Yesterday's Heros" and "Make It Easy On Yourself" are absolutely brilliant. Their voices blend and complement each other so beautifully. I don't know too many male singers who could have taken on "Long Ago, Tomorrow" and sung it so effortlessly as B.J. Thomas did. It is my feeling that if B.J. Thomas turned down more Bacharach/David songs, then he was a fool for doing so.

However, if I'm not mistaken, B.J. Thomas told our own Vincent Cole that he didn't like the fact that Burt would make him do take after take and would tell him how to sing. Do I have that about right, Vincent? Well.... we all know what Burt put Cilla Black through on the recording session for Alfie. Maybe B.J. Thomas didn't want too much of that.

[BachtoBacharach]

Burt was an extreme perfectionist and BJ was always laid back and although BJ was professional, his style of singing was not as polished and nuanced as Dionne therefore I am sure Burt wanted to "rehearse" BJ endlessly to get a more "Dionne" sound. I think by then Burt was so used to having his output nailed by Dionne in the way he wanted it nailed so to speak that it was probably a challenge to work with other vocalists. Not a slam on other singers but Burt and Dionne worked together so long that Burt said after a few sessions, he quit giving Dionne advice on how to sing his tunes. I have often though in listening to Burt's compositions through the years that Burt composed some country sounding tunes early in his career and worked with Marty Robbins and others and then when he began work with Dionne his compositions took a more urbane, R & B feel (Walk On By, etc.) and then about 1965 his work with Dionne went in a pop direction. Then later around 1969 or so, with Odds and Ends, Raindrops, Who Gets the Guy, Everybody's Out of Town, and most especially The Green Grass Starts to Grow, some of Burt's music took on a pop-country-western feel but unlike the western feel he got with Gene Pitney and tunes like Liberty Valance and 24 Hours from Tulsa. When I first heard "Green Grass" my first thought was "wow, this is sort of a country-western feeling tune!" It's loping vibe was unique and gosh it was such a different tune. It should have been a massive hit for Dionne but alas, wasn't. In those days, there were so many different and sometimes seeming oppositional stylistic elements in a Bacharach composition it was just astounding but he made it all work in such a unique way.

[Blair N. Cummings]

I never caught a C&W vibe from Green Grass or really any other compositions later than Story of My Life and Don`t You Believe It. The melodic sophistication behind California, Raindrops et al placed it outside of that category for me.
But, BtoB, you`re right about the utter uniqueness of personal favorites like Odds and Ends and Who Gets the Guy.Maybe because they weren`t hits (inexplicably) and never appeared on an album (even more inexplicably) I never got sick of them and still value them as among Burt`s better melodies.
I wish little gems like these were still being produced as regularly as...well, when we were all a lot younger. I guess we should be grateful that we around "back then".

[BachtoBacharach]

I think for me what gave those tunes a sort of C & W vibe for me was use of a loping rhythm more than anything else. Those songs were so sophisticated from a melodic point of view and yet the complex rhythm and percussion in those tunes was so seemingly at odds with typical pop tunes of that day or any day. Bacharach's music got to me on that level. Outside straight R & B, was there ever ANY pop tune where the pacing and rhythm was so prominent. I can't explain why Green Grass sounded country to me when I first heard it but it definitely had so much to do with the percussion. Also I loved the sweeping repetitive string work (not country at all!!) in the chorus bridges toward the end of the tune...gets me every time. Bacharach, David and Warwick were masters...plain and simple.

[BachtoBacharach]

One reviewer described Green Grass Starts to Grow in a positive way by saying that it sounded as though some sort of demented alpine circus had pulled into town and then the tune abruptly changes gears into a ballad and then careens back into the circus mode...and that sort of sums up the uniqueness of that tune that made is so appealing to me. Bacharach never, ever fit into the confines of what was defined as pop. It's not pop, it's Bacharach.

[ron hertel]

BachtoBacharach:

You're right on target - " It's not pop, it's Bacharach" ......... And because he's not categorically defined - It does not matter to me whether Burt, Hal and Dionne are ever inducted into the "Rock and Roll Hall of Fame" - I would; however, like to see them recognized at an upcoming annual Kennedy Center Honors program for their incomparable contributions over the past 50 years!

