Burt News!

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Burt Bacharach's back and touring

by: Jessica Leo

From: The Advertiser
April 15, 2012

HIS current Australian tour is named Farewell to the Symphonies but Burt Bacharach is not about to call time on his celebrated career.
The award-winning composer lobbed into Adelaide at the weekend ahead of his first Australian tour date at the Festival Centre tonight - but hopefully that won't be the last we see of him.

"I hate farewell tours and I hope this is not the last time I would have reason to come to Australia," he says.

But he's happy to draw a close on performing with a different symphony orchestra in each city, something that's a very demanding process.

Off the back of his Australian tour - which will also take in Melbourne, Perth, Sydney and the Gold Coast - Burt has plenty on the boil including accepting, in a joint award with long-time collaborator Hal David, the Gershwin Prize in Washington next month. And he's writing a new song with his ex-wife, Carole Bayer Sager - and it could be going the way of a very well-known songstress.

"I'm working on a song with my ex-wife after all these years which may be for Barbra Streisand, you just have to keep writing," Burt tells Confidential.
He laments the state of the music industry these days.

"There are no real record companies anymore," Burt says.

"It (illegal downloading) makes me kind of angry, they should be buying music, people should be getting paid ... free music is not a good idea."

But for now, Burt says he's still got touring - and the special connection with fans.

"To me, that's a very wonderful thing - you can make people feel good, it's not about making me feel good," he says.

Tickets for Burt's performance tonight with his band and the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra are still available through BASS.
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Adelaide's in love with Burt Bacharach

by: Patrick McDonald

From: AdelaideNow
April 17, 2012

At 83, singer and composer Burt Bacharach showed Adelaide he's not lost any of his brilliance.

BURT Bacharach has had more hit songs than most people have had hot dinners ... and he set out to perform as many of them as possible.

From the cheery singalong of What The World Needs Now Is Love, through the lush sweeping strings of Don't Make Me Over, to the sultry groove of Walk On By, 83-year-old Bacharach literally punched the air to conduct a swinging Adelaide Symphony Orchestra at the Festival Theatre on Monday.

Those tunes flowed straight into the lounge music crooning of This Guy's In Love With You - complete with delicate improvisation by Burt at the upper reaches of the piano keyboard - followed by the soaring soul of Say A Little Prayer, the more melancholy Trains and Boats and Planes, the boppy Wishin' and Hopin' and the epic pop of Always Something There To Remind Me.

That's already more hits that some artists have in their entire repertoire - and it was just the opening 15-minute medley of Bacharach's partnership with lyricist Hal David.
Three vocalists with very different qualities - Josie James' raspy gospel roar, John Pagano's muscular rock and musical theatre leanings, and Donna Taylor's Dionne Warwick-like soul intonations - helped emphasise the diversity of Bacharach's catalogue while harmonising together wonderfully.

The Adelaide Symphony Orchestra brought Bacharach's authentic arrangements to unparalleled life on stage, wringing the full emotion and melodrama from every tune.

Next up, a medley of heartbreakers - One Less Bell To Answer, I'll Never Fall In Love Again, Only Love Can Break A Heart - ending with the more upbeat classic Do You Know The Way To San Jose?

Are You There (With Another Girl) led into a hushed, haunting, almost menacing rendition of Anyone Who Had A Heart, building with a slow burn in a huge crescendo to become the ultimate stalker song.

John Pagano's vocals channelled a touch of co-writer Elvis Costello on God Give Me Strength, before we were reminded that even the Beatles covered Bacharach with Baby It's You.

Bacharach's touring trumpeter Tom Ehler and saxophonist Dennis Wilson provided many of the evening's soulful soloist highlights, not to mention their standout instrumental duet on the Love Theme from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

New keyboard player Bill Cantos got to show off his own vocal and piano prowess on a raucous rendition of My Little Red Book, most recently recorded by Burt with Ronan Keating.

Then it was back to some of Bacharach's earliest attempts at commercial songwriting: Magic Moments, The Story Of My Life and the Motown-styled Tower Of Strength.

Just for laughs, Dennis Wilson even made popping noises with his mouth between honking saxophone lines on Bacharach's theme for the 1958 creature feature The Blob.

Done yet? Not by a long shot. The hits just kept coming with Close To You and I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself.

Then Burt (by his own admission no singer) took the microphone himself to croak out The Look Of Love.

That led into Arthur's Theme, a raunchy What's New Pussycat, The World Is A Circle, April Fools, Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Making Love and Hey Little Girl, which built from a spoken hush with absolutely gorgeous strings into the more familiar, brassy jazz syncopation.

Still not done: Burt growled his way through the poignant Alfie and A House Is Not A Home before all the vocalists joined forces on That's What Friends Are For.

Encores? Of course: Two new songs from Bacharach's recent musical with Steven Sater, Some Lovers, bore all the hallmarks of his classics and were warmly received by the audience.

An Elvis-inspired rendition of Any Day Now and reprise of What The World Needs Now brought proceedings to a close, as Burt sent the audience home - smiling, satisfied and still humming - with a final singalong repeat of Raindrops.