The original demo of 'Alfie' by Kenny Karen

[pljms]

In a famous interview given by Cilla Black for BBC TV's documentary on Bacharach made in 1995 and entitled 'This Is Now', she talked about how prior to being given the option of recording the title song of the movie 'Alfie' she was handed a demo in acetate form by her manager Brian Epstein of, as she put it, "some fella" singing the song. I've long wondered who that male singer might have been and what the demo sounded like. Turns out that the singer was Kenny Karen, who also sang on some of Burt's demos for the show 'Promises, Promises', and according to the song's Wikipedia page he's accompanied by Bacharach at the piano. It also features an arrangement for string orchestra that has Burt's stamp all over it, and here is that demo.

[blueonblue]

Paul, thanks for clearing that mystery up.
And the rest as they say..........



'blue'

[pljms]

It was in looking for the umpteenth time of a video of George Martin's beautiful orchestral version of 'Alfie' that I stumbled upon that Kenny Karen demo, which is often the way of things on YouTube.

Talking of orchestral recordings of 'Alfie', when I first heard Bacharach's own slightly quirky instrumental version on his 'Reach Out' album I must admit I was a bit underwhelmed and perhaps it was because I was expecting something that sounded more like this:

[Jim Dixon]

when I first heard Bacharach's own slightly quirky instrumental version on his 'Reach Out' album I must admit I was a bit underwhelmed

I can understand that reaction, but my two favorite Bacharach arrangements of his own vocal material on his solo albums are the 1971 'Wives and Lovers' and that version of 'Alfie'. The Alfie arrangement reminds me of music that might come on during the closing credits of a film, the kind of thing that keeps you in the theater seat until you see the final credit roll off the screen.

I wish he'd done more of this kind of reworking on his solo albums, but I imagine with his commercial instincts, he knew that many buyers just wanted the melodies they knew, delivered in a straightforward manner. One or two instrumentals and/or deconstructions seemed to be enough for the solo albums in his mind.