[vincent.cole]

Bonjour An Enormous BB Fan;

Yes, I had the great pleasure meeting B.J. Thomas after a show on Staten Island a few years ago. I asked B.J.Thomas how it was working with Burt & Hal. He told me that, “they were too technical for him.” At that time, B.J. Thomas could not read music. So I guess that translated to into many takes of songs! And we all know how precise Burt is!!!

Take care mon ami.

Vincent

[BachtoBacharach]

I suspected that BJ couldn't read music and that was one thing that set Dionne apart. She was a music education major at the Hartt Conservatory in Hartford when she recorded Don't Make Me Over and later when Burt was writing the charts for Anyone Who Had A Heart in a big hurry because Dionne wanted to record the unfinished tune in a recording session a few days hence, Dionne actually counted out the time signature changes for him. Dionne went on to earn a masters and a PHD in music education. So many popular singers in the 1960s couldn't read music. Aretha couldn't but could pick a tune out by ear in a heartbeat. Elvis couldn't read music either but could pick a tune out either on piano or guitar. Burt did take BJ back in the studio to re-record the single version of Raindrops after it had been released and the first pressing was in the stores...the initial release was recalled because Burt felt the tempo was wrong in the second half of the recording. He was a perfectionist in the best way and his perfectionism was not a stretch for someone like Dionne. Dionne "spoke his technical language" so to speak.

[Nikray]

Isn't it a well known fact that BJ drove Burt crazy with his lack or inability to read music. I have read and seen interviews were Burt has said as much. BJ stated a few times in interview as well as at the time BJ described that he was loving the night life and would sometimes show up to recording sessions hung over, etc... And I agree BJ did not think his lack of reading music was important at all in terms of recording songs. Dionne as Burt has stated many, many times could read music and was very techincal in her approach as was Hal. This thing made the three very special in terms of the way they produced the music. I have to say Dionne liked BJ and his voice and wanted Burt and Hal to write for him, she kept pushing the duo to write something for BJ>

If I am not mistaken BJ still can't read music...as if I am to honest many others artist when they tackle BB-HD tunes slipped so badly because they fail to understand the music and that lack of reading music hurt the finish product.

[An Enormous BB Fan]

The final product is what counts. It matters not whether B J Thomas can read music -- at least as far as I'm concerned. What matters to me is what gets on that recording. And, for my money, except for Dionne, there's not a better singer of Burt's songs than B J Thomas. "Long Ago, Tomorrow" may be the toughest song that he sang of Burt's music and he nailed it! "Send My Picture to Scranton, PA" is not the easiest of songs either and he nailed that one, too! I think B J Thomas is one of the all-time great pop male singers and he gave Burt/Hal one of their biggest hits in "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head". And, by the way, I never read that B J Thomas drove Burt crazy. It was the other way around -- and B J even told Vincent Cole about it.

Ask yourself the following question: If B J Thomas drove Burt crazy, then why all the B J Thomas/Burt Bacharach recording sessions? No one could force Burt to work with someone he didn't want to work with. I'm just not buying it.

The only thing that I am buying is more B J Thomas records. I wish he had recorded a lot more with Burt, too.

[BachtoBacharach]

I agree! I don't think it is a "well known fact" as Nikray says that BJ drove Burt crazy...far from it. I think you are right that Burt drove BJ crazy...Burt wants what he wants in a recording studio and he gets it...in one take or in 100 takes. Doesn't matter if BJ can read music or not...Burt's gonna get what he wants. He's super. Long Ago Tomorrow is an awesome tune and among my favorites. I have NEVER seen an interview or read an interview where Burt said BJ drove him crazy and I've seen and heard just about all of them.

[Nikray]

I can't recall if it was Robin Platt's book or another of book written about Burt, Hal, Dionne and the music. But I have fairly good recall regarding BJ is quoted saying that he drove Burt crazy with not being able to read music. I will check back...with the actually quote and page and author...!!!