The Burt Bacharach Discussion Forum

Me Japanese Boy wrote: ↑Fri Feb 10, 2023 1:12 am Anyone want to hear a new Burt Bacharach song?

What a tonic it's been in this saddest of weeks to listen to this extraordinary 'new' song.

A gift in these sad days...

Elvis Costello taking us through the box set that is released this week.

I`m still glad that there was never a stage musical. And I don`t think that it was the "melancholic" nature of many of the songs. After all, `Carousel` was hardly a yuk-fest and `South Pacific` featured a heart-breaking tragedy.
It was, I think, the relentless nature of the bummer leading to the inevitable...not unlike `Some Lovers`... that doomed it. No one wants to spend two hours watching an attractive, young (or unattractive, old) couple break up.

That Elvis Costello is enormously proud to have collaborated with Bacharach is obvious from that video of him unveiling the box set. For inspiring Burt to write some of his best music of the past fifty years he has my upmost respect and eternal gratitude.

The haunting and beautiful.... 'Look Up Again'...




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For anyone interested, I shared some thoughts on the new box over at The Second Disc...

https://theseconddisc.com/2023/03/03/re ... -costello/

Hearing 'Look Up Again' on the new collection reminded me that Herb Alpert cut an instrumental version a little while back. Was this really nearly seven years ago?

Paul, thank you for that stunning Herb Alpert track!
I remember Herb once saying "Bacharach's music is simple yet complicated".
Here's another perfect example.......



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And just lie back and think of Burt....



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As charming and touching as Burt's recording of 'Lie Back And Think Of England' undoubtedly is I'd have been happier if both it and the song itself didn't sound so incomplete. As for 'Look Up Again' and 'Taken From Life', I think they're both excellent.